Ice for your drinks: ice molds, coolers, and glasses to keep your drink cold
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by Verpakkingdeals.nl
7 min reading time
Why large ice balls last longer than small cubes, how much ice you need per guest, and what shapes, coolers, and glasses to use.
There comes a moment at every party when the drinks are still cold enough but the ice runs out. After that, things go downhill quickly: someone fetches a small container with eight cubes from the freezer, which are gone within five minutes, and for the rest of the evening, you drink lukewarm. Anyone who frequently entertains guests will find that ice is the most underestimated essential for the entire party.
As party season begins again—club nights, Christmas parties, a cocktail evening at home—it's a good time to get your cooling situation in order. Below, we'll explain the difference between ice cube shapes, how much ice you need per guest, and how to keep drinks cool when there's no more fridge space.
Why large ice lasts longer than small ice
Ice melts from the outside. The more surface area a cube has relative to its volume, the faster it disappears. A large spherical ice ball has far less surface area per milliliter than a handful of small cubes of the same volume, and therefore cools your glass longer without diluting your drink as quickly.
That makes the choice simple, and it depends on what you're serving:
Whisky, gin and tonic, cocktails in a tumbler: large spheres or large blocks. Minimal dilution, stays in the drink for the entire consumption.
Soft drinks, long drinks, mixed drinks for a group: regular cubes. These cool faster, which is exactly what you want when filling twenty glasses at once.
There are three practical differences between ice trays, and you only notice them when you've used them for an evening.
Release
A silicone mold releases by inverting it and pushing from below. Hard plastic requires twisting, and in freezers that aren't cold enough, the cubes often break in half. If you make ice often, silicone is less work. The Silicone Ice Mold for Shot Glasses, 4-piece (€ 8.95) is a good example: hollow shapes release from it without breaking.
Stacking and spilling
A tray without a lid needs to be placed flat in the freezer, and that almost never works without losing half the contents on the way from the tap to the freezer compartment. A tray with a lid can be stacked and moved. That's the difference between two batches of ice per evening and six.
Odor
Open ice absorbs freezer odors. Anyone who has ever drunk a gin and tonic that tasted like frozen spinach knows why a lid is not a luxury. Also, don't store loose cubes in an open container, but in a sealed bag or box.
For regular cubes in quantity, the Ice Cube Tray in 4 colors (€ 3.00) is the simplest choice; with four pieces in different colors, you can keep track of which batch has been in the freezer the longest. The Ice Cube Tray in 2 models (€ 4.95) is a second standard tray to complement it.
How much ice do you need?
Per guest, count on about half a kilo of ice for an evening of three to four hours, if you are serving cold drinks. That's more than people think: for twenty guests, you're talking about ten kilos, and that doesn't fit in a single freezer drawer. Practically, that means the following:
Number of guests
Ice guideline
What that means
6 – 8
approx. 3 – 4 kg
Two trays, freeze two days in advance
15 – 20
approx. 8 – 10 kg
Making it yourself is not enough; buy extra ice and store it cool
40 and more
approx. 20 kg and more
Separate cooling next to the bar, not from the freezer
Above fifteen guests, the question shifts from "how do I make ice" to "where do I put it". A Cooler Bag of 28x20x18 cm with a capacity of 10 liters (€ 9.95) is the cheapest solution for this: when closed, it keeps a supply of ice at temperature for hours, and you can place it next to the table instead of constantly walking to the kitchen. For outdoors or at a stall, an Inflatable Drink Cooler Surfboard of 78 cm (€ 19.95) is a tub that you fill with ice and bottles and deflate afterward.
Glasses you don't need to refill
What you pour determines how often you need to chill. A large glass that remains half empty will get lukewarm; a smaller glass that's finished faster will not. For shots, a Shot Glass Set of 6 pieces à 60 ml (€ 3.00) works well: setting up six at once is faster than refilling six times, and with the silicone shot mold above, you can even make them out of ice. If you want something with more impact on the table, the Funny Shaped Shot Glasses, set of 2 (€ 12.95) are a conversation starter.
One thing that costs nothing: put your glasses in the fridge or outside half an hour before the first guest arrives. A pre-chilled glass melts noticeably less ice in the first few minutes than a room-temperature glass.
The rest of the bar: opening, pouring, cleaning up
You solve the ice problem, and then the bottle opener is missing. A Bottle opener with magnet made of polyresin, 12.5 cm (€ 9.95) can be stuck to the fridge or a metal edge near the bar, so it doesn't disappear into the wash. If you organize events often: buy two. The second one is for the table outside.
And think ahead about cleaning up. Leftover ice that you dump in the sink causes puddles; an empty cooler bag or bin can be emptied outside in one go. Therefore, preferably place your cooling unit near a door rather than in the middle of the room.
In short
Large ice for spirits, small ice for mixed drinks and soft drinks.
Choose trays with lids if you're making more than one batch per evening.
Count on half a kilo of ice per guest per evening, and store it covered.
Above fifteen guests: cooler bag or cooler bin next to the bar, not the freezer.
Pre-chilling glasses saves more ice than you might think.
If you're unsure whether a particular mold fits in your freezer drawer, or you want to know how much of an item is in stock before ordering for a group? Send your question to info@verpakkingdeals.nl.
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