Avoid Underestimating How Much This Ingredient Affects Your Whiskey Cocktail

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

Whether you're trying to make the perfect whiskey sour or whiskey smash (which is similar, but with mint), you likely have your mind set on acquiring the best whiskey and mixers for the job. The same applies if you're making a less well-known whiskey cocktail like the American Trilogy (rye, apple brandy, bitters, and simple syrup) or the King Cole (rye, Fernet Branca, and simple syrup). Regardless of what you're making, there's one ingredient you may not be paying much heed to: the ice. Vlad Novikov, head mixologist at Ned's Club in Washington, DC, says that ice matters more than you'd think.

Novikov explained that the shape of the ice affects the drink it's used in. As he put it, "Temperature and dilution both change what you taste in cocktails and spirits, and when we talk about ice we're also talking about both of those things at the same time." He went on to clarify that ice cubes of different sizes and shapes have different proportions of surface area to volume which affects the melt rate and thus the extent to which the ice dilutes or chills the drink. "Smaller ice equals faster chilling and dilution, and generally a lower temperature equilibrium than larger ice, which chills slower, dilutes slower, and generally has a higher temperature equilibrium," he stated.

According to Novikov, there's no one style of ice that suits every drink, nor even every drink style. "I could say that a more spirit-forward drink like an Old Fashioned does better on a large rock because it equilibrates at a higher temperature; but then with another spirit-forward drink, the mint julep, I'd always recommend on crushed, cracked, or pebble ice so that it gets the dilution it needs and stays ice-cold for those hot summer days," he said. "It's difficult to give a general rule, but if I had to, I would say to have the drink whichever way the bartender recommends."

If you're mixing drinks at home, a single 2x2-inch cube or similarly sized sphere works well in a rocks glass when you're drinking spirits straight or with minimal mixers. These melt slowly, so they're good for drinks where you'll be sipping them over a long period of time. (Need a mold? This Rottay set of ice cube trays makes both large squares and spheres.) Standard-sized cubes from your fridge, however, are perfect for drinks that are stirred or shaken. They can also be used to fill up a highball glass and work well in carbonated drinks. Some extra-boozy drinks like tiki cocktails are served over crushed ice to provide much-needed dilution. The one kind of ice you probably won't want to use in a cocktail is nugget ice like the kind sold at Sonic. It's okay in sodas, but it melts much too quickly for any self-respecting cocktail.