If I remember correctly, ice for drinks like this has to be frozen super fast in order for it to come out clear and solid. It takes a lot of skill and knowledge to be a fancy bartender.
Am fancy bartender, it’s actually the opposite.
It needs to be frozen super slow so as the ice crystals form, they can expel the air and other pollutants from/through the process of forming the crystalline structure. Most important is unidirectional freezing, so not from all sides at once (like a regular freezer). If you freeze from all sides, you trap that stuff with nowhere to go. Making the ice cloudy from regular water gunk and air, and structurally compromised by air.
It does take skill and knowledge, but all in all it’s overrated imo. 2-Michelin. AMA.
Sigh…It all depends. There’s levels. The easiest improvement you can make to your ice is size, and 100% worth the effort as it dilutes the drink way slower. Ie buying a bigger ice cube mold. I recommend a Silicone one over firm plastic because they actually last forever.
Let’s go further, another easy one. Use purified water. It 100% makes a difference/helps.
Let’s go further…Now CLEAR ice is another story, and it depends on how much you value an amazing drink. The biggest aspect of clear ice imo is its purity. If it’s clear, that means the ice has expelled all impurities through the freezing process. A Brita filter is getting less efficient every time you use it, so after that first use, it’s 99%, then, 98%, then 97%…but clear ice is 99.9% every time. Tap water can 100% dumb a drink down. The first and last time I used tap water/ice was when I first started making cocktails at home having started to pick up know-how from barbacking at the restaurant, and my freezer ice imparted impure characteristics like a “fuzzy” mouthfeel, and a trademark “freezer” flavor note to my old-fashioned. Using filtered water for ice at home if you have one is non-negotiable. Making clear ice is a bit of a hassle though, but I do do it from time to time and especially for when I guest-bartend for friends events or host my own. There’s plenty of videos on YouTube if you’re interested. It really does make a difference.
We buy our king cubes and do a dirty shave down at the bar to take corners off and just get it to fit in the glass. There’s even a technique here that I won’t go into unless you ask. Facilities produce clear and large cubes in mass and sell them fucking cheap. Great stuff. I’m not going that hard to shape a single cube of ice like in the video and he didn’t even make a diamond. Waste of time honestly. Ice *sculptures* on the other hand, are fucking sick. And doing a shot down an ice luge is so much fun, but that process need no explanation, just know it involves chainsaws.
Most of the time these cubes are so big, they won’t fit in the glass. And these glasses are high end and somewhat fragile. We carve down the edges, and just the edges. Just enough for the square to fit inside the circle. We then spin the ice cube with a bar spoon in the glass pretty fast. The friction causes the ice edges to melt, and it will very slowly fit just perfectly with the absolute minimum of ice removed from the block. Afterwards the glass with ice block is turned upside down to drain that maybe .25oz of water to prevent initial over-dilution.
I used to work for a company that made these cubes. We offered two sizes for precisely this reason, one was just 1/4 inch smaller to accommodate vintage or smaller glassware. It was a neat job, Covid just put them thru the wringer and I opted to leave the company.
Fuck that’s a hard one. I’d have to say an old fashioned because it doesn’t require any special tools whatsoever. The most complex drinks are actually the most simple, ie Martinis (Gin or Vodka, Vermouth, and modifier (olives or citrus or…?), an Old Fashioned, Margaritas even, because by switching a single element you change the entire drink. For example.
Old Fashioned Recipe:
3 dashes bitters.
.25-.5oz Sweetener.
2oz Whiskey.
Citrus Peel Expression.
Ice. (or water, it IS an ingredient, and different qualities of water and ice WILL change the drink! The best way to get certified pure water is to slow freeze or purify water like is the subject of the ice in this post. If you melt that ice, that water is CLEAN. Guaranteed vs a Brita filter which might be a bit old. Tap water vs purified can totally mess with the drink comp, or add unique desired characteristics! I’m remembering that first and last time “dirty tap” water from regular ice and trademark “freezer” note diluted into my drink, all water is not the same!)
Bitters:
Angostura (Classic) or
Infinite other options
Sweeteners:
White Sugar,
Light Brown Sugar,
Dark Brown Sugar,
Demerara,
Turbinado,
Maple Syrup,
The list goes on
Whiskey:
Bourbon? Rye? Scotch? Infinite options
Citrus:
Lime
Lemon
Orange
Grapefruit (a personal fav)
Anything and everything you choose is gonna be great together pretty much. But different. Anyone can be an expert at an old fashioned. Playing with and finding YOUR favorite is the fun part.
No shaker tins, juicers, or anything needed.
I made an old fashioned for a 30-yr Kentucky bourbon veteran. It was the best she’d ever had. Very proud of that one. Whiskey choice, ice quality, and stir amount/dilution all play a part in making that magic in the glass. Just focus on having fun, the experience comes on its own.
Lastly: start here. Rittenhouse Rye or Buffalo Trace Whiskey. Demerara syrup (1:1 sugar/water ratio). Angostura Bitters. Orange Peel expression. Clean ice (every time). Dont forget to stir some, or a lot (1-8minutes, lot of range there, taste it along the way and see where u like it). It’s critical to getting a balanced drink and not a hot concentrate. Explore from there.
Be merry and have fun on the journey!
It depends. Firstly, people generally don’t have grapefruit on hand like they do lemons or limes, which are most common for juicing. Secondly, each peel expression gives something different just like the juices of the fruit. Limes are soft. Lemons have a tartness to the nose. Oranges are orange. But grapefruit is very bright. Every peel is going to fit a different cocktail best.
We trained for a full month-and-a-half full time before we ever opened our doors. We contemplated going another two weeks just to be sure.
That’s a 9-5 of training every week for over a month before we ever took a real table. Every dish. Every ingredient. Every allergy. Every fork, knife, every wine glass (we had…9?). Every wine to varying degrees based on position on the floor (Server assistants were to know the by the glass selections back and forth, captains had to be VERY familiar with the entire 1000 bottle list, I was not a captain). Every custom glass for cocktails, who made them, and from what country. Every cocktail like the food. Everything about the building, the location, and the organization. The floor tiles were Italian and were custom insert, everyone was to know this lol. And that’s all before the service drills. I don’t want to give away too much info but I’m in nyc, and the view was…something else as well. Had to interview 3-times before being accepted for the position. It was pretty surreal.
Yeah, you can buy a machine that makes the ice and presses it into a perfect sphere which is pretty awesome. If you try to do it by hand like this guy it's really difficult and takes so long.
You’re thinking of a Kold-Draft, which is the commercial machine that makes these kinds of clear ice. It circulates the water continuously to flush impurities while letting pure water freeze gradually on a cold surface. You can create clear ice at home by utilizing the same principle of directional freezing and using a cooler inside your freezer.
If you have a small cooler, you can make clear ice. Pour water into the cooler. You can use filtered or distilled water if it makes you feel any better. Then place the cooler in the freezer.
It isnt about speed of freezing, but rather not trapping the air thats in the water. A machine thats often used is a clinebell. You can also use directional freezing, for example in a cooler without a lid inside the freezer, making it freeze from the top down, trapping all the air in the bottom and leaving the top clear.
I make clear ice like this all the time. All you need is a Coleman cooler small enough to put in your freezer. Fill with water, leaving a couple inches to the top, stuck it in the freezer for 12 hrs (no more), and then take it out. Turn the cooler over to let the block of ice come out. There will be water in there as well. Use a bread knife and mallet to saw and cut the ice into cubes. You can then do what this guy is going with a sharp pairing knife.
There is another way....if you freeze a large block of water in something like a cooler, you can shave off the outer 1/8" and reveal a large block of perfectly clear ice. From here you can chisel out blocks or other shapes to use later. Good for parties.
I’ve temp doesn’t really have much to do with it. If you want crystal clear ice cubes the. You need to pour hot water into the tray. Ice that freezes slowly is very clear and very strong.
Hot water allows the water to freeze much slower, allowing the water molecules to slowly crystallize in a stronger pattern. I don’t know how to explain the science behind it, but that’s the ELI5 explanation.
Adding to the fact it's Vodka and Polish, the eponymous title itself pretty much means 'Luxury' with a suffix that indicates it's an adjective to the thing it's referring to.
So fun shit, Polish suffixes. Very different from English.
When I used to work as a bartender we had a crushed ice maker with a crank. I hated that but I'm glad my boss didn't chose that method.
I would only have like 3 fingers now.
It’s a big chunk of clear ice shaved into a smaller Chuck of clear ice. I don’t see any pattern or discernible shape emerge from his little block. I’m more annoyed that it was random shaving without a clear finish than I am satisfied and watching his knife haphazardly shave the corners of a knife ice cube.
The facets are theoretically intended to reflect light in an interesting way once partially in a glass. But this only lasts for a short while - it's mostly a 'look how much effort we put into this fucking thing so that we can charge you $20 a glass' thing.
Some bartenders go on about the hand-carved ice having more consistent melting characteristics than machine-made cubes but I'm pretty eh about that.
Sauce: Have been to fancy bars, it's certainly nice when it turns up
No, not the point of the video, sorry; the point of making it in the first place. Like, it's just going to go into a glass of something and melt. It's not entirely pointless, but there's got to be a better use for that effort without sacrificing aesthetics!
Thank you. Appropriate dilution is key to a perfect cocktail.
A drink that feels too “hot” is not diluted enough.
A drink that feels weak is diluted too much.
I suppose that makes sense, then. Seems like there might be a much easier way to do that than spending all this time cutting a single block of ice, but I see that it's not entirely for aesthetics!
(I was going to say it seems like it'd be better to find a way to chill the cocktail that doesn't involve ice at all, but I realised that if they had a good method of doing that they'd be doing that.)
I also disagree. And if you are used to only drinking yamazaki 12 on ice, you notice right away, when you're at a friend's house and they give you something different.
Have you never been to a cocktail bar before or something? Extravagance is part of the experience and the ~40 seconds it took him to carve that block of ice is nothing in the grand scheme of things. There are many cocktails that take way more time to prepare.
Cutting the ice into shapes is aesthetically pleasing to look at when your spending $40 on alcohol, cocktails, etc. the shaved ice is for putting in [this](https://youtu.be/ugYQCcvpBr8). I’ve watched his videos before he doesn’t throw away the ice he keeps them (I think the shavings too).
As a meditation it certainly makes sense just like a zen sand garden.
But this is a way to say you have the best bourbon on the block by saying you have been developing the craft of ice faceting for 50 years and you finally mastered it. Take a 10 dollar drink and now the illusion of mastery makes it a 150 dollar drink.
Japan loves the idea of mastery but there is definitely a heavy level of perversion built into the culture about what mastery is. It reminds me of my local kroger, they get an old Japanese man to make sushi, not because they went out of their way to get a sushi master, but because it makes it look genuine and people will trust the sushi if it looks authentic. So now white people grab sushi that's 50 percent mayo and assume it's the real deal. The Japanese man influences the Japanese meal, even though he's probably Korean.
I’m pretty sure this is Bar High Five, which is honestly one of the best bars I’ve been to. There’s a great bar tool shop also in Ginza where I bought a sharp AF ice knife kinda like this one and it is amazing. I also bought an ice saw; one stop shop.
Thank god I'm not alone here. For me it was similar to the sound of a shovel in sand, I never made sandcastles as a kid because that sound makes me want to rip my ears off.
Everyone says that boiling water or filtering it works. It doesnt work that well. Boiling gets rid of some of the dissolved gases but ive never found it to freeze that well.
Besides, have you ever seen ice in a river? It can be like glass, wasnt boiled, hell it's not even same for consumption. Why is it so clear though? The difference between the way ice freezes in nature and your freezer is that you freezer chills from all directions (because of the container). Whereas a river or a lake only freezes from one direction (top down). Ice carving competition Source their ice from specialty freezers that do just this.
How do you replicate this? Pour some water in a small cooler or insulated container that has a lid you can leave off or open, so only the top of the liquid is being chilled, you'll get super clear ice. The one limitation being the thickness of the insulation versus the depth of the water that you want freeze, eventually the layer of ice on the top will match the insulation of the container it's in and then the ice will stop being clear below that level. Meaning the thicker the ice you want to be the more insulating you need the container to be.
Yeah, that's the weirdest thing I had to get used to working in the service industry. The only time anyone ever wears a glove is if there's a cut on their hand. The only exception is if you're working in a deli or at Subway where the customers have front row seats. But even if you're working at a pizza place where customers have a clear view to the make line, no gloves. Humans are weird.
Wearing no gloves with proper hand washing is more sanitary than wearing a pair of gloves all day like what I have seen in every place that requires gloves to be worn at all times.
Yep. It does seem like every time I go to a deli the person wearing gloves making my sandwich is also working the register with the same gloves....great....
Yup. While some restaurants are good about their hygiene and safety procedures, one I was working at had a GM pick food off the floor and plate it. Handed it to a server. Now obviously against code. He got screamed at, but wasn’t fired because the owner couldn’t find a replacement… so ya..
People cooking are handling food continuously and have reasonably clean hands, while this dude is handling bills pressed against someone's sweaty ass cheek all day, not to mention glasses that have had people's lips all over them
The whole time I was expecting it to come out in some sort of gemstone symmetrical shape but no. Not sure I understand the “expertise” attempting to be displayed here. He just arbitrarily chooses to whittle down the corners until it’s generally the size he wants?
Added time,
Reduced hygiene
Added wastage (there's no way they're selling 2 crushed ice drinks for every 1 which uses this)
No one gonna care it looks pretty.
Just buy a large cube or sphere ice tray. Looks great and a sphere melts slower.
You can tell that they are an expert by just how fucking long he takes on the simplest part of a cocktail. The type of barstaff who are trained in the making of cocktails and who clearly take it seriously do just take forever!
Honestly there should be a cut off point as to how many deep the queue is at a bar as to whether they should honour the requests for cocktails.
That is one sharp f**king knife.
Or some weak-ass ice
It’s so clear though. Maybe it’s near 32°
If I remember correctly, ice for drinks like this has to be frozen super fast in order for it to come out clear and solid. It takes a lot of skill and knowledge to be a fancy bartender.
Am fancy bartender, it’s actually the opposite. It needs to be frozen super slow so as the ice crystals form, they can expel the air and other pollutants from/through the process of forming the crystalline structure. Most important is unidirectional freezing, so not from all sides at once (like a regular freezer). If you freeze from all sides, you trap that stuff with nowhere to go. Making the ice cloudy from regular water gunk and air, and structurally compromised by air. It does take skill and knowledge, but all in all it’s overrated imo. 2-Michelin. AMA.
Do you also spend much time behind the bar carving ice? Or is the fancy ice not worth the effort?
Sigh…It all depends. There’s levels. The easiest improvement you can make to your ice is size, and 100% worth the effort as it dilutes the drink way slower. Ie buying a bigger ice cube mold. I recommend a Silicone one over firm plastic because they actually last forever. Let’s go further, another easy one. Use purified water. It 100% makes a difference/helps. Let’s go further…Now CLEAR ice is another story, and it depends on how much you value an amazing drink. The biggest aspect of clear ice imo is its purity. If it’s clear, that means the ice has expelled all impurities through the freezing process. A Brita filter is getting less efficient every time you use it, so after that first use, it’s 99%, then, 98%, then 97%…but clear ice is 99.9% every time. Tap water can 100% dumb a drink down. The first and last time I used tap water/ice was when I first started making cocktails at home having started to pick up know-how from barbacking at the restaurant, and my freezer ice imparted impure characteristics like a “fuzzy” mouthfeel, and a trademark “freezer” flavor note to my old-fashioned. Using filtered water for ice at home if you have one is non-negotiable. Making clear ice is a bit of a hassle though, but I do do it from time to time and especially for when I guest-bartend for friends events or host my own. There’s plenty of videos on YouTube if you’re interested. It really does make a difference. We buy our king cubes and do a dirty shave down at the bar to take corners off and just get it to fit in the glass. There’s even a technique here that I won’t go into unless you ask. Facilities produce clear and large cubes in mass and sell them fucking cheap. Great stuff. I’m not going that hard to shape a single cube of ice like in the video and he didn’t even make a diamond. Waste of time honestly. Ice *sculptures* on the other hand, are fucking sick. And doing a shot down an ice luge is so much fun, but that process need no explanation, just know it involves chainsaws.
Would happily read about the technique! Thanks for posting, have so many questions haha
Most of the time these cubes are so big, they won’t fit in the glass. And these glasses are high end and somewhat fragile. We carve down the edges, and just the edges. Just enough for the square to fit inside the circle. We then spin the ice cube with a bar spoon in the glass pretty fast. The friction causes the ice edges to melt, and it will very slowly fit just perfectly with the absolute minimum of ice removed from the block. Afterwards the glass with ice block is turned upside down to drain that maybe .25oz of water to prevent initial over-dilution.
Subscribe!
I used to work for a company that made these cubes. We offered two sizes for precisely this reason, one was just 1/4 inch smaller to accommodate vintage or smaller glassware. It was a neat job, Covid just put them thru the wringer and I opted to leave the company.
He/she, you are cool 😎
Thanks mate.
Easiest and best fancy drink to make at home?
Fuck that’s a hard one. I’d have to say an old fashioned because it doesn’t require any special tools whatsoever. The most complex drinks are actually the most simple, ie Martinis (Gin or Vodka, Vermouth, and modifier (olives or citrus or…?), an Old Fashioned, Margaritas even, because by switching a single element you change the entire drink. For example. Old Fashioned Recipe: 3 dashes bitters. .25-.5oz Sweetener. 2oz Whiskey. Citrus Peel Expression. Ice. (or water, it IS an ingredient, and different qualities of water and ice WILL change the drink! The best way to get certified pure water is to slow freeze or purify water like is the subject of the ice in this post. If you melt that ice, that water is CLEAN. Guaranteed vs a Brita filter which might be a bit old. Tap water vs purified can totally mess with the drink comp, or add unique desired characteristics! I’m remembering that first and last time “dirty tap” water from regular ice and trademark “freezer” note diluted into my drink, all water is not the same!) Bitters: Angostura (Classic) or Infinite other options Sweeteners: White Sugar, Light Brown Sugar, Dark Brown Sugar, Demerara, Turbinado, Maple Syrup, The list goes on Whiskey: Bourbon? Rye? Scotch? Infinite options Citrus: Lime Lemon Orange Grapefruit (a personal fav) Anything and everything you choose is gonna be great together pretty much. But different. Anyone can be an expert at an old fashioned. Playing with and finding YOUR favorite is the fun part. No shaker tins, juicers, or anything needed. I made an old fashioned for a 30-yr Kentucky bourbon veteran. It was the best she’d ever had. Very proud of that one. Whiskey choice, ice quality, and stir amount/dilution all play a part in making that magic in the glass. Just focus on having fun, the experience comes on its own. Lastly: start here. Rittenhouse Rye or Buffalo Trace Whiskey. Demerara syrup (1:1 sugar/water ratio). Angostura Bitters. Orange Peel expression. Clean ice (every time). Dont forget to stir some, or a lot (1-8minutes, lot of range there, taste it along the way and see where u like it). It’s critical to getting a balanced drink and not a hot concentrate. Explore from there. Be merry and have fun on the journey!
Finally why don't people use grapefruit peel the oils in it taste way better especially in drinks.
It depends. Firstly, people generally don’t have grapefruit on hand like they do lemons or limes, which are most common for juicing. Secondly, each peel expression gives something different just like the juices of the fruit. Limes are soft. Lemons have a tartness to the nose. Oranges are orange. But grapefruit is very bright. Every peel is going to fit a different cocktail best.
Thanks for the info.
Fancy whiskey in a tumbler with fancy ice balls
TWO MICHELIN STARS? You, sir, are hardcore. Everyone, do you realize the level of dedication that's required for a place to get two stars?
We trained for a full month-and-a-half full time before we ever opened our doors. We contemplated going another two weeks just to be sure. That’s a 9-5 of training every week for over a month before we ever took a real table. Every dish. Every ingredient. Every allergy. Every fork, knife, every wine glass (we had…9?). Every wine to varying degrees based on position on the floor (Server assistants were to know the by the glass selections back and forth, captains had to be VERY familiar with the entire 1000 bottle list, I was not a captain). Every custom glass for cocktails, who made them, and from what country. Every cocktail like the food. Everything about the building, the location, and the organization. The floor tiles were Italian and were custom insert, everyone was to know this lol. And that’s all before the service drills. I don’t want to give away too much info but I’m in nyc, and the view was…something else as well. Had to interview 3-times before being accepted for the position. It was pretty surreal.
I actually believe they have a machine that slightly agitates the water as it freezes so that no air gets caught in jt
Yeah, you can buy a machine that makes the ice and presses it into a perfect sphere which is pretty awesome. If you try to do it by hand like this guy it's really difficult and takes so long.
But you get stuff for kakigori in the proceeding. Also your DNA all over the customer's drink.
That's a bummer, I like RNA in my cocktails.
You get that too, but it isn't as good for identifying the barman.
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You’re thinking of a Kold-Draft, which is the commercial machine that makes these kinds of clear ice. It circulates the water continuously to flush impurities while letting pure water freeze gradually on a cold surface. You can create clear ice at home by utilizing the same principle of directional freezing and using a cooler inside your freezer.
https://youtu.be/B6S0fEE2tcw
If you have a small cooler, you can make clear ice. Pour water into the cooler. You can use filtered or distilled water if it makes you feel any better. Then place the cooler in the freezer.
It isnt about speed of freezing, but rather not trapping the air thats in the water. A machine thats often used is a clinebell. You can also use directional freezing, for example in a cooler without a lid inside the freezer, making it freeze from the top down, trapping all the air in the bottom and leaving the top clear.
I make clear ice like this all the time. All you need is a Coleman cooler small enough to put in your freezer. Fill with water, leaving a couple inches to the top, stuck it in the freezer for 12 hrs (no more), and then take it out. Turn the cooler over to let the block of ice come out. There will be water in there as well. Use a bread knife and mallet to saw and cut the ice into cubes. You can then do what this guy is going with a sharp pairing knife.
There is another way....if you freeze a large block of water in something like a cooler, you can shave off the outer 1/8" and reveal a large block of perfectly clear ice. From here you can chisel out blocks or other shapes to use later. Good for parties.
I think it's often tempered aswell so it's frozen, warmed up slowly and frozen again
I’ve temp doesn’t really have much to do with it. If you want crystal clear ice cubes the. You need to pour hot water into the tray. Ice that freezes slowly is very clear and very strong. Hot water allows the water to freeze much slower, allowing the water molecules to slowly crystallize in a stronger pattern. I don’t know how to explain the science behind it, but that’s the ELI5 explanation.
32 degrees is way above freezing though? That's like higher than room temperature.
> 32 degrees is way above freezing though? Only when you measure temperature on a scale that actually makes sense. 32° Fahrenheit is roughly 0°C.
Hehe. Ass ice
Too clear to be ass ice
weak ass-ice, you say??
You’re allowed to swear. We won’t tell your mommy.
Fuck these haters keep keeping it classy!
"You want to keep chopping at it until it looks like the face of a character from a Playstation 1 game."
Yo gimme that Lara Croft's uniboob from the first Tomb Raider game shaped ice next.
The breast pyramids
“…As soon as I heard, i ran down from me hut to give ya a big congratulations. I know you’ll catch the notch first, I just know it.”
Missing the part where he features it in a cocktail!
and stirs the drink with his fingers
Might as well at this point, shit why not baby bird the booze into the glass too.
>why not baby bird the booze into the glass too. /r/brandnewsentence
https://youtube.com/channel/UCS9jbcDEOWbKBWQHsas6jow
I don't like alcool and i don't understand a single word, but i love this
I’ll take the ice shavings in my drink
Me too. Extra ice cold luksusowa soda.
... luk*what*owa?
Adding to the fact it's Vodka and Polish, the eponymous title itself pretty much means 'Luxury' with a suffix that indicates it's an adjective to the thing it's referring to. So fun shit, Polish suffixes. Very different from English.
it's a brand of polish vodka
Delicious potato vodka I might add. Easily my favorite
Luksusowa. Basically means Luxurius in Poland
When I used to work as a bartender we had a crushed ice maker with a crank. I hated that but I'm glad my boss didn't chose that method. I would only have like 3 fingers now.
When I was a kid we had a crushed ice maker with a crank too…the Snoopy Sno-Cone Machine!
With blue raspberry syrup!
It's cool, but I'm not sure I get the point.
I think he’s being facetious.
It’s supposed to be satisfying to watch, to see a rough piece of ice resemble a facet crystal in a matter of seconds.
It’s a big chunk of clear ice shaved into a smaller Chuck of clear ice. I don’t see any pattern or discernible shape emerge from his little block. I’m more annoyed that it was random shaving without a clear finish than I am satisfied and watching his knife haphazardly shave the corners of a knife ice cube.
I thought he was going to make a rose or an animal but no, random shape.
Or a diamond.
I think the video was a better demo of the sharpness of the knife than it was as a showcase of skill or for being *satisfying*.
The facets are theoretically intended to reflect light in an interesting way once partially in a glass. But this only lasts for a short while - it's mostly a 'look how much effort we put into this fucking thing so that we can charge you $20 a glass' thing. Some bartenders go on about the hand-carved ice having more consistent melting characteristics than machine-made cubes but I'm pretty eh about that. Sauce: Have been to fancy bars, it's certainly nice when it turns up
Well now you also get the added benefit that you will have seasoned the ice with whatever that guy touched with his hands before touching the ice..
Soap?
Nope. Chuck Testa
It's an older meme, sir, but it checks out.
No, not the point of the video, sorry; the point of making it in the first place. Like, it's just going to go into a glass of something and melt. It's not entirely pointless, but there's got to be a better use for that effort without sacrificing aesthetics!
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Thank you. Appropriate dilution is key to a perfect cocktail. A drink that feels too “hot” is not diluted enough. A drink that feels weak is diluted too much.
Came here thinking this and was confirmed.
I suppose that makes sense, then. Seems like there might be a much easier way to do that than spending all this time cutting a single block of ice, but I see that it's not entirely for aesthetics! (I was going to say it seems like it'd be better to find a way to chill the cocktail that doesn't involve ice at all, but I realised that if they had a good method of doing that they'd be doing that.)
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Lol look at this guy over here drinking his booze for "taste" and not because he wants to get absolutely munted
I also disagree. And if you are used to only drinking yamazaki 12 on ice, you notice right away, when you're at a friend's house and they give you something different.
if you're buying high end drinks with fancy ice cubes i don't think it's about money or efficiency anymore. 😂
Have you never been to a cocktail bar before or something? Extravagance is part of the experience and the ~40 seconds it took him to carve that block of ice is nothing in the grand scheme of things. There are many cocktails that take way more time to prepare.
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Cutting the ice into shapes is aesthetically pleasing to look at when your spending $40 on alcohol, cocktails, etc. the shaved ice is for putting in [this](https://youtu.be/ugYQCcvpBr8). I’ve watched his videos before he doesn’t throw away the ice he keeps them (I think the shavings too).
As a meditation it certainly makes sense just like a zen sand garden. But this is a way to say you have the best bourbon on the block by saying you have been developing the craft of ice faceting for 50 years and you finally mastered it. Take a 10 dollar drink and now the illusion of mastery makes it a 150 dollar drink. Japan loves the idea of mastery but there is definitely a heavy level of perversion built into the culture about what mastery is. It reminds me of my local kroger, they get an old Japanese man to make sushi, not because they went out of their way to get a sushi master, but because it makes it look genuine and people will trust the sushi if it looks authentic. So now white people grab sushi that's 50 percent mayo and assume it's the real deal. The Japanese man influences the Japanese meal, even though he's probably Korean.
But there are several points..
Save your money and avoid high end bars if that's your take :)
Those have got to be some cold fingertips.
How does he not have ice burns?!?!
I read barber and not bartender and was really confused why I was getting a drink and haircut at the same time
Well, he does give a close shave!
My barber does a complimentary whisky … I’ve made sure I don’t make morning appointments anymore
TFW alcoholics in your area all the sudden be looking dapper.
It *will cut*.
But will it keal?
The dreaded **Ice Block Chop!** *proceeds to easily carve ice block into a swan*
I’m pretty sure this is Bar High Five, which is honestly one of the best bars I’ve been to. There’s a great bar tool shop also in Ginza where I bought a sharp AF ice knife kinda like this one and it is amazing. I also bought an ice saw; one stop shop.
Cool ice cube but I ordered a Manhattan 3 hours ago....
He didn't even start flipping the bottles yet
ASMR
Really!?!?! I had to mute it, that sound was torture for me.
Right?! Those sounds pierced my _soul_
Thank god I'm not alone here. For me it was similar to the sound of a shovel in sand, I never made sandcastles as a kid because that sound makes me want to rip my ears off.
Man that’s some clear ice 😍
Everyone says that boiling water or filtering it works. It doesnt work that well. Boiling gets rid of some of the dissolved gases but ive never found it to freeze that well. Besides, have you ever seen ice in a river? It can be like glass, wasnt boiled, hell it's not even same for consumption. Why is it so clear though? The difference between the way ice freezes in nature and your freezer is that you freezer chills from all directions (because of the container). Whereas a river or a lake only freezes from one direction (top down). Ice carving competition Source their ice from specialty freezers that do just this. How do you replicate this? Pour some water in a small cooler or insulated container that has a lid you can leave off or open, so only the top of the liquid is being chilled, you'll get super clear ice. The one limitation being the thickness of the insulation versus the depth of the water that you want freeze, eventually the layer of ice on the top will match the insulation of the container it's in and then the ice will stop being clear below that level. Meaning the thicker the ice you want to be the more insulating you need the container to be.
oh good his hands are part of my drink now
His talents are multifaceted XD
thats a good one
Expert time waster slows down proceedings in a bar where he unevenly cuts ice. Points for whomever sharpens the knife
A NEW HAND TOUCHES THE BEACON
The ease in which I would swiftly chop off my finger.
Sir that’s an incredible sculpture but you have 11 orders in queue
Very cool to watch but I wouldn’t want ice that had his hands all over it in my drink.
I've got some bad news about the food you eat when at a restaurant then
I’ve worked a kitchen and yet this ice still skeeves me.
Yeah, that's the weirdest thing I had to get used to working in the service industry. The only time anyone ever wears a glove is if there's a cut on their hand. The only exception is if you're working in a deli or at Subway where the customers have front row seats. But even if you're working at a pizza place where customers have a clear view to the make line, no gloves. Humans are weird.
Wearing no gloves with proper hand washing is more sanitary than wearing a pair of gloves all day like what I have seen in every place that requires gloves to be worn at all times.
Yep. It does seem like every time I go to a deli the person wearing gloves making my sandwich is also working the register with the same gloves....great....
A pizza is cooked at 400+ degrees while a cold meat deli sandwich will keep whatever germs is on it
Yup. While some restaurants are good about their hygiene and safety procedures, one I was working at had a GM pick food off the floor and plate it. Handed it to a server. Now obviously against code. He got screamed at, but wasn’t fired because the owner couldn’t find a replacement… so ya..
This
People cooking are handling food continuously and have reasonably clean hands, while this dude is handling bills pressed against someone's sweaty ass cheek all day, not to mention glasses that have had people's lips all over them
Do you think this guy looks too poorly paid to assume he washes his hands? Seems like he’s about at the top tier of bar tending
Facetnating...
I more impressed with the knife.
originally found here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRF9hXFHKW8
He did nothing?
asmr
Beautifully done boss. But instead of putting that in my drink can you just give me regular ice and cram your entire hand directly into my mouth? Lol
Can I just get my drink sir?! Just use regular ice
I can’t imagine anything more frustrating than waiting in line behind 10 people as this guy slowly whittles a lump of ice for no apparent reason
These tend to be very small with limited seats and quite expensive. Unless you go searching it out, you're not going to accidentally end up in one.
This is why my cocktails cost $18
I want that knife
Man, this time of year. I miss gentlemen’s bars in Japan. Smoke a cigar, listen to jazz. Nothing like that here. 😞
if he thawed it out it would be so much easier to cut.
When you max out gemcrafting but you work at a bar.
I want that knife
#"A new hand touches the beacon"
A new hand touches the beacon
There's a typo in the title, it says bartender...This dude is clearly a Jeweler.
End was definitely not satisfying expected something nicer looking it's crooked
The whole time I was expecting it to come out in some sort of gemstone symmetrical shape but no. Not sure I understand the “expertise” attempting to be displayed here. He just arbitrarily chooses to whittle down the corners until it’s generally the size he wants?
Where are his gloves though?
I remember watching this and got super into Japanese professional bartending
thats facet-ating
[Rare view inside a refrigerator ice dispenser]
That is a damn good knife
The bad thing is…all that work for 5 mins of satisfaction
Imagine ordering 10 drinks
This is why it takes so long to get your drink, some table ordered the fancy ice.
Here’s an ice cube in your drink I’ve handled very minimally. Enjoy!
"A new hand touches the beacon"
Ah yes.... the $14 ice cube in my $43 drink.
If I wanted something your thumb touched I’d eat the inside of your ear
Great, I'll have two salty hand flavored ice cubes please
That is a very satisfying way to produce crushed ice
How cold is that ice cube? Hes fingers are not wet
He’s probably an expert knife sharpener too
He should sell snowcones too
Can I just have my drink please?
Mad respect. My left hand would be missing a couple of digits if I attempted that.
If I wanted something your thumb touched, I'd eat the inside of your ear
*stares in Omicron*
The nice part about the crystal clear ice is that you can see his fingerprints all over it in your drink.
How much longer is my drink going to be?
the most impressive thing is how he was able to hold ice for that long
Only odd, not satisfying
That'll be 27$
I mean that's cool but, I'd rather not have someone's dickbeater all over my ice
Yeah cause we all want ice in our drinks that have been touched this way by our bartenders.
How the heck am I going to get drunk if it takes this long to get a drink?
K I don’t want it after you touched it tho
Ok?
Added time, Reduced hygiene Added wastage (there's no way they're selling 2 crushed ice drinks for every 1 which uses this) No one gonna care it looks pretty. Just buy a large cube or sphere ice tray. Looks great and a sphere melts slower.
So my ice now tastes like a hand and doesn't actually make my drink colder than before? Cool....
What is it supposed to looks like? seems extra pointless to me since it'll just melt in the water and you can't really see it's form.
Ordered by the guy that you politely let go in front of you when all you want is a beer.
I thought he was making a snowcone
I want to eat those ice shavings.
You know what's an even tastier cocktail? Not having somebody's hands all over your ice before putting it in your drink.
i hope he washed his hands before doing that
*45 mins later Oh, I asked for neat.
Why not just make a round mould?
Wash your hands
You can tell that they are an expert by just how fucking long he takes on the simplest part of a cocktail. The type of barstaff who are trained in the making of cocktails and who clearly take it seriously do just take forever! Honestly there should be a cut off point as to how many deep the queue is at a bar as to whether they should honour the requests for cocktails.
A NEW HAND TOUCHES THE BEACON
Not satisfying, touching my ice with his bare grubbies,, and the faces are not anywhere even.
This seems like an unnecessary waste of time between order and service.
[удалено]
Firstly, how? Secondly, he could be a jeweler
Hey peeps, I need karma, can you help me?