Over the last couple of years, this topic has once again reared its ugly head, as numerous videos have appeared on social media with people sticking their fingers into their drinks to remove the ice and show what liquid is left in their glass. Whilst of course performing ‘click bait’ shock and outrage.
So it seemed like the right time to hop on the old soap box and talk about this topic.
A Quick Rant
We could end this article right now, as the simple answer to the question in the title is usually ‘no’. However, leaving it at that won’t help address the broader misunderstanding. Instead, it would be more helpful to give you some answers to reply to the misinformation out there.
My career started in the UK during the early days of the cocktail renaissance of the mid to late 1990s. While many assumptions about British food and drink are completely wrong, the idea that we don’t put ice in our drinks, especially back then, is very true. In a pub you’d be lucky to get a two meager ice cubes in your G&T, so when cocktail bars began to open, you’d often watch a guest reach into their glass and pull out a handful of ice and dump it onto the bar top, or if you were lucky, into an ashtray.
Those who thought they could hack the system would simply ask for “no ice” in their drink when ordering. We’re not talking about a Daiquiri or a drink that works as well ‘up’ as it does on the rocks. I’m even talking about simple drinks like a G&T, or the like. I’m honestly feeling the frustration starting to course through me just thinking about interactions like this. Being forced to produce a tall and tepid glass of misery for a guest who thinks they’re going to get more for their money with no ice taking up space in their glass.
Predictably it’d then be the same person questioning the size of the measure of spirit in their drink after they’ve asked you to drown their drink with mixer to fill up their glass and they “can’t taste the gin” in their drink.
It’s so depressing when you’re trying to deliver a quality product and experience for a guest but their ignorance insists that you serve them absolute slop in a glass, and then have them complain about it.
OK, enough ranting. Let’s look at science, facts and numbers instead.
More ice, less melting
First off, let’s deal with the science of using lots of ice. When you add a lot of ice to a drink, you drop the temperature of the liquid around the ice very quickly, with minimal melting of the ice.
Once the liquid reaches a stable temperature that’s similar to the ice that surrounds it, there’s no more energy left in the liquid to melt the ice, so the mixture of ice and liquid becomes quite stable meaning the ice will melt very slowly.
If there’s not enough ice for the liquid to be cooled down to the surface temperature of the ice, the liquid will overpower the ice, melting it rapidly. Not only does that mean the drink doesn’t reach the desired and refreshing ice-cold temperature. You’re adding all that water to your drink.
The irony here, to return to my earlier rant for a second, is that some guests would request “just a little ice” to reduce the dilution in their drink. Hopefully you can now see that that’s the best way to ADD dilution to your drink.
The logic of using a lot of ice isn’t restricted to serving drinks. It should be applied to making drinks too. When shaking drinks, fill your shaker with ice to get the drink very cold very quickly and slow the rate of ice melt so you don’t over dilute your cocktails. The same thing happens when stirring too. Allowing you to easily pinpoint the exact moment when the perfect amount of dilution has been added.
Relative Strength
If you just want to get down to the ‘bang for your buck’, you can’t use how much liquid is in your glass as a guide to how much you’re drinking.
Most cocktails have around 2oz or 60ml of spirit in them. Even at a basic 40% ABV that gives you an equivalent of 18oz or 480ml of liquid at 5% ABV, pretty similar to a premium pint of larger. While stirred down boozy cocktails will often have 3 ounces of spirit and fortified wine in them, giving you an even larger liquid serve of an equivalent beer. Let alone the fact that in the US many spirits are higher in strength than 40% ABV (80 proof). Gins are regularly between 43% and 47% ABV, and many Whiskeys are the same.
This is such a dumb way to evaluate the worth of a drink once you get to be an actual adult human. However, some people do see this is a valid sign of worth. So for those people, I hope that this gives you at least some argument to make to them. Of course this won’t answer the complaint over the price tag on spirits and cocktails, but at least it deals with the size of a ‘portion’ of cocktail or spirit.
But Cocktails Do Seem Expensive Though, Right?
So finally, we have to look at the cost of things.
If we’ve dealt with WHY a lot of ice is used for good drinks making, and the relative ‘portion’ sizes of different drinks, we’re left with one final issue to deal with. Pricing. Such as, why one ‘portion’ of beer is priced so differently to one ‘portion’ of cocktail?
Hopefully there are many of you reading this that are screaming the various answers to this question. However, if you haven’t run or owned your own bar, the answers may not be as obvious.
When you operate a bar or restaurant you sell a mixture of different products; beer, wine, cocktails, spirits, water and the rest. All these items cost different amounts but also have different relative values to the guest. There’s an expectation of the hierarchy of things.
Now here, here is actually where you’re most likely to get the best value for your money, if you’re willing to spend a bit extra you might be able to hack the system.
Just as most of your sales are made across only a few hours on particular days of the week, this is also true for what you sell too. It’s easy to understand that you’re going to sell more vodka sodas than bottles of Champagne. More glasses of white wine than pours of Cognac. So to generate the profit margin you need to be able to pay your staff and keep the lights on, those high volume items need to be making you bank. Whereas the fancy items that get sold at a rate of 1:200 will make very minimal impact on the overall margin. Therefore, usually the best value items on the menu are the most expensive!
When it comes to cocktails, there are other investments you might not immediately think about:
Skilled labor – Good bartenders aren’t born, they’re trained. Once developed, this skillset demands higher wages.
Service time – Some things take more time and effort to make. Beer is quick, and relatively unskilled to serve. Cocktails on the other hand, can be quite quick, but as a while, they’re going to be taking longer than beer and wine service. Plus you need a whole load of equipment for each bartender too.
Glassware – Cocktail glasses tend to be more fragile and more expensive. They break more often, you need a lot of different varieties and they take longer to polish. Some glasses in fancy hotel bars might cost $30 or more a piece.
Fresh ingredients – Fresh ingredients need to be prepared ahead of service, so that’s more labor costs. Plus there will always be a degree of waste.
Booze is expensive – Especially these days. It’s important to think about why though. Small producers don’t have the scale of economy. This doesn’t mean that bigger brands don’t also make some excellent products. They do! They also invest heavily in the industry to support and cultivate the growth of cocktail culture.
The agave spirit Kilinga Blanco is a good example of where the cost of a product isn’t immediately obvious. It’s made with agave capon which takes up to 12-13 years to produce. It then has to be harvested by hand, roasted, crushed, fermented and distilled twice then rested for at least 9 months before being bottled and transported via an importer and distributor to a bar. This is just one example, almost every supplier of fine products has a version of this story.
All that time, effort and investment by a supplier, but you’ll barely notice the bartender pouring an ounce or two of it into a cocktail shaker to make you your drink.
Beyond this, that drink you buy has to cover more than just the cost of its ingredients and equipment. There’s the lights, sound system, water, AC, rent, business tax, labour, security, refuse collection, insurance…and on and on… and you don’t even get charged for that glass you knocked off the table by mistake.
So spend your money where it matters most on products you actually align with. If you don’t like the service or the products, you should absolutely vote with your feet and your wallets, we are not endorsing shitty venues. Just please don’t reach into your glass and pull out the ice!
As a once owner of a successful and beloved independent bar, most owners aren’t actually rolling on a bed made of cash, you’re just a few minor disasters away from closing. That’s why chains make all the money.
Most bars and restaurants fail. So take your hard earned money and go support the ones you like, cos it aint easy out there!
As always, don’t forget to show us what you made by tagging us!
@Candra_Drinks #MakeBetterDrinks #CandraDrinks
