What a complete load of balls!

The reason is simple: if you bought a performance sports car, would you put diesel in the fuel tank? No, you wouldn’t. So when you order some of the world’s finest drinks served in some of the world’s finest vessels, is it right to get half-melted ice or semi-slush dunked into it?

What Makes Ice Balls Better?

First up is pure math: The reduced surface area of ice means less melt and the ice-ball is frozen solid right from the core, so it keeps your drink colder and for longer.

In fact, you’ll get several drinks from a single ball and you avoid ice-melt damaging the quality of your drink.

Second up is that it’s a perfect finishing touch to your great drink. Because “OMG, this diluted pieces of ice look awesome!” said no one, ever.

The ice-ball revolution has even begun to spin out into ice spears, planks, oversize ice cubes and even ice teardrops (involving the use of balloons and a home freezer – you can guess the rest, so go on, impress your next guests!).

Making the ice from distilled, crystal clear water has meant that specialist ice suppliers are increasingly in demand, with premium ones even getting listed on cocktail menu ingredients. Ice is getting serious!

Makers and Breakers

Fortunately you don’t have to be as adept as a Ninja sword maestro (check out the video!) to cut a frozen sphere from a glacier for your ice-ball – mama machinery and handy kitchen aids are at hand to make them for you.



For the ultimate arctic crystal-ball-in-the-glass, this shiny copper device is really hard to beat:

A metal beauty shaping up to forty perfect ice balls per hour from rugged hunks is a serious piece of kit, so for home pursuits you may want to go for a simpler plastic mould, and there are a lot of these available at very little cost.

If you did fancy a crack at breaking your own ice-balls, we’d recommend a good suit of armour and appropriate ice-chipping tools. And a trip to the north pole to reduce wastage.

But please, chisel away!