Frozen Drink Machines and Chilling Drinks - Keeping it Cool without a Machine

Measured Advice: Chilling

Chilling: Keep it Cool without Resorting to a Frozen Drink Machine

When a cocktail doesn't bite your throat, it's either too warm or too sweet - and more often than not, it's too warm. Although there are no secrets to making the perfectly chilled cocktail, there are a few tricks short of hauling in a frozen drink machine. Skimp on one of these tips and you'll sacrifice the chilled edge that cocktails rely on so heavily.

Disparaging comments aside, a frozen drink machine is one of the only ways to chill a drink without adding water to the mix. But frozen drink machines aren't present in many bars, and the ones that can afford them financially may decide frozen drink machines are not an investment in style that they want to make.

Many people claim that shaking a drink with ice is the best way to chill a cocktail without over diluting it. Although it's true that shaking will make a cocktail colder faster, the physical means by which it works remains the same as for a stirred cocktail. In other words, you're still adding water to the drink through the melting of ice. If you want a properly chilled cocktail - one that is as cold as possible - it will take the same amount of melted ice, regardless of whether you shake or stir it.

If you're wary of a bartender's ability to chill a drink such as a Sidecar, ask to have it shaken. You'll probably get it colder, but not stronger. Whether you're shaking or stirring, a drink's ice should clink against the mixing container. If you're shaking a drink, your goal should be to chip the ice against the mixer. When stirring drinks, make certain that each ice cube makes at least one trip from the top to the bottom of the glass. Stir a drink until the glass becomes cold.

Ice, of course, is a key element in chilling a cocktail. The preferred method of obtaining this ubiquitous ingredient is from the store. Opt for the cubes made in the irregular organic forms. This arrangement allows for the ice to be easily compacted in the shaker giving you more surface area to work with. Once at home make sure you store your ice in the coldest freezer possible until you are ready to use it.