Air-n-Water.com Blog

It took a while for me to figure out what makes beverages look so dazzling in magazine ads. Ordinary liqueurs and sodas seem to pop from the page with a refreshing glimmer that compels me to drink something cold. The secret is crystal clear ice cubes. Clear ice cubes reflect more light, showcasing the color of the drink at full brilliance. The ice clarity is noticeable in cocktails, since several types of liquids are mixed. Clear ice displays textures so you can fully experience bubbly carbonation, juicy fruit pieces, and fancy glassware.

In the past, we’ve had bartenders and cocktail blogs test out the NewAir ice maker suite—the most common lament was the cloudiness of the ice. Freezer ice also comes out cloudy in the center. It’s time-consuming to make crystal clear ice using a conventional freezer, requiring distilled water and a lengthy boiling process. Short of purchasing professional machine or spending hours by your freezer, there isn’t a convenient solution to consistently supply a household with clear ice.

NewAir recently engineered a countertop ice maker model that makes 28 pounds of crystal clear ice daily. The NewAir AI-130S ice maker has trademark portability and compact design of the other ice makers. This crystal clear ice maker provides the crystalline cubes that mixologists and cocktail fiends covet. Try out the NewAir AI-130S ice maker to turn ordinary mixed drinks into lovely libations.

Have you ever used crystal clear ice?
Does it matter what ice looks like?

Cocktail connoisseurs Dinah and Joseph tried out a NewAir ice maker! They reviewed the ice maker on their liquor and spirits blog, Bibulo.us. The results were documented using pen, photo, and video. Bibulo.us turned let the ice maker churn out a few batches of large sized ice, before testing out a few intriguing cocktail recipes.

Test I: Stirred

The thimble-shaped ice held up well when it was stirred into a Liberal. It chilled the liquids very quickly, without over diluting it. The Liberal consists of equal parts whiskey and Italian vermouth, plus 3 dashes of Amer Picon and 1 dash of orange bitters. The Liberal is a classic; the citrus cocktail has been drunk since the 18th century. The ice’s large surface area and fast freeze time places it in the category of “wet ice.” Wet ice cools down liquids quickly, simply stir it into a cocktail and then strain the liquid out. If you leave the ice in and over-stir the mixed drink, it will quickly taste watery. See the video below:

Test II: Shaken

The NewAir ice maker’s bullet shaped ice has a hole down the middle that makes it a little fragile while making shaken cocktails. Dinah & Joseph whipped up the Last Word, a hitherto unknown cocktail for me. It’s a libation that dates back to the Prohibition days. The Last Word has a sweet-and-sour blend of flavors and a verdant, earthy undertone, matched by its cool green glow. To make your own Last Word, shake equal parts of gin, fresh-squeezed lime juice, green Chartreuse, and maraschino liqueur with ice. Here’s how the ice looked after a good shake:

Despite the breakage, our reviewer reported that not too many ice flecks made it through the tumbler’s strainer and the cocktail was nicely chilled.

Test III: Crushed

The brittle ice bullets from the NewAir ice maker were easily smashed into crushed ice. See Dinah’s video below:

Do you like to make cocktails?

What type of ice do you prefer?

Picture and Video Credits: The Last Word cocktail, retrieved from examiner.com; everything else retrieved from metagrrrl.com.

A Washington D.C. based blog agreed to try out the NewAir AI-100SS ice maker and share their results. Scofflaw’s Den is a liquor blog with a Prohibition era motif, written by mixologist extraordinaires SeanMike and Marshall (www.scofflawsden.com). The self-proclaimed scofflaws have intended their blog to be “online speakeasy of potent potables and other pabulum.”

They demonstrated the ice maker’s dimensions by using booze bottles! The NewAir AI-100SS ice maker measures a little larger than a cubic foot. But you could also describe it as being a bottle of Ransom Old Tom Gin wide x a bottle of Pimm’s tall x a bottle of Voyant liqueur deep.

The scofflaws found the ice to be less than ideal for making cocktails. When adding the ice to stirred cocktails, the ice chilled the drink quickly but added a little dilution. Timing is key, even for bootleg aperitifs. For shaken cocktails, the bullet shape of the ice made it break a little too quickly. However, they thought the ice maker was useful for non-alcoholic drinks and for tailgates. Since you fill up the water tank in the ice maker yourself, you can add filtered or bottled water to make sure the ice has a fresh taste. I’d like to think that 1920s moonshine might taste slightly better cooled and watered down!

Have you used NewAir ice makers to make ice for cocktails?
What’s your favorite chilled beverage, alcoholic or non-alcoholic?

Cocktails require ice, and lots of it! A dedicated icemaker is a great addition to any bartending set up at home. Ice is used for cocktail shakers, simple mixed drinks, and blended tiki drinks. For those who either don’t want to or can’t set up an integrated ice maker through their plumbing, a portable ice maker is an ideal solution.

Making ice at home eliminates the hassle of lugging large bags home from the supermarket. Portable ice makers can be placed outside on patios, wet bars, or even poolside. Imagine a cooler full of sodas where the ice could be continually replaced! Portable ice makers can also be used at first-aid tents at outdoor events and concerts, as long as there’s a generator or power source nearby.

Liquor Snob (http://www.liquorsnob.com), a site dedicated to “all things alcoholic,” gave our NewAir AI-210W countertop ice maker a spin! Liquor Snob’s webmaster Jake noted that the NewAir AI-210W makes ice super quickly. Setup for the ice maker is pouring water into the tank and plugging it in. In less than 10 minutes of Jake’s first trial, the ice maker made a batch of ice. Another benefit to the NewAir icemaker is its portable design, with inverted handles on the sides. Try out a NewAir portable ice maker for at home bartending. Our serving suggestion? Quench the last drop out of summer with a minty, ice cold mojito!

Do you use ice for your mixed drinks and cocktails?

Fancy bar drinks require ice for shaking, mixing, or blending, so we contacted cocktail aficonado Doug about trying out our NewAir countertop icemaker. Doug owns Killing Time, a business that arranges murder mystery scenarios for cocktail parties. Like live-action Clue, every guest is assigned a character profile to act out during the event. Partway through the cocktail party, a guest is “murdered” and the others try so solve the mystery…and reveal the culprit! His regularly updated blog, Pegu (http://www.killingtime.com/), discusses “Pegus, and other ramblings on the cocktail life.”

Below is his video of the NewAir AI-210SS going through an icemaking cycle. It’s a portable stainless steel ice maker that makes 35 pounds of ice per day. The first 12 ice pieces are produced in seven minutes.

Doug taps into some key insights in his review:

• The ice from this icemaker comes out at exactly 32°, which is considered “warm ice” for cocktail making standards. The style and temperature of ice is a personal preference for bartenders. Some prefer extremely cold ice, while others prefer temperatures closer to the freezing point. Doug points out that warm ice, especially in the bullet form that the NewAir makes, chills drinks the most quickly due to its relatively large surface area. Colder ice require more shaking, which can make the drinks a few degrees chillier but also dilute them in the process.
• Our NewAir AI-210 icemakers are an affordable solution for at people building bars at home who don’t have available plumbing for a built-in machine. They’re small enough to sit countertop and are definitely priced for people on a budget.
• For people who bartend or prepare cocktails on the go, the NewAir AI-210 icemakers are ideal! The countertop icemaker can be attached to a power inverter, so your car can power it for camping, tailgating, or BBQs.

When we work with bloggers for reviews, they will typically include a disclaimer alongside their review. It simply explains that the unit was sponsored by Air & Water, but the blogger’s opinion is entirely their own. I really liked the mascot Doug uses on the site to disclose that he’s writing a review on a comped product: the Liquor Fairy. Luckily, the Liquor Fairy beat his wings with enough fervor to deliver our icemaker into his hands!