BourbonBlog.com has noticed the recent trend of designer spherical “ice balls” made for cocktails and mixology. With a perfect sphere giving less surface area, your cocktail or Bourbon stays cold without the ice melting so quickly.
Maker’s Mark recognized the trend and created their own plastic signature ice ball maker mold as the 2010 holiday gift to Maker’s Mark Ambassadors. Perfect timing and for a plastic design, this mold makes some great ice balls and easy to use.
There are Japanese brands that charge several hundred to over a thousand dollars for molds and solutions. Leave it the American ingenuity at Maker’s Mark Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whisky for quite a gift! Bill Samuel’s Jr. calls it “the ultimate bourbon ball” in this “spirit of unconventionality” in his holiday wishes to Maker’s Mark Ambassadors.
Thanks, Maker’s Mark for delivering Maker’s 46 to us in 2010 and a way to make sure that we have some “Bourbon Balls” this Christmas (Bourbon not included in this gift).
If you have used this Bourbon Ball ice Maker, we’d love to hear how you like it, post in comments below!
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PATRIC J RAJ
As i read tru your bourbon ball makers, i am intrested to purchase a few for my personal use. pls come back to me as soon as possible.
Marcus
The Whiskey Ice Co. has an ice ball maker that creates 2.6″ ice balls and it is $399, less than half of the other “ice ball makers”. The problem with the plastic and silicone molds is that the ice balls tend to crack easily and that makes them melt faster. Here is the link for The Whiskey Ice Co. http://www.whiskey-ice.com/component/virtuemart/ice-ball-maker/2-6-ice-ball-maker-1-detail.html?Itemid=0
George
Got one of these from Maker’s. Getting the spheres out requires patience. Otherwise, a great freebie. Occasionally they break in half. I found this frustrating until I realized that a hemisphere was the perfect size for a slowly consumed, two-finger serving of bourbon. A sphere will outlast any single drink.
LONNY
HOW THE HECK DO YOU FILL THESE MOLDS WITH SUCH A SMALL FILLING PORT ?
Wes Royer
One of my favorite ambassador gifts, but damn hard to fill all the way with water (I ended up with half-spheres!) and even harder to get the ice out of the trays (even when run under hot water).
Matthew
I found this red ice mold at my local thrift store for $.49…lucky me! TWO HINTS: 1- Use DISTILLED water if you want CLEAR ice balls (tap water makes cloudy ice). 2- To FILL the tray easily, just fill the BOTTOM tray with water up to near the top of the tray, and gently place the TOP tray (the tray with the small holes in it) slowly onto the bottom tray, and press down slowly and the water will rise up into the top half of the ice ball mold. This is SCIENCE at work (water displacement…Thanks SHELDON from Big Bang Theory!). Do this over your sink and let the excess water run down the drain, and blot the extra water off with a paper towel. I place my mold on a plastic plate in the freezer so any water that drips down can be rinsed off. It takes about 2-3 hours for my mold to freeze solid. These ice balls were featured in the new Star Trek movie, and also on an episode of Bar Rescue. ENJOY!
Ice Cube Machine
No longer do you have to goto the fridge for countless upon countless ice cube trays and emptythem into a jar.
365 Beers
Matthew – I will definitely try your method! MAN… I love the ice balls that come out of this but could NEVER figure out how to fill it. Last night I tried for 30 minutes and was about to throw them away. after these ice balls are frozen I will pull the tray out and try your method – thanks for the tip! What an “AH HA moment”… Duh…