Yeah, about making round ice cubes ...

NOTE: At some point, I'll be moving this alcohol-infused blog over to the new domain name "canadianginic.ca" but, until then, you've earned another post for your patience. So let's talk about making spherical ice "cubes" for your cocktails, shall we?

Why spherical ice balls? Because shut up, that's why. Oh, wait, wrong blog. Because if you want to keep your cocktail cold without your crappy, bar-standard ice chips watering it down within minutes of delivery, your best bet is a single, large ice ball which represents the most efficient way of cooling that cocktail, while having the mathematically minimal surface area to reduce the melting and, consequently, to reduce the annoying watering down of your precious scotch or bourbon. (I love math. Did I mention I love math?)

I was first introduced to ice balls at the appropriately named "Ice Plant Bar" in St. Augustine, FL. by master bartender Zach Lynch who had, behind the bar, what was obviously a handmade ice ball creator:

into which you stuff a large chunk of ice, and thermodynamics does the rest, sucking the life out of the excess ice while leaving a perfectly spherical ice ball in the round cutouts between the large blobs of aluminum.

Don't believe me? Voila:

whereupon your cocktail ends up looking like this:

Yes, that's my drink, and I bought it solely because it would require Zach to make me an ice ball. Marketing, folks. Marketing. Oh, you suddenly want one of those? Well, then ...

First, you can get these babies online in various places. There's Williams-Sonoma, where you can appreciate the luxury quotient based on the price of either a 2" or 2-3/4" ice ball maker. Yow. Which is why I tracked me down a local machine shop, and I'm going to be making some of my own, but you'll have to wait a bit more for that to happen. But we're not done here.

The basis for the ice ball maker is the heat conductivity of the material used, and every one I've seen is based on aluminum, mostly for the light weight. After all, you're talking about a couple massive chunks of material, and aluminum at least allows you to be able to lift it behind the bar. But is there a better choice?  Ha ha, I'm glad you asked.

There's lots of yammering about copper, which has better heat conductivity, and there's been some misunderstanding about commercial ice ball makers made from copper. For example, here is a YouTube video, claiming that a gorgeous Macallan ice ball maker is made from copper.

You wish, dude. You only wish.

Note that, in the comments section of the above, a number of folks take that video to task for being misleading, but it would have been simple to debunk the claim, anyway. One needs only to do a bit of simple research to learn that the specific gravity of aluminum is 2.7 while, for copper, it's 8.96. Which means that an ice ball maker made from copper would weigh 3.3 times as much as an equivalent one made from aluminum. So while a copper ice ball maker would be delightful and a real conversation piece, it ain't happening anytime soon unless you lift weights.

But if you stay tuned, we here at CG HQ are in the process of manufacturing some of our own, and if you'd like one, why, yes, we can chat.

An annotated timeline of gin ...

A brief walk through history and how we got here. In the beginning, there was Brooklyn Gin:

which I purchased once upon a time on a whim at duty-free because I'd just read about it in a magazine recently and thought to myself, "Hey, I just read about that in a magazine recently." And so the obsession was born.

This led us eventually to places like the gin aisle at BevMo somewhere in California:

Dear LCBO -- this is what your stores should look like, seriously:

The delightful collection at my hotel room somewhere once upon a time, waiting for verrrrrrry careful packing:

And getting it all home in one piece -- wait, what's that Armagnac doing there, cleverly disguised?

Shortly afterwards, there was the discovery of Berkshire Mountain's Greylock and Ethereal:

And then some of my faves:

I think we're gonna need a bigger freezer ...

A couple lonely bottles all by themselves:

ASIDE: We eat well here at CG HQ -- roast Lac Brome duck with raspberry wine glaze:

Where were we? Ah, yes, a recent (and awesome) score from Pemberton Distillery in BC -- Schramm Organic Gin, with some absinthe and apple brandy thrown in for balance:

Some local Prince Edward County Loyalist gin:

Some recent discoveries from Few Spirits in Evanston, Illinois (Hi, Paul!):

with a few stragglers in the background including a recent discovery -- Journeyman Distillery's wonderful Bilberry Black Hearts Gin, and an equally incredible Uncle Val's Botanical.

And the most recent haul from a trip down south:

including the delightful sampler pack from St. George Spirits, and the astonishing Barr Hill honey gin from Caledonia Spirits in Vermont.

Have I missed anything?

And on my new wish list, a couple Austin distilleries. First, the superbly-named Genius Gin, both regular and navy strength:

and Treaty Oak Distillery, which has both a regular gin and (oh, frabjous day!) a barrel reserve:

Oh, and there's Roxor Artisan Gin, which I'd buy for the bottle alone:

An embarrassment of riches. More opining in the near future ...

Oh, wait, here's another Texas product, from Bone Spirits -- the "farm to bottle" Moody June American Dry Gin (and friends):

So many gins, so little time ...

Only in Canada, you say? Pity ...

An updated list of Canadian gins you should try before blowing any cash on imports. And away we go, in remotely geographical order ...

• Yukon Shine AuraGin
• Island Spirits Distillery
• Victoria Spirits
• Arbutus Distillery
• Pemberton Distillery's Schramm Organic Gin
• Urban Distilleries' Spirit Bear Gin
• Long Table Distillery
• Yaletown Distillery
• Deep Cove Brewers and Distillers
• Central City Brewing
• Odd Society
• The Liberty Distillery
• Okanagan Spirits
• Eau Claire Distillery
• Lucky Bastard Distillery
• Dillon's Small Batch Distillers
• 66 Gilead Distillery
• North of 7 Distillery
• Piger Henricus
• Ungava Gin
• Distillerie Fils du Roy
• The Myriad View Artisan Distillery

There's also Prince Edward Island Distillery who, annoyingly, don't even list their PEI Distillery Gin on their website.

And a few articles extolling the virtues of Canadian gin (and other spirits), at no extra charge:

• 5 Canadian craft gins to add to your liquor cabinet
• The world’s best gin is uniquely Canadian
• Ungava Gin a winner at recent World Spirits Competition 
• Ontario gin makers prosper as European producers under threat
• From PEI gin to B.C. vodka: Canada's craft-spirits boomlet
• Canadian Gin: Around the World in 80 Gins 

The things I do for you people ...