Customize Your Cocktail With The Help Of An Ice Stamp

In recent days, restaurants and cocktail bars have been using ice stamps to brand drinks and elevate their presentations, a strategy particularly geared toward social media users looking for unique and aesthetically pleasing updates to their feeds. Though the concept is simple, the icy impressions can make a big difference between drinks served without interesting ice designs and those presented with a special touch.

Fancy cocktails needn't be reserved for the higher-end establishments you visit, however. Bring a touch of luxury to your home bar set-up with your own ice stamp. The easy-to-use device can add refined elegance to your cocktails, and your guests will soon be marveling at the extra step you have taken to pour a beautiful drink.

To imprint designs into an ice cube, bartenders simply must press an engraved stamp into a block of ice until the surface melts and leaves behind the indentation of the intended graphic. No extra heating is required, though, if you need to stamp many ice cubes at once, it can be helpful to place the stamp into a shallow dish of warm water in between each pressing.

Read more: 13 Liquors Your Home Bar Should Have

Making An Icy Mark

Start your customization process by making the best ice you can. Use clear ice cubes for the greatest visual effect, and, to preserve imprinted designs, pour your drinks around the cubes to keep the stamped surface as clean as possible. Though traditional wax seal stamps can also be used for this ice-branding purpose, the effect may not last as long as an ice-specific stamp that has been made with a deeper engraving.

Ice stamps are often thicker than regular stamps yet remain easy to press into the cold surface. Many companies offer custom designs online so that you can have your own initials or family emblem ready to press into the ice cubes you have prepared. While you can also purchase custom molds that include an imprint at the bottom of silicone trays, the use of brass, copper, or aluminum stamps with ideal thermal properties can result in a longer-lasting and more visible design.

You'll find that stamps can either contain one design or one piece can be outfitted with several options, giving bartenders choices when it comes to imprinting ice. Your drinks will certainly never look the same once you start pressing initials or intricate patterns into the ice cubes you serve!

Read the original article on Tasting Table.