Fancy Ice Is the Best New Hotel Room Service Flex

Next time you call down for room service, make sure to ask for the good ice.

After checking into their room at Dorado Beach in Puerto Rico, guests may “ring” for the property’s specialty coconut ice cubes. Ideally, the ice is served with a couple fingers of Ron Del Barillito Autobiografía, a cask-aged rum made exclusively for the Ritz Carlton Reserve property.

From Australia to Japan to Canada, standard buckets of ice are out and fancy ice is in, as hotels around the world serve up this refreshing amenity in cool and unique ways. It’s an extension of the mini bar, upgraded and elevated to meet travelers’ discerning tastes.

Paul McGee, minibar consultant for the soon-to-open Lafayette Hotel in San Diego, and a well known mixologist, says, “The modern mini bar has evolved a lot over the last decade, placing a greater emphasis on small batch, often local spirits,” which are a key focus of the guest rooms’ minibars at the Lafayette.

In addition to the 30-something spirit offerings available in each room, the Lafayette Hotel will deliver ice — the size of which is entirely dependent on the type of cocktail — on demand. For Moscow mules or tropical drinks, a bucket of pebble ice will be delivered;  meanwhile, guests who want to mix up an Old Fashioned or Negroni can call down for a tray of large rock ice.

Jeremy Metzroth, the food and beverage director at QT Sydney, says his team has  noticed a steady increase in guest demand for in-room cocktails. As such, they’ve outfitted the rooms with mini bars containing cocktail kits, but they also make an in-room mixologist — complete with fancy ice at no additional charge — available for those who’d prefer to leave the drink-making to the experts.

Related: The Best Ice Cube Trays for Cocktails, Coffee, and More

Ice quality is of paramount importance to the sipping experience at QT Sydney. The Australian flagship property works with Bare Bones Ice, a premium ice-making company focused on making handcrafted, crystal clear ice. The ice is monogrammed with the property’s logo, but it’s not just the monogram that sets this ice apart. “Large, perfectly clear ice chills the drink faster without excessive dilution,” says resident mixologist at QT’s Gowings Bar, James Locatelli.  “It maintains the integrity of the cocktail for longer, making it an essential element for a refined drinking experience.”

Indeed, ice partnerships are becoming increasingly popular as hotel beverage programs consider all that goes into making an elevated proper cocktail. “Ice size (and clarity) matters immensely,” says Anthony Schmidt, a partner of Lafayette Hotel, and its co-beverage director. “The bigger and clearer the ice, the slower it melts. This translates to more precise and arguably elite cocktail production.” Lafayette’s Super Rocks will be carved by hand in-house, but the hotel will outsource spheres and other ice shapes from a local vendor.

Sea Island, a luxury hotel in Georgia, relies on “The Gainesville Ice Doctor” to provide its guests with several different types of ice on demand, including the hottest new ice form, which features custom Sea Island logoed ice stamps on 2-inch cubes that are designed for cocktails. Nic Wallace, Sea Island’s lead bartender, says using crystal clear ice cubes is a feature of a well-made drink, and it’s also an aesthetic choice.

The Drake Oak Brook outside of Chicago recently rolled out a new ice partnership with Fat Ice to make hand-crafted artisanal ice that guests can order via room service. The ice delivery comes with a cocktail shaker, Fat Ice ice cubes ( which are size-dependent based on the cocktail), garnishes, and mixers. Meanwhile, in Upstate New York, Wm. Farmer and Sons just started working with Twin Lakes Ice Company, a local company trained by Hundredweight Big Ice, which has been showing up in various forms — high-ball spears, two-inch cubes — in New York City bars and restaurants since 2011. At the hotel in Hudson, the clear ice is available on demand to guests in either crushed or cubed form.

Related: Why the Shape of the Ice in Your Drink Matters

But not all hotels are choosing to rely on premium ice companies, The Ritz-Carlton Nikko in Japan takes advantage of its natural resources, using mountain runoff water that has frozen to provide ice service for guests. Huge slabs of the ice are harvested by natural ice farmers and eventually turned into different shaped cubes to be used in whiskey cocktails as well as other drinks.

Even hotel rooms that don’t feature minibars, like the JW Marriott Edmonton, are stepping up their ice game. ice game. In each room, guests have the opportunity to order off a special ice menu, choosing from frozen infusions such as spice (cinnamon and ginger), olive (green olive and celery), citrus (lemon and lime), and large cubes for spirit-forward drinks. The made-to-order ice can be enjoyed with mixers and spirits available for purchase through room service.

Serious minibars that refuse to be content with the standard bucket of ice are changing the cocktail hour. As the Lafayette team dreamed up the in-room beverage center, Anthony Schmidt, a partner of the hotel and its co-beverage director, says they imagined themselves “making drinks in the room, enjoying the environment (maybe while our significant other was getting ready for an evening of fun), letting time slip.

For more Food & Wine news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on Food & Wine.