Creating Crystal Clear Ice for Drinks is Not as Simple as Just Freezing Water

Here’s how two new companies, Ice Cubed Hawai‘i and On the Rock Hawai‘i, work to make your cocktails even cooler.

Most ice machines freeze water quickly by surrounding it with cold air, trapping impurities and air bubbles inside. The Clinebell, retailing for $6,000, does it from the bottom up, giving air bubbles time to rise to the surface—it takes three days to freeze a 300-pound block. (In comparison, a regular restaurant machine takes about a day to make the same amount of ice.) Above, Chris Chaney of On the Rock Hawai‘i cuts the blocks into more manageable pieces.

Crystal clear ice is pretty, but it’s also denser and harder, which means it melts slower. Here, Chaney slices ice into cubes and rectangular prisms to fit Collins glasses.

photo: courtesy of on the rock hawai‘i

An ice press molds the ice into a sphere.

Chaney and Hailey Berkey, partners in The Nook Neighborhood Bistro, teamed up with Edmund Coccagna, a boat captain, to indulge their obsession with “sexy, clear ice,” says Coccagna. On the Rock Hawai‘i also offers spheres and is working on more shapes and suspending objects in the ice.

photo: courtesy of ice cubed hawai‘i

Tyler Yafuso of Ice Cubed Hawai‘i also owns Timestoppers, a 360-degree photo booth service, which he left college to start. “It’s all about aesthetics,” he says on how the two businesses are related. He recently supplied the Hawai‘i Food and Wine Festival’s launch party and sells ice to Roy’s and Nobu. Both ice companies plan on retailing cubes at supermarkets for about a dollar per piece to make your next cocktail party more chill than ever.

See more at ontherockhawaii.com and icecubedhawaii.com.

Read more stories by Martha Cheng