Gizmodo
If you are serious about your on-the-rocks beverages, you probably already know that ice is a major factor in constructing the perfect drink. The best ice consists of quality water and is shaped in such a way that it does not take up much surface area—which ensures that your drink does not get watered down prematurely. Fortunately for you, the pinnacle of ice-making technology is here...today! A Japanese company named Taisin has developed a mold that creates a perfect ice sphere by slowly melting a chunk of ice inside a press and then closing around it.
Once the press has closed, the sphere can be released with the flick of a switch. Apparently, it can produce 30-40 ice balls in an hour, which isn't half bad when you consider the tediousness of the process. Either way, if you have a really good scotch on hand, it is probably worth the extra effort to get things right. The mold is available in 55, 65, 70 and 80mm sizes. [Taisin via Trends in Japan]
Comments
amazing. i want one.
Those balls look as smooth as eggs.
do they have molds that do more than one at once?
Oh, what a pansy item. BEER!!
Man...Do I enjoy a smooth big ball around my mouth.
....
..
I'll take a beer
I've needed balls to drink some of the shit I've imbibed in the past.
Don't want your drinks watered down?...Drink faster.
I don't need to drink to have a good time...I just need to drink.
Now you just need this water.
Great Balls of Ice!
apart from that I got nothing
I see this, and I see ammunition that disappears without a trace, other than the bruises of course.
this is FAB
@shamoononon: Agreed.
I'd take a Guinness (Extra Stout) over "fancy" cocktails any day.
does anyone else enjoy the pressure melt effect on squeezing their teeth on an ice cube?
must be same effect as that and ice blades, etc...
One cube?... Great if you drink alone I guess...
@Kaiser-Machead: Go read Chasm City by Alastair Reynolds if you haven't already.
Why no bubbles in the ice? I didn't think that was possible. Most advertisements with zero bubble ice are actually using plastic
Which size works best as a projectile?
@Atsumi:
"I'd take a Guinness (Extra Stout) over "fancy" cocktails any day."
seriously. marry me.
@sfokevin: Seriously! The ice maker in my basement is the size of a small fridge. (Which it what I thought it was when I first saw it)
@nutbastard: Flattering. Every time I mention I drink Guinness on the internet, I get proposed to. THE BEER IS THE WOMAN. :P
@Denver_80203: You have to constantly agitate the water to prevent bubbles from staying. Used for ice sculptures and overpriced ice cubes.
+ Watch video
I have a patent pending on an "IcePod"
It's a ice mold that allows any 3-d shape probably done with over-molding.
[holdenart.com]
1. No spillage from sink to freezer.
2. No flavor transfers.
3. Flat surface not necessary (as with ice trays).
@Atsumi:
It's an extreme turn on for some reason. It says "this girl right here - this girl has balls"
Metaphorical balls, not, you know, balls balls.
What? This will not make a better drink... This just makes nifty looking ice balls to impress guests.
The amount of turbulence, the thing that actually makes your drink cold, is the same thing that waters down the drink... What you want is rough, coarsely shaped ice that will let you chill the drink FAST so that you can pour it before the ice melts. By minimizing surface area, you're going to maximize shaking required, watering your drinks down MORE. Not to mention shaking this in a steel or glass shaker will probably smash the ball to bits anyways.
@nutbastard: Careful, girls that know well enough to entice us with beer drinking are almost always dangerously clever. I always remain extra cautious around girls drinking beer. Especially if they drive a truck. Girls that drink beer and drive trucks are TROUBLE.
pansy!??!?!? beer?!?!??!?!?
i love me some beer, but there aint nothing more manly than a glass of whiskey or scotch.
where are your grandaddys right now? learn from em!
@workingonyourinvoice: I would never drive a truck. So I'm safe. (Get me near a classic American muscle car though...)
@nutbastard: And ice balls.
@workingonyourinvoice
they might be men with man boobs?:
you should get your eyesight checked. Too much computer screens and data storage runs down to the bank ...
@Sh3rpa: Had a wild turkey and ice preceded by shiner bocks at a daedelus show in austin on saturday. Mmm...
@workingonyourinvoice:
"Girls that drink beer and drive trucks are TROUBLE."
um, wtf do you think im looking for? anything less than trouble is boring : )
@nutbastard: Metaphorical my #$%. We know you like the double tea bagging.
I get the feeling that most gizmodo readers are beer drinkers. Yet, I get the feeling that most gizmodo writers go for appletinis.
Not that there's anything wrong with that ...
Your friends will have laughed and gone home before the first ball's emerged
@flyboy: NO no no, I was the guy that stores everything in a fallout bunker, no bank can withstand the apocalypse. And I'm happily engaged to a beer drinking, truck driving... Wait a minute... NOOOO!!!
(in all seriousness, she drinks margaritas, martinis, and cosmos, and drives a focus)
@workingonyourinvoice:
focus
that's what I meant.
@Sh3rpa:
AMEN, brother!!
Guinness, while wonderful stuff, is pansy stuff next to a good glass of whiskey.
Give me a fast car and some beer and watch me put my hand down my pants :D
...wait that didn't sound right
like
al bundy
not like play with ...nevermind
@workingonyourinvoice: Hey, what's wrong with a girl that drive s a truck... I have a feeling you just drive a focus.
@SecretAsianMan:
I don't think you get what this is for, this is not for ice to be used in a mixed drink. For mixed drinks the best way to go is a block of bubbly ice and an ice pick.
Spheres of ice are perfect for people who like proper drinks, like single malt Scotch, but have not yet worked up the courage to drink them neat. In this case you want ice that will get the drink cold but not water it down and ruin the flavor, which a spher eis perfect for.
Someone buy me some Sam Adam's Utopias. I have a feeling beer won't be pansy next to Whiskey and Scotch after that.
welp, i think we pretty much trashed this one up.
OK. Nobody cares about my IcePod. Fine.
If you want the good Guiness, you have to go to Dublin. And no drink is better than a local beer in Germany especially at a beer garden.
@Atsumi: I have a '65 Mustang Fastback and a case of Guinness. If you're interested. ;P
Listen to all these underage drinkers.
Ladies, you have so much to experience and explore ...
Of course for me, it still all comes back to cheap tequila shots, Jack on the (not-round) rocks, and Bud Light.
Those are some really clear ice balls. I thought if you just used distilled water you didn't get any bubbles. I've tried it, I know. Do any of you know how to get crystal clear ice with other methods?
@GeekyNerdGuy: Bah. I don't drink to get drunk anyway. I just like the taste.
I've never actually been drunk. Just one or two beers at a time.
@GeekyNerdGuy: What I don't get is I can have sex with anyone at 18...he could be 200 years old (i'd have to be hammered to the highest heavens in space) and nothing would be illegal. I could pay for a million websites of porn like rape fetishes and feet fetishes and incest fetishes but I can't take a few shots of mr. Jack Daniels...bastards!
Hello, party pooper here...
There is a fallacy in this:
"The best ice consists of quality water and is shaped in such a way that it does not take up much surface area-which ensures that your drink does not get watered down prematurely."
BUT... the less surface area, the less you are going to cool down your product.
And that my friends, is physics 101.
The ideal ice cube would be the one with the most surface area and least amount of water... Like a SPONGE ice cube (my guess... they are very hard to make).
It would melt almost instantly transfering all the latent heat of the ice to the liquid fast enough that heat from the outside glass would not counter act the cooling effect of the ice, thus getting your drink chilled quick with the most amount of ice as possible.
Next time try a glass of water with ice cubes and with crushed ice. Which one chills faster?
The ice balls are cool though.... and they would last longer than regular ice cubes. (the perfect sphere would have the least amount of surface per volume).
Now, if they could only make them hollow to fill with gin or vodka.... hummmm.
:)
@carmen89: I think that's a little ageist to say you'd have to be drunk to bang a 200yo.
What if he had time-warped or been cryogenically frozen and still looked like an in-shape 140?
@Atsumi:
"I don't drink to get drunk anyway. I just like the taste."
I drink for the taste, too, I just like to taste it 7 or 8 times in a day, which happens to get me slightly buzzed, which is unfortunate because who wants to be drunk, right? right?
Ok you got me i do drink to get drunk but only because... ok you got me, i don't know why. Here's to not confronting ones flaws!
*clink*
@carmen89:
you can in your home. perfectly legal.