To ice or not to ice, that is the question. And the answer is unclear. There are some who say never, and others who use cubes with the reckless abandon of a college springbreaker who also embraces the beer bong. Many scotch drinkers will acknowledge the “drop of water” approach if the H2O is applied with the precision of a surgeon, meted out with a dropper, heads lowered to rim level to observe like drunk scientists, shouting if a third drop emanates from the tip of the pipette, “Whoa! Whoa! You’re gonna ruin it!”
I think it’s all quite contrived in the exasperating nature of humans who are desperate to shape themselves into experts. The truth is, despite our attempt to be reductive in all things, there are many right answers to the question of ice and whisky. Like most of the spirits hobby, it comes down to what tastes and experiences you like. But you’re reading this article to see what we think, so we decided to sort the debate into a few categories for your consideration. Have a read and let us know in the comments what you agree or disagree with.
Does ice change the taste of my whisky?
Let’s tackle this one off the top. Does ice change the taste of a whisky? Yes, it does… sort of. I’d say, more accurately, it changes our perception of the taste of a whisky. In particular, what ice does is makes all the subtle and nuanced tastes less readily accessible to your buds in two ways. First of all, the chill of the ice effectively dulls your taste buds and makes you less prone to pick every element up. You could get a similar effect by swishing with Siracha between whisky sips. Secondly, as the ice melts, it dilutes your whisky, delivering a muted collection of tastes. The distillery didn’t bottle it at 28%, because, well, that ain’t a whisky.
If you are tasting whisky to taste the whisky, then don’t throw ice in it. Yet. For starters, try every whisky neat so you can explore the flavours. You are getting the spirit exactly as the distiller or bottler wanted you to taste it, so you might as well begin where they wanted you to be. Check it out neat. Then, try it with a drop or two of water to see how that opens it up or changes it. Once you know those flavours are there, if you add ice, you’re still going to locate them, though they’ll obviously be obscured by the chilly chill or diluted by the melting ice. You’ll also notice when you add ice to a whisky, the finish becomes excruciatingly brief. If you want to still have the peat in mind well after the glass is clean, you’ll only truly get that neat. The ice will completely change the texture or mouthfeel of your whisky considerably more than it will alter the flavour.
Does the shape or style of ice matter?
There are a lot of ice options out there. You can get ice pyramids, whisky balls, big cubes, little cubes, sticks, even ice shaped like penises if you’re at a stagette. You can also get molds so you can drink out of a glass made of ice. We are now getting into a realm well beyond my area of expertise.
Mixologists — people who actually know the difference between shaken and stirred — will tell you that if you want less dilution of your drink, you should use bigger ice cubes. The bigger the cube, the greater the chill it will offer but it’ll melt more slowly so your drink won’t dilute as quickly. If you want a quicker melt and more dilution of your spirit, use smaller ice or even — dare I say it — crushed ice. (Cue the hate-mail, haha!) I think if you want to go down this road to the perfect ice for scotch, you’re already further along than many on whether or not ice has a place in the whisky world. If I were to offer any advice, it might be to start with the less is more approach, but then again, I’ve never been known to be the type to jump off cliffs.
One other angle to offer is this: there is definitely a “cool” and nostalgic factor of drinking whisky “on the rocks”. For instance, if you can have a bartender take a wicked ice pick and mallet, and actually chip a chunk off a giant block of ice and put it in a glass of Glenlivet for you while you’re decked out in a tuxedo, why not? I wouldn’t say no.
What is up with the actual Rocks?
Yes, you can buy actual rocks that you put in your freezer to get cold. You put them in your whisky and they don’t melt because, well, they’re actually rocks. They’ll have the chilling effect but won’t dilute your dram. Go ahead and try them and see what you think.
Is it sacrilegious to put ice in a pricy whisky?
Okay, I don’t know how rich you are, so I can’t say where your pain point is when it comes to doling out hard-earned cash for bottles of booze. So when it comes to “pricey” whisky, we have a variable line and you’re going to have to define that for yourself. This line also changes over time. I used to buy booze based on whatever came free with it, so I made my decision based on the allure of a ball cap, tee shirt, or key chain bottle opener. Nowadays, I buy scotch based on the actual scotch and probably spend more than I should.
If you have a lovely bottle of affordable scotch, you may be more inclined to adulterate its as-bottled flavour profile with ice. These ubiquitous scotches are enjoyable, replaceable, and unburdened by questions such as, “Dare I put ice in this?” Who cares? Drop in a cube and enjoy.
Conversely, a more expensive or rare scotch might have you throwing the brakes on the ice train. Afterall, you paid all that money for a bottle of scotch and its significant value likely warrants more careful drop by drop consideration. One of the justifications for buying more expensive whisky is each bottle’s specificity. You want to appreciate the influences of particular casks and cut marks and terroir, begging the question, why would you crush all that by making it a slushee?
So where is the price line between ice and no ice? For each of us, this is a unique bar unique to our bar and our wallet. For me, I always have a few bottles of ice-worthy scotches where I can add a cube or two and swish them about while watching reruns of The Wire. I also have some really great cask strengths and unique bottlings that I want to continue to explore. In other words, don’t have only one bottle of scotch at a time.
This is a great reason to build a healthy collection of scotch bottles. You can determine on your shelf which scotches are icers and which are not, which are for making a Rob Roy and which are neat drinkers. You know your friends: some like to talk about scotch nuance and cask influence; others want to talk about other stuff while you try to get them to stretch their whisky boundaries; others still are looking for shots of Tennessee Whiskey. Don’t judge, just have something for everyone when you’re hosting. If they want ice, give them an icer.
Does cask strength or high ABV whisky stand up to ice better?
Some scotches are bottled at higher ABV and others lower. The higher ABV will typically take a drop of water or two to adjust to the taste you’re looking for. High ABV can sometimes be a shock to the untrained nostril out of a nosing glass when the first whiff is alcohol burn. Likewise, that first sip of a 60.8% single cask can light your throat on fire.
Some get used to the cask strength bottlings and others never really warm to all that burning. To each their own. As cask strength will often benefit from water, it’ll also stand up to ice that much better than a traditional 40-46% bottling. It can take the dilution in stride as it has the room to do so.
That being said, there’s a reason they released that cask as a single, specific bottling, or that single malt at the cask strength level. They wanted you to taste all that it had packed in there. Similarly, there’s a reason you bought it at that strength. Perhaps it was so that you could add ice?
The question for you is whether you want to savour the specificity of that cask strength or single-cask bottling or whether you consider it like a can of condensed orange juice that you can stretch into a whole jug. The answer can also lie somewhere in between and that will be for you to experiment with and find the sweet spot. In this regard, the existential question is: Why did I buy this whisky at high ABV?
First Timer or Many Timer
As stated earlier, if it’s your first time tasting a particular expression of whisky, nose it and taste it neat. Let it linger. You’ll be able to catch a lot more happening in your glass and it’ll last a lot longer. You’ll also get better at tasting whiskies the more you do this. Look at some tasting notes or talk with others about what they are finding in that whisky. As soon as someone says “cloves,” you’ll be amazed at how you suddenly notice the cloves in there. Tougher to do if you’ve iced it down.
In particular when approaching whisky neat, you’re going to get the true mouthfeel of the whisky — the oiliness of the distillation cut marks, the character of the oak, the brininess of the coastal distillery. If you know what I’m talking about, then you’re okay to have that whisky you’re reminded of again, this time with some ice in it if you like. But every whisky drinker deserves to try a new whisky neat the first time round and catch the unique mouthfeel.
Here’s another take. There is something to be said for giving non-scotch drinkers some whisky on ice to get them to come around, if you really want to. A relatively inexpensive ex-bourbon barrel scotch with a cube of ice can entice some dedicated bourbon drinkers to the scotch world. You might even get a “this ain’t bad” from a dedicated Buffalo Trace fan.
Does my current activity have a bearing on ice acceptability?
The question of ice or no ice can be addressed by the accompanying activity of your scotch drinking. If you are doing a scotch tasting, then please — for obvious reasons, I should hope — DO NOT ask for ice. Adding ice in this case would be like going for sashimi and asking them to fry it up for ya.
Now, say you buy a decent bottle at the above scotch tasting, and a few days later, you’re rotating your tires and you’re having a glass while you spin your lugs off and on… put it on ice. It’ll last longer and no one is in your garage with you to give you shit, and you like the taste of it as it dwindles down, tire by tire.
Same scotch. Different situation. Both acceptable.
So, in the end, should I put ice in my whisky?
Maybe.
