Summer gardens: ice
Playng things cool: As temperatures rise in the summer months licensees need a steady supply of ice.
When the 20th century dawned, ice was still considered a novelty. Drinks were mostly cooled, if at all, by ice brought in from the Arctic in purpose-built ships. It was stored in city ice houses and delivered to caterers by horse-drawn cart alongside muffin trays and milk drays. It didn't matter which type of ice you got. You had to be lucky - or rich - to get any.
A hundred summers on and we are spoiled for choice when it comes to ice. In 2002 an increasingly sophisticated drinking culture is demanding a great variety of ice and licensees have a headache just keeping up.
Some establishments are installing three or more separate ice machines that are each designed to make different kinds of ice for different purposes. And each of these machines needs to be large enough to cope with the summer surge in demand.
You might occasionally run out of one brand or another of spirits, say, and customers will mostly forgive you, but you can't afford to run out of ice on a hot summer night.
Hubbard Ice Systems, which makes the Scotsman range of ice machines, offers the means to make no fewer than eight different styles of ice. Each type has its own chilling characteristics - the speed at which it melts - and appearance to suit a particular use. Large theme bars often have three ice machines, each producing ice for different tasks. There could be a machine producing traditional square or "dice" cubes for a variety of uses from chilling drinks to cooling bottles in wine buckets, a flaked ice machine for cocktails and food display and a Supercube ice machine primarily to create an elegant appearance when serving drinks such as gin & tonic on the rocks.
As well as dice cubes, the main styles are:
- Pillow-shaped ice cubes, such as Scotsman's Contour, have angular diamond edges that sparkle effectively in light and fill a glass well. As well as looking attractive they can create fancy effects and they display and crush easily. They are also good for bars dispensing soft drinks from the tap because the gentle curves cushion the liquid as it pours in, minimising splash-back.
- Ice flakers are for cocktail bars and restaurants that need larger amounts of flaked ice. In cocktails, such as Juleps and frozen Daiquiris, it mixes quickly and well, while on hot days it makes a wonderful bed for chilled food displays such as salads and seafood.
- Supercubes, from Hubbard's Scotsman ACM range, have been a familiar sight to barstaff for over 40 years with their instantly recognisable thimble shape and crystal clarity. Their looks, coupled with slow melting, make it a good all-round ice for a hot summer day.
- Ice crushers can be useful in smaller operations where a dedicated flaked ice machine might not be suitable because of space, plumbing restrictions or budget.
A small cocktail bar might have a dice machine alongside an ice-crusher, such as the Scotsman CF1, to maximise ice-making versatility. Cubes can then be used in drinks and the crushed ice for cocktails and food presentation.
The Scotsman range also includes other ice forms including nugget ice, Cubelet ice, Superflake and scale ice. Each has its own specialist application.
Visit www.hubbard.co.uk for more information.
Wine cooling
Summer parties see a surge in demand for chilled wines and a matching need for ice to chill them fast - cold cabinets can't chill wine at the table!
The most convenient ice for this job is either dice cubes or pillow-shaped cubes. Both can be produced by high-output modular units and are ideal for jobs such as filling wine buckets and beer bottle dumps as well as for chilling drinks in the glass.
