Review: Tovolo Sphere Ice Molds

If you’re like me, you appreciate a stout bourbon.  The more enamel it strips off my teeth with high octane bourbon goodness, the better.  But there’s a problem with that.  First, I don’t like warm drinks that aren’t made from beans grown in Columbia.  Second, some of these high proof bourbons are actually better with a splash of water.

But no one wants to throw a bunch of cubes into an expensive glass of bourbon only to have them melt in a matter of minutes, leaving you with a mildly bourbon flavored watery mess.

The solution?  Simple:  the ice sphere.  A new trend at high-end bourbon bars, the large ice sphere or cube allows you to cool down your bourbon with a large 2-3″ piece of ice.  The larger surface area exposes the bourbon to the ice, but the large volume of the sphere or cube keeps the ice from melting too quickly, allowing you to sip your drink longer before the ice melts too much and reduces your drink to nothing.

Tovolo makes a set of two 2.5″ ice sphere molds that work perfectly in a rocks glass of your favorite top shelf libation.  They’re easy to use…just fill them with water, put them in the freezer, and a few hours later, run a bit of warm water on them and they pop out beautiful ice spheres for your drinking enjoyment.

I tested these with Colonel E.H. Taylor Small Batch Bourbon that clocks in at 100 proof.  I sipped on a three finger pour for a good 25 minutes and there was only minimal melting in the glass…just enough to open up the bourbon.  It worked so well that I poured a second glass on the same cube and had plenty of ice left over when I finished that as well.

If you like your bourbon, or any other drink, on the rocks, give this a shot ( no pun intended.) A set of two runs $10.95 on amazon.com.

There are plenty of alternatives out there.  There are large cubes, other sphere molds, whiskey rocks, etc.  I will publish reviews of many of them over the coming days as I have the opportunity to test them out.