For many contemporary bars, ice has become one of the most critical and complicated elements of a serious cocktail program. Good ice, which is to say clear cubes carved by hand or produced by specialty machine, not only ensures a quality cocktail but also one that meets or exceeds guest expectations. It also shows well on social media — a crucial marketing tool for the industry — and helps justify the ever-increasing prices that craft cocktails command throughout the country.
Yet balanced against an understandable desire for the best-quality, best-looking ice possible is the very real fact that premium ice requires specialized equipment and/or labor-intensive techniques to produce, leaving many bars either staring at eye-watering start-up prices or turning to dedicated ice purveyors to meet their needs.
But is good ice really all that important? Or can bars still find success without the investment? We spoke with bartenders, bar managers, and operators to get a feel for the role that ice plays in their bar programs depending on their markets, why they do or do not invest heavily in their ice programs, and how their customers do or do not respond to high-quality ice.
Need versus Nice-to-Have
In the hothouse that is the New York City cocktail scene, elaborate ice programs are often viewed as table stakes for cocktail bars, especially newcomers. For the newly launched Tigre in Manhattan’s Lower East Side, Premiere Enterprises managing partner and executive bar director William Elliott knew that a different take from his iconic
