The great restaurateur Danny Meyer has a turn of phrase regarding hospitality. He says, “Hospitality is present when something happens for you. It is absent when something happens to you.” More than 400 hospitable establishments in the Minneapolis and St. Paul metropolitan areas have chosen to use Pure & Clear from Minnesota Ice in their cocktail programs as a component of the hospitality they provide for their guests.
Clear ice has gone from a welcome surprise and delight to the expectation of cocktail consumers, who understand that one big piece of clear ice sustains the perfect temperature and dilution of their cocktail far better than many little ice pieces. How exactly does it do that? I’m going to put my Ohio University* Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics to use here and tell you that one 2-inch square cube has exactly 24 square inches of surface area. You could take that same 2-inch cube and break it down into 64 tiny rectangular prisms that are exactly 1 x ½ x ¼ inches, and you’d have a whopping 112 square inches of ice surface area exposed to your cocktail. That sounds like one soggy cocktail!
*True story; class of 1995. Go Bobcats!
So we know why clear ice is used from a functionality standpoint. But what’s been on my mind lately is why use clear ice from a “hospitality” standpoint? Through that lens, I see Jessi Pollak, literal World Class bartender and beverage director at Soigné Hospitality, trimming an orange garnish for an old fashioned into a perfect parallelogram.* That is a choice made out of an insistence on doing things correctly, holding standards, and paying attention to every detail. Clear ice is one of those details.
*Thanks again, Ohio University.
I also think about seeing a Pure & Clear flower sphere in a cocktail out in the wild, where fingers sometimes enter the glass searching for confirmation that, “Yep, that’s real ice with a flower in it!” and overhearing the ensuing dialogue between the guest and the bartender.
Meyer also says that “hospitality is a dialogue, not a monologue.” The beauty and functionality of clear ice play a role in igniting that dialogue at places ranging from my favorite local watering hole, Brunson’s Pub in East St. Paul, to Gavin Kaysen’s world-class dining destination Demi in downtown Minneapolis.
When you support your favorite restaurant or bar, or attend a dinner party, wedding, or truly any event where people gather in the name of hospitality, you are also supporting their trusted partners. Minnesota Ice takes great pride in our role in support of our incredible customers, and these hospitable moments.
