The Thing: a Japanese ice-maker that ensures your next drink will have some serious balls
In ice, as in everything, there is an ideal form. Contrary to what cheap plastic ice trays and automated ice machines would have you believe, that form is not a cube. It’s a sphere. Round ice has less surface area than square ice, which means it melts more slowly—it’ll chill your whiskey without diluting it before you’ve had a chance to down it. The problem is that a perfect sphere is almost impossible to mould in the freezer—blame it on the properties of liquid and the forces of gravity, which not even the most ambitious artisanal imbiber can tame. But there is a solution: a novel Japanese ice maker that melts a square peg into a round hole. The two anodized aluminum halves, when soaked in hot water, gently warm ice cubes into submission in about 30 seconds, leaving one-inch ice balls in their place. $300. Williams-Sonoma, 100 Bloor St. W., 416-962-9455.
![](http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https://torontolife.com/shopping/the-thing-arctic-circles/&title=The Thing: a Japanese ice-maker that ensures your next drink will have some serious balls&picture=https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/oct12TheThing-624x393.jpg&description=[caption id="attachment_169667" align="aligncenter" width="656"] (Image: Daniel Neuhaus)[/caption]
In ice, as in everything, there is an ideal form. Contrary to what cheap plastic ice trays and automated ice machines would have you believe, that form is not a cube. It’s a sphere. Round ice has less surface area than square ice, which means it melts more slowly—it’ll chill your whiskey without diluting it before you’ve had a chance to down it. The problem is that a perfect sphere is almost impossible to mould in the freezer—blame it on the properties of liquid and the forces of gravity, which not even the most ambitious artisanal imbiber can tame. But there is a solution: a novel Japanese ice maker that melts a square peg into a round hole. The two anodized aluminum halves, when soaked in hot water, gently warm ice cubes into submission in about 30 seconds, leaving one-inch ice balls in their place. $300. Williams-Sonoma, 100 Bloor St. W., 416-962-9455.){kind=link}
$300 for round ice spheres? Really?!
Yes, $300. You get what you pay for! And believe you me, when you have a sphere of ice in your crystal whiskey tumbler and add that special aged Japanese or Scottish whiskey, you will know the difference.
You could also have your whiskey like most ordinary folks in an ordinary glass with some ordinary ice and a splash of coke!
The choice is entirely yours. My choice is the spheres at $300
M2…you’re a douche.
M2… you drink class azul margaritas don’t you?
clase azul
Indeed, to the typical self-involved, desperate-to-matter Toronto Life style-zombie, round ice just tastes . . . superior to the gauche square cubes used by the great swaths of unwashed masses. What filth they are! There’s just . . . something . . . about how those balls roll so smoothly, so elegantly against your lips and nose while you suck the juice, even moreso if someone’s watching. LOL
Because it is round, I think it can be a choking hazzard especially around children. A lot of things invented in Asia do not take into health hazzard. Highly not recommended.
I would pay $300 (or much more) to avoid having frozen balls…