Ice Molds
Ice is exceptionally important to cocktails and mixed drinks. Cocktails are served either cold or hot, rarely hot, and almost always ice cold. Excluding the hot drinks and a small grouping called Scaffas (where ice is excluded in the recipes), good drinks call for good ice. You don't need to hand carve diamonds into crystal clear ice or harvest your own Nunavut snow to press into ice molds. But you do want ice that doesn't stink, ice that is easy to measure volumetrically, and which has an estimatable melting speed. Ice that looks nice is a bonus and not hard to do.
Ice is one of those bizarre rabbit holes you’ll venture into as you get better at mixing drinks. Ice has a huge effect on the quality of a drink. In order to make better drinks, you’ll need to have control over your ice. It is a deep and fascinating rabbit hole which we’ll avoid for now, except to say that the size and shape of your ice matters. Decent water, of course, matters too.
You don’t need to make ice with fancy water. If you like the water you drink from the tap, use that. If you need to filter it, make your ice with filtered cold water - not hot.
On the topic of size and shape, smoother ice melts slower than jagged, rough, or angular ice, since it has a lower surface-to-volume ratio. Larger ice also melts slower.
You’ll want to use different types of ice, both in shape and size, for various styles of drinks, different mixing techniques, and presentation purposes. Start off simple with a goal of better ice of two types: smaller and larger. Good ice molds help to make the process of ice making easier and better.
What to look for in an ice mold
There are four key attributes I look for in an ice mold:
- Shape: Ice is used in the preparation and service of drinks. It doesn’t matter what the ice looks like when you’re preparing a drink, but it can increase the visual appeal when serving a drink. For that reason, I like a simple, utilitarian shape for ice - either cubes or spheres. Depending on the glassware you are serving drinks in, you’ll want to choose an ice mold that makes ice that fits nicely in the glass. An oversized cube in a small glass can look ridiculous, or that big sphere might not even fit!
- Ice size: Specifically, I am interested in two things. First, is the resulting ice a size that can use to calculate in my head the amount of dilution I am adding to a drink? An ice mold that makes 1 oz of frozen water is great! Second, is the ice too big to fit nicely in my glass?
- Ease of removal: Does the ice cube out of the mold easily in one piece
- Compactness: My ice is made in the same freezer my family uses, so space is limited. It's good if the ice mold is a compact shape and if I can stably stack molds on top of each other.
My recommendation
I recommend starting with 2 molds for regular 1.25” cubes and 1 mold for larger 2” cubes.
The 
The 
The ice molds are very similar to each other. They are both made of silicone, have little compartments for the ice, they can be stacked, and they are stable on my freezer shelves. It is easy enough to fill the molds with water and equally easy to remove the ice.
Both of these ice molds are made of silicone, which will absorb odors. After multiple weeks of filling and emptying the ice molds, I can stick my nice close to them and get a whiff of “freezer
smell.” I’ve never noticed this smell imparting any off-taste or scent to drinks, but I still wash them every couple of weeks. If anything, this is just to remove the white mineral deposits that start to appear on the ice
molds. The minerals come from my filtered tap water and aren’t of any concern to me. Some folks highly recommend the 
Just wash your silicone mold and go about your business. Occasionally wash them with vinegar to get rid of smells.
You don’t need ice spheres to start off unless you really want them. I don’t have a clear recommendation for spherical molds. I’ve have 4 
In total, I have 4 ice spheres, 2 large cube molds, and 6 regular cube molds. It is not uncommon for me to plead for one of the neighbors to bring over ice, or if I'm having a party, to pick up bags of
ice. But if you're just getting started, start small and only pick up the 2 of the
As you advance your cocktailian techniques, you'll want a 
And remember: mixed driinks are usually diluted 20%, and that dilution comes from your ice. Dilution is good, so use good ice.
And if you do run out of ice, you can use Tipply’s “No Ice” filter for a list of mixed drinks you can still enjoy.