How To Make Clear Rubik's Cube Ice For Cocktails

Cool idea for large cocktail ice - The Rubik’s Cube Ice.

If you’ve been keeping up with Smartblend and read the drinks trends of 2022 article, you’ll know that one of the biggest trends we are going to see this year in cocktails is nostalgia.

When we’re talking about nostalgia in drinks, we usually think about flavour. Big hits of nostalgic flavours from our childhoods - Jam roly-poly and custard, discontinued sweets and old school desserts. However, here’s an idea to flip that thought of nostalgia and really hit home, a Rubik’s cube shaped ice cube.

Not only does a stirred down drink look sophisticated over this big block of ice, but its also fun, doesn’t take itself to serious, its ‘chilled’ even. You can be as portentous and future innovating as you like with your flavours and cocktail crafting but serve it over Rubik’s cube ice, and you’re suddenly hitting that childhood nostalgia factor like a ton of bricks.

Easy to make

The next thing to note before jumping into this recipe is that it’s really simple to do and you don’t need a bunch of expensive equipment such as engravers, not to mention the skills to use them. You also don’t need any large bulky equipment to be able to create the clear ice itself. All you need is paring knife, large ice cube tray and a blow torch.

If you don’t have a blow torch you can use a lighter, but it will take a lot longer, not to mention be very fiddly. I highly recommend a blow torch regardless of this recipe for home and professional bartenders to smoke everything from cocktails themselves to garnishes.

Rubik’s Cube Clear Ice Recipe

Step one

Boil your water in a kettle and allow to cool. This will help get rid of any impurities causing cloudy ice. Once your water has cooled, pour into your ice cube tray and pop it in a freezer to freeze overnight.

Step two

Pop out your ice cube and from a distance use your blow torch to start heating up the ice. The outer layer will be the most cloudy, heating it in this way will create a clear ice cube. Now i’m not saying this technique is perfect. A lot of the time you will still have some cloudiness in your ice, second to that is the chance of your ice cube heating to fast and cracking. Take your time, it may get frustrating but its the cheapest method to do this.

If you really care about 100% fuss free clear ice, you can buy cheaper clear ice makers that don’t take up massive amounts of space in your freezer, such as the Eparé Clear Ice System on amazon. But honestly, the blow torch method works wonders after a fair few failed attempts.

Step 3

Once again using your blow torch, heat your paring knife for 3-5 seconds then slowly embed it across your ice. Firstly by doing 2 parallel vertical lines on each side of the ice cube, then doing the same horizontally. Only re-heat your knife when it stops creating clear cuts.

Step 4

Your clear Rubik’s cube ice is complete and ready to go.

Top Tip: You can do this in bulk and store your ice in a dry Tupperware box in the freezer, they will get cloudier over time depending on the temperature of your freezer, but pouring liquid over the top will clear them right up again.

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Hi, I’m Cameron, guv’nor of Smartblend. If you’ve enjoyed this bartending technique, well good news, below is a few more bartending techniques that you are likely to also enjoy!