Ice is an essential but often overlooked ingredient in cocktails. While home refrigerators can easily make ice cubes, some bars take additional steps to ensure their ice is of high quality. They filter water before freezing it to remove impurities that could affect the taste of drinks. Properly made ice with filtered water melts more slowly, diluting cocktails less than ice made with untreated water. High-quality ice helps ensure customers enjoy their drinks and want to order another.

1. "On the Rocks, Please"
by TOM LLOYD | photo by STEVEN PAUL HLAVAC
model: ELINA YOUNGBLUT | makeup: MIKE BURT | hair: GLORY SEARGEANT, SURFACE COLORSPA SALON MOUNT DORA
hair assistant: LAUREN BLACK | nail artist: ASHLEY WATSON, SALON THERAPY, EUSTIS | Wardrobe: FRUGALS, MOUNT DORA

2. Most of us take ice for granted. We shouldn’t.
Happy hour wouldn’t be very happy without it, and odd as it
may seem to today’s label-conscious consumers, ice is
every bit as important as the brand of alcohol used in
building America’s favorite social lubricant: the cocktail.
To paraphrase Shakespeare’s Prospero, ice is the (cold) stuff
that dreams are made on.
Before bringing in the local professionals, let’s start with the
basics.
When it comes to cocktails, cold is gold. Ice inhibits certain
taste receptors on your tongue and makes alcohol taste,
well, less alcoholic. Whether your tastes run to vodka or gin
or scotch or bourbon, for most of us the cooler the drink,
the better the taste.
Making ice isn’t magic. Ice is water. Very, very cold water, to
be sure, but it’s still just water. Fossilized bar flies like myself
might remember the days of block ice, chipped ice and
shaved ice, but that particular ice age is long gone. The cube
is king now, and the truth is your refrigerator does a whiz-
bang job of making more cubes than most of us will ever
need. With a little compressed gas and a row of coils, your
Frigidaire will automatically change your water into ice. (If
you want to change your water into wine, you’ll need to
consult a higher authority.)
That said, if the water coming out of your kitchen faucet has
an odd taste or smell, don’t expect your refrigerator to
change that. Sooner or later, ice does melt, and when it
melts it will impart that taste or smell directly to your drink.
Likewise, if you’re the type who tucks tuna steaks into the ice
bin, be prepared to end up with a cocktail that only the crew
of a Japanese fishing trawler could love. Sorry, Charlie. It
wouldn’t work for Starkist and it won’t work here. You’d have
already stolen your Stoli’s thunder, gone on a wild Grey
Goose chase and will never get to the land of blue Skyy
living. In short, there’s Absolut-ely no chance of pouring a
perfect drink with ice like that.
People whose livelihoods depend on serving adult beverages
know this, and some of them take rather extraordinary steps
to ensure their cocktail ice does its job properly. Let’s face it,
you are far more likely to order a second, (or possibly third
and fourth) drink if the first one is perfect.
At Ruby Street Grille in Tavares, co-owner Andy Saunders ­­­­­­­­­­
says less is more when it comes to making ice.
With apologies to another Shakespeare character, there are
more things in heaven and earth – and especially in tap
water – than are dreamt of in your philosophy. Depending
on where you live, those things may include lead, chlorine,
copper, arsenic, mercury, sodium, hydrogen sulfide and
benzene.
Since almost no one walks into a bar and asks for a Cutty
Sark and chlorine, every drop of water that goes into Ruby
Street’s icemaker is run through a special filtering system
first.
Andy says this filtration is an essential step in making cocktail
ice.
Joshua Jungferman agrees. Fresh off a near-sweep of the
“Best of Lake” restaurant awards, Josh is the general manager
at Pisces Rising in Mount Dora. His bar crews can run
through upwards of one and a quarter tons of ice in a single
day, so he added a second Manitowoc icemaker to the
restaurant’s cocktail-making arsenal. The Cadillac of
commercial ice machines, these beauties also filter out
pretty much everything that isn’t two parts hydrogen and
one part oxygen.
For the home bartender, however, a giant Manitowoc in the
kitchen would be nothing short of overkill. Besides, there
are any number of other filtering options that won’t eat up
all your counter space or quadruple your water and electric
bills.
Filling ice trays with distilled or bottled water or using a Brita-
type water filter is one route. Getting professional help is
another. There are no fewer than 35 water filtration
companies operating right here in Lake County.
Continued on Page 37
Le t’s start with
the basics...
Cold is gold.
PULSE • FALL 2012 | 21

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Still, unless your water is really bad, the easiest route to cocktail nirvana may be to
filter out myths rather than chemicals.
The worst of those myths is that using copious quantities of ice will dilute your
cocktails. The plain scientific fact is that the more ice you use, the slower that ice
will melt. That means less dilution. If you brush up on your Archimedes, you may
have an even bigger “Eureka” moment. Think displacement. Add as much of your
favorite liquor as you want to an ice-filled glass, and presto magic, there’s not much
room left for the biggest drink diluter of all: the mixer!
So, when you set out to make the perfect cocktail, think about your ice. It really is
the (cold) stuff that dreams are made on.
To handle the races, Vickie needs close to 200 volunteers scattered along the race
course giving directions, staffing water stations and communicating with race
officials. She has to make arrangements for the course to be fully certified and
officially measured. She has worked closely with Chief of Police T. Randall Scoggins
to ensure the safety of the runners as they move en masse along the public streets.
She even made arrangements with Jim Gunderson to provide the official “pre-race
pasta meal” hosted by Lakeside Inn. Vickie knows the devil is in the details when it
comes to this event.
Together we drove the marathon course which starts at the corner of Edgerton
Court, behind Lakeside Inn tennis courts. We drove through town up to Highland
Avenue when Vickie said to me, “Runners love straight shots and this is a good one
all the way to Limit Avenue.” We proceeded through the Lake Gertrude
neighborhoods, along Morningside Drive to Lakeshore Drive to Old 441 into town.
The half-marathoners peel off at Alexander Street and end their race in front of
Lakeside Inn.
Those running the full 26.2 mile marathon must complete a second lap around the
same course. I was exhausted, and I was riding with Vickie!
As we drove the marathon course, I could sense the emotion that gripped Vickie
when she made her initial runs through Mount Dora in 2007.
We are truly blessed with natural Florida beauty. Our oaks, pines and sycamores
mingled with palms interspersed with the mini-groves let you know that you’re in
Florida, but it’s a special place in Florida. Throw in our lakes, the varied terrain, the
Spanish moss, the hibiscus and other tropicals that bloom year round and you know
you’re in Mount Dora – soon to be home of the first Mount Dora Marathon.
For details about the Mount Dora Marathon, go to www.mountdoramarathon.com.
For information about On the Run Fitness and Pilates, go to www.mountdorafit.com.
ICE, continued from Page 21
MARATHON, continued from Page 25
PULSE • FALL 2012 | 37