SPEND: For Better Cocktails, a Big Cube That Never Melts

Big ice isn’t just to impress you. The reason bartenders use single, oversize cubes at cocktail bars is because in addition to chilling the mix, a larger cube bouncing around a cocktail shaker can actually transform the texture of the drink, aerating the liquid, resulting in a drink that looks and tastes a little bit better.

At first, Dave Arnold, the owner of Manhattan cocktail bar Booker and Dax wasn’t so sure, but after running a slew of boozy tests, Arnold discovered that it wasn’t the ice, but rather the shape and size of the cube that did the work. He realized that this meant you, the person going through a lot of trouble to get big ice cubes, could actually use a bag of bodega ice, a tray of small cubes from your home freezer, or whatever garbage ice you had handy to chill the drink, as long as you had something, anything, the size and shape of a big ice cube in your shaker, too. (Science!)