The six of us settled down at Hooked Beaver Creek for lunch. I asked for an Old Fashioned – a little on the sweeter side since the hike was hot and draining. When the drinks came around, I took a sip and really liked the taste. However, something else got my attention… It is the King Ice cube. Note how the ice has the inscription INSIDE it!! In fact, it is the logo of the restaurant.

“That is not very easy to do”, I remarked to Sunil and Anannya as I picked the ice up and showed it to them.

“Josh!”
“Yes, sir”
“This ice cube…”
“Yes, sir”
“Did you make it?”
“Indeed”
“That is crazy good. How do you do it?”
“Oh! it takes me a whole day”… and then our bartender, Josh, went on to show how he makes those ice cube.

He first freezes two dozen of these cubes in a standard tray. But instead of filling up the tray holes to the top, he goes only about 9/10th of it. Then he freezes it.

For the second step, he uses an iron rod that has a logo imprinted on it (like a rubber stamp). He heats up this rod by leaving it in boiling water. He brings the cubes out and then using the iron rod, he basically brands (like you brand cattle) the top of the ice cubes. He lets the melted water drain out and then re-freezes.

The third step would be to bring out the cubes and then put some food colorings in the grooves created by the branding. Re-freeze.

As a final step, he fills up the cubes to the top and does the final re-freezing!

Voila! The ice cube comes out with the beautiful etches inside!!

I need to try this!

If you are in Beaver Creek, CO, try out Josh’s old fashioned at the Hooked restaurant!