Camper English's Blog, page 14
October 29, 2023
A Perfect Fit for 2.5" Clear Ice Cubes
I found a cooler and ice cube tray combination that makes clear 2.5 inch cubes. The tray fits into the cooler at the top perfectly - you don't need to make any special effort to hang it nor do you need a riser to sit it on.
This extra-large size cube fits the Cocktail Kingdom 55mm ice ball maker or you can just use it as a starter cube from which to cut diamonds.
The equipment for this is:
The Igloo Mini Playmate Cooler, 4 quart, 6-Can Capacity
Cocktail Kingdom 2.5 inch square ice cube tray
You might also want a drip irrigation hole punch to poke holes in the bottom of the ice cube tray. (A larger hole punch would work great too.)
(Note that I also tried purchasing a different 2.5 inch ice cube tray on Amazon but it's not actually 2.5 inches - closer to 2 inches. It's this one.)
Instructions:
punch holes in the bottom of the ice cube tray
remove the top handle from the Igloo cooler. To do so, you can't just pull off the top. You pop out the disc cover on each side, then there is a screw that you unscrew. This video demo shows this. (Note- apparently you don't need to completely remove the lid - I see in the pictures that you can just open it all the way with the lid still attached. but oh well I did anyway!)
place the tray into the cooler - it should hang from the top.
fill the cooler and the tray all the way up
put it in the freezer and let it freeze for 2 days or so- until the level of the clear ice is beneath the bottom of the tray
remove the cooler from the freezer, let the ice slab slide out, and remove the cubes from the tray. I'm impatient so I speed up the process by breaking out the tray from the block with an ice pick.
October 16, 2023
Halloween Ice Round-Up
I'm a total sucker for Halloween, and my only artistic medium is ice, so every year I do a post or two or three with dumb stuff I've frozen into cubes, blocks, etc. Here is a round-up and gallery of some:
Halloween Ice: Magic Wand and Plastic Rat
Halloween Ice: Severed Hand in Ice Block
Halloween Ice: Skeletons and Spiders in Ice Cubes
Halloween Ice: Masks Frozen in Ice Block
Halloween Ice: Frozen Skull
Halloween Ice: Eyes in Ice Spheres and Cubes
Eyeballs Inside Ice Balls - Halloween Ice
Creepy Halloween Mask Frozen In Ice Blocks
Dinosaur Head Ice Block
Spiders and Insect Ice Balls for Halloween
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Or read about how to do all this stuff in The Ice Book!
September 30, 2023
31 Fall Winter Holiday 2023 Drink Books
Here is a list of 31 drink books coming out near the end of 2023! This isn't every cocktail book coming out (and there are plenty of beer and wine ones I didn't include) but a selection of them.
Happy reading or gifting or just putting them on your coffee table.
A Field Guide to Tequila: What It Is, Where It’s From, and How to Taste It [amazon][bookshop]
How to Taste: A Guide to Discovering Flavor and Savoring Life [amazon][bookshop]
Signature Cocktails [amazon][bookshop]
The Encyclopedia of Cocktails: The People, Bars & Drinks, with More Than 100 Recipes [amazon][bookshop]
Slow Drinks [amazon][bookshop]
Drinking with Wizards, Warriors and Dragons: 85 unofficial drink recipes inspired by The Lord of the Rings, A Court of Thorns and Roses, The Stormlight Archive and other fantasy favorites [amazon][bookshop]
The Whisky Distilleries of the United Kingdom [amazon][bookshop]
Juke Joints, Jazz Clubs, and Juice: A Cocktail Recipe Book: Cocktails from Two Centuries of African American Cookbooks [amazon][bookshop]
Dad Made Mocktails: For Moms-To-Be [amazon]
A Booze & Vinyl Christmas: Merry Music-and-Drink Pairings to Celebrate the Season [amazon][bookshop]
Dive Bar: Over 50 cocktails to drink after dark [amazon][bookshop]
Single AF Cocktails: Drinks for Bad B*tches [amazon][bookshop]
Holiday Coupetails [amazon][bookshop]
The Official Emily in Paris Cocktail Book: Glamorous Mixed Drinks for Any Time of Day [amazon][bookshop]
Agatha Whiskey: 50 Cocktails to Celebrate the Bestselling Novelist of All Time [amazon][bookshop]
Mr Lyan’s Cocktails at Home: Good Things to Drink with Friends [amazon][bookshop]
Party Drinks: 62 Nonalcoholic Dirty Sodas, Punches & More to Celebrate! [amazon][bookshop]
Juniperlooza: Gin-soaked Cocktails and Concoctions [amazon][bookshop]
Dragtails: Fierce Cocktails Inspired by Drag Royalty [amazon][bookshop]
Nixology: Low-to-no Alcohol Cocktails [amazon][bookshop]
Food With Spirit: Alcohol-Infused Recipes [amazon][bookshop]
How to Make Better Cocktails: Cocktail techniques, pro-tips and recipes [amazon][bookshop]
Every Cocktail Has a Twist: Master 25 Classic Drinks and Craft More Than 200 Variations [amazon][bookshop]
Disco Drinks: 60 Decadent and Delicious Cocktails, Pitcher Drinks, and No/Lo Sippers [amazon][bookshop]
A Passion for Whisky: How the tiny Scottish island of Islay creates malts that captivate the world [amazon][bookshop]
For the Love of Cocktails: The Everyday Guide to Delightful Drinks for Anyone, Anytime [amazon][bookshop]
Endangered Eating: America's Vanishing Foods [amazon][bookshop]
The Perfect Mix: Everything I Know About Leadership I Learned as a Bartender [amazon][bookshop]
The Book of Cocktail Ratios: The Surprising Simplicity of Classic Cocktails [amazon][bookshop]
Champagne Magnum Opus [amazon][bookshop]
Oregon Moonshine: Bootleggers, Busts & Brawls [amazon][bookshop]
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Note: The links are affiliate links and I may earn a commission if you purchase through them. Please do!
September 26, 2023
New Booze September 2023
Here are some new or new-to-me products that have hit store shelves lately, as seen on my Instagram account.
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September 12, 2023
Monks can’t make enough of this famous spirit. Can an alternative from S.F. replace it?
For the San Francisco Chronicle, I wrote about the Chartreuse shortage and how some bartenders are looking locally to Brucato Chaparral as a stand-in.
September 9, 2023
Here's How to Make Perfect Clear Ice for Cocktails
Sunset Magazine published several excerpts and lovely photos in this story.
Read it here, or just pick up a copy of The Ice Book, or join me in one of my Ice Bling Classes!
September 4, 2023
Whiskey and the New Ice Age on Wine-Searcher
In a new story on Wine-Searcher, W. Blake Gray covers ice and whiskey:
Are you ruining your prized Pappy van Winkle with the wrong ice cube?
Whiskey lovers spend a lot of time pursuing the best one-off bottlings. But you may not have put much thought into the only thing generally added to good whiskey: ice.
Camper English is the world's leading expert on ice for bar usage. A cocktail and spirits journalist, English recently published The Ice Book: Cool Cubes, Clear Spheres and Other Chill Cocktail Crafts. The first press run sold out immediately, because bartenders have a high level of interest in ice. The book shows you neat stuff like how to freeze a cherry inside an ice cube, and how to create your own bar-style large block of clear ice.
September 1, 2023
A Guide to the Best Types of Ice for Cocktails
For this article on Liquor.com, writer Audrey Morgan interviewed Don Lee and I extensively.
Whether it’s the mountain of crushed ice on a Mint Julep or a single oversized rock in an Old Fashioned, the right ice can set the right mood, and take a drink from good to great.
“Ice serves several functions in a cocktail,” says Camper English, a pioneer of clear ice and the author of The Ice Book. “It chills and dilutes them and it can also look so good that it functions as a garnish.”
August 22, 2023
A Mention of The Ice Book in the New York Times Magazine
I had a little unexpected treat today, when I saw The Ice Book mentioned in this story "Is Ice the Ultimate Luxury?" in T, the New York Times Magazine.
This is the third time the New York Times has written about my little book on ice cubes!
August 16, 2023
Tasting Vintage Maraschino Liqueur with My Tiny Bottles
Tammy Coxen is producing an ongoing video series in which she is going through her grandmother's vintage mini-bottle collection, learning about the products, and then tasting them with other people.
I was a guest on her My Tiny Bottles video series and together we tasted a circa 1980s maraschino liqueur and compared it with Luxardo maraschino. It... did not compare favorably.
Then as a bonus we cracked open a mini bottle of Seagram's cherry cola schnapps. It was bad, very, very, bad. But we had fun trying!
