Whiskey stones?

[mithrilG60]

Originally Posted by SvilleKid

I understand the dynamics of a cube or two of ice "opening" the tastes up, but I don't find I need it for most of what I drink. If I drank a lot of single malt scotch or had younger and better tastebuds, I might have a different opinion, as I understand there are a lot of complex flavors to good scotch that are released with varying amounts of water.

Ice doesn't open anything up, cooling prevent some of the volatile aromatics from vaporizing which in certain spirits is a good thing. In most whiskey you actually want those aromatics since they are the source of the nose and much of the taste. Room temp water is a different matter as diluting the alcohol level allows you to taste more nuance and less alcohol. Most whiskey is meant to be drunk at room temp, it's not vodka!

[SvilleKid]

Originally Posted by mithrilG60

Ice doesn't open anything up, cooling prevent some of the volatile aromatics from vaporizing which in certain spirits is a good thing. In most whiskey you actually want those aromatics since they are the source of the nose and much of the taste. Room temp water is a different matter as diluting the alcohol level allows you to taste more nuance and less alcohol. Most whiskey is meant to be drunk at room temp, it's not vodka!

As I understand it, it's not the ice, it's the water that melts from the ice. Using ice allows more taste/aroma development as it melts and provides an increasing amount of water as you sip, and thus an ever changing water/spirit ratio. The cooling effect is secondary, and not the main function, as I have read. As to vodka, I stopped drinking that decades ago, so I can't pass any judgements on it's response to ice! I know cheap vodka went well with Sprite and ice when I was 18!