Nightlife Ice Bar: Bullshit or What?
posted by on July 31 at 15:45 PM
Kurrent, with its backwards-“k” logo and much-anticipated “ice bar,” is now open on Pine Street. The ice bar proves to utilize the same technology as deployed at The Parlor, an upscale billiards hall on the second floor of Lincoln Square in Bellevue (reviewed, sort of, here)—it’s not a bar made of ice, nor a bar that is ice-topped, but a bar with a stripe of ice running its length.
But does resting your drink upon a stripe of ice produce the intended effect of optimal drink chill, or is it a bullshit gimmick? As part of The Stranger’s tireless effort to serve the drinkers of Seattle—nay, the Pacific Northwest and the entire world—Bar Exam asked Science. (The Stranger now has a science columnist, one Jonathan Golob, who is pursuing a M.D./Ph.D. at the U.W. that involves, to the best of Bar Exam’s primitive understanding, laboratory experimentation with stem cells, AIDS, and glowing things. Welcome, Science!)
Dear Science,Stripe of ice down bar for resting drink on for optimal chill of drink: bullshit, on the main, yes? Also: What conducts cold better: glass or stainless steel? [Some glassware at Kurrent is actually stainless-steelware.]
Yours Truly,
Bar Exam
Dear Bar Exam,
On the main, yes, [it is indeed bullshit,] says Science. This is quite similar to a piece of lab equipment used to embed frozen tissues in gel, so that they might be cut. And steel conducts heat 16 times better than glass. [Per subsequent discussion, it is revealed that COLD IS JUST REMOVING HEAT. What will Science think of next?!?]
Combining the two questions, one would imagine a stainless steel drinking vessel would be ideal to transfer the cold—or take away the evil evil heat, as the physicists would say. My dreamiest future-drink technology: a Peltier effect–based chilling of metal drink vessels. Pass a current across two dissimilar metals, and one can cool one metal while heating another; welcome to the self-chilling drink.
At your service,
Science
Indeed. Thank you, Science!
The only real ice bar is one made out of ice. Entirely.
Like in the ice hotel at Quebec City, or the one in Norway.
We used to set up a bar on an ice shelf when I was in the Army, and man our drinks were cold.
But I think our enjoyment of them had more to do with the fact we had been going without sleep for a long time, and were near exhausted, so it just "tasted" better.
The steel martini glass is stupid, since the drink it contains is going to warm faster, unless you're in a freezing cold room. Ice strip? Great. The base will be very cold. What about your hand?
The important feature of the ideal martooni glass is that it is SMALL. Those 16 ounce jobbies you got at Crate and Barrel are worthless. Your drink will be room temp by the time you finish it.
It's also important to remember that the perfect martooni IS NOT the absolutely coldest one; you WANT some of the ice to melt into the booze. That's why you don't freeze your gin; you swirl it vigorously through cracked ice. Freezing the glass is OK, for the frosty look, but really it's straddling that freezing point you want, not 0 degrees Kelvin.
I don't see the point of the ice strip, myself.
Sounds like you're mixing up a batch as you speak.
Speaking of bars...
What's goin' in across the street, in the old Backstage Thrift storefront?...
This liquor license application is in the window, along with the giant Urban Beach Walk installation... http://www.flatchestedmama.com/
Notification Date: 7/12/2007
Business Name: GREY
Business Location: 1512 11TH AVE, SEATTLE, WA 98122-3904
Applicant(s): SLOW AND STEADY, LLC; GUTTRIDGE, ERIK TALLEY
Liquor License Type: SPIRITS/BR/WN REST LOUNGE +
Application Type: NEW APPLICATION
License Number: 402005
Is it the same Erik Guttridge as this?
http://www.friesengallery.com/
What is GREY?!
Any bar so dead that you can actually set your glass down isn't worth going to.
I would be concerned, using a stainless steel glass that's been siting on ice, that my tongue/lips to stick to it.
Grey is going to be a gallery space/bar, and yes, the owner used to work at Friesen Gallery.... don't know when they're opening, but they've been working away.
I made that print with a digital image that was 1.8 megs, 180dpi and max size 8.5x11. It took a lot of photoshopping, a box of Cheeze-It's, nearly 50 yards of clear vinyl, around 180 yards of cmyk foil and the help of Dave Bloomfield on the first night of the Block Party. I look forward to the opening of Grey. It should be a neat spot.
-R
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Sorry about my last 2 posts. I was really really high on meth and speed.
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