Tasting Table Asks Cocktail Fans What's The Best Kind Of Ice - Exclusive Survey

Americans might be known for loving a lot of ice in their drinks (per Business of Home), but cocktail aficionados know that more is not always better. In fact, choosing the right type and amount of ice is a vital step in crafting the perfect cocktail. The size and density of ice not only affects the temperature of the drink but can also change the flavor profile of a cocktail. Smaller, thinner pieces of ice melt faster than larger, thicker options, which means a spirit-forward cocktail might taste watered-down due to dilution if the wrong ice is used (via Food & Wine). 

With ice stealing the spotlight in recent weeks, Tasting Table posed a question to our readers: What's your favorite kind of ice for cocktails? A total of 588 people responded, and more than half of the votes were cast for just two types of ice out of five options. That's quite a lot of support for so few options, given that more than four million people liked one woman's carefully curated freezer full of nine different styles of ice, per TikTok. 

In our survey, voters could choose between five answers including a single, large cube, crescent-shaped ice, crushed ice, ball-shaped ice, or a glass full of ice cubes. The three types of ice that made up the least-popular options were quite clear with very few votes. 

Crescent-shaped ice was by far the least favorite with just 41 votes, making up 6.97% of the total. Ball-shaped ice and a single, large cube got similar amounts of votes, landing them in fourth and third place, respectively. Ball-shaped ice made up 15.82% of the vote with 93 people choosing it, while a single, large cube received 13 more votes totaling 106, or 18.03% of the vote. 

The clear favorite types of ice for cocktails taking the top two places were a glass full of ice cubes and crushed ice. However, one made up a third of the vote while the other took a full quarter. In second place, 149 people voted for a glass full of ice cubes — 25.34% of the vote. That means the overwhelmingly popular choice was crushed ice, which garnered 199 votes making up 33.84% of the total. 

A glass full of ice cubes and crushed ice is pretty easy to accomplish at home if your fridge has a built-in ice maker, but if not, there are plenty of countertop options available to up your ice game.