Cold drinks on a hot day. Whatever you’re sipping, it’s easy to just add ice, but that waters down drinks. So unless you’re using a concentrate (like in iced coffee), it’s good to use an alternative- like the increasingly-common whiskey rocks. Today, we’re looking at a nifty set that serves as a way to chill your beverages without the aid of frozen water, as well as a solid spirit for you to sip.
We’ll start with a drink. Specifically, the Ridgemont Reserve 1792 Small Batch Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey. Aged eight years in oak, it comes in a pretty classy cork-stopped bottle, this barrel select spirit is about 94 proof, and pours a clean mellow straw color. In the glass, the nose is a spiced caramel, a little vanilla and strong alcohol notes. Tasters complimented the “friendly” and “approachable” “orange and oak”, and we found it easy to drink and a perfect test whiskey for use with the stones. While certainly nice while warm, a bit of time in the glass opened up the finish some, and a few degrees cooler smoothed the edges. A drop or two of water worked well, and in the end, this one ranked as a solid value- it didn’t knock anyone’s socks off, but mixes well and is definitely impressive for the price, a very reasonable under-$30.
There are plenty of whiskey stone options out there. But we haven’t seen any others similar to the Sea Stones Drink Chillers, a pair of hand-made solid granite coasters housed in recycled rubber sleeves, that also come with two heavy-bottomed tumblers and two of their ‘On The Rocks’ granite drink chillers. We weren’t thrilled by the colors of the granite or the rubber sleeve- the stones didn’t match the coasters and they didn’t match one another either- but we did like that they did feel stable and were hard to knock over, relatively spill-proof, and didn’t slide around thanks to the rubber sleeve.
Smooth stones, well polished coasters, decent glasses- a great gift for the bourbon fan in your life. Available online for $42.
