A walk through the MOMA Design Store turned over the hard-to-find Japanese ice sphere molds. A good cocktail mitigates temperature issues, and if you’ve been enjoying the cocktail renaissance of the past couple of years, you know the wonderful principles behind the ice sphere. It’s really all about surface area. The more ice chunks and chips you have, the faster the ice melts. The faster the ice melts, the faster your drink dilutes and the faster it warms up. Now the Japanese, who are known scotch-mavens, have designed machines that press out perfect ice spheres. It’s drawback for home use is that you need giant chunks of ice to create the spheres. The upside is that they’re perfect and it works fast. Unless you are a zen ice chopping master like this guy, it’s the best way to address a commercial need.

At home though it’s almost useless. And it’s expensive.

Enter the $8 plastic ice sphere mold. It’s not perfect. It’s not fast. But it works! And now I can enjoy ice cold whiskey all night long. On a single sphere of ice! I’m goofing on it so I’ve been freezing four or so a day and have a ziploc bag of ice balls in the freezer. With bottles of RI1, Voodoo Tiki Tequilla, and Veev to crack open, it’s really cocktail time!