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Silicone ice-sphere mold

Cory Doctorow at 3:59 am Wed, Sep 28, 2011

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If you love Japanese ice-spheres in your booze, but don't want to spring for a pricey bespoke machine to accomplish the trick, you can always pick up one of Muji's silicone ice-ball molds, a steal at £7.50.

Silicone Ice Ball [muji.eu]

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

MORE:  booze • Food • Gadgets • housewares • Japan • uk

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  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=650236519 Susan Vriens

    That’s no moon!

  • hyljelyhje

    “Dishwasher safe, stackable, freezer safe. ” I am skeptical about feature #2…

    • JohnRomeoAlpha

      HCP.

    • Guest

      Hee! :3

  • ppdd

    My 4 year old has already figured out he can do this with water ballons.  They cost about $.01 each.

    • D Wyatt

      and they taste horrible.  Pretty sure “water balloons” have never been food grade.  Nice attempt at being a smart ass though.

  • wibbled_pig

    I like my scotch without balls, ice or otherwise.

  • Lobster

    My beverage is cooled by the spheres!  OooooOooooooOoooo…

    • Guest

      LOL

  • rabidpotatochip

    I’ll only be impressed when I can cool my drink with a fully accurate three-dimensional Mandelbrot set.

  • Paul Renault

    Came here to say this!

    Good whisky doesn’t need ice to be drinkable.  And life is too short to spend any of it drinking crap.

    • EH

      Good whisky doesn’t need ice to be drinkable.

      To be sure, reasonable minds disagree on releasing esters.

  • aynrandspenismighty

    Just a note to those of us in the USofA, the denomination is in POUNDS Sterling. So dont be surprised when you order them and get a bill for $11.75.

    • robotnik

      Thanks for assuming we’re stupid!  (And who cares if Ayn Rand had a mighty penis?)

  • Duffong

    Just to be clear, this is a split cavity ice mold?

    PaulR – you should know, good whiskey like scotch, doesn’t need any rules on how it’s enjoyed. But I completely agree with the second part, no one should be drinking crap.

    • Paul Renault

      ‘Doesn’t need’  !=  ‘must not have’.

      Chivas Regal, on the other hand, NEEDS ice to barely be drinkable.  Unless it’s preceded by meal of curry – so your taste buds are turned off. 

      No, not butter chicken.  More something like like Mutton Vindaloo.

  • leebenningfield

    I have a plastic ice tray that makes spheres of a similar size, 4 at a time, courtesy of Maker’s Mark.  In my opinion, they are way too big to put in a glass of the size shown in the picture;  it waters down the whiskey too much, too fast. 

  • peterkvt80

    Looks like Rover from The Prisoner. Better treat it with respect.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000144221844 Aaron Dallas

    I have one of these. It’s really tricky to get a perfect sphere like in the photo above – most of my experimental freezes have ended up cracked and misshapen.

  • Bruce Martin

    I’ve been drinking whisky longer than most of you have been alive.

    It is acceptable to add water to whisky, to tease out the esters that give the drink its wonderful and distinctive bouquet. The very best single malts require little to no water. Chivas et. al. desperately require a lot.

    But an experienced whisky drinker never adds ice. Ice has the oppposite effect of water; by cooling the wiskey, it supresses the esters, leaving the drink harsh and metallic.

    If you’re contemplating adding ice to your whisky, instead contemplate getting a better whisky. 

  • http://www.youtube.com/user/ziccup akbar56

    If you are contemplating telling someone they should never add ice to their whisky, instead contemplate the fact that people have different tastes and that you sound like a douche when you do it.

    • rabidpotatochip

      Your comment reminds me of one time at a sushi bar.  Someone was loudly complaining that no one ate sushi “right” (according to traditional methods) and it really bothered him.  I very helpfully pointed out that he should be handling the sushi with his fingers instead of chopsticks.  I think he appreciated my commentary about as much as I appreciated his.  hehe

      I agree with you though; you should do what you love in a way that brings you the most joy possible and not worry about how everyone else does it.

      • TheMudshark

        While we´re being smartasses, nowadays most Japanese would indeed eat sushi in a restaurant using chopsticks.

        • rabidpotatochip

          I hope that’s not all you took away from my comment, Mudshark, as it wasn’t my point.  My point was that you shouldn’t worry about what the “right” way is or who’s doing it “wrong” and just enjoy whatever you’re eating/drinking/doing.

          And just for fun, “a tradition is a ritual, belief or object passed down within a society, still maintained in the present, _with origins in the past_” (emphasis mine).  Sushi really was finger food back in the day, traditionally, and informing the person providing the public performance* on proper sushi etiquette of his error allowed everyone to continue enjoying their meal.  But anyway, we’re here arguing about the right way to enjoy whisk(e)y.  =p

          *When your conversation/rant/”look at how cultured I am”  is loud enough for all restaurant patrons to hear it’s no longer private, it’s a public performance.

          • TheMudshark

            My point was that you shouldn’t worry about what the “right” way is or who’s doing it “wrong” and just enjoy whatever you’re eating/drinking/doing.

            I agree.
            It´s just that, when I am fighting smartassery with more smartassery (which I find perfectly acceptable) I try to be as accurate as possible so as to not leave my defence open to another retort.

          • rabidpotatochip

            This is the Internet, I’d argue well before worrying about whether you were right.  ;)

  • Editz

    If you want the chill but not the water, there are always Whisky Stones:

    http://www.teroforma.com/Set_of_9_Whisky_Stones_20187.html

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Spitty-Sumo/100002601661770 Spitty Sumo

    私は無印を愛する

  • http://twitter.com/brettkling Brett Kling

    If you’d rather order it from the muji.us shop, then use this link.  http://www.muji.us/store/silicon-ice-ball-maker.html 

  • aerohydro

    I own several ice ball molds, and the Muji one is definitely the one to go for, as it’s long-lasting and durable.  the plastic ice ball molds I’ve had tend to crack after prolonged use.  Even when floating in a glass of whisky, the ice ball itself will last several hours before it finally melts away.  One of the previous comments complained about the taste, but once the mold has been washed a couple of times, then that issue  disappears.

  • Hans Davies

    Boy, I hate it when regular ice smacks me in the face/teeth… I can only imagine how this might hurt! Yikes!

  • Paul Renault

    Ha!  All of us who prefer to drink their whisky neat, no ice:  we are vindicated!

    http://www.thedailymeal.com/what-your-drink-says-about-you-date/coument/reply/

  • discocyborg

    I too have one of the Makers Mark promotional ice sphere molds…  There’s four spheres in the mold, and for every freezing there’s usually 1 of 4 that’s cracked in half or never set properly.  It’s ok because it was free…  I don’t care because I only use the spheres for my everyday sipping bourbon, and take my good bourbon neat. 
    Also, the big ice spheres are perfect chew toys for the dogs.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Kimberly-McKinnis/513369752 Kimberly McKinnis

    I was just about to comment about Makers Mark sending sphere ice molds to all the Ambassadors. I won’t contaminate my single malts with ice, but every day bourbons? Me too.