Chilled Glass

[300rwhp]

I understand that a chilled martini glass, beer glass be it any beverage container that is chilled will create condensation and thus dilute the drink and any flavors. But so will ice and many drinks should be cool or cold. What is the solution of comnpromise>?

[cdh]

Don't worry about condensation and dilution. You don't want to drink cold gin at full strength, nor any other spirit for that matter. There is no such thing as bruised gin, or otherwise damaged spirits from a little (or a lot) of dilution.

Edited October 25, 2005 by cdh (log)

[slkinsey]

300rwhp I think you have two confusions here:

First, as cdh points out, dilution is good when you are talking about a cocktail. If you're making a cocktail, you want twenty to twenty-five percent dilution. The amount of water that might be added to a cocktail due to condensation on a cold glass is minimal anyway.

Second, presumably you're getting your cold glasses by one of two methods: either you are filling the glass with ice and a little water to chill it down or, preferably, you're pulling it out of the freezer. Either way, there is virtually no water in the glass when you pour the drink into the glass (you shake the water out of the ice-chilled glass and the frozen glass should be dry). Any condensation that forms on the cold glass once the cocktail is poured in will be on the outside of the glass and therefore none of this water will get in the drink.

The most important thing is that your drink is cold... and you would be surprised at how much a room-temperature glass can warm up a cocktail.

[Alchemist]

I just found these rocks and highball glasses with a two inch cheat. I must admit they are not cool vintage glasses, but come from a big chain store. I keep them in the freezer, and they stay cold forever. It's especially nice for Sazaracs. And the added benifit is they are so heavy, bending your elbow is like going to the gym.

I must take issue with the comment alot of dillution won't hurt a spirit. Dillution is the quiet ingredient, you only notice it if it's wrong. Too much or too little will ruin a cocktail as fast as too much orange flower water.

[slkinsey]

I must take issue with the comment alot of dillution won't hurt a spirit.  Dillution is the quiet ingredient, you only notice it if it's wrong.  Too much or too little will ruin a cocktail as fast as too much orange flower water.

I don't think anyone implied that over-dilution wouldn't hurt a spirit. I was trying to make the point that basing one's mixology on the principle of minimum dilution (such as trying to avoid the infinitesimal amount of condensation that might cling to the inside of a frozen glass) and thus creating under-dilution is, as you correctly point out, just as bad as the other way around.

Now that I think of it, dilution is an often overlooked and yet fundamental aspect of cocktailery. Could make an interesting thread.

[cdh]

Indeed... in the context of the query, where condensation is assumed to be too much dilution, 20-25% dilution is A LOT.

I'm not saying it's fine to water down your booze, but I'm saying that what would be perceived as a huge dilution in the mind of the original questioner would not, in fact, do any damage.

And I'll go so far to say that cask strength whiskies, in my opinion, can benefit from near 100% dilution sometimes.

[mbanu]

Second, presumably you're getting your cold glasses by one of two methods:  either you are filling the glass with ice and a little water to chill it down or, preferably, you're pulling it out of the freezer.

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I've found the old method of filling the glass with ice and water works better, because then there is no condensation on the stem of the glass.

[slkinsey]

Second, presumably you're getting your cold glasses by one of two methods:  either you are filling the glass with ice and a little water to chill it down or, preferably, you're pulling it out of the freezer.

I've found the old method of filling the glass with ice and water works better, because then there is no condensation on the stem of the glass.

Doesn't quite get as cold, though. Pegu Club freezes both their martini stirring pitchers (see below) and their glassware. They didn't quite have this going when I went there for the first "friends and family" pre-opening event, and were doing the usual chilling with ice. One of the first things I noticed upon my return there a few days later, when they had the freezers going, was that the stirred cocktails were notably cooler -- at least 10 degrees F.

Here are the pitchers they use for stirred cocktails at Pegu:

[Chris Amirault]

Those are wicked cool. Sam, if you can get the source for those pitchers, I'd be grateful.

[slkinsey]

Those are wicked cool.  Sam, if you can get the source for those pitchers, I'd be grateful.

Wicked cool! That takes me back to my New England youth...

Yea... I want some too. Indeed, there are a great many things they use at Pegu that I covet. I'll see if I can find out about the pitchers, but they have sourced a lot of very special stuff from all over the world and it wouldn't surprise me if they're not available to the likes of us.

[Chris Amirault]

What if I jack them up by saying that the pitchers are "wicked pissah!"?

[Alchemist]

Sam, you really should get a new pic of the beakers right when they come out of the freezer, and are giving off steam. Wicked cold.