Luxury On The Rocks

Often overlooked, ice is truly one of the most important ingredients in any cocktail. You might be thinking that all it does is chill the drink and thus, any ice will do, but there's much more to it than that. As the ice in your shaker or glass melts, it adds to the cocktail providing the right amount of dilution to complete the experience. The quality of the ice itself and have a big impact.

Our friends at On The Rocks know ice better than anyone and they've gone one step further. Not only do they offer the purest, cleanest ice around, they now offer Luxury Ice products which we think are totally cool!

Ice Spheres

The ice sphere is one of the most efficient and attractive ways to cool your premium beverage. The pure, crystal clear 2.5" diameter ice sphere is designed for maximum cooling and minimum dilution appealing to the high-end cocktail connoisseur.

2" Cubes

Top shelf cocktails and liquors should be chilled to enhance their individually unique flavours. These 2" cubes do just that without weakening them with quick dilution. They stylishly address the problem of maintaining the integrity of fine liquors and enable your customers to savour the taste. For a custom touch, your own logo or design can be added to the cubes.

Cleaner ice = better tasting cocktails and with these new offerings from On the Rocks, now you can add that extra touch of luxury to your next cocktail party.

Food & Beverage Trends for 2011

What's in store for food and beverage trends in 2011? Tate & Lyle's food experts convened at a roundtable to develop the Top 4 trends that will shape the food industry this year while helping manufacturers supercharge their brands to meet consumers' ever-changing preferences.

Trends for 2011:

1. Simplicity
   
2. Stealth Sugar and Calorie Reductions is the new Mid Calorie
   
3. One Product, Multiple Benefits
   
4. Restaurant Quality at Home
   

Read the full release.

Keep your resolution with natural and low calorie cocktails

By January 21, statistics say that 80% of us will have abandoned our new years resolutions. This is especially true for resolutions revolving around improving our health by exercising and losing weight.

Fortunatly, you don't have to quit drinking to keep your resolution! Even better, you're not condemmed to vodka sodas all year either. Here are some ideas for reducing calories and not taste:

• Drink low calorie cocktails - Mojitos are one of my favourite cocktails and, surprisingly, they're low in calories (122 calories).  Compare this to something like a Long Island Iced Tea (780 calories) and the difference is clear. Here's an article on some other low calorie cocktails.
• Less is more - When you're out for the night drinking highballs, screwdrivers, etc.. a lot of the calories come for the sugar in all the pop and juice you're drinking.  One option is to just reduce the amount of juice/pop in the drink.  Vodka soda with a splash of grapefruit juice is one of my girlfriend's favourites.  You still get the flavour, but with way less sugar and calories.  This really adds up over the course of a night.
• Insist on natural ingredients - cocktails using real fruit, vegetables, and syrups contain way less refined sugar and preservatives and often have the added bonus of vitamins and anti-oxidants.  If you're going out, visit Lauren Mote at the Refinery or Shaun Layton at L'Abittoir for some great natural cocktails.  Or if you're feeling creative, here are some healthy syrup recipes for cocktails you can make at home.
• Low carb beers - Admittedly, most of these are not very tasty.  Watery and more like soda water is what you typically get. Amstel Light is pretty good though difficult to get in Vancouver.  Regardless of which one, you want to stick to the ones in dark bottles or cans (they stay fresh longer) and drink them ice-cold, preferably in a frosty mug.  This helps enhance the light flavour.
• Low carb wines - There are low calorie wines out there, but I have yet to taste a really good one.  For the most part, wine is generally pretty safe as long as you're staying away from the super sweet ones.  The average glass has between 75-90 calories. If you're numbers kind of person, here's a table on calorie count by wine type.

If you've got any comments or some other healthy or low-cal cocktail suggestions, please share.


And, good luck with those resolutions.