We had a houseful this weekend. Dinner guests, family, kids, etc. . I cooked a lot and made a lot of drinks. As I silently cursed my ice machine for going up on me, I started to reflect on what, in the best of all possible worlds, would constitute my ideal bar trappings. I’m pretty close.
I have a good silver tray, a cutting board and a sharp knife. I have a few sterling shakers, a couple of pitchers, a mixing spoon, a good corkscrew, a silver jigger, copies of “American Bar” and “The Savoy Cocktail Book“, a Boston Shaker and a strainer.
I don’t have a muddler or a pair of sterling tongs. More importantly, I don’t have an insulated ice bucket.
I have a glass ice bucket — several in fact. But I don’t have an insulated ice bucket. I noticed this because, with the ice maker on the fritz, I was keeping a close eye on the cube consumption. I dislike having to run to the market in the middle of a party.
So, as much as I would love to own a cut crystal
Century Ice Bucket in Sterling Silver by Tiffany, like the one pictured above, these would really be far more useful to me:
Double Wall Insulated Ice Bucket in Red Leatherette by Metrokane (also available in black from those responsible for the Rabbit corkscrew.)
A Mirrored Double Wall Insulated Ice Bucket by Michael Anastassiades via Vivre
Now if I could only find a sterling silver, insulated bucket with a hinged lid… well ladies and gentlemen the bar would be set very high indeed.
Just a thought in case you need to find a wedding, Christmas or anniversary gift.
I have one of those silver hinged ice buckets. You can see it on the right side of the chest in this picture. For some reason, the ice bucket was one of the only things not stolen during my robbery. It was a wedding present to my parents, 55 years ago.
Exactly Fairfax! How lucky that you held onto it. Is it lined in plastic or porcelain? Times have changed. I can’t remember the last time I gave a massive silver piece as a wedding present. My parents got a store’s worth.
What a wonderful gift idea! Our ice bucket went missing during out last move and it’s amazing how often I wish we had it. Of course I manage to forget the instant I’m shopping. Thank you for the reminder.
Leave it to you, to raise the “bar!” Love your picks, also thrift stores are great.
I picked up a chic aluminum one from the dollar store and it is perfect for parties,
Do you have a “house” drink or something that all your friends request? And do you make all the drinks or do you put it all out as a self-serve bar? If I remember you have quite a set-up … All of your accoutrements got me wondering.
ELW, I have two camps of friends: whiskey drinkers and gin drinkers. The bourbon people take highballs, for the most part. Scotch is neat or with ice (?) Gin is served as a martini or ” ‘n’tonic.” Mrs. E. and the women almost always opt for champagne, although I’ve been known to run up a Kir Royale, or pitchers of margaritas and cosmopolitans for them, too. And I have one Cuba Libre drinker. So the house drink is typically champagne or a dry martini.
Mrs. PvE, you are so right. Although I’m looking for the insulated variety as the ice machine has given up the ghost.
LouLu, I figured a champagne bucket would carry you and Mr. Luce through! Mine gets a workout.
E&E… it’s lined in glass. What’s great about that design is that it doesn’t “sweat” during the summer. Sort of like a thermos design.
The thing that always perplexes me about ice buckets is, they never seem to be big enough. Not that you would want a giant one as it wouldn’t fit on the bar. Maybe we’re entertaining too many people. I usually end up using a big lucite tub. And, yes, the ice melts.
I know there is a lined silver ice bucket packed away in a box somewhere. I just have to dig it out. Monogrammed for my parents as a wedding gift, I remember it well growing up. It is high time I tracked it down!