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[title]Cool off with the latest ice trend: flavors from mint to cinnamon-cayenne.
Mint ice at 2Sparrows
Featured in Cool As A…, housemade cucumber soda with muddled cucumbers, lime and optional gin or vodka ($4, with alcohol $10)
The cold, hard facts “We’ve been experimenting with different ways that herbs can be turned into ice cubes in order to increase flavors in a drink as they melt,” general manager Steven Fladung says. Frozen mint syrup makes cubes for this soda. 553 W Diversey Ave (773-234-2320).
Orange ice and cinnamon-cayenne ice at the Aviary
Featured in Tiki flight ($19)
The cold, hard facts Fresh-squeezed orange juice frozen into a custom mold makes cubes for the mai tai in this three-drink flight; the Zombie, another tropical drink, has ice made from a cinnamon-cayenne stock. (The Knickerbocker, the third in the flight, is a boozy sorbet.) 955 W Fulton Mkt (312-226-0868).
Mint ice, Midori-pineapple ice, cranberry ice and orange ice at Estate Ultra Bar
Featured in Old Fashioned Estate, with bourbon, cinnamon-vanilla syrup and cherry bark vanilla bitters ($10); Toucan Party, a pour of Three Olives Loopy, a vodka flavored with tropical fruits ($14)
The cold, hard facts Bartender Dan De Los Monteros places a mint leaf in each cavity of his ice molds so that when a finished cube (pictured, top) is placed in the Old Fashioned Estate, “the leaf appears to be floating in the center of the cocktail.” For the Toucan Party, De Los Monteros freezes cranberry juice, orange juice and a blend of Midori and pineapple juice into three ice spheres and drops each into vodka. 1177 N Elston Ave (312-582-4777).