Artisanal Ice Cubes

What? You're still using ordinary ice from a freezer? How gauche! Proper people only drink cocktails mixed with gourmet ice. Fortunately, there's a who slew of companies that now prepare and sell luxury, hand-crafted ice:

Gourmet ice, often heavily filtered and hand-cut to guarantee the optimal amount of dilution, has officially become part of cocktail culture. Sasha Petraske, who in 2000 reinvigorated the New York bar scene with his speakeasy Milk & Honey, is considered by many to be the father of designer ice in the U.S. Since then, bars around the country, from Bar Agricole in San Francisco to Philadelphia's Franklin Mortgage Investment Company, have followed suit, creating cocktails that feature market-fresh ingredients, small-batch bitters, and large blocks of beautiful ice.

Link via Althouse | Photo by Flickr user Kyle May used under Creative Commons license