There's A Reason Tropical Drinks Are Served Over Crushed Ice

In a cocktail, ice exists to chill and dilute your drink. These two functions are absolute — and all that frozen water is going to end up melted in your glass by no matter what. The variable here is the rate at which that dilution happens. In an Old Fashioned, a single large ice cube keeps the punchy, spirit-forward bev cold while accounting for the slow-sipping pace inherent to the Old-Fashioned-drinking experience. This cocktail is made for nursing over a long period of time, and as such, that rock of ice melts slowly to avoid watering-down the whole thing too quickly. Shift now, if you will, to the very different experience of drinking a tropical cocktail.

Scrumptious, friendly, accessible tiki drinks like Mai Tais and Bahama Mamas are nothing if not easy to drink. In fact, it's deceptively easy to drink 'em too fast and end up with a good buzz. Tropical drinks pack a high concentration of fruit juices, coconut cream, flavored syrups, and other sweet ingredients. To the eye, that pebble-ice-loaded hurricane glass may be aesthetically pleasing, but to the palette, that crushed ice stretches out the hyper-sweetness into a tamer taste with long dilution.

It's all about science. Increased surface area means increased exposure to the warm air and faster dilution. Crushed ice melts faster than a single large ice cube. So, as quickly as you can suck down a cheery tropical drink, that ice is working to keep pace and keep it cold, diluted, and balanced.

It's worth noting that ice shape isn't always chiefly about dilution. Sometimes, it's about increasing the overall body of a drink for refreshing, person-cooling enjoyment on a hot beachy afternoon. Frozen pina coladas and frozen margaritas are summer faves for a reason. In this frozen watermelon mezcal marg, the blended ice helps take the smoky edge off of that harsher mezcal while simultaneously thinning out the sweet watermelon juice. If they aren't served over crushed or pebble ice, tropical drinks are most commonly served frozen, and tiny, blended ice yields the quickest rate of dilution. This is a happy aid to many tiki drinks — which can be stronger than you might think.

Martini-lovers might scoff at an accessible strawberry daiquiri, but the cocktail named after one of history's most legendary imbibers is called the "Hemingway daiquiri," after all. Similarly, the aptly-named tropical painkiller cocktail clocks in at over 10% ABV. In addition to friendly cream of coconut and pineapple juice, painkillers pack navy-strength overproof rum like Pusser's Blue Label. But, thanks to their frozen presentation, that blended ice melts relatively quickly as the drink warms over the course of a few minutes. As your drink empties and the painkiller starts to "kill the pain," slightly watered-down bottom of the glass sips will be welcome and neither overly sweet nor overly spiked.