Stamped ice

A stamped cube is mostly about looks, since the design sits on top of the ice where you can see it. It suits a drink served on the rocks in a rocks glass, where the top of the cube stays in view. Without the design, the cube is just a cube, so the mark is what makes it stamped ice.

A common belief is that the stamp must be heated before each use. That is a myth. A room-temperature brass stamp melts the design into the ice by passing its heat into the surface it touches, so you only need to press it.

The stamp works by melting, not cutting. Press it on the top of a cube for 2 to 3 seconds, and the ice under the design melts into a clean mark. A stamp that cools between cubes works less well, so warm it up before a batch. Wintersmiths, which makes brass ice stamps, says its stamps are built for a lifetime of use, with designs engraved 1/8 in (3.2 mm) deep.