Why I love Gary Regan's Orange Balls

 Got your attention?  Ok, this post actually has less to do with the incredibly long list of reasons to love every part of Gary “Gaz” Regan, and more to do with ice.  But if you bear with me, I think you will not mind being persuaded to take a peek…As a matter of fact, Cheryl Charming’s cocktail “Sazerac on the Rock” is my inspiration behind the concept of infusing bitters into ice spheres.  Her Peychaud’s bitters ice spheres are a brilliant way to keep the Sazerac chilled and actually add flavor to the drink as it slowly melts, rather than water it down. She was kind enough to share that recipe in my new book Edible Cocktails – and our bartender team at Milagro (Santa Fe, NM) liked it so much, we stuck it on our menu. (And, our fellow bartender Alex Velez makes his own bitters, so I can assure we will have a plethora of fun new ice to play with...)Of course, you can infuse ice of any shape and size.  And, you don’t have to stop at bitters.  If you’ve taken a peek at my former books Preggatinis™ (2008) and The Bubbly Bride (2009), you’ll see many suggestions for freezing tonic water, lemonade, water with a splash of violet liqueur, edible flowers in ice, and so on.  But I have to admit that I hadn’t yet played with bitter ice until the lovely Miss Charming suggested it.So, back to Gary Regan. I pulled out an array of bitters I love, and the first experiment was Gary Regan’s Orange bitters balls. Fabulous! My summer cocktails have not been the same since. Then, I had to try Santa Fe’s own Bitter End Mexican Mole bitters balls.  Hello Old Fashioned! One of my faves is the Fee Brothers Black Walnut bitters balls. Then, Bitter Truth Jerry Thomas Decanter bitter balls. And, of course, now our King Cocktail himself, Dale DeGroff has come out with his own line of Pimento bitters… you better believe that as soon as I get my hot little hands on it I will be loving Dale’s balls, as well.Sometimes the most brilliant ideas are the simplest. Freezing flavors into ice is an example of that. Why water down a perfectly nice sangria when you can freeze orange juice into cubes and let them punch up the flavor as they dissolve?  And, when it comes to classic drinks, bitter balls will leave you with nothing but a sweet taste in your mouth.