There are no dangers of iced cocktails. In fact, they are perfectly delightful for hot summer days and nights. But back in the day, and even though ice was available for medicinal purposes, adding ice to a drink was not advised.
Tireless Buzzed Boomer Researcher and Beverage Tester, Maserati Mike, found an article excerpting the new Camper English book, “Doctors and Distillers: The Remarkable Medicinal History of Beer, Wine, Spirits, and Cocktails.” English writes early beliefs were that “adding ice to wine or water was thought by different cultures to cause colic, convulsions, paralysis, blindness, madness, and sudden death.” Yeah, but that’s better than a warm adult beverage on a hot day!!
Frederic Tudor, starting in 1810, exported ice from American lakes like Walden Pond to places like Cuba, India, and Brazil. “He offered bartenders free ice to get their customers hooked on cooling drinks.” That old trick. It worked.
– Jet Cannon
