‘Clink Clink’ You’ll Hear When Raising A Toast To The End Of 2020 – The Icy Backstory To That
If ever there was a year to toast drawing to an end, it’s 2020. Over the festive period, people around the world will be raising a glass to better times ahead.
Accompanying sighs of relief will likely be the subtle tinkling of ice.
In researching a book on the social, medical and moral history of gin and tonic, I have imbibed – moderately – in bars from the Raffles Hotel in Singapore to the Morse Bar in Oxford. At each venue, my G&T was always served over ice.
The history of chilled drinks goes back to antiquity. But it was the innovative “frozen water” trade from New England to India in the mid-19th century that popularized ice.
Frigid luxury
By that time, ice had been used to chill the drinks for millennia – but only ever for the elite.
Chilled wine was all the rage in first-cent...