An Amazon Top 50 Best Selling Book!
"Now, with Mr. English’s new tome, “The Ice Book,” he’s made it possible for every cocktail enthusiast to master clear-ice at home." New York Times
"This is the ultimate guide to clear ice" - InsideHook
The Ice Book: Cool Cubes, Clear Spheres, and Other Chill Cocktail Crafts
Order it on Amazon, Bookshop, or from your local neighborhood indie bookseller.
I wrote it and made the ice. The fantastic photos are by Allison Webber, with styling by Nan Allison.
About the Book
Crystal clear spheres, cubes you can read through, embossed, branded, and blinged-out chunks, chips, blocks, and 'bergs: it's time to elevate your ice!
In The Ice Book, internationally renowned cocktail icepert Camper English details how to use directional freezing to make perfectly pure ice in a home freezer, carve it up into giant diamonds and other shapes, and embed it with garnishes, including edible orchids and olives. You'll learn how to create a frozen bowl for Negroni punch, serve a Manhattan inside an ice sphere, and infuse cubes with colors and flavors to create cranberry cobblers, a color-changing Gin and Tonic, and other awesome drinks.
Featuring striking color photos throughout, this handy guide―and great gift―offers easy directions for dozens of ice projects and suggestions for further freezer fun. Both instructional and inspirational, The Ice Book will help you take your nonalcoholic and boozy beverages to the next level.
Camper English is a cocktails and spirits writer and speaker who has covered the craft cocktail renaissance for over 15 years, contributing to more than 50 publications around the world including Popular Science, Saveur, Details, Whisky Advocate, and Drinks International. With a focus on the nerdy side of mixology, he has studied everything from the history of carbonation to the science of clear ice cubes. He has been awarded International Cognac Writer of the Year by the Bureau National Interprofessionnel du Cognac and Best Cocktail Writer at the Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards. His previous book is Doctors and Distillers: The Remarkable Medicinal History of Beer, Wine, Spirits, and Cocktails.
His websites are Alcademics.com, CocktailSafe.org, and CocktailGreen.org.
Reviews and Testimonials:
"This is the ultimate guide to clear ice" - InsideHook
Now, with Mr. English’s new tome, “The Ice Book,” out May 23 from Red Lightning Books, he’s made it possible for every cocktail enthusiast to master clear-ice at home. All his frozen knowledge has gone into his book, along with some ice-centric cocktail recipes. (Interested in creating a clear-ice punch bowl? Help has arrived.) New York Times
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "The book provides inspiration for upping your cocktail game, whether completely nerding out on making the clearest, purest form of ice, or dispelling the urban legend that simply boiling water makes clear ice."
New York Times: "[Camper English is] a cocktail writer and ice obsessive best known for introducing a technique for making crystal-clear ice to cocktail connoisseurs about a decade ago."
Forbes: "[Camper English is] a spirits writer known in the cocktail industry as something of an ice visionary"
DrinkHacker: "The hallmark of English’s books is his ability to make dense subjects approachable and accessible without careening too hard into academic or jargon-laden territories. This book is no exception. If you’re looking to take cocktail aesthetics and accents up [a] level or four, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better book about ice than this."
Salon: "English is a world-renowned ice expert. He is the author of "The Ice Book: Cool Cubes, Clear Spheres, and Other Chill Cocktail Crafts" and, after spending more than decade experimenting with all the different ways one can freeze water, he pioneered the "clear ice" technique that most professional bartenders now use to make ice."
Drinks International: "the year's hottest release"
Vanity Fair: "English... is one of the biggest names in the cocktail world"
Men's Journal: "Camper English is the American booze world’s ice savant."
The Guardian: "perhaps the pre-eminent cocktail ice scholar"
Punch: "The San Francisco-based cocktail writer has carved out a niche for himself as a clear-ice zealot, preaching the virtues of directional freezing—a method by which crystal clear ice can be achieved—in both articles and seminars."
Punch: "one of the world’s foremost experts on cocktail ice"
New York Magazine's The Strategist: "Camper English, who writes about cocktails and spirits and pioneered the technique that most professionals now use to make ice (after experimenting with the frozen stuff for a decade)."
MarthaStewart.com: "The foremost authority on ice in the country (maybe the world)."
Adam Rogers, author of Proof: The Science of Booze and Full Spectrum: How the Science of Color Made Us Modern: “Camper English is the booze writer’s booze writer—the one we all turn to for true histories, unassailable facts, and clarity (of both explanation and ice).”
All Media Coverage for The Ice Book
- San Francisco Chronicle: "Clear ice cubes make cocktails taste better. Really"
- Epicurious: "How Ice Obsessives Brought Clear Cubes to the Home Bar"
- Huffington Post: "How To Make Bar-Quality Ice, The Secret To A Better-Tasting Drink"
- New York Times: "Inside the Quest for Totally Transparent Cocktail Ice"
- New York Times: "The Height of Domestic Luxury? Designer Ice."
- New York Times Magazine: "Is Ice the Ultimate Luxury?"
- Wine Enthusiast: "How to Make the Stunning Artisanal Ice All Over Social Media"
- Inside Hook: "This Is the Ultimate Guide to Clear Ice"
- Washington Post: "Why are Americans so obsessed with ice?"
- Salon.com: "Starbucks is shifting to nugget ice — and an ice expert has thoughts"
- Liquor.com: "For Camper English, Cocktail Ice Is a Work of Art"
- Sunset Magazine: "Here's How to Make Perfect Clear Ice for Cocktails"
- Wall Street Journal: "Does Anyone Really Need a $649 Ice Maker?"
- Put a drink inside an ice sphere. [Imbibe]
- Podcast: All about ice with Camper English [Imbibe Radio]
- Podcast: 52 Martinis "The Ice Book with Camper English"
- Chilled Magazine: "We Ask Icepert Camper English—How to Make Awe-Inspiring Ice in Cocktails"
- Scientific American: "Climate-Friendly Cocktail Recipes Go Light on Ice"
- Tasting Table: "The 10 Biggest Mistakes You're Making With Ice Cubes, According To Camper English"
- Eater San Francisco: "Here Are the Chillest Bars for Fancy Ice in San Francisco, According to a Local Cocktail Expert"
- Mixology: "KLAREIS IN ALLEN FORMEN UND FARBEN: „THE ICE BOOK“ VON CAMPER ENGLISH"
- Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "Learn something cool with two new books about ice"
- Nob Hill Gazette: "May Is Coming in Hot with New Books From Local Trendsetters"
- Punch: "Clear Ice Goes Dirty"
- Wall Street Journal: "How Ice (and Slurpees) Made Life Worth Living: A Fascinating History of Frozen Water"
- Deseret News: "Here’s everything you need to know about the designer ice trend you see on TikTok"
- Specialty Food: "Specialty Ice is Trending"
- Punch: "There Will Never Be Enough Tiny Ice"
- Wine Enthusiast: "How Instagram Sparked the Clear-Ice Trend"
- Martha Stewart: "How to Make Crystal-Clear Ice for Cocktails and Other Drinks"
- Vanity Fair: "The Glaciers May Be Melting—But Status Ice Is Trending"
- Daily Mail: "The major mistakes you're making with your ICE CUBES"
- The Cocktail Guru Podcast
- Financial Times: "It’s cocktail hour – so put a flower in it"
- BookBub: "The Best Summer Cookbooks 2023"
- The Mercury News: "Love clear ice cubes? You might have this San Francisco cocktail writer to thank"
- The Sporkful podcast: "Why Ice Is This Summer’s Hottest Trend"
- Epicurious: "Why Does My Ice Smell?"
- Club Oenologique: "Top summer reads for food and drink lovers"
- Sioux City Journal: "Here's the Secret to Perfectly Clear, Bar-Quality Ice that Tastes Better and Melts Slower"
- Passport Magazine: "Best Books for August 2023"
Ice Cutting Classes and Demos:
Please see the Event Calendar for scheduled classes, demos, talks, and events!