At a time when many are stocking their bars with premium¹ spirits to host holiday parties, the one crucial ingredient that often gets overlooked is ice.

每当酒吧向周末派对推荐性价比最佳的酒类时，往往忽视了最基本的东西--冰块。

In almost every cocktail², ice serves to chill and dilute³ a drink, making it refreshing⁴ while calming the burn of the alcohol.

几乎在每款鸡尾酒中，冰块都会让酒变得口感冰冽，并得到恰当稀释，在平息酒精炽烈的同时，植入清爽的口感。

'Proper dilution⁵ is important to getting the right balance for every cocktail you're making, especially for Manhattan or Old Fashioned lovers', says Zak Doy, head bartender at Rush Lane in Toronto.

“品味鸡尾酒时，正确的稀释过程是非常重要的，对于酒的口感平衡而言，尤其是对于诸如曼哈顿酒和老式情人酒至关重要”，多伦多Rush街的调酒师领班扎克·多伊这样介绍。

'The best cocktails⁶ in the world are the ones that have enough ice and water added to them.'

“世界上最好的鸡尾酒一定会有适量的冰块和水在其中混合。”

Crushed ice. Standard cubes. King cubes. What's the difference?

碎冰、标准冰块和特大号冰块，有什么不同呢？

Crushed ice will chill and melt in a cocktail rapidly and is used when more dilution is necessary.

碎冰将会迅速融入酒中，并使得酒变得冰冽，碎冰更多时候是用来稀释酒。

'(It's) used in a lot of more flavourful and boozy drinks, designed for cocktails that can be consumed at a faster pace', says Doy.

多伊说：“碎冰通常用在味道浓烈的饮料里，它是为那些可以以更快的速度饮用的鸡尾酒设计的。”

Two-inch king cubes are used in very spirit-forward or spirit-driven cocktails – like Manhattans -- or for sipping⁷ really fine bourbon or scotch⁸.

两英寸特大冰块常被使用在烈性鸡尾酒或者多酒精鸡尾酒中，例如曼哈顿或者为啜饮纯的波本威士忌或苏格兰威士忌。

It has a much smaller surface area, so it melts at a much slower rate, ensuring the cocktail you're enjoying or the fine bourbon ... doesn't become very expensive bourbon-flavoured water too quickly.

酒的表面被冰覆盖，所以冰块溶解的非常慢，确保你的口感体验，或者避免使纯度波本威士忌变成遇水即逝的奢华波本威士忌。