There are purists who will never allow a cube of ice to come in contact with a drop of their whiskey. We get it. Ice melts and dilutes your drink killing the flavor. Whiskey stones are supposed to offer a modern answer for guys who enjoy a cooler beverage but don’t want any ice thinning out their drink. But how well do they actually work? We rounded up a bunch to see just how effective they are. The results were surprising.
A Note on the Test: Many of these stones came in different shapes and sizes. We did our best to use amounts of each so every set was roughly the same in total size. We used 2 oz. pours of whiskey.
Conclusion
While better than some rocks from the yard, most whiskey stones do little to nothing. Buy them if you want your drink to look cool but not necessarily be cool. If you are looking for a way to keep your scotch a bit colder without watering it down, we found Balls of Steel and Steel Ice to be the best of the bunch. Not only did they drop the temperature of the bourbon a significant amount (over 20 degrees each), but they kept it from coming back to room temperature for over an hour. To get the quickest chill, nothing tops an ice cube or two in your glass, but for a dilution solution, steel beats rock, and Steel Ice or Balls of Steel are the way to go.
