Cool crowd chill out at New York's first ice bar
Source: Agencies |
July 10, 2013, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
IN the sweltering summer heat, New Yorkers are ready for the big chill - in midtown Manhattan.
The city's first ice bar is now open at the New York Hilton Midtown on Sixth Avenue. The US$20 admission includes Eskimo-style gloves and a parka for the privilege of drinking cocktails in the freezing Minus5 Ice Bar.
The entire bar is made of ice.
"The walls, everything," manager Chris Eldridge said. "The chairs you're sitting on, the glass you're drinking out of, even the light above your head is made of ice."
Promoters say it's all carved out of "100 percent Canadian ice."
The truth is, it's special, extra-clear "carvers" ice - some from Canada, the rest from Philadelphia, Las Vegas and Minneapolis.
About 350 blocks of it, each weighing up to 45 kilograms, were used to create the cool surroundings that are meant to feel good on a Manhattan afternoon when temperatures soared into the 30s Celsius.
The temperature inside? A soothing minus-5 degrees Celsius - hence, the name.
Any heat-emitting devices that could melt the Arctic freeze - like cell phones - must be deposited in temperature-proof lockers at the door.
There are already two Minus5 bars in Las Vegas.
"An Experience that will chill you to your bones!" says the website of the company whose concept was created in New Zealand by Craig Ling, then tested as a pop-up igloo at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.
The only concessions to warm comfort are some couches covered in faux deerskin.
Drinks reflect the icy clarity: mostly vodka-based cocktails in custom-designed glasses made from artesian water.
Bartender Paul Stavros was decked out for his eight-hour shift. He wore thermal underwear and snow boots, "just like winter in New York," the 27-year-old Stavros said.
It cost over US$5 million to build the Manhattan bar, "bricks, mortar, ice and all," said Noel Bowman, Minus5's director of operations.
But there's also a cost-saving factor.
For the drinks, "we don't have to use ice," deadpanned Eldridge.
The city's first ice bar is now open at the New York Hilton Midtown on Sixth Avenue. The US$20 admission includes Eskimo-style gloves and a parka for the privilege of drinking cocktails in the freezing Minus5 Ice Bar.
The entire bar is made of ice.
"The walls, everything," manager Chris Eldridge said. "The chairs you're sitting on, the glass you're drinking out of, even the light above your head is made of ice."
Promoters say it's all carved out of "100 percent Canadian ice."
The truth is, it's special, extra-clear "carvers" ice - some from Canada, the rest from Philadelphia, Las Vegas and Minneapolis.
About 350 blocks of it, each weighing up to 45 kilograms, were used to create the cool surroundings that are meant to feel good on a Manhattan afternoon when temperatures soared into the 30s Celsius.
The temperature inside? A soothing minus-5 degrees Celsius - hence, the name.
Any heat-emitting devices that could melt the Arctic freeze - like cell phones - must be deposited in temperature-proof lockers at the door.
There are already two Minus5 bars in Las Vegas.
"An Experience that will chill you to your bones!" says the website of the company whose concept was created in New Zealand by Craig Ling, then tested as a pop-up igloo at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.
The only concessions to warm comfort are some couches covered in faux deerskin.
Drinks reflect the icy clarity: mostly vodka-based cocktails in custom-designed glasses made from artesian water.
Bartender Paul Stavros was decked out for his eight-hour shift. He wore thermal underwear and snow boots, "just like winter in New York," the 27-year-old Stavros said.
It cost over US$5 million to build the Manhattan bar, "bricks, mortar, ice and all," said Noel Bowman, Minus5's director of operations.
But there's also a cost-saving factor.
For the drinks, "we don't have to use ice," deadpanned Eldridge.
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