The Whiskey Reviewer A World of Whiskey, Poured Every Weekday
By April Manning
(Credit: April Manning)
Bourbon and Beyond invited several vendors to the festival and FirstBuild used this opportunity to show off their bourbon related products. FirstBuild is a co-creation community that is subsidized by GE Appliances, giving them access to world-class engineering and design talent.
Among their products, the creators at FirstBuild have designed an affordable icemaker for the nugget ice enthusiast. The Opal makes that chewable nugget ice that you crave at a fraction of the costs of other home ice machines. They also offer the Bourbon Barrel Cooler. These are real bourbon barrels used in production then lined, clear-coated and fitted with a drain plug to become the hit at your next barbeque.
FirstBuild also introduced their exciting new prototype at Bourbon and Beyond, which will be perfect for concocting bourbon cocktails. The innovation (name to come later) is a small appliance that will make solid crystal-clear ice balls at home using regular tap water.
The ice balls can be made six at a time in around six hours. Because of the shape there is not as much surface area so the ball stays cold longer then a regular cube. Much like the large blocks of ice commonly used, these ice balls will be the perfect cocktail cooling agent. No more watered down Old Fashions here!
FirstBuild looks to have this prototype finalized and on the market in the next eight to ten months. We will be looking forward to this new appliance in 2018!
