Who wants to cool a little? Anyone who said quite loud “I” should travel to New York. There, there is a bar entirely from ice – in which you can sip cocktails at minus five degrees.
In this bar, there are more cuddled people because of very comprehensible reasons. Also less danced, less drunk and more photographed. Because it is freezing cold, minus five degrees Celsius to be accurate. If not the loud music would be or the typical screamy light of a bar, the guests could also believe they had been in a large and walk-in cooling chest, but not in the city’s coolest city attraction.
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In the “Minus5 Ice Bar” at the Hilton Hotel on the Sixth Avenue in Manhattan, the complete decor is made of ice: the walls, the ceiling, the benches, the chairs and tables, even the light seems out of two huge chandeliers of ice crystals. And even the cocktails are not served behind the counter from ice blocks from the workers in warm winter clothes, but not served in normal glasses, but in the creation of ice, which slowly grabbed after use and recycled at the end as water.
“We need more than 700 glasses every day,” says Dariana Torres, the vodka and tequila cocktails with names like “Snowflake”, “Avalanche” or “Iceman” for $ 15.
The 25-year-old carries not only very warm winter boots because of the continuous cold, but also extra-thick snow pants, a winter hat, and a thick sweater over a Marilyn Monroe T-shirt.
But not only do the waitresses have to protect themselves in the ice bar in front of the cold. Even the guests should not get a cold. Who wants to recover here with a drink from the heat in New York from currently 30 degrees Celsius and more, should be warm. $ 20 costs the basic equipment of down coat, wool gloves, and hat, which offer the rather lush ladies on the warm entrance of the Ice Bar their short-threaded and short-limbed guests in summer shoes. Clever guests can bring their own winter faces.
If you want to drink with a little more style, you can get a false fur for a surcharge for then 45 dollars or book the VIP package for $ 95. There is still a cocktail as well as a souvenir photo. And the cap with the ICE bar emblem can also be kept as a reminder. However, the guests may not hope for warming boots. Anyone who comes in flip-flops will get frozen toes after a while. Glow wine complacent or equal cold?
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After the winter packaging, it is then in a so-called “transition room”, as it describes General Manager Chris Eldridge. Nobody should be shrugged from 30 degrees plus to five degrees minus shock. In a minute, the visitors get used to the low temperature.
“We start slowly and cool our guests to three degrees,” says Eldridge. Only then open the doors. On his tour, Eldridge waives coat, hat, and gloves and remains casual in shirt and jeans. He got used to it and enjoy the cooling.
The ice was brought to New York in cooling thesis from Canada and Minnesota, where the quality is the best. It is above all the clarity that makes good ice, says the 40-year-old frost expert. As a result, the light games of the red, yellow, and blue luminous beams on the ice cover are best to be valid. A total of 350 blocks from ice were processed in the manageable bar. Every single weighed between 150 and 250 pounds.
From the crystal clear ice blocks, the makers then made not only the entire interior design but also chiseled classic New York sights in ceiling and walls.
Thus, at the entrance of the ICE bar, in which the air is so dry, that you can not see your own breath husband, one to ice-frozen Statue of Liberty the visitor. On the other hand, the wall is shaped into a pillar of the Brooklyn Bridge and in a side wing of the club sits the guest in Central Park with carved benches and trees. The twilight light of the bar comes from two-shaped and impressive crown chandeliers.
“We change the sculptures every 90 days,” says Eldridge, who describes the ICE bar as a success and does not want to close in winter. Finally, the concept also functions with cold outside temperatures. The room is manageable, at most 50 undercooled guests find space.
The inventor of the idea is Craig Ling, which opens a bar in an Igloo during the Olympic Games in Vancouver in 2010 and later successfully implemented the concept in Australia, New Zealand, and Las Vegas. “It’s a funny idea,” says Marc Bolder, a New York banker who invited a business partner to a drink in the Ice Bar. Despite their warming coats, the two of the permanent frost with their vodka cocktails will be in hand.
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“You can’t stand here for a very long time,” says the Mittachziger Bolder after 30 minutes. An entrepreneur dream: the guests come from curiosity, give a lot of money. And shocking life when re-entry into the normal weather is privacy.
“Theoretically, you can stay as long as you want,” assures Managers Eldridge. But most of his guests, including tourists from all businessmen who want to show their foreign customers what and invite them to a cool drink, go after half to three-quarters of an hour. An exception is already Brendan Rauw. He has enjoyed the cold cocktail and white wine for almost two hours. “I am used to it,” says Rauw, a tourist from Canada. “I’m from Calgary. There is always very long winter.”
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