[colechristensen]

I'll take another stab with some thermo education experience added in. Much of your stab is pretty accurate though.

Starting off with the opposite, I'll compare two situations. One with whiskey and snow, the other with whiskey and an ice ball. (mass of snow = mass of ice ball)

Immediately when you drop the snow in, the temperature of the solid water in the snow raises from some negative temperature to 0 C, the temperature of the whiskey lowers to 0 C, and the surface of the snow particles melts. The slurry stays in equilibrium at 0 C until external heat inputs melt all of the solid water.

Also because it is at 0 C, heat transfers from the environment quickly (heat transfer rate depends on the difference in temperature, the bigger the difference the more energy is transferred in the same amount of time)

Downsides:

* Cold whiskey

* Immediately diluted whiskey

* Faster heat transfer.

Now for a solid ball of ice. As opposed to the snow, there isn't an instant change to a constant temperature. The ice (which in my freezer is at -19 C) initially only warms towards 0, there isn't a significant amount of melt until the whole ball is at 0 C. The whiskey likewise don't instantly, or perhaps ever cool to 0 C. This warmer whiskey accepts energy from the environment less quickly, which warms the ice ball less quickly, which results delayed and slower ice melt.

This all happens because the surface area in contact with the fluid is much much smaller than with the snow.

So you get

* warmer whiskey (desirable for more flavor)

* less water immediately in the whiskey

* slower introduction of water into the whiskey

This is all because the large mass, low surface ice ball slows down the thermodynamic process which has all desirable effects. * The key is not cooling the whiskey as quickly & not keeping the whiskey at 0 C. If it _did_ keep the whiskey at 0 C (for example with lots of stirring) there wouldn't be a difference between snow and ice ball.

Normal ice cubes are a middle ground with undesirable effects to a lesser degree.

[kghose]

Ah this is interesting for a teetotaler! I did not know it was desirable to keep the whiskey warm. I thought, like soft drinks, the idea was to keep it as chilled as possible. So the optimum temp is just a little below room?

[colechristensen]

Lots of character (flavor) is lost with many foods when they are very cold. Cooler whiskey goes down smooth, 0 C whiskey has lost most of it's flavor (especially if you're the kind of person who spends obscene amounts of money on small amounts of whiskey).

Room temperature on a cool day is what many will say is the 'right' temperature, but there is no right or wrong, despite what many questionable experts will tell you.

[GhotiFish]

so why do we put ice in whiskey? When just directly chilling the whiskey produces a much more desirable effect?

[colechristensen]

Control, simplicity, preference.

Nobody is going to agree that X is the best temperature for every whiskey. Whiskies and drinkers are all different. Room temperature whiskey and ice give the most control with the least complication.