Great write up by Dan Gumm over at isitworthit.guru comparing both kinds of whiskey stones (stainless and soapstone) and our LoBall. See the blog post here.
"I like my whiskey “neat”, but at the same time cold. Until now that problem was solved by keeping whiskey bottles in the freezer. That was a good solution most of the time but there isn’t always time or room, plus the minute the whiskey hits the glass it starts to get warm. About a month ago I came across theSipDark.com website. After a few minutes of reading I thought to myself “These are pretty neat looking and I bet they really work”. To make a long story short, I ended up with three SipDark products to review, their Whiskey Stones, Steel Whiskey Stones and a LoBall Whiskey Sphere. So, let’s get down to business and see how well SipDark Stones Do The Big Chill.
For these tests I measured out and poured 2 ounces of whiskey in each glass. Temperature readings were taken of each sample after 5, 15 and 30 minutes. Each of the SipDark products were in the freezer for 6 hours before testing.
Whiskey Stones: Set of 3 $12.99 Set of 6 $24.99 Engraving Available for additional cost.
Cut from natural soapstone, this set came packed in a box of 6 – 1″ stones. As you can see one of the stones has SipDark’s logo engraved.
Temperature readings, 3 stones used.
- 5 minutes: 51 degrees
- 15 minutes: 55 degrees
- 30 minutes: 56 degrees
These worked well with only a 5 degree increase over 30 minutes.
Steel Whiskey Stones: Set of 3 $14.99 Set of 6 $29.99 Engraving Available for additional cost.
Made from stainless steel, these 1″ stones are polished with rounded edges and come in sets of 3 or 6. The set of 6 comes boxed and includes a velvet carrying bag.
Temperature readings, 3 stones used.
- 5 minutes: 40 degrees
- 15 minutes: 34 degrees
- 30 minutes: 38 degrees
The steel stones continued to cool down the whiskey after the first 5 minutes with a 2 degree drop after 30 minutes.
LoBall Whiskey Sphere: $24.99 Engraving Available for additional cost.
Made from polished stainless steel, the LoBall Spheres are filled with a non-toxic liquid with a lower freezing point than water.
Temperature readings: 1 sphere used.
- 5 Minutes 37 degrees
- 15 Minutes 34 degrees
- 30 Minutes 35 degrees
All of the products did a great job, but the LoBall Whiskey Sphere was the clear winner being the quickest and keeping the whiskey at the lowest temperature.
Before reading this final test, SipDark recommends 1 stone per 1 ounce of liquid. I am clearly pushing the limits to see how they handle it.
As a final test, I used 6 Whiskey Stones, 6 Steel Whiskey Stones and the LoBall Sphere in seperate glasses holding 12 ounces of diet Pepsi compared to about the same volume of ice. The results were pretty interesting.
Ice:
- 5 Minutes 47 degrees
- 15 Minutes: 45 degrees
- 30 Minutes: 47 degrees
Whiskey Stones:
- 5 Minutes: 58 degrees
- 15 Minutes: 60 degrees
- 30 Minutes: 61 degrees
Steel Whiskey Stones:
- 5 Minutes: 42 degrees
- 15 Minutes: 44 degrees
- 30 Minutes: 47 degrees
Loball Whiskey Sphere:
- 5 Minutes: 44
- 15 Minutes: 40
- 30 Minutes: 45
The LoBall Sphere and the Steel Whiskey Stones were the clear winners here getting the drink colder, faster, plus at the 30 minute mark, nearly all of ice had melted diluting the diet Pepsi.
Even though I stretched the limits in the final test, I feel these products from SipDark exceeded my expectations and were solid performers. I like my whiskey cold, without ice and all of these products were up to the task, plus they look good in the glass doing it.
As a final note here, I did sip from all the samples and found SipDark’s statement that their products will not alter the drink flavors to be true.
Is It Worth It? Yes! These Stone from SipDark are worth it!!"