TWiesengrund t1_ismivx8 wrote
Reply to comment by Yerm_Terragon in TIL that before the invention of regfrigeration in 1851, ice had to be imported to Australia from Boston, Massachusetts. The ice blocks travelled through the tropics inside ships insulated with timber, straw, peat, and sawdust by stumcm
That's a pretty US-centric view. Ice has been used in drinks on a larger scale since the 16th century but mostly for the rich feudal class. The Alps were a big trade center for that but of course nothing like what we got in the 19th century. It only really took off with early industrialization but it was a known commodity before.
plytheman t1_isp9d0m wrote
I think there's a few story lines getting crossed here. I can't speak to the OP comment about North America creating the trend of iced drinks in Europe, but it seems like Frederick Tudor and the resulting ice industry was pretty influential in promoting ice in cocktails, etc.
From New England Historical Society:
>Frederic Tudor expanded his business to Charleston, Savannah and New Orleans, developing new sales techniques along the way.
>He gave bartenders free ice for a year after teaching them how to keep it frozen in a ‘refrigerating jar’ and how to make cocktails like the Smash. He sold ice to Havana coffee shop owners and the keeper of the Tivoli Gardens after teaching them how to make ice cream.
Also:
>Between 1844 and the early 1850s, the remarkably pure ice from Wenham Lake in Massachusetts became a fashionable luxury among the British aristocracy. The best London hotels put up signs advertising Wenham ice. It was said you could read a newspaper through a block of Wenham Lake ice two feet thick.
>Wenham ice inspired the popularity of cocktails like sherry cobblers and mint juleps in London. No fancy dinner party was complete without it, and Queen Victoria insisted on it.
>A competitor to Frederic Tudor, the Wenham Lake Ice Co., had promoted the stuff.
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