Meet the New Ice Crusher – Lewis Bag/Carpenter’s Joiner Mallet

Lewis Bag / Joiner's Mallet

The Lewis bag has been around for a long time.  I first read about it when I was deep into cocktail history books but never really considered using one since a mechanical ice crusher worked so well and was what everyone was using.  Of course that was before yet another vintage ice crusher was lost to the land fill due to a catastrophic mechanical failure.  It was time to revisit the Lewis bag and see what this old school tool might be able to do.

I started off my search for a replacement ice crusher as usual on eBay looking for another vintage manual one that was preferably unused.  The new ones are just way too flimsy for the heavy use that is demanded in our household.  A few candidates were were found but I just kept thinking that I’d be doing this again in the future so why bother?  Then I remembered the Lewis bag.

A quick search led me to a few sites that sold Lewis bags for bars and serious bartenders that looked extremely sturdy (heavy canvas, triple stitching) which alleviated one of the fears that I had regarding the method; that the thing would rip too easily and I’d be back to square one.  Second, I needed the right pounding apparatus.  Again, a quick internet search led me to some sites with advice on what type of mallet to use with a Lewis bag (craftingcocktailscom, SummitSips) which were very helpful.  I was actually pretty pleased to see that Summit Sips came up during my Google search since I’m a fan of Randy’s site and sent him a note asking how he liked using the Lewis bag.  We went back and forth a little bit on pros and cons, and based on my usage patterns I finally decided that a Lewis bag was the way to go.  I followed the advice of craftingcocktails.com and bought one from Ladykonnyaku off Etsy and am extremely pleased at the quality of the bag.  It’s a great size, very thick canvas, excellent craftsmanship with a convenient loop to hang the bag so it can dry after use.  So now all I needed to do then was find the right mallet.  Again, Randy gave me some good advice and I was off to search for the right one.

I knew which shape to search for, a carpenter’s joiner mallet since it has a flat striking head.  Many users, Summit Sips included, found that a round striking head such as a muddler just wasn’t that effective.  Weighing both functionality and appearance I decided that the Back Channel mallet from DiLegno Woodshop Supply was perfect.  Traditional design, soaked in linseed oil for 30 days or more to add heft and durability, not to mention a beautiful golden hue made this the winner for me.  It was about $15 more than a standard beech model you could pick up on Amazon but it’s completely worth the extra cash.

These have been in use for about a week and all I can say is Why did it take me this long to get these tools?  They are amazing:  portable, effective, faster than a manual ice crusher, and believe it or not quieter and easier to use. The only drawback would be the inconsistency of the crushed ice produced, but I’m chalking that up to user error at this point.  I’m still getting used to using them and have a tendency to use too much force and beat the ice too long resulting in pulverized snow and a very slow pour when trying to get the cocktail into the glass.  Still, I’m working on it.

Finally, a lot of websites that I reviewed talked about the Lewis bag as being for serious bartenders but I would respectfully disagree.  Even if you’re only making a cocktail or two a month I would still consider getting a good quality Lewis bag and mallet.  They’re just as easy to store as a manual ice crusher, look great when you get them out, and are very old school.  It’s an impressive way to make your crushed ice and as someone who’s a big advocate of the cocktail ritual being just as important as the cocktail itself, it elevates the whole process.