We wanted the cover to be icy, but not wintery; cold but still springtime. Dark and modern was out. We’d done something like that with ice on a cover before when we did a profile on Ted Kilgore, Mover & Shaker.
I kept coming back to the idea of showing a shot glass made of ice on the cover. It was a way to showcase ice in a not-so-obvious form and it was a fresh way to focus on an ingredient we’re all (somewhat) familiar with. Photographer Greg Rannells got some glasses from Ice Visions and shot them filled with this amber-hued scotch. When you first take the glasses out of the freezer they’re frosty. But after a while, the ice turns crystal-clear, which is what we wanted. In an effort to clear them up quickly, though, Greg tried to warm one up with his hands and accidentally created cracks in the glass. At first we both said, “Oh no!” But, just like it always does, it worked out. The cracks helped show that the glass is actually made of ice and, in the end, we managed to pull off a cold, icy, bright, springtime, not-too-dark and plenty modern cover. Perfect.
This article appears in May 1-31, 2011.
