A NEW BEAR HAS BEEN CARVED

Aaron Costic of International Ice Carving fame, finished a new bear for us yesterday. This is what we have been waiting for!!! It is a 6'5" standing Polar Bear with one paw up, and already has instant success with Icebar Guests. We have moved and updated all the sculptures and added a new shelf for displaying some of the new an amazing vodkas we are featuring. The bear was made from 8 blocks of ice, frozen together starting out at 2,400 pounds! After the carving, I think he probably weighs close to a ton. This is a BIG FELLA.

Aaron started by stacking the blocks and we will get the video up so you can see how it was done. Really fun to watch him work. We also had a film crew from the International Drive Travel website come and take some movie shots. That should be great publicity for us and for Aaron. I am considering going to take a class in carving from Aaron's studio in Cleveland, but have to wait until it is not so darn cold!!!

I am a Florida native, and really don't like much snow... so why am I operating an icebar? Good question! It's FUN, people SMILE when they see it, and it makes me Feel GOOD! Besides, I get to taste test all the new recipes, like the one below.

Along with Diamond Standard Vodka, we have just tasted the 4 Orange Vodka made from Florida Oranges! This is, I believe, the first vodka distilled from Oranges. After the oranges are squeezed for juice the skins and pulp are made into molasses which is distilled to make the great tasting and quite aromatic vodka. We are trying a new drink with our ice glass that has a sugar rim! Then the orange vodka and a splash of fresh limeaid for an "Florida Orange Freeze". YUM YUM.

Here's the bear -and we are designing another bar to be installed in the future! Let us know what you like, and any suggestions.

DIAMONDS AND ICE

We are now featuring Diamond Vodka in the icebar and in our VIP packages. If you have not tasted this marvelous brew that is filtered through DeBeers diamonds you must come. We have absolutely the best prices around, and they are a sponsor of Icebar. It is GREAT STUFF! We have a special martini made with white grape juice that will chill you out!

“Our Diamond Filtered patented process is an industry first. We utilize over six hundred cut diamonds of up to one carat in size to purify our vodka. Our innovative process creates vodka with the silkiest and most subtle of palettes and is simply the most exquisite mass market vodka available anywhere. Our filtration system took over three years to perfect. Its yield is 750 carats of liquid elegance since each and every drop has been individually Kissed by Diamonds.” http://diamondbeverages.com/

NEW CARVINGS NEW THEME

This month we are designing the new sculptures and theme for Icebar Orlando. Aaron Costic, our amazing sculptor will be available the second week of September to do 4 days of carving and installation. We are tentatively working on the ANIMALS OF THE COLD as the new theme. We have plans for a replacement polar bear, standing up this time, and some Eskimo's with no faces so you can put yours in for a photo, like this: There are also Narwhales, Penguins, Arctic Fox and Hare, Snowy Owl, Seals of all kinds, and the leopard is my personal favorite (see post below), there are also orca whales, albatross and a lot of other kinds of creatures. What is your favorite? Let us know what you think (other than you think I draw funny!)

We are also offering our liquor partners the opportunity to participate in branding of our sculptures and the new bar. I created a power point presentation, and in doing the research am totally in awe of how many people atually visit our website, see us on television and read about us in blogs and articles. We have, this month, two new videos, one on nbc's Travelscoot and another on an English travel site. We also taped a segment for a new website being developed called The Information Network. We will be taping for ION tv a program called Southern Bike Nights which will feature us in a bike-friendly look at Orlando. We continue to get weekly requests for photos and information and interviews.
The result?? BUSINESS IS GOOD!!!!
For that, we thank our guests, and our great Icebar team.