How to use whiskey stones

Whiskey stones are not complicated, which is why almost nobody writes instructions for them. That is also why the same three mistakes keep getting made. Before any of this, it is worth reading what stones actually do, because using them correctly will not change what they are capable of.

1. Wash them before first use. Stone arrives with manufacturing dust on it and steel arrives with whatever it was packed in. One rinse in warm water solves it.
2. Freeze for at least four hours. Most sets recommend four; overnight is better and costs nothing. A stone that has been in the freezer for twenty minutes is a room-temperature rock.
3. Pour first, then add the stones. Adding whiskey to a glass that already has stones in it wastes some of the cold on the glass instead of the drink.
4. Use two or three per glass. More does mean more cold, but it also means less room for whiskey, which is usually the wrong trade in a rocks glass.
5. Tilt the glass and let them slide in. Dropping a granite cube into a heavy-bottomed glass is how the glass gets chipped. Stainless is the exception here and can be dropped in safely.
6. Fish them out before washing the glass. Stone down a garbage disposal is a bad afternoon.

Storing them loose in the freezer

This is the big one, and it is the reason some people conclude that stones taste bad. Soapstone and granite are porous enough to take on the smell of whatever is around them, and a freezer is full of things with smells. The pouch or case the set came with exists for exactly this reason. Use it.

Expecting them to behave like ice

They will not, and no technique changes that. A stone takes a small edge off and then it is done, because it has no phase change to draw on the way melting ice does. If the drink is not as cold as you wanted, the answer is not more stones - it is a large ice cube.

Putting them in a cocktail

An old fashioned or a whiskey sour is built around ice doing two jobs: chilling and adding a controlled amount of water. Stones do neither well enough for a mixed drink, and a cocktail made with stones tastes exactly as strong and syrupy as it was mixed.

• Hand wash unless the listing says otherwise. Most stone sets publish no care instructions at all, and detergent soaking into a porous stone is a real way to ruin a drink.
• Dry them completely before refreezing. Wet stones fuse into a block.
• Keep them sealed. In the pouch, case or tray they came with, or in a lidded container.
• Replace them when they chip. A chipped granite edge is sharper than it looks and it is a genuine risk to a glass.

For the material question - whether the set you own or are buying is the right kind - see granite vs stainless steel. Our selection method explains where the specifications on this site come from.