Recently, Groovy Guy Gifts sent me some whiskey stones in the mail and asked me to write up a review of them – so here it is! The Groovy Guy Gifts Whiskey Stones review.

Perhaps you haven’t heard of whiskey stones before? If that’s the case and you’re wondering why on earth you’d put rocks in your drink, the main purpose is that you can use whiskey stones in place of ice to keep your drink of choice cool, all without watering it down. (You know, since stones don’t melt.)

I’ve actually been curious about whiskey stones for a while since I seem to always forget to fill the ice cube trays in my freezer, so I was eager to see how I’d like these and if they’d live up to their desired purpose.

First, the whiskey stones that Groovy Guy Gifts sell have the option for personalization, and you can personalize each of the 6 stones differently. I decided to add that onto mine to see what that would look like. The stones are about ice cube size (they measure 1″ x 1″), so the fewer characters you add per stone, the easier they’ll be able to read. (If you scroll down a bit you can see that the word “Photography” is pretty tiny in comparison to all the other stones with fewer characters.) You can personalize each stone with 2 lines of up to 9 characters per line.

The stones arrived in a little muslin bag and came with instructions for use which are as follows:

1. Wash rocks with soap and water, dry completely and place in muslin bag. Put in the freezer (3 hrs)

2. Place rocks in dram of whiskey or glass of wine to chill beverage without watering it down.

3. Can also be heated to keep drinks warm (please use caution when heating and handling).

4. Whiskey rocks never wear out, they are dishwasher and food safe.

5. For adult use only, please keep away from children due to choking hazard. Use at own risk.

To be honest, I was a little bummed that I had to chill them for so long before trying them out. But once they were washed and chilled, I decided to test them out in a glass of ginger ale. (Yes, I know, not whiskey.)

And they definitely did the trick! I only needed to add three to my glass, so the added benefit is that you could use all 6 to chill down a couple glasses of your beverage of choice.

While, overall, I like these stones and I think they could make for a nice gift, I did have a few minor things that didn’t quite jive with me:

First, these are marketed to guys. I’m very much NOT a guy. But I drink whiskey. And I like these stones. I’d like to see the marketing (and the instruction card that came with the stones) be less guy-centric. Women like whiskey too!

Secondly, they do smell like stone. Granted, I have a very sensitive sense of smell and taste, but upon their arrival I could tell that, yup, they are definitely rocks. So I wondered, would my drink taste like rocks too? As it turns out, yes, very, very faintly. I’m still not sure if this is a dealbreaker for me, so keep that in mind if you are purchasing these.

Because of this, it also got me wondering – what kind of stone are these made out of? Is it manufactured stone? Is it real stone that’s been shaped? Could anything be leaching out of the stones into my drink? I’m not sure. I’d certainly hope they’re safe to use in drinks and don’t leach out anything harmful, but I guess I’d like to know more about what exactly I’m putting into my drink. The card doesn’t mention this, but after looking at their website again, it appears the rocks are made of 100% soapstone.

The instructions mention you can heat them. Yikes – I’m not sure I’d ever want to try that. I’ve been around enough campfires with river rock rings and have seen those puppies EXPLODE into shards of rock shrapnel, so I’m super hesitant to heat up any kind of rock. Perhaps you’re braver than I am, though.

All in all, despite the things I just mentioned, these whiskey stones are a nice product, and I’ll be eager to hear Groovy Guy Gifts address my above-mentioned caveats.

If you’d like to purchase your own stones, you can get them here for $34.99.

Please note: I received these stones from Groovy Guy Gifts in exchange for an honest review. 

On the Docket:

Editorial shoots, a trip to the UK, elopements, portraits and more! Stay tuned!

Cheers,

-Kristine