OnTheRocks Soars 205% Past Its Crowdfunding Goal

Allow me to introduce you to OnTheRocks—one of the coolest (pun, again, intended) products I’ve ever seen.

Meet OnTheRocks

OnTheRocks is a smaller-than-a-gallon-of-ice-cream, no-parts-moving clear ice maker. Using interchangeable trays, it can make 6 clear ice cubes, 6 clear ice diamonds, 5 clear ice spheres or 1 block.

The Deal with Clear Ice

You might’ve stumbled upon clear ice, especially recently. It’s something that’s just now poking its head into the spotlight.

I’ll never forget the first time I saw clear ice. Pamela and I were enjoying a meal at Butcher and the Rye. I ordered an Old Fashioned and couldn’t believe my eyes. The ice cube inside was a.) very large and b.) was completely clear. It was the coolest thing I’d ever seen.

Clear ice looks gorgeous, but it has more benefits than just looking good. It melts slower for one. This is because it freezes unilaterally, which results in a much stronger structured ice cube. There aren’t any air pockets, which are a big culprit in why cloudy ice melts quickly.

That same science also eliminates something else—freezer stink. Cloudy ice cubes dump freezer smell into your drinks because their air pockets absorb the smells. Clear ice doesn’t have any air pockets, so there’s no freezer smell. It’s pure and allows your drink to speak for itself.

Clear Ice is Awesome. Making It, However, Has Been a Challenge

So clear ice is hands down the best solution for your cocktails. It ups your ice game.

But if you wanted to make it, was it within reach? The short answer is no. DIY solutions are labor and time intensive. Craft cocktail bars have access by buying $60,000 machines. There are a small handful of at-home solutions, but they don’t yield much and are expensive.

In Comes OnTheRocks

OnTheRocks founder Matt Verlinich wondered why everyone couldn’t have clear ice. Former General Manager of TechShop Pittsburgh (the guy who hosted President Obama), Matt started developing his own solution.

Dozens of concepts, and hundreds of experiments later, OnTheRocks was born.

The OnTheRocks Crowdfunding Campaign

In order to bring OnTheRocks to the market, it needed to crowdfund. The initial ask on Indiegogo (to cover the costs associated with mass production setup) was $25,000. The campaign is only set to run for 30 days.

The campaign kicked off on Monday, Sept. 12. Within 9 days, the campaign had reached its initial goal and started to strut beyond it.

Not only that, it had been featured in the Indiegogo newsletter and the Trending Near You (for Pittsburgh), the Design and Food & Drink Collections.

As of today (Oct. 1, 2016), the campaign has reached the $50,000 mark, which is a jaw-dropping 200% over its initial goal. As I write this, however, it’s only continuing to grow. At the moment it’s at 205%.

For me, I’m obsessively refreshing the campaign every minute, cheering it on like a fan girl.

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If you’d like to join the innovators backing the OnTheRocks crowdfunding campaign—and get the product at an amazing price—you can do so here.