The word comes from the same term as in winter sports – the one where they get on a sled and slide down an incredibly steep ice track with all sorts of crazy twists and turns in it, and whoever does it the fastest wins. They have singles, doubles, quad teams. You might remember the movie “Cool Runnings” about the ice luge team from Jamaica. The sport is also known as bobsledding.
OK so how does all this relate to your party? Well, the mini version ice luge is carved from a block of ice. It has one or two tracks carved into the block, which has a slope on it, and you pour shots of your favourite spirit down it. Then catch it in either a glass or if your party gets a bit more excited… in an open mouth at the bottom.
There are new designs being made all the time with these ice luges, and they now come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Male and female torsos are quite popular for bucks, hens, and 21st nights. Hearts are ideal for engagements and weddings. Ski jumps are popular for the corporate market because you can get a logo engraved on the side..
A recent innovation was instead of tracks down the outside of the ice (which tend to lead to a bit of loss of drink at the bottom), freezing tubes inside the ice so you still get the chilling effect but you don’t lose any drink. And the tubes can look kind of cool themselves. I guess it’s a matter of taste as to which you might prefer.
Now, what sort of drinks to pour? Well, the ice luge is going to last the longest if you use pre-chilled drinks. And drinks with a high enough percentage of alcohol (ie spirits such as Vodka, Schnapps, Rum etc) can go in the freezer before the event to get them really cold before you even pour them. If you pour soft drink down a tubed luge you run a risk of the drink actually freezing in there before it comes out the end, and then your luge is blocked and won’t work. Of course you can get away with that on a tracked luge, all that will happen is that the track will get a lot deeper a lot faster and may not last as long.
What about responsible service of alcohol? Some pubs get a bit nervous about having a luge, in case some idiot goes and pours a whole bottle down their neck and does themselves a serious injury. Good reason to be worried – simple answer, don’t let the partygoers control pouring the drinks out of a bottle. If you are prepared to sell them a bottle of spirits there’s nothing stopping them going a lay-back themselves, ice luge or no ice luge. However, if you only pour one shot at a time then you don’t have a problem.
Oh, and it’s pronounced with a soft g. Sadly I can’t think of a word in English that it rhymes with, probably because the word is French…