That's "spiked ice" drinks, not "spiked" iced drinks. According to a gallery on the newscientist.com website, freezing water with few dissolved salts, like distilled water, can cause the resultant ice to form the following phallic protrusions, called "ice spikes."

Good morning icicle!
Source: Photo by Andrew Bradbeer c/o newscientist.com


Birds beware
Source: Photo by Anne Davis c/o newscientist.com


Thick and spic...I mean spiky
Source: Photo by Andrew Leng c/o newscientist.com


Spiked Cube
Source: Photo by Christian Willenborg c/o newscientist.com

No, these protuberances aren't the result of an as yet unidentified force in nature, called "hormonal thrust." The following is an explanation from the 221st news issue from planet-science.com:

as the ice freezes fast under supercooled conditions, the surface can get covered except for a small hole. Water expands when it freezes. As freezing continues, the expanding ice under the surface forces the remaining water up through the hole and it freezes around the edge forming a hollow spike. Eventually, the whole thing freezes and the spike is left

For clarity, here is an illustrated diagram from woosk.com

Ice Spike Formation

Why is distilled water water? Again, from woosk.com,

Most ice cube trays produce a few spikes, but usually only if distilled water is used...We measured the probability of ice spike formation as a function of salt (NaCl) concentration in distilled water, at a fixed temperature of -7C...Very little salt is needed to kill the ice spikes. All tap waters contain relatively high concentrations of various mineral salts, so apparently different impurities have different effects on ice spike formation.

According to newscientist.com, this may be because dissolved solids in the water tend to concentrate at the tip of a growing ice spike and inhibit its growth. A research paper from the California Institute of Technology provides much more detail.

Personally I've never encountered the phenomenon before and I live in a city where the temperature sinks to -40°C during 4 months of the year. Though, because we are exposed to prolonged periods of snow, the city coats our roadways with salt, sometimes with reckless abandon.

Now, if you want to make your own, and I do, here is a recipe from newscientist.com.

Recipe

Ice Spike How To
Source: newscientist.com.

Prep:

1. Find some distilled water.
2. Find a plastic ice cube tray. Metal conducts heat too well.
3. Pre-cool (set) your freezer to -7 °C.

Method:

1. Fill the ice cube tray with the distilled water.
2. Place the tray in the freezer.

Happy ice spiking!

And yes, because this is a recipe that I've not tried, it's going into the ExperimentalEats category.



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