Why this bottle & ice tub earns its place
At 180 mm this is a one-bottle tub. It goes on the table, on a stand or on the corner of a bar with a bottle of wine, prosecco or beer sat in ice, and it stays there for the length of a course rather than being carried about. That size is a deliberate limit — big enough to pack ice around a bottle properly, small enough not to dominate a laid table or force the covers apart.
Aluminium is the working reason to choose metal here. It pulls heat out of the bottle faster than plastic does, so a bottle brought out warm comes down to temperature in the tub instead of just being kept where it started, and it holds the chill visibly — the tub frosts, which does half the presentation work on its own. The trade-off is condensation: metal at ice temperature runs water down its outside, so it wants a napkin, coaster or underplate beneath it on a dressed table.
Aluminium is also light, which matters when it is being carried out full of ice and a bottle, and it dents rather than cracks when it eventually meets the floor. Silver reads neutrally against most table settings and glassware, and it wipes and dries down between covers in seconds.
