Cocktails with Chilled water
Chilled water is plain still water served cold, used to dilute a drink and not to flavor it.
Substitutes for Chilled water
Any still water does this, chilled or not — or leave it out and stir several seconds longer, letting the ice melt the same amount into the glass. Nothing substitutes: the whole point is that it adds no flavor, and anything you add removes that point.
Often confused with
Soda water
Carbonated, and the dissolved gas makes it faintly acidic; the bubbles change the texture of the drink as well as its chemistry.
Melting ice
Ice dilutes on its own schedule, and the figure depends on the cube, the stir and the room; that is the difference: one is a variable, the other is a measurement.
Storage
Keep the bottle in the fridge rather than a jug on the bar. Room-temperature water works against you, warming the drink at the same time as it dilutes it.
