An outdoor night club made out of 12,000 pounds of ice debuted January 18 at the Samoset Resort in Rockport. The resort's FROST Ice Bar & Lounge is “the hottest coolest” thing to hit the Midcoast in years.

In the weeks leading up to its unveiling, Chef Tim Pierce of Samoset’s La Bella Vita restaurant and Enoteca Lounge worked with a crew to construct a large ice bar, a luge, tables, chairs and even glasses on the frozen back deck of La Bella Vita overlooking the Penobscot Bay.

Pierce, who grew up in Boothbay Harbor and is the son of Mary and Norman Pierce, has competed in and judged many ice carving competitions around New England and has won many awards. 

In a competition held in Jackson, N.H., in early January, Pierce won three first place awards – the Judge's Award, The People's Choice Award and the Artists' Award for his sculpture of a manta ray.

This is the first season in more than four years that the Samoset Resort has been open year-round. 

“We thought we’d try to do something big here to bring some excitement into the community,” said Pierce, who did the majority of ice carving himself. He first learned ice-carving skills at the Culinary Institute of America in New York, where he studied, and, later, discovered he had a knack for it. 

With 20 years of ice carving experience under his belt, including instructing the ice carvers for the Camden Winterfest, this has been his biggest project for the Samoset Resort.

Inspired by the original ice bars and lounges in Scandinavia, FROST Ice Bar and Lounge is a "a glistening, outdoor frozen fantasy land." A talented team of ice carvers and designers, led by Pierce, used chisels and chainsaws to carve the 300-pound blocks of ice. 

Everything in this outdoor wonderland, with the exception of the comfortable fire pit, was created out of ice, including tables, seats, couches, and stools, some of which are covered in faux polar bear skins. 

Along with life-sized ice sculptures, there is an ice luge. Sponsored by Cold River Vodka, Vermont Spirits and Ripe Bar Juice, FROST’s bartenders pour a variety of specialty cocktails as well as sponsored spirits down the luge. 

FROST will be entirely weather-dependent throughout the winter. 

“As long as the weather cooperates, FROST bar could be here for months,” Pierce said.

For more information, visit samosetresort.com/frost-ice-bar-a-lounge.html/.