Try an icy cold beer…literally
Colin Joliat At some point or another, every man has been forced to drink a warm beer. Whether you just picked up a case from the store or you were at a party without ample refrigerator space (coolers people, coolers), it’s definitely happened to all of us. One place you never expect to be served a improperly chilled beer, though, is at a bar. Unfortunately, even the pros screw things up from time to time.
Beer Below Zero, which just entered the US market at Bar 35 in Hawaii, aims to fix that problem and more. Their revolutionary cooler is meant to ensure that your beer is delivered just above the freezing point every time. They claim this “enhances the crispness of a beer’s taste through a frosting process. It heightens every beer drinker’s drinking experience. It doesn’t change or mask one’s beer’s distinct flavor but allows the beer’s true flavors to pull through, making it more pronounced.” This sounds like a must have for any frat house because you know their beer is never even close to the right temperature.
Unfortunately, this isn’t the Showtime Rotisserie; you can’t just “Set it, and forget it.” The system relies on “Beertenders” properly loading, unloading, and most importantly, rotating the beers in order to ensure that they don’t explode. If you haven’t done it accidentally before, go home and throw a bottle of beer in the freezer and see what happens (don’t actually do that). This seems like a lot of work just to sling bottles at about 18° F, but I’m not in the bar business. Their general sales pitch seems to be that it’s easier to drink very cold beers, so people will buy more. I suppose it is Hawaii, so maybe they have a point.
While the PRB and Beast Light crowd is jumping for joy at this idea, the beer lovers are rolling their eyes and swearing to never read another article about alcohol on Guyism again. Well don’t you fret aficionados; I am well aware that 18° is a terrible temperature at which to drink a beer. There isn’t a new product just hitting the US promising to serve beers at the recommended temperature though, so roll with me here. For those who don’t know, many of the flavors and aromas of a beer aren’t released until it reaches a certain temperature. If you want a guide to how cold your brew should be, check here. As an example, they cite 32° as the point at which to serve something you don’t want to taste. That nearly 2x higher than the average from Beer Below Zero. I would be interested to hear BBZ’s counter-argument to these commonly held temperature guidelines. My only thought is that they are trying to best serve the bar, not the boozer, but it seems as though the patron and proprietor’s interest would be aligned when it came to beer enjoyment.
Since I know very few of you are going to start temperature checking your beers, and none of you will try one from Beer Below Zero (it’s only in 1 bar in the US, and that’s in Hawaii), here’s a tip I picked up from Mythbusters 5+ years ago. The fastest way to chill your beer is by putting it in a bucket filled with ice, water, and salt. The salt allows the water temperature to drop below the freezing point yet still remain a liquid. Also, sitting in water ensures that the entire beer can/bottle is exposed to the cold instead of just whatever random parts an ice cube would be touching. This works incredibly well, and it has come in handy on many occasions when a party isn’t properly prepared. It only takes 5 minutes to drop a can from room temperature to 36 degrees in, so even the most impatient among us can hold out.
Beer Below Zero
BeerBelowZero hits the US story.
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