Expert shares trick for cooling drinks down quickly without using ice
Rachael Davis
Featured Image Credit: carlosgaw/Getty Images
It’s pretty hot at the moment, with the UK experiencing one of its hottest-ever Junes to kick off the three-month span of what promises to be a sweltering summer.
With that in mind, there’s a pressing need for cold beverages. Sticking cans in the fridge is a given, and some of us are lucky enough to have ice dispensers built into them.
However, sometimes you haven’t got time to wait for the fridge to do its thing, and some drinks are typically better off without chunks of ice floating in them.
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What’s a parched and sweaty Brit to do? Well, it turns out you’ve got more options than you might expect. Put the ice cubes down before you ruin that glass of warm beer you just poured.
Speaking to The Mirror, senior brand manager at Better Home & Gardens Test Kitchen Colleen Weeden shared one particularly effective method for dragging your drink’s temperature down.
Before we get into it, it’s worth noting that different drinks have different ideal temperatures. Soft drinks and juice naturally taste their best when they’re a couple of notches above freezing, while chilling your red wine is nothing short of a sin.
Per Brews & Spirits, beers shouldn’t be chilled any further than 6 degrees C, with anything lower having the potential to irreparably ruin the flavour.
Sometimes drinks start out perfectly chilled, but while you’re dilly dallying with lawn games or setting the world to rights you might find the hot weather has seeped into your once-cold bevvie.
In situations like that, you might be surprised by the efficacy of Weeden’s technique.
“All you have to do is a wet paper towel, wrap it around your beverage, and place it in the freezer,” reads a post on Better Home & Gardens Test Kitchen, with Weeden telling the Mirror that this works with canned and bottled drinks. Presumably it works well enough with a pint or a glass of white white, too.
"I usually leave my bottle of wine in the freezer for about 20 to 30 minutes, and it comes out at my ideal chilled drinking temperature," she said.
You should be cautious of cans, however, as if they drop to low in temperature they could explode in the freezer.
Alternatively, if you’ve got the time to think ahead, Weeden suggested bunging some glasses in the freezer so they’re ice-cold at the point of need.
Considering you don’t want to put ice in your beer, this is a particularly useful tip for ensuring your cold one really is cold when the time come to crack it open.
Of course, glass can crack if it rapidly changes temperature, and they’re prone to shattering if they take a bump whilst freezing cold, so do take care.