It looks like tomorrow will be around 26 degrees Fahrenheit. I would like to serve cold beer to guests. I usually would fill a tub with beer bottles and ice, but that is messy, etc.
Could I just place cases on my patio? Alcohol should lower the freezing point of the liquid, right?
Hohoho.
It’s done all the time here. The beer will freeze at lower temperatures, but only after maybe 10 or 12 hours. At a few degrees below freezing you’ll be fine for the duration.
Enjoy!
Agreed; beer will last for a long time at a few degrees below freezing.
Now on the other hand, one New Year’s Eve I left some beer, amaretto and Canadian whiskey in the trunk of my car overnight at about -40; the beer and amaretto were frozen solid, and the whiskey just had a teensy bit of liquid left in it.
WooHoo! Cool. I’ll toast to you at some point.
it will take hours to chill. faster cooling if you uncase the bottles and spread them out. sticking in the snow works well but don’t forget or loose any bottles.
I’d like to add that an early warning sign of freezing is ice crystals forming in the neck of the bottle after it’s opened. The pressure in the bottle will keep the beer in liquid form, but if you open one and within seconds ice starts to form in the neck, you should probably bring the remainders inside.
ETA: Or drink them immediately!
Whiskey Popsicle! Wonder what that would taste like.
I would generally recommend against sticking your tongue on very cold objects.
Having done exactly this, I’ll echo the sentiment that (a) the beer will be fine outdoors and (b) it will chill faster if you take the bottles out of the case and put them in the snow.
I do this every winter, because naturally chilled beer tastes better than artificially chilled beer.
If you put then near your door to the patio, they’ll be a little warmer than away from your house.
Seriously? What’s the difference?
I think he was joking. It doesn’t make a difference unless the medium in which you chill the beer is absorbed through the bottle and into the alcohol (snow, or refrigerator air). Which won’t happen.
It’s more fun.
I suppose I could go on about how you get your beer at a variety of temperatures, so each beer is subtly different from the others, but really the first answer is the main one.
When you go outside into the snow, you get some fresh air which makes you feel the effects of the booze more - you get drunker(er).
You also realise how nice and cosy it is to be inside your house with a chilled beer.
Also the blood flows around your body more quickly, getting that booze to your brain more quickly.
There’s probably some cave man thing too with not having to rely on anything except Mother Nature herself to cool your brews.
Next time we have snow I might try having a BBQ, with snow-chilled beers and a fire made from trees I’ve cut down myself. Maybe I’ll also raise a cow or two for slaughter.
Ugg ugg…
Success! I shoveled the patio, mounding all the show in a pile. Into the snow went 5 cases of assorted beer. I put a carpet runner from the door to the pile so that even in your stocking feet it was easy to get a beer. Good times.
Yeah I usually drink while sitting down and it only feels like a small buzz until I actually get up and start moving.
(emphasis mine)
Thirsty? 
^Five cases:[ol]
[li]Girlie Schmirnoff type malt bevereges for the ladies.[/li][li]Local microbrew to support the local microbrewery.[/li][li]Carib. Our favorite vacation beer, suddenly available here, but at a high price.[/li][li]Genese Cream Ale. Loved it as a kid. Nostalgia.[/li][li]Budweiser. For the folks that like that sorta crap.[/li][/ol]
There were just a few bottles left.
Thought I’d take this opportunity to post my favorite beer chilling trick. It’s relatively labor intensive (one beer at a time) but quick.
Take a shallow dish/bowl and fill the bottom with ice (snow would probably work but I tend to need to perform this magic in the summer)
Set warm can or bottle of beer on top of the ice
Use your finger to rotate it like it was on a spit… the ice will soon form around the beer and make it very easy
A couple of minutes later you have an icy cold beer
Repeat as necessary