Does it harm whisky, gin, or vodka to keep them in the freezer? Booze seems to be pretty much impervious to the spoilage that threatens beer or wine once exposed to the air, but I’m not so sure about hard liquor and the freezer. One notes that if you order a martini in a bar, the ingredients are stored at room temperature, and chilled with the aid of the cocktail shaker just before serving. But is that done just so the bartenders won’t chill their fingers handling ice cold bottles, or is it done that way because the cold could harm the liquor?
I keep all my vodkas in the freezer. No noticible harm here.
I’d WAG that bottles kept at room temperature is a combination of a few things:
First, a practicality idea, because they constantly have to be picking them up and putting them down and a door or panel for a freezer would only add hassle to the process.
Secondly, some liqours and whiskeys go into hot coffee drinks, so you wouldn’t want them to be cold.
Third, When I go into a bar, I like to browse the selection of sauce that they have. This would be much harder to do in a freezer.
I cool down beer in the freezer and have never noticed any harm to the beer. Don’t see why freezing would hurt liquor.
My dad was a bartender for over 40 years and I asked him.
He said that vodka is awlays, always, always kept in a freezer. The colder you can get vodka, the better it is. And a lot of hardcore vodka drinkers like to drink it very cold and neat (without ice).
Everything else can be kept in a freezer, but room temp. is perfered for some liquors i.e. whisky, tequilla.
My dad also said that certain liquers should not be kept in a frig or freezer. Bailey’s Irish Cream and Kahlua should always be room temp. When they get cold, they tend to get thick and it makes it a little more difficult to mix.
Btw, my dad makes a great Vodka Martini
I keep vodka and raki in my freezer, and it improves them no end. Only high-proof drinks should be kept there, however; you don’t want something that will actually freeze and/or separate in your freezer.
To me vodka tends to taste like lighter fluid when neat and not 0 degrees F.
-k
You shouldn’t keep Bailey’s in the fridge? I’ve always been afraid it would spoil just left out on the counter…good to know.
100w, My dad has had the same large bottle of baileys in the pantry that I have raided over the past 3 consectutive Xmas mornings for my coffee, and it was fine.
Alcohol is a fine preservative. Tends to keep things quite sterile.
Beer in the freezer is a problem. Allowing it to freeze completely and then thawing it again will leave you with brew that’s flatter than piss on a plate. Really well chilled cheap beer on a scalding hot day is one of life’s little blessings. Pour it into a frozen glass for a beer slurpie. Just don’t do it to a Pilsner Urquell of anything of decent quality.
Chilling or freezing a good whisky or liqueur is likewise a bad idea. Most fine cordials and sippin’ whiskeys have a very carefully husbanded “nose” to them. Freezing will completely stop the volatilization of high fraction oils that transport these delicate olfactory notes and inhibit your ability to detect taste based components as well.
Vodka, gin, akavit and ouzo? Sure, freeze the H-E-double-toothpicks out of 'em. A fine Balvenie Doublewood single malt whisky? Only on pain of torture.
It should also be noted that the freezing temperature of alcohol is much lower than water, making it an effective anti-freeze to a certain extent.