(NEXSTAR) – In the United States, drinking beer in a glass filled with ice is not only an uncommon practice, it’s also somewhat stigmatized.
“For whatever reason, beer is one of the few beverages that it’s considered totally unacceptable to add ice,” one Reddit user recently observed, after admitting that he had started adding ice to his own beer a few months back.
“I get that it’ll water it down a bit, but I would rather have it be cold than not at the right temp, and frankly I don’t intend to let it sit for long enough for it to matter,” he added, saying he didn’t “get” why it’s such a faux pas.
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Naturally, not everyone in the post agreed with his assessment.
“The vast majority of beer tastes absolutely awful if you water it down even a bit,” one commenter responded, calling the addition of ice a “heinous crime against beer.”
Other users got a bit more personal with their responses, calling the man’s practice “lazy” or accusing him of not knowing how to appreciate beer.
“You are a real piece of work,” one user simply wrote.
But aside from these critics, plenty of other folks responding to the post weren’t so disapproving. And a recent survey conducted in Great Britain by LG (the appliance manufacturer) suggested that younger adults were more inclined to want to put ice cubes in their beer, even if they refrained from doing so to comply with societal norms.
So why is it still seen as gauche to want to plop some ice in your pilsner? Some critics, like the commenter, would argue that it would dilute the beer and therefore undermine the work of the brewers. But it’s also likely because most brewers intend for their beer to be served at a certain temperature.
“Some styles of beer are best served ‘ice cold,’ especially on hot summer days, but other beer styles are best served slightly warmer,” Chuck Spypeck, the director of technical projects at the Brewers Association, told Nexstar. Spypeck cited the BA’s Draught Beer Quality Manual, which says beer “should be served” between 38 degrees Fahrenheit and 44 degrees Fahrenheit, depending on what kind of beer is being served.
“Ice cold beer diminishes both flavor and aroma, but ultimately serving temperature is simply beer drinker preference,” Spypeck said.
Those preferences also appear to vary culturally. In Southeast Asia, for instance, it’s not uncommon for folks to drink their beer over ice, Adam Teeter, the co-founder of the drinks-culture website VinePair, once explained.
Teeter, however, felt that icing down a beer (and therefore diluting it) would lead to a “subpar consumption experience,” but acknowledged that a little extra water isn’t such a huge deal if you’re adding ice to a light beer, rather than an IPA or something more full-flavored.
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Patrick Chavanelle, the manager of research and development at Allagash Brewing Company in Portland, Maine, told Nexstar that he had personally “tested beer on ice about a year ago out of pure curiosity.”
“I tried it with a bigger stout, thinking it could handle the dilution — and in that instance, the results weren’t great,” according to Chavanelle. “That said, it was only one test.”
But if beer drinkers increasingly demand ice in their beer, Chavanelle suggested that brewers might want to design “a recipe and process specifically for this purpose” instead of adding ice to a beer that’s intended for consumption as-is.
He added, though, that he’s “not one to yuck someone’s yum,” and wasn’t about to judge anyone who preferred their beer with ice.
Plenty of people in the aforementioned Reddit post agreed with that sentiment, encouraging others to ice down whichever beverage they choose.
“Drink a beer (or anything else) however you want,” one user wrote. “Yeah, ice will water down the beer, but ice waters down every other drink and nobody gives people grief about people putting ice in anything else. Beer isn’t some sacred thing that should never be adulterated. It’s a drink meant to be enjoyed and if ice enhances that enjoyment for you, go ahead.”
