The people from Cruzcampo had to come to explain to us how to drink beer

There are few things more closely linked to summer than the gesture of taking a frosted glass out of the freezer and filling it with beer. And honestly, it’s fascinating. Not only because no one is quite clear why this movement has become so popular, but because for years sommeliers and brewmasters have said that it is not a good idea.

The last one was Francisco Javier Soriano, one of the people behind the beer that grows the most in Spaindeclaring “totally enemy of the frozen glass because it breaks the cold temperature of the beer”.

A lot of memes, a lot of jokes, but it happened: the people from Cruzcampo had to come and explain how to drink beer.

Wait, wait… breaking the temperature of the beer? Here are at least three ideas complicating the physics of the matter. The first is obvious: the frozen glass supercools the beer. A priori, each formulation of this drink is optimized for a specific temperature and putting it in -18 degree glasses is something that no brewery takes into account.

In a world like ours, where the temperature consistency of drinks in summer leaves much to be desired, the trend for frozen glasses is understandable. But it has costs: in the end, the TRPM5 taste receptor needs heat to activate. If the drink is very cold, we don’t feel it.

The second idea goes hand in hand with the latter: the aroma also disappears. The colder the beer is, the fewer bubbles it lets out and that means there are less “organoleptic effluvia” traveling to our nose and rounding out the experience. The third was the one added by another brewmaster, Xabier Cubillo, when he said that “It is very refreshing, but the aromas are no longer noticeable and the foam falls off sooner”.

“Let people enjoy things.” That’s clear: let everyone drink their beer however they like. Our intention, in addition to pointing out that “the more we know about alcohol, the more dangerous it seems”is simply inviting us to reflect on why we are drinking beer. Given that beer does not hydrate and is not healthyit is reasonable to think that we drink beer because we like it. That is, because we want to enjoy the flavor, aroma and texture of the product.

And if so, we must keep in mind that “extremely cold” kills everything interesting that the drink may have. Now, if what we want is an extremely cold drink for the summer, there is not much more to add.

Spain is, today, the second largest beer producer in the European Union. That was about 41.29 million hectoliters in 2024 and, when it comes to consumption, we drink 52.8 liters per person per year. And the market, little by little, begins to follow in the footsteps of wine trying to hide the risks of alcohol with culture. But if we want to follow that path, it wouldn’t hurt to be consistent.

And, in that sense, frozen cane in summer is not a mistake. That’s why it doesn’t matter what sommeliers, brewers or journalists say. Frozen beer is a choice: one that prioritizes cold over flavor. And it is not a bad decision, as long as we do not fool ourselves and are aware of what we are doing and what we are losing.

Image | CCALM 2016 Zombie Party

In Xataka | Spain can tell itself as many times as it wants that it hates Cruzcampo. The figures say a very different thing