Ice beer

The classic technology for the production of ice beer involves cooling the tank with the finished beer until ice crystals form in it, after which the ice is removed from the liquid mechanically. Since the crystallization temperature of water is higher than the crystallization temperature of alcohol , the ice removed from the drink does not contain alcohol, that is, its concentration in beer is thus increased.

Unlike the German Icebock , which is made by a similar principle, but already from strong beer, and therefore has an alcohol content of 10%, classic American ice beer is made from light lagers, the alcohol content of which by freezing increases from 4.5–5 , 0% to 5.0-6.5%.

The history of North American ice beer began in April 1993 with the introduction of the local brewing giant Molson into the Canadian market for Molson Ice beer. A similar product was immediately offered by Molson's main competitor in the Canadian beer market - Labatt , and within a few months the share of ice beer reached 10% of total beer sales in Canada ^[1] . The first ice beer contained little alcohol - only 4.4%, although it was still more than in the traditional light beer from Molson (3.6%).

The success in the domestic market prompted Canadian manufacturers to begin expanding their ice beer into the neighboring US market. Given the similar tastes of beer consumers in Canada and the United States, ice beer began to be in demand in the US market. Soon, the leading US brewing companies reacted to the emergence of such demand by launching the production of their own varieties of ice beer.

With the development of globalization processes in the global beer market, ice beer began to be produced by brewing companies outside of North America.

Now ice beer is produced by many national beer markets, although it continues to enjoy the greatest popularity in the USA and Canada. Moreover, with the marketing promotion of such beer in the North American market, it is emphasized not the increase in beer strength during the freezing process, but the mitigation of its taste. In some cases, manufacturers even return the original level of alcohol by adding water to the beer, which has gone through a freezing process.

In other markets, it is also often the softness of taste that is determined by the main characteristic of ice beer. In particular, when advertising the only ice beer produced in Ukraine so far, Slavutich ICE, its producer, the Slavutich company , Carlsberg Group , emphasizes that this beer is characterized by “special softness in taste, without the usual expressed bitterness of traditional varieties " ^[2] . At the same time, the alcohol content in this drink does not differ from that for the popular lager of the same manufacturer - Slavutich Premium beer, and amounts to 5%.

In some cases, the strength of ice beer is generally less than the strength of other lagers of the same brand, in particular, ice beer of the German brand `` Beck's '' has an alcohol content of only 2.5%. Thanks to the softened taste of ice beer, this particular beer often becomes the basis for the creation of flavored beers that are offered to the market by some manufacturers.

Trademarks

Typical brands in this style: Molson Ice Beer, Labatt Ice Beer (Canada), Colt Ice Beer, Mountain Brew Beer Ice, National Bohemian Ice Beer, Pennsylvania Style Ice Premium Beer, Genesee Ice Beer (USA), Saku on ICE, Grønland Ice Cap Beer Ice Fjord Lager (Estonia), Premium Ice Beer (India) .

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• SE Smith What is Ice Beer? , wisegeek.com
• Alström Bros Ice Ice Beer , beeradvocate.com