I grabbed a 15-pack of Founders All-Day IPA from Walmart; just $17.73 plus 7.1% sales tax. A bargain, I believe. Cracked one at home less than an hour later and found it to be almost frozen, like is a Slushy. Seems to taste a little different from any I’ve had that weren’t semi-frozen. I’ll allow it to thaw overnight at room temperature, then put in my icebox for a number of hours to get it to around 40º Fahrenheit. Would any of you know if it’s not going to present the pleasing IPA taste I have grown to love? I’d not be pleased to drink over a dozen cans of beer that’s not even as good as is any Corona product…
1 Like
Ultimately it’s up to your taste buds. Freezing will most likely alter the taste and aroma as well cause a loss of carbonation. So, it depends.
I am not a chemist but:
I would expect the ones that are still sealed to settle back into their normal equilibrium once they thaw. There’s nowhere for the CO2 to go; so it should re-equilibrate into solution. The frozen water should mix back into the unfrozen liquids. And cold temperatures tend to slow staling reactions.
2 Likes
You can just drink a thawed one and tell us if you think the taste was affected! Freezing shouldn’t do anything to hurt the beer (think eisbocks and ice beers), but it’s an interesting experiment to know if it affects strong hop aromatics. The CO2 should just dissolve back into solution. Now, opening a partially frozen one and pouring it might be another story. I’d definitely let them thaw!
I had 4 kegs freeze once when my external controller failed.
After the kegs thawed out the beer was fine. I didn’t noticed any special or different about it.
Paul
Back in the day, I used to go on 4 day float trips on the Smith River. I would freeze an entire case of Rainier cans, and line my cooler with them, By Day 4, the beer would have thawed and I would have ice cold Rainer beer on the last day of the float. I never noticed any off taste.
2 Likes
no off taste other than the Rainier! 
3 Likes
I miss Rainier. And all of the regional lagers.
I put a bunch in my icebox and let them completely thaw over several days. I kind o’ believed the taste was a little different from the previous of the same beer that had never been frozen. I have now told myself to not take the box at the top of the stack-- the box closest to the super-frozen air coming out of the refrigeration unit…