Welcome to the Weekend: Tips to Keep Your Drinks Cold
August in Wisconsin can be pretty darn hot and humid. We Wisconsinites know that the best way to fight the heat is a day on the lake, ideally with a couple good friends and a couple-two-three chilled drinks. But if you’re in the middle of the lake, how do you make sure the hot Wisconsin weather doesn’t boil your drink?
We’ve got a few tricks we’ve learned from experience over the years to help keep your day on the lake as refreshing as possible…
Chill Beforehand
If you have space in your fridge, throw your drinks in there the night before so they’re good and cold. If they start cold, they’ll stay cold longer. If you don’t have the time to wait for your drinks to chill in the fridge, try wrapping your bottles & cans in a damp washcloth or paper towel and throwing them in the freezer for 15 minutes. The damp towel helps speed up the cooling process using... *checks notes* …Science™. But please, please don’t forget about them! There's no sad quite like blowing-up-your-drinks sad!
You know what doesn’t blow up, though, is higher-proof liquor. We recommend keeping some in the freezer throughout the summer, so it’s always ready to go when you are. Most freezers are set at 0 degrees Fahrenheit, and Northern Oasis Spirits won’t freeze until they hit -10 degrees or lower, so unless you throw your booze in some kind of sub-zero mega-freezer (or outside this winter), you should be good to go all season long.
This solution only works nine months out of the year here in Wisconsin.
Pack ‘em in Ice
This one might sound obvious, but when it comes to day trips, a cooler and ice are your best friends. Make sure you start making plenty of ice in the days leading up to your trip, or at least set aside some time to pick up a bag or two at your local convenience store. You’ll be next-level cool if you up your ice game with the following tips:
Add salt to the ice to speed up the chilling process and keep your drinks cold longer.
Don’t drain the water—add a little salt to make it colder! Water adds extra insulation.
Cubed ice will cool down your drinks faster, but block ice will last longer, so is your trip a sprint, or a marathon? Maybe go for a combination of the two so you can start quickly and go all day!
No cubes? No problem! We have tips for the iceless as well:
Make your own ice packs by freezing water in Ziploc bags.
Got a pitcher of beer? Avoid watering it down by floating a cup of ice in the pitcher.
Water ice cubes are fine, but you know what’s finer? Ice cubes made from your favorite cocktail mixers (think orange or lemon juice).
Pre-freeze your fruit garnishes, like berries, grapes, or lime slices. This keeps them refreshing and helps your drinks stay cool throughout the long, hot Wisconsin day.
It’s always nice to keep your drinks cool without watering them down!
Wrap It Up
Always try to keep your cooler and drinks out of the sun. That might be difficult, but it’s worth the trouble! To keep your cooler cold, pack blankets or towels around it to shield it from the sun and add extra insulation. To keep your drink cold, use a beverage sleeve. They really do work! If you don’t have a sleeve handy, try a small towel or washcloth.
No cooler? Make one! Line a plastic tote with newspapers, add your chilled drinks and some ice packs wrapped in towels, and then pack more newspaper around it. If you keep the lid on, your makeshift cooler should work well for a couple hours—just enough time to get to the sandbar!
Submerge
If you’re on a river or lake, there’s plenty of water at hand—use it! Wrap your bottles & cans in a sock or other fabric to speed up the cooling process, and submerge them in that cool, crisp Wisconsin water. Make sure you keep them anchored or corralled—you don’t want them drifting away! After a 10-minute soak, you’ll have nice cool drinks and you won’t even have to leave the inner tube to grab them.
There’s nothing like cold drinks on a warm day. And now that you won’t have to worry about keeping your beer and cocktails cool, you can focus on more important things, like figuring out who forgot to put the drain plug back in the boat, why the motor won’t start, and how mosquitoes managed to get all the way out to the middle of the lake. Like, seriously.