Whether you want to have a cool drink or you decide that you need to save your alcohol for a later day, you might decide that you need to freeze your rum. However, freezing alcohol isn’t as simple as throwing it in the freezer and calling it a day, because there are a lot of things that you need to know about how and why alcohol freezes the way that it does.
Every single alcoholic drink has a different temperature point at which it freezes because the more alcohol a drink has inside of it, the longer it will take to freeze. This is because alcohol is a mixture of water and ethanol. Water freezes at 32°F (0°C) and ethanol freezes at -173.4°F (-114.1°C). That is a massive difference in temperature, and as you take the different drinks and their ratios of water to alcohol into account, the differences only widen.
Rum, for instance, is simply distilled cane sugar, and it comes in many different varieties and alcohol content levels. Standard rum has an alcohol proof of around 80, and that means that it freezes at around -15°F (-25°C). For comparison, the average beer has an alcohol by volume (ABV) of about 5%. This allows the beer to freeze at around 28°F (-2°C), which means that it will freeze very quickly in most conventional freezers.
Wine has an ABV of about 9% to 12%, and wine tends to freeze at around 23°F (-5°C). And whiskey on average freezes at around -17°F (-27°C).
Important points to consider while freezing rum and other alcoholic drinks
Now, since alcohol is a mixture of water and ethanol, and both of those have different freezing points, that can make the freezing point of an alcoholic drink different. Even if you get two of the same drink (such as two different types of rum) the water to ethanol ratio difference will mean that their freezing points are different.
If your drink of choice contains more water than actual alcohol (such as beer and wine), then it will quickly and easily freeze in your home freezer. Other types of drinks that contain more alcohol will not freeze in a home freezer as the temperature won’t get cold enough.
Additionally, you shouldn’t keep drinks with a lot of water inside of the freezer for too long. Beer and wine tend to freeze quickly, so you don’t want to place them in your fridge for a long period otherwise the bottles can actually explode and damage your freezer.
As the beer freezes, the water content inside of it will expand, and that builds up pressure. If too much pressure builds up inside of the bottle, it explodes. Wine expands as well, creating water bubbles that can pop the cork off of your bottle well before you intend to serve the wine. Rum is perfectly fine to store in the freezer for long periods of time though, because it does have a higher water to alcohol ratio.
If you have glass bottles of wine and beer or any other water heavy drink, then you can still put them in the freezer. Just make sure to keep them cold for about 10-15 minutes, and then go and pull them out. If you want to keep your wine and beer frozen, then place them in a plastic and sealed container that can handle their expansion.
Rum is safe in your freezer and won’t explode, but the freezing and thawing of rum do affect the taste of the drink. If you want to drink the rum neat or drink it at its best, then you might want to keep it out of the freezer.
Whenever it comes to freezing alcohol, you need to do some research and also carefully look at the alcohol and water ratio. The higher the water content is, the faster and more effectively the drink in question will freeze. However, the lower the water content is to the alcohol in the drink, the less likely your conventional freezer will be able to hit the temperature needed to freeze the drink.
Most rum and rum based beverages are able to be frozen in the freezer, but always take a look at the labels and you will be able to guess the freezing point. Which should be close to -15°F (-25°C). This is something most conventual freezers will be able to get too, so freeze away with your rum!
No, alcohol does freeze. The problem is that most people don’t understand that alcohol freezes at a much, much lower temperature than water does. And that is just one factor, because everything from the bottle size to the ratio of alcohol to water can impact the freezing point. Still, for most of the harder alcohols that you might have, they simply won’t freeze because your freezer won’t get cold enough.
Any alcohol proof higher than 50 won’t freeze in a conventional freezer, any alcohol proof lower than 50 will freeze. So make sure that you store it safely and then wait for your drink to be ice cold! Or if you want a cold drink, you can still chill most bottles of alcohol in the fridge before you serve them, or just use ice to cool them off.
If you have a standard bottle of Jack Daniels, it will likely have an alcohol proof of 70. Which means that the freezing point of Jack Daniels is much lower than what your freezer will be able to reach. So your Jack Daniels will not freeze in the freezer by itself, and would be better off outside the freezer as well.
You can put your Jack Daniels bottle into the fridge to keep it cold before drinking, but too long in the fridge and the taste will start to be affected, so make sure to keep an eye on your timer.
