An obscure tool used to warm beer on cold winter nights in Central Europe could make a come-back when drinkers realize what else it can do.
According to VinePair, the beer warmer is called a bierwärmer in German – or ohříváček in Czech. The warmer is “a narrow metal tube with a hanger,” says Aleš Dočkal, manager of the Prague beer bar Pivovarský Klub. “It has a lid, and this little thin container is filled with hot water, closed with the lid, and then hung in the glass. The hanger goes on the glass rim, the ohříváček is dipped in the beer, and the consumer makes the beer warmer to [their] taste.”
While it is doubtful that beer drinkers outside of that region will ever use one to warm a beer, and indeed, today, very few people in Central Europe still use an ohříváček , there is a use for the tool which beer drinkers around the world should fine exciting.
The beer warmer for sale on Amazon can also be used as a beer chiller. Imagine it’s the dog days of August, you have a full glass of beer in front of you, and its chill factor is disappearing into the heat by the second. Rather than be left with a warm beer, or worse, adding ice cubes to your mug and diluting your beer, instead take your handy beer warmer, unscrew the cap, pack it full of crushed ice, screw the lid back on and place it in your mug.
Your beer will return to its ice cold status in seconds. Magic.