It’s hot. My T-shirt is sticking to me in places. There’s a never-evaporating film of sweat on my forehead, and the breeze that was working so well to keep me comfortable decided to retire about 12 minutes ago. But I’m just fine. In fact, I’m more than fine. Because the pitcher of beer placed at my outdoor picnic table continues to be miraculously cold. As it should be: There’s ice in it.
Now before all you beer dorks start throwing out snarky comments, consider this: The ice is melting, but the beer is not watered down. The ice is neatly enclosed in a plastic baggie that is floating inside the pitcher—an idea so simple, yet so smart.
I witnessed this revelation recently at an outdoor crab shack on the Severn River, an inlet to the Chesapeake Bay, where I ate crabs until my lips burned from the sting of Old Bay seasoning. And when that happens, for me there’s only one thing that can put out the fire: cold beer.
They know this at the crab shack, and they have been serving their summer pitchers this way for years. Because the Severn is always hot in the summer, and the beer always needs to be cold.
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