A Quick Way to Chill Beer In a Hotel Room with No Fridge

Reader Kyle sent in this method to chill beer if you’re on the road, would like a frosty drink, and of course, your hotel room doesn’t have a fridge. Just line up your bottles on the air conditioner unit, fire it up full blast, and give it about fifteen minutes. Surprisingly, that’s all it takes.

Of course, this only works in hotel rooms that have those old school window-mounted air conditioners, but if you’re traveling on a budget anywhere with AC, you’ve probably slept somewhere with one of these in your room before. Kyle writes that instead of heading to the ice machine every hour to try and chill a couple of beers, try this:

Central A/C need not apply here; if your hotel is still rolling with the classic jet engine sounding corner A/C unit, you’re in luck! Simply position your beer bottles carefully along the bottom lip of the vent, and maintain caution as you add each one, as too much vibration can send a previous bottle to the floor. If this occurs, definitely denote which bottle took the plunge, so it has enough time to depressurize as it awaits consumption.

Crank the Temperature and Fan to their highest settings, and within about 15 minutes you have beer cold enough to enjoy. Leaving it on this setting for too long can compromise the taste, so ease off of the Temperature setting after about a half hour to a mid-level range. Continue to adjust the temperature as necessary to suit your taste.

You may find this beer consuming experience a bit chilly, but if you packed your parka, scarf, gloves, beanie, and long underwear, you can drink in comfort! Either way, if you drink enough, eventually you can’t even tell how cold the room actually is.

There are a lot of variables required for this one to work right (the AC needs a lip, for example, and should be angled so you can rest the beer on it while it’s cooling), so if you’re staying somewhere this isn’t a good fit for you, you can always try some of our other favorite methods, or plug up the sink in your hotel room, head to the ice machine, and chill your beer in an ice-filled sink.