Why doesn’t alcohol freeze in the freezer?

The type of alcohol that people can drink is called ethanol, which has a freezing point of -114 degrees Celsius – much lower than a domestic freezer can reach. However, ethanol is always mixed with water and other flavourings before being drunk, raising the melting point. The amount of ethanol in a drink is described as the percentage alcohol by volume (ABV). The freezing point of a particular drink depends mainly on the percentage of ethanol in it: the higher the percentage of alcohol, the lower the freezing point. This means it’s unlikely that you could freeze vodka, gin or whiskey in a domestic freezer.

Beer and wine, however, have a lower percentage of alcohol and so can sometimes be frozen. A lot depends on the freezer. Domestic freezers tend to work at around -20 degrees Celsius, but this can vary enormously.