Ice beer is a marketing term for pale lager beer brands which have undergone some degree of fractional freezing similar to the German Eisbock, which increases the alcohol content.
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The process of "icing" beer involves lowering the temperature of a batch of beer until ice crystals form. Since alcohol has a lower freezing point than water and doesn't form crystals, when the ice is filtered off, the alcohol concentration increases. The process is known as "fractional freezing."
Eisbock was developed in Germany during Oktoberfest celebrations with bock beers, which are strong lagers. A particularly cold year froze the beers and a new taste was noticed by the drinkers. However, in its current form, ice beer was developed from the fruit-juice industry which used to freeze orange juice concentrate in order to reduce shipping costs.
Ice beer (in name) originated in Canada. The first ice beer marketed in North America was Molson Ice which was introduced in April 1993,[1] although the process was patented earlier by Labatt, instigating the so-called "Ice Beer Wars" of the 1990s.[2] Labatt patented a process where beer is pumped through a tank of ice crystals before filtration. The freezing of beer allowed the removal of protein-polyphenol compounds, creating a smoother, more colloidally stable beer, and avoiding long aging time.
Ice beer gained popularity in the United States during the 1990s. Miller introduced Icehouse under the Plank Road Brewery brand name at that time, which is still sold nationwide; Molson introduced Molson Ice; Budweiser introduced Bud Ice (5.5% abv) in 1994 and it remains one of the country's top-selling ice beers, Bud Ice has a slightly lower alcohol content than Natural Ice and other competitors and it is claimed to retain more of the character/flavor.
Brands such as Busch Ice (5.9% abv) and Natural Ice (5.9% abv) also use the freezing process. Natural Ice is the No. 1 selling ice beer brand in the United States, its low price makes it very popular on college campuses all over the country. The ice beers are typically known for their high alcohol-to-dollar ratio.[3]
Although "icing" increases alcohol content, most of the United States breweries simply add water back into their beer after the icing process to bring the alcohol content back down to nearly the same levels. Otherwise the beer would qualify as a "beer concentrate," which is illegal under ATF rules governing beer production.[4] 27 CFR 7.24: CLASS AND TYPE
(the definition of the term "concentrate" does not include a beer from which a small quantity of water has been removed)
(also sec. 25.11, 25.261, 25.263)