Gen Z is dropping ice cubes into pints – and traditionalists are losing their chill.
The rise of lager on the rocks has been linked to a TikTok trend featuring cheladas, a Mexican beer-based cocktail with lime and salt, but it has since snowballed into a full-blown culture war over what belongs in a beer glass.
A new survey by electronics company LG has revealed a cool 30 per cent of drinkers aged 18 to 35 now prefer lager with ice, but perhaps even more horrifying to orthodox pub-goers, many will throw a few ice cubes into their ale too.
The depravity doesn't end there. The survey also claims an even higher proportion (35 per cent) will chuck ice into their red wine too.
But the clamour for ice with everything did not resonate with all respondents. Almost half of those surveyed (44 per cent) said that opting for ice in wine is "an unnecessary, uneducated, or gross choice".
So perhaps it is unsurprising that the survey identifies "shame" as a core component in this trend, revealing that one in seven Brits "have been shamed by a bartender or host when asking for ice in their wine, beer, or soft drink".
The survey found that people in the UK are "so conscious of judgement about their choice of iced drink that one in 10 have refrained from asking for ice even if they want it due to fear of others’ reactions".
But ice shame may not always be necessary, particularly if ice is being added to particular wines.
Drinks expert Merlin Griffiths, known for his role as bartender in Channel 4's First Dates, said: “There are people who would frown at a cube or two of ice in a glass of wine. I couldn't be one of them. In fact, it's quite traditional in the south of France for instance, where regional rosé and whites are often enjoyed with a cube or three – locally known as a ‘vin piscine’ [swimming pool wine].”
He added: “There's even precedent for chilled reds, so for the 10 per cent of the population that enjoy an ice-cold red wine, try a Beaujolais, Bandol or Gamay with a cube of ice or from the fridge.”
Asked about the trend for ice in beer, Sir Tim Martin, the founder of the JD Wetherspoon chain, lamented that “nothing is sacred”.
He told The Telegraph: “The old shibboleths are going up in smoke: Guinness, the old man’s drink for a century, has become first choice among Gen Zers, male and female. Before that, an Irish bottled cider [Magners] – over ice, for Pete’s sake – became number one in its category in the UK.”
The trend comes as summer 2025 was confirmed as the UK's warmest on record, immediately following the warmest and driest spring on record. Could this be driving demand for colder drinks? All five of the UK's hottest summers have occurred since 2000, as the climate crisis upends typical seasonal weather patterns.
Professor Lisa Schipper, an expert on climate adaptation and mitigation at the University of Bonn told The Independent: "As summers in the UK and northern Europe heat up, people will need to start adopting coping strategies like staying out of the sun during the middle of the day, and putting ice in their drinks. The irony is of course that while putting ice in drinks might seem like a good coping strategy to deal with heat, production of ice requires energy and refrigeration that in turn emits greenhouse gases, thereby increasing temperatures even more."
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