Roughly speaking, between the months of November through February everyone in Michigan has a second outdoor fridge.
I don't live in Florida. You may be correct. But folks could dig a root cellar there nonetheless: Cheers!
A lot of the issue is the water table. Anyone can dig a hole in the ground, but how prone will it be to moisture seeping in? Not really an issue for beer packaged in aluminum or glass, but doesn't really help with most of the stuff people tend to have in basements in other climates (furnace/hvac system, water heater, etc.). I do like the idea of having a pirate map to beer in the backyard, though.
Maybe not so environmentally friendly but growing up on a west Texas cotton farm we used a blast of butane from the fill hose used to fuel our tractor.
Biggest takeaway: For a mere 30 bones you can purchase a vacuum-insulated cooler that will keep a SINGLE bottle of beer "icy cold for hours on end." I suppose this makes sense to somebody, but it sure as hell ain't me.
The Bierkellers in Bavaria are an example. At a moderate altitude of say 3000 ft, under the shade of chestnut trees, and dug into the rock, these Keller's are naturally cool year round. I was in one in November, the thermometer read 3⁰C. Visited again in August, the thermometer read 3.5⁰C.
I can't begin to tell you how excited I get when the outdoor temp on Thanksgiving is between 33 and 40. Everything I cook and prep can wait out on the porch until it's time to fire it up. And all the beer, along with the soda that some like to drink, and the Prosecco that someone inevitably brings, is out there. Same applies to Christmas Eve, which I also host. Sheet pans of fried smelts sitting on the porch waiting to be crisped up in the oven. And, of course, Sierra Nevada Celebration right there with it.
Uh, "sources", may have suggested that stabbing creek beer fools never results in convictions. Especially if it happens in Big Cat country . They tend to not leave a lot of forensic materials. So I've been told. Go Cougs!
I didn’t want to set a bad example for my kid—she was nine years old at the time. But I realized that in my original accounting above I inadvertently left out the best part of the story. When I confronted the guy about stealing my mountain creek-chilled fresh hop beer (which I’d packed in several miles, BTW) he offered to compensate my loss with a Bud Light—naturally that only pissed me off even more. I’m sure I’d have been within my rights to murder him but, again, I’m a good parent.
