Soft-serve frozen foam: Can it keep beer colder longer?

Treating yourself to a nice cold brewski in the summertime is all very well... if you guzzle the beer down before it turns warm. It's an issue that every even slightly sluggish drinker has had to contend with — but maybe not for much longer. The good people at Kirin, the Japanese brewing giant, have developed a frozen beer foam that can be dispensed atop a glass of beer the same way soft-serve ice cream is swirled into a cone. (Watch a demo video below.) The manufacturer says the frozen foam can keep a stein of beer cold for 30 minutes. Here, a guide to the invention:

What is the foam made of?

Beer. Kirin brewers freeze their regular Ichiban beer to 23 degrees Fahrenheit while continously injecting it with air. "It's kind of like when a child makes bubbles in their drink, except inside a blast freezer," says Jonathan Fincher at Gizmag. Once the beer foam is dispensed atop a drink, "it acts as an insulating lid" that keeps beer cold for 30 minutes.

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Does the foam make the beer taste bad?

It depends on how you like your beer, says Fincher. The foam actually gives the beverage a creamier taste and texture. And since the foam is beer, "you won't be watering down your drink" when it melts, says Megan Gibson at TIME. Win-win situation, no?

Where can I get some of this beer-saving foam?

For now, you'll have to take an exhausting flight to Tokyo for a chance to try the Ichiban Shibori Frozen Draft foam machine. But if it proves effective, says Jessica Chou at The Daily Meal, it will likely be imported or copied outside of Japan, and the "endless quest" to ward off "gnarly" warm beer may finally end.

Sources: The Daily Meal, Gizmag, Huffington Post, MSNBC, TIME