Does schnapps warm you up in the cold? Why alcohol actually cools the body

Why does a shot of schnapps feel warm?

After a sip of fruit brandy, warmth spreads through the mouth, throat, and stomach. There are two reasons for this. Concentrated alcohol irritates nerve endings in the mucous membranes that normally respond to heat, signaling a burning sensation to the brain. But above all, alcohol widens the fine blood vessels beneath the skin. More warm blood flows to the surface, cheeks and hands feel warm, and some people get red ears.

This sensation masks what's actually happening inside the body. In cold conditions, the body normally constricts the vessels in the skin tightly. This keeps warm blood in the core, around the heart, lungs, and brain. Alcohol partially overrides this protective mechanism. The warmth you feel in your skin is heat that is currently escaping from your core and being lost to the cold air.

Alcohol and hypothermia: what happens in the cold

There are further effects as well. Alcohol can suppress shivering, the mechanism the body uses to generate heat. It promotes sweating and clouds judgment about when it's time to head indoors. Someone who has been drinking feels comfortable even as their core temperature is already falling. Medical experts therefore call alcohol a risk factor for hypothermia.

The US health authority CDC also lists alcohol as a risk factor in hypothermia deaths. Those most at risk are people who fall asleep outdoors after drinking or who spend long periods outside. The treacherous part: the warning sign of shivering kicks in later or more weakly, precisely when it's needed most. What feels like warmth in the cold is therefore more like a false alarm running in the wrong direction.

Saint Bernards, Jagertee, cabin schnapps: the legends of the cold

The most famous image of this myth is the Saint Bernard with a little barrel around its neck, finding people buried in the snow. The dogs from the Great St Bernard Pass did indeed save people. But as far as is known about their history, the little barrel belongs more to the imagery of painters and postcards than to actual rescue practice. Medically speaking, schnapps would be the wrong thing for a hypothermic person anyway.

Much the same applies to Jagertee at the ski lodge or a fruit brandy after shoveling snow. There's nothing wrong with a warm room and a hot drink. What provides the warmth there is the heat of the tea, not the alcohol in it. Anyone who then has to head back out into the cold, onto the slopes, or behind the wheel is safer with a non-alcoholic hot drink.

What really warms you up, and when a spirit has its place

Dry clothing in several layers, movement, food, and warm non-alcoholic drinks all help against the cold. That sounds mundane, but it matches exactly what the body needs: energy to generate heat, and a layer to retain it. A fruit brandy provides none of this, even though it feels that way going down.

Its place comes afterward, indoors, once no one needs to go back out. There, a Kirsch or an apricot brandy can calmly show off what it brings in terms of aroma. The warming sensation remains part of the enjoyment, as long as you understand it correctly: a sensation on the skin and mucous membranes, not an internal heating system.

For distilleries, winter is actually peak season. Many fruit mashes are distilled in the cold months—in Fraxern in Vorarlberg, for instance, Kirsch is traditionally distilled in December. The warmth in the distillery then comes from the fire beneath the still, not from the glass.