GB2369610A - Adding flavoured frozen material to a dispensed beverage - Google Patents

Abstract

A method of dispensing a beverage comprises providing a beverage in a vessel 20 and introducing frozen material (44, 46, 32). The frozen material (44, 36, 32) is preferably flavoured, such as frozen pieces of fruit or flavoured ice. The ice may be fruit flavoured or have substantially the same flavour as the beverage. If the beverage is beer or cider, then the ice may be formed from beer or cider. The beverage may be cooled directly before being introduced into the drinking vessel 20 by cooling means 15. Also disclosed is a method of dispensing a draught beverage and introducing cooled material. The cooled material may a slush having the same flavour as the beverage. Alternatively, the cooled material may be crushed ice, ground ice, ice slices or ice granules. The cooled material may be frozen water rather than a flavoured material.

Description

SERVING OR DISPENSING A BEVERAGE

This invention concerns serving or dispensing a beverage, and a served or dispensed beverage.

For example the invention may concern dispensing a draught beverage and more particularly the dispensing of cooled draught beverage.

According to a first aspect of the invention a method of dispensing a beverage comprises providing a beverage in a drinking vessel into which cold or frozen material is introduced in addition to said beverage.

According to a second aspect of the invention a method of serving a beverage comprises providing a beverage in a drinking vessel and providing in said beverage flavoured frozen material.

According to a third aspect of the invention a beverage in a drinking vessel further comprises flavoured frozen material.

The flavoured frozen material may have the same flavour as the beverage or complement the beverage or add interest to the beverage.

The flavoured frozen material may be one or more frozen pieces of fruit, or flavoured ice, for example frozen fruit juice or frozen fruit juice concentrate. The flavoured, frozen material may have beer flavour, for example a lager flavour, or a cider or other drink's flavour or a fruit flavour.

The flavoured frozen material may be sliced, crushed, ground (granular).

The drinking vessel may be a glass.

The beverage may be draught beverage which may be cooled prior to delivery into the vessel, for example using beverage cooling means in a beverage dispensing system which may convey beverage from a supply of beverage to a dispenser top or a font, at, for example, a drinks bar.

The beverage may be non-alcoholic or alcoholic. An alcoholic beverage may be a beer, for example a lager or an ale, stout or porter, or the alcoholic beverage may be cider.

According to a fourth aspect of the invention a method of dispensing a draught beverage comprises delivering a draught beverage into a drinking vessel and introducing cooled material into the vessel in addition to said beverage.

The drinking vessel may be a glass. The cooled material may be cold water or ice.

The cooled material may be ice formed from beverage similar to said draught beverage. For example the ice may be beer ice. The ice may be slush.

The draught beverage may be cooled prior to delivery into the vessel, for example using beverage cooling means in a beverage dispensing system which may convey beverage from a supply of beverage to a dispense tap or a font at, for example, a drinks bar. The beverage may be nonalcoholic or alcoholic. For example, an alcoholic beverage may be a beer, for example a lager or an ale, stout or porter or the alcoholic beverage may be cider, in which case the frozen material may be ice formed from a beer or cider.

If cold water or ice from water is used it may be delivered in such quantity as to dilute the alcoholic beverage to a pre-determined alcoholic strength, for example alcohol by volume (ABV). For example a beer for example lager, may be diluted to substantially 6% ABV.

Ice may be supplied from a cooled column of ice, for example it may be surrounded by a cooled jacket or bath, which may be cooled by a cold liquid gas, for example liquified nitrogen.

Said ice may be supplied at substantially-20 C to-30 C.

The ice may be granules or slices, or crushed or ground. Ice may be in the form of slices or cut pieces produced using cutter means, for example a microtone cutter.

The cooled material may be introduced automatically or by machine or manually. For example, ice or other cool material may be introduced by hand.

Attention is drawn to two International patent applications, namely International Application No. PCT/GB99/03824 (published under No.

WO01/36582) and International Application No. PCT/GB99/01551 (published under no. WO 99/60092). Any individual feature or any combination of such features of any beverage disclosed in either of those International Applications, and any method or apparatus or part of any method or apparatus disclosed in either of those International Applications, may be utilised in the serving or dispensing of beverage which in the subject of this current application.

There will now be further description, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawing, which is:

a schematic representation of a beverage dispensing system which may be used in the performance of a method according to the first or fourth aspects of the invention A draught beverage dispensing system 10 includes a font 12 and an ice making unit 14.

The font 12 includes a cooling unit 15, a valve 16, and a nozzle 18.

Upon the opening of the valve 16 the beverage to be dispensed is drawn, from a keg (not shown), through the cooling unit 15 and out of the nozzle 18 into a glass 20.

The ice making unit 14 includes a cylinder of circular cross-section 22 which is substantially closed at one end and substantially open at its other end, the"open"end having removable closure means in order to prevent egress of liquid during the initial freezing process. An inlet 24 is mounted in the closed end of the cylinder 22 so as to allow ingress of a liquid, typically either the beverage or water.

The cylinder 22 is connected to a primary cooling system 26 in order to freeze the liquid within the cylinder 22. A second, optional, cooling system 28 involves the enclosure of the cylinder 22 in a longitudinally extending annular jacket 30 containing a liquefied gas. The liquefied gas could for example be liquid nitrogen to further cool the frozen liquid to, for example, approximately-20 C to-30 C.

A portion of the frozen liquid, ice 32, projects from the open end of the cylinder 22 either under gravity or is forced out, for example by hydraulic means.

This portion of the ice 32 can be cut from the main body of ice either by use of a microtone cutter 34 or by cleaving with a pair of blades (not shown).

The ice 32 may be added directly to the glass 20 of beverage (as denoted by B in Figure 1). Alternatively, the ice 32 may pass between a pair of drums 36,38 which rotate about their parallel longitudinal axes with a plurality of mutually engaging teeth 40,42 projecting radially therefrom (denoted by A in Figure 1).

The teeth 40,42 crush the ice 32 into granules 44. The granules 44 can be immediately added to the dispensed beverage (as denoted by C in Figure 1) or can be left to partially melt and form a slush 46 which is then added to the dispensed beverage (as denoted by D in Figure 1).

Alternatively, the ice may be formed in small, discrete, portions to be added to the dispensed beverage or may be maintained as a slush by the motion of blades through a mixture of liquid and ice at or near the freezing point of the liquid.

The addition of the ice 32 to the dispensed beverage serves to reduce the temperature of the beverage and particularly in the case of water slush 46 may also dilute the beverage, in the case of soft beverages to a desired strength of concentrate and in the case of alcoholic beverages to the desired alcohol content.

The ice formed in the ice making unit 14 may be of substantially the same flavour as the beverage from the front 12 or may be formed from similar beverage as that which is dispensed by the font.

Claims (31)

1. A method of dispensing a beverage comprising providing a beverage in a drinking vessel into which cold or frozen material is introduced in addition to said beverage.

2. A method of serving a beverage comprising providing a beverage in a drinking vessel and providing in said beverage flavoured frozen material.

3. A method as claimed in Claim 1, in which the frozen material is flavoured frozen material.

4. A method as claimed in Claim 2 or Claim 3, in which the flavoured frozen material is one or more frozen pieces of fruit.

5. A method as claiemd in Claim 2 or Claim 3, in which the flavoured frozen material is flavoured ice.

6. A method as claimed in Claim, 5, in which the flavoured ice has a fruit flavour.

7. A method as claimed in Claim 5 or Claim 6, in which the flavoured ice is frozen fruit juice or frozen fruit juice concentrate.

8. A method as claimed in Claim 5, in which the flavoured ice and the beverage have substantially the same flavour.

9. A method as claimed in Claim 5, in which the flavoured ice is ice formed from beer or cider.

10. A method as claimed on Claim 9, in which the beverage is beer and the ice is formed from beer.

11. A method as claimed in Claim 10, in which said beer is lager.

12. A method as claimed in Claim 9, in which the beverage is cider and the ice is formed from cider.

13. A method as claimed in any one preceding claim in which the beverage is a draught beverage.

14. A method as claimed in any one preceding claim, in which the beverage is cooled immediately prior to being introduced into the drinking vessel.

15. A method as claimed in any one preceding claim, in which the beverage is alcoholic or non-alcoholic.

16. A method of serving a beverage as claimed in Claim 2, and substantially as hereinbefore described.

17. A method of dispensing a draught beverage comprising delivering a draught beverage into a drinking vessel and introducing cooled material into the vessel in addition to said beverage.

18. A method as claimed in Claim 17, in which said cooled material is cold water or ice.

19. A method as claimed in Claim 18, in which the beverage is alcoholic or non-alcoholic.

20. A method as claimed in Claim 18 or Claim 19, in which the beverage is a beer or cider.

21. A method as claimed in Claim 20, in which the beer is lager.

22. A method as claimed in any one of Claims 18 to 21, in which the ice has substantially the same flavour as said beverage, or said beverage and beverage from which said ice is formed are substantially similar.

23. A method as claimed in any one of Claims 18 to 22, in which said ice is formed as slush and the slush is introduced into the vessel.

24. A method as claimed in any one of Claims 19 to 22, in which said ice is in the form of any one or more of crushed ice, ground ice, ice slices, or ice granules.

25. A method as claimed in Claim 18 or Claim 19, in which the ice is formed of frozen water and by being introduced into the vessel results in the beverage being diluted to a desired strength.

26. A method as claimed in Claim 25, in which the beverage is an alcoholic beverage diluted in the drinking vessel by said ice, whereby the diluted beverage has a desired alcoholic strength as represented by alcohol by volume (ABV).

27. A method as claimed in any one of Claims 17 to 26, in which the cooled material is introduced automatically in the course of delivery of the beverage, or is introduced manually.

28. A method as claimed in Claim 27 when appended to Claim 18, in which the ice is produced by ice making means adjacent to a front from which said beverage issues into the vessel.

29. A method as claimed in any one of Claims 17 to 28, in which the beverage is cooled immediately before its delivery into the vessel.

30. A method of dispensing a draught beverage and substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

31. Beverage in a vessel provided by a method as claimed in any one preceding claim.