NZ student's cool idea puts end to warm beer

WELLINGTON (Reuters Life!) - Like nothing better than an ice-cold beer? How about one with dry ice?

A New Zealand university student has invented a device that cools beverages in a matter of minutes, without diluting them with ice cubes, using a cooling cell that pressurises liquid carbon dioxide into small blocks of dry ice in just seconds.

"Nobody enjoys a warm beer on a summer's day. So I thought that would be a good one to look into to see if I can solve that," Kent Hodgson, a 22-year-old industrial design student at Massey University, told Reuters on Monday.

All the drinker then needs to do is place the rod-like cell, he named the Huski, like a straw into the beverage container.

"Within five minutes, you've got a super cold one," Hodgson said.

He said he was looking into patenting his invention and was also in talks with brewery companies on the possible commercialisation of his invention.