It’s difficult to differentiate sometimes between absolute genius and complete absurdity. Such is the case with the Blitzen, an invention that you might want to scoff at, but you might also just want it too. It’s a rooftop beverage cooler that seeks to ensure that you never put a damper on a party by bringing a room temperature bottle of booze. Because not all of us have bottles of champagne cooling in a wine fridge, ready for the taking at home.
The concept is almost alarmingly simple. Rather than strapping a pair of skis or a bike or a camper to the top of your car, you can carry much smaller (but equally precious) cargo. The Blitzen allows you to strap a bottle of booze or a growler to the top of your car and uses the outdoor temperature (as well as the wind chill that comes from your driving) to quickly bring a beverage down to an appropriate temperature. The Blitzen utilizes 100-pound magnets to stay in place, even if you’re negotiating particularly tricky wintery roads. And by the time you’ve reached your destination, even if you started out with a warm party favor, you arrive with one that is sufficiently chilled.
The bizarrely perfect invention comes from the team at Deeplocal, who explained the genesis of the project on its website. “The liquor store only had warm Prosecco when a Deeplocal engineer went to pick up a bottle,” the team noted. “With a short drive home and no time for conventional refrigerator chilling, he engineered a solution to make the cold weather work for him.”
While this gadget may seem like a gag gift, Deeplocal assures folks that it is, in fact, “very real.” In addition to its securing 100-pound magnets, the Blitzen also comes with aluminum rails to hold your bottles in place. Of course, it’s not entirely clear how quickly you can get a beverage, and how cool. That, the team says, is contingent upon a number of factors, including ambient temperature, car speed, and more.
Despite the assured realness of Blitzen, the Deeplocal team hasn’t announced pricing or availability quite yet. If you want to stay in the loop, however, you can enter your email address on their website to stay informed for updates.