YETI Rambler® "Beverage Bucket" Drinks Cooler 1 piece

Cold drinks next to the car until the car park empties

What is the YETI Rambler Beverage Bucket? An insulated stainless steel bucket for a six-pack or three bottles of wine that stands full of ice at your destination so everyone can help themselves. It isn't a cooler for the drive over: the lid keeps insects out, not meltwater in.

The YETI Rambler Beverage Bucket is YETI's drinks cooler for anyone who brings their own drinks to a meet and wants them cold until the afternoon. Seven o'clock at the petrol station, two bags of ice on the passenger seat. By nine the tailgate is up, the bucket is on the boot sill, and the first can is frosted before anyone asks.

• A six-pack, three bottles of wine or four and a half kilos of ice. 7.6 litres is roughly what a group gets through in a morning without anyone walking back to the car. Filled to the brim with ice instead of drinks, it's around four and a half kilos. Wine bottles: three fit, and the lid stays off because the necks stick out.
• No water ring on the boot sill. It stays dry on the outside, even with four hours of ice inside. On the painted boot sill of a dark estate, on the folding table and on the leather seat, there's nothing left afterwards that needs wiping off. That's exactly what sets it apart from a galvanised bucket from the DIY store.
• It stays where you put it. The rubber ring on the base carries three kilos of empty weight plus ice and neither lets the bucket wander nor lets the paint underneath suffer. The handle swings up when you lift it and lies flat as soon as the bucket is down. No clanging on the metal.

Detailing1's tip from the shop: The mistake happens at home, not at the meet. Put the cans in and tip the ice on top, and you cool the top layer and wonder about the bottom one. Ice first, then twist the cans in, then a second layer of ice into the gaps. Two bags from the petrol station is the right amount. And never put it in the boot full: the lid keeps wasps out, but not meltwater in, and the first country road does the rest.

The ice comes from the petrol station not from home

The YETI Rambler Beverage Bucket travels empty and gets filled at your destination. Two bags of ice on the way, cans in, lid on, and the bucket sits next to the bumper.

At every meet there are the people queuing and the people who've got something set up. The bucket puts you in the second group. It stands there open, everyone reaches in themselves, and you don't have to ask anyone if they'd like another.

In Germany, Cars & Coffee means early weekend mornings, all makes welcome, no judging, no programme. The coffee usually comes from the organiser, everything else you bring yourself. That's exactly why the bucket stands an arm's length from the bumper, between the folding table and the open tailgate.

Empty, it rarely travels empty. On the way there it holds cloths, gloves and the sunglasses, because without the lid it's stackable and has a spot in the boot anyway. At your destination you tip it out and refill it. Three kilos empty, eight to nine with ice and a six-pack: you carry that from the boot to the table, not halfway across the car park.

The same ritual works in the paddock. Between two sessions you rarely get more than forty minutes, and those go on tyre pressures, fuel and helmet. A bucket the crew can help themselves from saves the trip to the food truck and the debate about whose turn it is.

On a road trip in the weekend car, it turns a car park into a place to be. Motorway services, a gravel lay-by at the lake, the yard outside a mechanic's where someone else is spannering. Bucket out, tailgate up, two people sitting on the boot sill. That's not a summer accessory, it's what turns a stop into half an hour you remember.

The lid isn't an accessory here, it's the difference between mid-morning and midday. On, it keeps off wasps, pollen and sun. Off, the bucket is an open bowl where ice turns to water faster than you'd like. YETI explicitly recommends it as soon as there's ice inside.

No lid for wine bottles and none against meltwater

The drinks cooler's lid keeps off insects and sun, but it doesn't seal. Wine bottles stick out, and you shouldn't transport the bucket full.

YETI says so itself and even spells it out on the replacement lid: not leakproof, but keeps cans and ice safely inside. That's not a weakness, it's a clear statement. Put the full bucket in the boot and there's water on the load floor by the second roundabout.

The second limit is the purpose. The YETI Rambler Beverage Bucket doesn't make anything cold, it holds whatever state it's given. Warm cans and two handfuls of ice make lukewarm cans by eleven. Everything goes in cold, otherwise it isn't worth the effort.

If you need to keep things cold on the drive over, add a cooler with a sealed lid and the bucket rides empty in the boot. If you want to serve at your destination, it's the other way round: the box stays shut and the bucket goes on the table. Both together is the honest way, one on its own is a compromise.

Three points worth knowing before you order. At 29.3 centimetres across, it almost fills a small folding table on its own. The ice scoop isn't included and can't be attached to the bucket either. And the honeycomb structure on the underside of the lid can go in the dishwasher, by hand it's fiddly.

Then there's the short list of don'ts that applies to the whole Rambler range. No microwave, no freezer, no bleach and no cream cleanser. Dishwasher yes, bucket and lid. If the stainless steel ever picks up flash rust from someone else's tools, a standard stainless steel cleaner takes it off again.

That leaves the only real choice, because there's just one size. Bare stainless looks like a tool at a meet and shows every fingerprint. White, Navy and the seasonal colour are powder-coated, stay grippy and understated, but a dent in the metal shows sooner. If you handle the bucket a lot and rarely polish it, go for a colour.

Five years of warranty and a dent that comes with the territory

The reason for a YETI is rarely the one extra hour of ice, it's that after the third summer next to the toolbox the bucket still looks like it did on day one.

The coloured outer skin is a powder coating that, according to the maker, won't chip, peel or fade, and YETI gives a five-year warranty on the Rambler range. If you've ever judged a sealant after two years, you know that searching look. Edges first, then the rim, then the spot under the handle.

It still ages, just differently. 18/8 stainless steel doesn't spring back, a dent from the boot sill stays, and the first one hurts. From the second one on it's a mark of use rather than damage, like the first stone chip on a front splitter. What doesn't happen: the colour wearing thin at the edges and the thing starting to look cheap.

Who it isn't for: anyone driving to a meet alone who needs one bottle of water. Three kilos of stainless steel for two drinks makes no sense, a stackable insulated tumbler on the boot sill does the job. The YETI Rambler Beverage Bucket is kit for whoever's playing host.

It's for anyone who looks after their car instead of using it up, and who therefore rarely buys the cheapest or the loudest thing. Someone like that buys what will still be around in five years. The bucket next to the bumper says the same about its owner as the paint next to it, just more quietly.

And it gets quieter over the years. New, the handle rattles against the side, after two seasons the rubber has bedded in and you only hear it when you set it down. If you're out every other weekend in summer, you quickly clock up thirty outings a year, and that's exactly when you notice nothing on it ever works loose.

That leaves the move no manufacturer puts on the packaging. The evening before, tip in two litres of cold water and a handful of ice, leave it in the garage overnight and pour it out just before you set off. The first load of ice in the morning then lasts visibly longer instead of collapsing on the drive over.

And if something does give up one day, it's the lid. YETI sells it separately as a spare part, made for this bucket only and explicitly not for the LoadOut bucket. A drinks cooler that fails at the lid isn't a write-off here. The same thinking runs through the whole range of insulated cups and containers.

How much fits in the drinks bucket?

7.6 litres, which is a six-pack of cans or three bottles of wine. Without drinks, it holds around four and a half kilos of ice filled to the brim. That's enough for a group for a morning without anyone walking back to the car.

Is the lid watertight?

No. The lid is included, it keeps off wasps, pollen and sun and improves ice retention, but it's explicitly not leakproof. YETI says so itself. So never transport the bucket full in the boot.

How long does the ice last?

YETI deliberately doesn't give a number of hours. Independent real-world reports get through a whole day with the lid on, significantly less without it. Three things decide it: plenty of ice, lid on, and keep it out of direct sun.

Can I use it as a cooler for the drive over?

No. It doesn't cool anything down, it holds whatever state it's given, and the lid doesn't hold in meltwater. To keep the cold chain going on the road, use a cooler with a sealed lid and switch over at your destination.

Do wine bottles fit with the lid on?

Three bottles of wine fit, the lid over them doesn't. The necks stick out. With cans and small bottles the lid sits flat, with wine it stays off or rests loosely on top.

Can it go in the dishwasher?

Yes, bucket and lid. The honeycomb structure on the underside of the lid is fiddly by hand, in the machine it's no problem. Not allowed: microwave, freezer, bleach and cream cleanser.

Is there an ice scoop included?

No. YETI includes the lid, the ice scoop is sold separately and can't be attached to the bucket. The replacement lid is also available on its own and only fits this bucket, not the LoadOut bucket.

The evening before: pre-chill the bucket with two litres of cold water and a handful of ice, leave it overnight, and pour it out before you set off. Chill the drinks beforehand, they won't get any colder in the bucket.

On the road: transport it empty. Bring the ice along in the bag, don't drive with it full, the lid isn't leakproof.

At your destination: ice first, then twist the cans in, then a second layer of ice into the gaps. Put the lid on, stand the bucket in the shade, and only lift the lid to take something out.

Afterwards: pour out the meltwater, bucket and lid into the dishwasher, let them dry open. No bleach, no cream cleanser, no microwave or freezer. Flash rust spots on the stainless steel come off with a standard stainless steel cleaner.