Beer might freeze and burst through the cap? Is is cold down in the cargo hold if no pets are on board?
Last week I checked 2 cases of wine at SFO. We had a mechanical issue and sat on the ground for 2 hours while they resolved it. It was very sunny out so I asked the captain what the outside air temperature was and told him about the wine in the cargo hold. He told me the temp (75 degrees F) and informed me that the cargo hold was generally kept at about the same temp as the passenger cabin during flight.