From what I understand, alcohol hastens the onset of hypothermia but at the same time in some circumstances it may delay the onset of frostbite. The mechanism

From what I understand, alcohol hastens the onset of hypothermia but at the same time in some circumstances it may delay the onset of frostbite. The mechanism should be the same in either case, the dilation of blood vessels near the surface of the skin, particularly in the extremities, which leads to more heat transfer between your body and the cold environment. This warms your skin but at the expense of cooling your core. Doctors would never dare recommend alcohol for somebody operating in the cold since it hastens hypothermia (which is deadly) to delay frostbite (which, while potentially deadly, is a less severe/immediate concern.) But, despite the aversion medical professionals have to liability, it's seems theoretically possible that there could be scenarios where consuming alcohol would be a minor net benefit (they would have to be scenarios where it's trivial to step back inside to warm up.)