In article , Richard J Kinch
says...

However, that assumes a freezing phase-change is not involved. What you
observed sounds like the LN2 started to freeze the beverage at the
interface to the bottle. CO2 does come out of solution when carbonated
water freezes. And that will happen quite dramatically with the rapid
heat transfer of immersion in LN2. Brrr!

Interesting explaination. I did not witness the event, only
the aftermath ("what happened to the ceiling?") so I've
always been curious. The offending lab resident was famous
for doing stuff like this, for example, I found that he had
wandered into my lab and was trying to drill large holes
in brass, not using drills ground for brass - with predictable
results. I ushered him out the door.

In spite of his kindly, elderly southern gentleman appearance
he was a danger to himself and to others.

I do want to replicate the effect someday to see if it
really does this.

It is also the case that a warm soda has several volumes of CO2 more
than its equilibrium saturation. So if you had a warm soda, with the
sides suddenly frozen, you would get CO2 abruptly effervescing from the
freezing area, which in turn would trigger the warm area (supersaturated
with CO2 if recently uncapped) to violently effervesce.

This I *have* personally experienced. Dr. Pepper seems to
supersaturate much, much more than other brands. I had just
begun working in one shop, and had forgotten about my soda
on a nearby shelf. I had uncapped it and left it there,
undisturbed, for a half hour. When I tilted it up to
take a swig, all the CO2 came out at once, and I had Dr
Pepper coming our my eyes, my nose, my ears....

All this in front of my new boss.

Jim

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