By contrast, a solution melts over a range of temperatures rather than at a single point. Let us recall the behavior of water as it freezes. If I start with water at room temperature and cool it, the temperature will drop. But at 0 C something peculiar happens, ice crystals form. The temperature will stay at 0 C until the last bit of ice is melted and then will start to rise again.
Solutions behave differently.
Let us take mead, for example. As we cool mead from room temperature, the temperature will fall below 0 C before the first ice crystals form. And since water freezes at a higher temperature than alcohol, the first ice to form will be almost pure water ice. That means the liquid that remains will have a higher percentage of alcohol than the original liquid. Furthermore, this more concentrated solution will freeze at a lower temperature.