diff --git a/xarray/core/merge.py b/xarray/core/merge.py
index 6262e031a2c..490c18aed12 100644
--- a/xarray/core/merge.py
+++ b/xarray/core/merge.py
@@ -70,6 +70,9 @@ class Context:
     def __init__(self, func):
         self.func = func
 
+    def __repr__(self):
+        return f"Context('{self.func}')"
+
 
 def broadcast_dimension_size(variables: list[Variable]) -> dict[Hashable, int]:
     """Extract dimension sizes from a dictionary of variables.
diff --git a/xarray/core/options.py b/xarray/core/options.py
index 6798c447a2d..dad5545992c 100644
--- a/xarray/core/options.py
+++ b/xarray/core/options.py
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 from __future__ import annotations
 
 import warnings
-from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, Literal, TypedDict
+from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, Callable, Literal, TypedDict
 
 from .utils import FrozenDict
 
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ def _positive_integer(value: int) -> bool:
     "display_expand_data": lambda choice: choice in [True, False, "default"],
     "enable_cftimeindex": lambda value: isinstance(value, bool),
     "file_cache_maxsize": _positive_integer,
-    "keep_attrs": lambda choice: choice in [True, False, "default"],
+    "keep_attrs": lambda choice: choice in [True, False, "default"] or callable(choice),
     "use_bottleneck": lambda value: isinstance(value, bool),
     "use_flox": lambda value: isinstance(value, bool),
     "warn_for_unclosed_files": lambda value: isinstance(value, bool),
@@ -130,8 +130,18 @@ def _get_boolean_with_default(option: Options, default: bool) -> bool:
         )
 
 
-def _get_keep_attrs(default: bool) -> bool:
-    return _get_boolean_with_default("keep_attrs", default)
+def _get_keep_attrs(default: bool | Callable) -> bool | Callable:
+    global_choice = OPTIONS["keep_attrs"]
+
+    if global_choice == "default":
+        return default
+    elif isinstance(global_choice, bool) or callable(global_choice):
+        return global_choice
+    else:
+        raise ValueError(
+            "The the global option 'keep_attrs' must be one of"
+            " True, False or 'default', or a callable."
+        )
 
 
 class set_options:
@@ -192,7 +202,7 @@ class set_options:
         global least-recently-usage cached. This should be smaller than
         your system's per-process file descriptor limit, e.g.,
         ``ulimit -n`` on Linux.
-    keep_attrs : {"default", True, False}
+    keep_attrs : {"default", True, False} or callable
         Whether to keep attributes on xarray Datasets/dataarrays after
         operations. Can be
 
@@ -200,6 +210,7 @@ class set_options:
         * ``False`` : to always discard attrs
         * ``default`` : to use original logic that attrs should only
           be kept in unambiguous circumstances
+        * callable: a function that decides what to do.
     use_bottleneck : bool, default: True
         Whether to use ``bottleneck`` to accelerate 1D reductions and
         1D rolling reduction operations.
diff --git a/xarray/core/variable.py b/xarray/core/variable.py
index 2d115ff0ed9..3e19cb3322a 100644
--- a/xarray/core/variable.py
+++ b/xarray/core/variable.py
@@ -1818,6 +1818,8 @@ def reduce(
             Array with summarized data and the indicated dimension(s)
             removed.
         """
+        from .merge import Context, merge_attrs
+
         if dim == ...:
             dim = None
         if dim is not None and axis is not None:
@@ -1860,7 +1862,13 @@ def reduce(
 
         if keep_attrs is None:
             keep_attrs = _get_keep_attrs(default=False)
-        attrs = self._attrs if keep_attrs else None
+
+        if isinstance(keep_attrs, bool):
+            keep_attrs = "override" if keep_attrs else "drop"
+
+        attrs = merge_attrs(
+            [self.attrs], combine_attrs=keep_attrs, context=Context(func.__name__)
+        )
 
         return Variable(dims, data, attrs=attrs)