What temperature to drink beer?

It may seem daft but this is starting to bother me now. My first ever batch (a kit beer) is up for drinking (1-2-2.5 weeks at each stage, primary, secondary, bottle). I was going to do 1-2-3 but as it was my first batch I figured I should taste it every other day after the first week to see how the flavor evolves. By 2.5 Weeks in the bottle, it tastes pretty nice. I used a Young's connoisseur IPA kit, with sugar to add the extra sugars rather than DME.

The thing is, after a few trials I've come to the conclusion that it tastes better a room temperature than it does out of the fridge. Is this normal? Is there an ideal temp range for different beers? Have years of smoking, Irn-Bru and a (un)healthy Scottish diet taken their toll on my taste buds?

Just to confirm though, although it won't win any prizes, it much better tasting than most of the moose water they sell in pubs. Similar but superior to McEwans Export.

Every beer style has its temperature to be served.

I can't find the link right now and I'm sure someone will jump on top of this very quickly and help you

the colder it is, the less you taste. BMCs are usually served near freezing, so you miss that terrible taste. try drinking a BMC at room temperature.

Homebrewing opens up a whole new world to beer

Personally - the darker the beer the warmer it needs to be.

I'm with your on this as I use to think the best beer was cold. But then time and time again a beer would start to taste GREAT as it warmed.

I've had a wee look and there is lots on google about beer serving temperature. Cellar Temperature seems to be the recomended and I went for something around 12C (will need to check thermometer when I get home).

Really brought out some flavour and turned it from a fairly harsh and 'pointy' (kinda just various flavour landmasses with no join between them) at fridge temps to a nice mellow brew, like I say tasted a bit like McEwans Export (I say this because I had a couple pints of ME that day and thought..... hang on a minute!). Much rounder taste and the different flavours really merged into a lovely brew. Less of a Rockies of Falvour and More a Cairngorms

amen brother.

elmetal said:

BMCs are usually served near freezing, so you miss that terrible taste. try drinking a BMC at room temperature.

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I will disagree. even up into the low hundreds is fine with me. I aint fussy at all.

I keep my keezer at 40degrees. If I want the beer nice and cold, I use a frozen glass, if it is a porter or stout, I iuse a warm glass and let it sit for a few minutes before drinking.

Must say, after the first few bottles, the stuff from this brew is going nowhere near the fridge. It's about 10C which is plent cold. Maybe not as refreshing, but damn it tastes fine! A kit beer too. A kit beer that has produced something that I'd happily pay £3 for in a pub. LOVERLY.

PS. Need I mention that I chucked out the instructions and made it using the advice and guides from these very forums?

CHEERS TO THE LOT OF YA!

Drink beer at the temp you like. I drink my beers between 40 and 45 F. Some would say that is too cold, some would say it is too warm. It's how I like it, so that's the temp I drink at.

About 45°F, usually. I gotta say, tho, before I got my chest freezer, I very often drank beer at room temp (55-60°F during the winter) right after kegging. Sometimes I drank them for days without adding ice. Good beer is good warm.

Any "off" characters are much more recognizable with warmer beers, so if you want to truly taste your beer, I'd recommend drinking it warm before you chill it. Of course, character changes with carbonation and many people don't immediately carbonate their beers or pre-age them, so it may not be possible for some to try this experiment without simply letting it warm in the glass.

It varies, I think. Depending on the brew. I do bitter nearly all the time. I start at 55F and work from there, but usually 55F is good for my style of brew. It's a personal thing dependant on mood and taste.

I keep my temperature right around 98.6 F when drinking beer. I will drink beer whenever the outside temperature is between -30 F and 110 F.

I always dink a bottle or 2 of each batch at room temp to get the full flavor experience, good or bad. I refrigerate the rest, and let it warm up in the glass if I think it would be better warm.

I drink pales and Ipa's at 42f to 45f.
Now my barleywine doesn't even hit it's stride until 50F+.

For a British style ale 12C - 14C should be great. They lose a great deal of flavour if chilled more than that.

-a.

I like all my beer COLD!!! No matter what style. That's just my taste.

I like all my beer COLD!!! No matter what style. That's just my taste.

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Try an IPA at near freezing temps, then let it warm up and taste it. You will be blown away by the difference in flavor. Not that IPA's are necessarily better warm, but different flavors come out at different temps.

Drink at the temp you like it. That is the cardinal rule. If you drink a beer at its "Proper" temp and dont like it your defeating the purpose.

I love cold cold beer. I keep my beer fridge at 30 degrees according to the thermometer I got from Target. The beer is not freezing, but OMG is it ever cold. Each batch I make though I usually let one warm to the ideal drinking temp and give it a try. I still prefer it to be really cold though.