Best temp to serve beer at? See this list. Discuss.

[cannman]

When I do things, I want to be the best that I can. This includes serving the beer I brew at the proper temperature!

After some digging around, I came across this list from this website.

Do you agree with it? How would you serve it? Why?



~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

Very cold (0-4C/32-39F): Any beer you don’t actually want to taste. Pale Lager, Malt Liquor, Canadian-style Golden Ale and Cream Ale, Low Alcohol, Canadian, American or Scandinavian-style Cider.



Cold (4-7C/39-45F): Hefeweizen, Kristalweizen, Kölsch, Premium Lager, Pilsner, Classic German Pilsner, Fruit Beer, brewpub-style Golden Ale, European Strong Lager, Berliner Weisse, Belgian White, American Dark Lager, sweetened Fruit Lambics and Gueuzes, Duvel-types



Cool (8-12C/45-54F): American Pale Ale, Amber Ale, California Common, Dunkelweizen, Sweet Stout, Stout, Dry Stout, Porter, English-style Golden Ale, unsweetened Fruit Lambics and Gueuzes, Faro, Belgian Ale, Bohemian Pilsner, Dunkel, Dortmunder/Helles, Vienna, Schwarzbier, Smoked, Altbier, Tripel, Irish Ale, French or Spanish-style Cider



Cellar (12-14C/54-57F): Bitter, Premium Bitter, Brown Ale, India Pale Ale, English Pale Ale, English Strong Ale, Old Ale, Saison, Unblended Lambic, Flemish Sour Ale, Bière de Garde, Baltic Porter, Abbey Dubbel, Belgian Strong Ale, Weizen Bock, Bock, Foreign Stout, Zwickel/Keller/Landbier, Scottish Ale, Scotch Ale, American Strong Ale, Mild, English-style Cider



Warm (14-16C/57-61F): Barley Wine, Abt/Quadrupel, Imperial Stout, Imperial/Double IPA, Doppelbock, Eisbock, Mead



Hot (70C/158F): Quelque Chose, Liefmans Glühkriek, dark, spiced winter ales like Daleside Morocco Ale.

 

[sputnam]

i would personally put pale ales and ipa's in the cold category but I agree with everything else. I keep my kegerator at 41° and let things sit for a bit if they need to be a little warmer.
but i am also not in the beer profession so what do i know?

 

[stpug]

Bring everything down by 5°F (except for lower end of 'Very Cold') and I'd agree with it

 

[ndinh]

Nice list. I like my IPA's on the cold side and I have a hard time drinking an imperial IPA at room temp. I also set my keggerator at 41 for everything and just warm things up with my hand. I do wish I had separate CO2 regulators for my taps though. I've had friends complain that my beers are too flat and too warm because they're use to drinking ice cold, overcarbed Buds.

 

[Calichusetts]

Sure...maybe the lower value for most of the categories. I prefer most of my beers a little on the warm side. I don't drink beers "you don't want to taste" and the coldness will lock in flavors and aromas. I keep my beer fridge anywhere from 45-50. I just recently lowered it so that I can toss a beer in a fridge after work and have it relatively cold a few hours later, but I let most of my beers sit for a few minutes before I open/drink them.

 

[riderkb]

Spot on for my tastes. I keep the beer fridge at 9C and drink mostly APA and related styles.

 

[cannman]

I was actually shocked that barley wine was to be served so warm. The ones I have are so complex in flavor and take a while to drink that it gets warm any way lol. But thank's for the input! I'll have to print this out and hang it somewhere lol

 

[rekoob]

I'm in the 41 ish group give or take a degree.
Like others, I just let it sit and warm if needed.

 

[andvari7]

My refrigerator is rather cold, but I always bring every beer up to temp. Lagers stay cooler, and ales come to below room.

 

[bobeer]

Wow IIPA's are supposed to be served warm? I wouldn't want it ice cold but I don't want it warm either. 40-55 degrees is good for me. I agree on everything else though. Good list!

 

[cannman]

Refering to the original post in this thread here, would you say that these temps are also what you would want to serve CASKED beer at?

 

[JKaranka]

I drink most beers cool or at cellar temps. I agree with most of the stuff on the list, but I'd bring the barleywine and imperial stout to cellar temp (it will warm up a tad before you finish it anyway) and the imperial IPA colder than that.

Almost everything I drink when out is in cask (it's hard to get keg beer here), and I'd expect that to be in that 10-12c range. It should be cool to the touch but not so cold as to be uninviting. Sometimes when you ask for samples of the different casks it can be quite deceiving as the first draft from the line will be warmer. Still, I wouldn't complain about half a dozen warmish free beer samples.

 

[Cyclman]

I keep my beer cave at 40. Bigger / darker beers I leave on the counter, check them with an infrared thermo to let them warm up.

I HATE it when you go to a supposed "beer bar" and they serve beers way too cold. I will order something else while I wait for a good beer to warm up.