Proper beer drinking temperature

[GRHunter]

My wife was visiting her mother yesterday so I was left home alone and unsupervised. Although I didn't really have any plans for the day but I knew that quaffing a few brews would figure in some how. I am currently between bottled batches of beer so I made a trip to the beer store and picked up a couple of six packs of a local craft brew Brown Ale. It was icy cold for the first sip and it seemed OK. I got distracted by some other bright shiny object so I didn't take my second sip until about 30 minutes later and wow, what a difference. The beer had warmed up and went from OK to shockingly delicious. I Googled "beer serving temperature" and found the list below. Being a recent convert from the icy cold Budweiser world the concept of different temperatures is a new one. Does the list below look about right?


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.

 

[JOHN51277]

Hot? Damn, I don;t think I would like HOT beer.

 

[FreeM80s]

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

I thought you were supposed to drink eisbock cold, like asap after you freeze concentrate it?

 

[Pivzavod]

I was actually just reconfiguring my kegerator and settled at 42F

 

[eelpout]

Hot? Damn, I don;t think I would like HOT beer.

drank a 12 pack of PBR last year. that was sitting on my work bench for about a week. Thermometer in the garage said like 105.
still tasted like beer, only hot.

 

[ZoneOne]

Very interesting list you found. I will have to keep that one handy. The beer I have been brewing I enjoy at cool room temperature. Cheers

 

[Pivzavod]

I had some problems with my kegerator and today before work I unplugged it from power. Over the 11 hours I was gone my beer went up from 42F to 56F and I can certainly taste the difference. I am drinking 01/30 - 02/21 AHS Chocolate Orange Holiday Ale and warmer temperature makes it a lot more mellow chocolate taste. I will try drinking my Saison and see if I like it on the warmer side.

 

[tamoore]

My kegerator keeps my brew at 38 degrees. Cold is how I like it.

 

[carnevoodoo]

I'd say that list is reasonable. I always start out cooler than I want, so I can get to the warm temperature.

Oh, and I never drink beer hot. I am sure a few of those things might be interesting like that, but it isn't my thing.

 

[cockybitz]

I have no objection to drinking beer at about 50*. That is how I usually drink it.

 

[EricR]

Cold beer on a hot day, cold beer on a cold day. Really for me, cold beer at any time. Unless I'm beer gaming (yes I'm still at that stage in my life) in which case I don't particularly care what beer / what temp, and most of the time don't remember too much after anyways

 

[Babylon]

For me there's 3 possible temperatures, cold (kept in the fridge) room temperature, and hot. I haven't tried hot yet, but for a mulled beer it could be good. Cold is good for light ales and most lagers, dark ales I enjoy at room temperature.

room temperature American swill (Miller, Coors, Bud) is even more revolting than it is cold, so I can see where the prejudice against room temperature beer comes from.

 

[Xtant]

My wife and I climb. A warm, good beer is very important to us. Afterall, climbing gear is already heavy and we don't pack coolers. We shove beers wherever we can in our packs. Nothing better than a nice beer at the end of a long day climbing...

 

[Stuntman]

My brother's stay in the army must have done me some good. He told me it was hard to drink beer in Germany because they don't refrigerate beer. I naturally adjusted my kegerator to a temp I liked and left it. After reading this thread, I took a temp (after I pulled, tried to take a picture of said pull, then change the batteries in camera, took batteries out of camera, put camera back in case...about two minutes maybe three). The temp was 47 F. So right out of the tap, it must be 45 degrees F.

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

I have this in the kegerator, either brewed or bought. I'll pay more attention to let the "Cellar" brews sit in the glass five minutes or so.

Thanks and

 

[rico567]

I never thought about it in this light before, but after reading this thread it occurs to me that beer drinkers may use temperature to control taste. Without having the slightest scientific knowledge of the physiology of taste, it appears at first glance that as the temperature of the liquid decreases, it lessens our ability to taste / smell it. Depending on the beer, we then selectively choose a temperature that gets rid of those elements we dislike / leaves those we like.
Been a long time since I had a BMC light lager, but as I recall, they went down better when very cold...there was always something less pleasant about them as they warmed up, whereas some beers (such as a Scottish 80/- I'm now drinking) definitely have more and better taste after they've warmed up from fridge temperatures.
As individual tastes vary, this is naturally going to be a topic that is incommensurable among beer lovers....

 

[Chuck_Swillery]

Definately tell the differences in many beer. I've recently had a Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy (lemon) and my own Magic Hat #9 (apricot) clone that started off very cold and slowly warmed to cool. It was interesting to note the profile change in both. In my opinion both were far better cold to cool, allowing more of the fruit flavor to come through. I also made a standard porter I keep in a dark corner of my basement (abt 58 deg) that tastes best right out of the bottle without refridgeration. Absolutely, temperature makes a BIG difference.

Yes, the colder the beer the more numbing effect it will have on the taste buds. That's why ice cream is overly sweet when melted and perfect when frozen. If it was served warm all the time they'd put less sugar in it to balance the sweetness.

 

[Burgs]

This is why I love all the signs at bars/liquor stores/restaurants that say "ice cold" before mentioning what beers they have available. Everything is "ice cold" ... haha.

 

[snodawg]

My wife and I climb. A warm, good beer is very important to us. Afterall, climbing gear is already heavy and we don't pack coolers. We shove beers wherever we can in our packs. Nothing better than a nice beer at the end of a long day climbing...

I also climb and have consumed too many warm commercial beers while out at the rocks I have not tried taking homebrew with me. What do you do? Just mix up the yeasties and drink it from the bottle? Have to try this next week.

Completely off topic. THANK YOU for what you are doing over there. You are my hero.

Definition of hero: Anybody that runs toward what I run away from.

 

[McGarnigle]

Yes, the colder the beer the more numbing effect it will have on the taste buds. That's why ice cream is overly sweet when melted and perfect when frozen. If it was served warm all the time they'd put less sugar in it to balance the sweetness.

Going even further, this is why I'm not crazy about mix-ins in ice cream. If I want chocolate chips, I sprinkle them on top. Otherwise, they mostly just add texture.

 

[Homercidal]

I keep my kegerator at about 45. But I'm not sure the thermometer I have in there is accurate.

I used to want to take beer backpacking to an island with me, but I could never figure out how to keep it cold. After having some good beer at the right temperature, I never worry about it. I just take good beer and if I want it colder than ambient, I put it in Lake Michigan for an hour or two!

But yeah, the thought of hot beer is grossin me out!

 

[jangelj]

having backpacked around europe a few times, I got accustomed to warm beer. Warm beer > No beer.

I'll say this, warm European beer is better than warm American BMC anyday.

Many days, we'd hide beers in a refigerated part of a grocery store so we could return later and buy them cold. Often got strange looks from the checkout person when they felt the cold bottle/can. But when you are on an overnight train, warm it is.

I can drink a GOOD beer room temp, but not bud/miller/coors. If I have to drink one of those, it must be cold.