Room Temperature Beer?
by The MonkBeer Abbey,
I heard in England, they drink their beer at room temperature! That sounds disgusting! Are they retarded? I like an ice cold brew on a hot Texas night. I heard their food sucks too.
Cheers,
Bud
Like many who wander, you’re half way there, my son. You merely need to put the other half of the knowledge with the part you already have, and you’ll come to understand the deeper meaning of beer. Follow me into the cellar where we’ll talk about which “room temperature” people are referring to…
The important thing to remember when you hear that the English serve their beer at room temperature is that the “room” to which they’re referring is the cellar, where kegs were kept before artificial refrigeration. (Funny story; a few years ago, I was conducting mass in my local taproom and got into a conversation with one of the parishioners. Over the course of the conversation, we got to talking about serving temperatures and English Bitter. He made some kind of comment about how “they don’t have ice over there,” meaning the UK. He seriously thought that the reason they didn’t serve their beer as cold as we do is because the British didn’t have the ability to make ice!) Here in Texas in the summer we turn our air conditioners up so high that “room temperature” can be as low as 68 degrees, and in the winter, I’ve been in rooms where the ambient temperature is closer to 75 degrees. In fact, “room temperature” for most English beers is closer to 54 degrees Fahrenheit.
Of course, the optimal serving temperature varies depending on the style of beer. Most amber ales will be very nice at 54 degrees or just below it. A nice, thick, sweet Imperial Stout is much more enjoyable at closer to 60 degrees. It’s at these (relatively) higher temperatures that the real flavor and character of the beers come out.
I’ve been known to enjoy an ice cold brew from the “big 3″ (Anheuser Busch, SABMiller, and Molson Coors) now and again myself, and it’s very true that if they’re allowed to warm up to the temps at which other styles shine, these beers will be pretty horrible. This is because the macrobrewers have figured out that the bulk of Americans don’t know any better, and think that beer is SUPPOSED to be served ice cold, so they engineer their products to taste the best they can at between 32 and 49 degrees. Part of the reason for this is cultural preference, part is because the beers are so bad (compared to other beers in the same style) that they take advantage of the fact that coldness inhibits the taste buds. That’s why you only taste certain things (a bit of hops, light maltiness) when you drink those beers at their intended temperature, and other things (the adjuncts like rice, etc.) when they’re at higher temps.
The next time you’re at the beer store, try this experiment: Buy two bottles of a quality beer like Rogue American Amber (it comes in a 22oz. bottle for convenient tasting), cool one down to where you’d normally chill a Bud Light, and put the other one in the fridge. When they’re ready, pour the ice cold one into a frozen pint glass and the other into a non-frozen pint glass. Taste the ice-cold one right away. You’ll see that you’re only getting the most dominant flavors like the hops that are used for the brew. Let the other sit for a few minutes to warm up to around the optimal temp then give it a try. You’ll start to appreciate the more subtle flavors like the light maltiness and see that it smells a lot more like beer instead of just hops.
Just like anything else, room temperature is relative.
As for the food, it’s just BAD, and that’s NOT relative.
-The Monk
Tags: beer, Beer Abbey, reader questions, rogue, The Monk
No Comments, Comment or Ping
Reply to “Room Temperature Beer?”