GUD BLOG: SINGLE POST
Cold is not a flavor found in beer
A Brief History of Cold Beer
Cold-fermentation and aging, or lagering, of beer began sometime around the 16th century. To avoid bacterial infection that rendered beer undrinkable, Bavarian brewers were required by law to brew only during the cooler months of the year, between September and May. Throughout summer the beer was stored in deep, stone cellars, sometimes under ice. The yeast adapted to this environment and the result was beer with better clarity and a rounder flavor. Probably served around 50º F straight from the cellar, the beer was cool and tasty.
With the advent of more sophisticated malting techniques, the industrial revolution and artificial refrigeration, lager beer saw a period of rapid growth and soon replaced ale as the beer of choice around most of the globe. Like so many food items during this period of economic expansion, beer changed from a craft product to a commodity overnight. Lower drinking temperatures were part of the bargain.
Image by Matt Hamm
It didn’t take long for green-eyed entrepreneurs to realize that the colder beer was served, the less that could be tasted. Beer was poured colder and colder, slowly becoming blander and cheaper to produce. Beer drinkers barely seemed to notice. Soon, large rival breweries were pitting their homogenized products against each other, backing up the battle with advertising dollars. It is now to the point where, through clever marketing campaigns, we believe cold is actually a flavor. Could it be that the “coldest tasting beer in the world” is, in reality, nothing much more than flavored alcoholic sparkling water?
How Cold Should We Drink Beer?
If you prefer an ice-cold, refreshing drink to also have some booze in it than you can’t go wrong with just about any domestic lager or light lager at 35º-40º F. Most of the big brand import lagers will also fall into this category. This type of beer is engineered to get through a factory system quickly and be consumed as cold as possible. Any inherent flaws from acceleration of a natural process will be more apparent at higher temperatures and the reason most of us believe warm beer tastes like ass.
A good German or Bohemian-style pilsener or craft-brewed domestic lager like Bell’s Lager of the Lakes will be excellent at 40º-45º F and will reveal subtle malt flavors as it warms in the glass. Heartier Bock and Dopplebock lagers should be drunk even warmer to highlight their creamy malt flavors of caramel and ripe red fruits.
Not all beer is lager. In the cooler north of Europe a tradition of ale drinking has been maintained throughout Belgium, northern France and the British Isles. Ales are fermented much warmer than lagers and so display their myriad yeast characteristics – from tropical fruit to spice – at a higher serving temperature. There is a common misconception that English beer is warm and odd. English cask ale is not warm. It is cellar temperature, less carbonated, much of the time lower in alcohol than most beer, and worth seeking out. Berkley Front, Dragonmead and Slows are a few of the local joints where you can score a pint of cask ale.
Many of Detroit’s brewpubs and microbreweries focus on English-style ales, stouts, porters, old ales and barleywines. If you’re drinking these ice cold you are tasting hop bitterness and not much else. 45º-55º F is more like it. Most French country ales should be consumed at 50º-60º F and beyond. It’s the same for Belgian Trappist and specialty ales. Don’t take our word for it. Collect a variety of beer, a thermometer, and a friend or eight in the name of science.
2010.12.15 Todd Abrams at 10:23 am
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One Response to Cold is not a flavor found in beer
I moved to Portland to brew beer 20 years ago and was really excited to taste my first batch brewed with loads of fresh Willamette hops. I pulled a 64oz glass bottle (Blatz!) of home brew from the ice 1950s Frigidare, poured it in my mug and sat down in my chair to read & taste.
It was awful! I was crushed.
However, after I’d been reading for a half hour or so, I unconsciously reached for the glass and took a drink. It tasted amazing!
From Rex Halfpenny I learned to take the temperature thing further and to treat craft beer like wine – use a wine glass. Swirl, sniff and taste at different temperatures and with different pairings.
Thanks for the post, and please email me if you would at – I’d love to feature your blog on Absolute Michigan!