Thread: Room Temprature Beer or Ale ?

Here in the USA we drink our beer and ale cold and the colder the better. I remember hearing when I was a youngster that folks in the UK and maybe in other countries drink their brew at room temperature. I've thought of giving it a try but decided to post and ask around the world ..... how do you drink your suds ? Room temp or ice cold ?

I like dark beers (Guiness, Black Bohemian, Black Ale, oatmeal stout - you get the idea) and I prefer them to be slightly cooler than room temperature but they're good at room temperature as well.

Ugh! Warm Beer?!? No wonder I've never been to the UK....

Ice cold for me!

Depends. Beer as in larger, cold, but generally not as cold as you drink it (though we're going that way)

Beer as in bitter, would be served at the temperature of the cellar in pubs, which would be some where around 14 degrees IIRC. That's degrees C, so what, 58.

Originally Posted by BingoBango

Ugh! Warm Beer?!? No wonder I've never been to the UK....

We don't actually drink warm beer. From what I can remember from my travels in the U.S. the quality of much of the beer isn't something to boast about.
The quality, variety and taste of British beer from specialist local breweries is superb. This is not to be confused with cheap canned lagers and so-called beers produced on an industrial scale. Some of the European lagers, especially Czech varieties, are excellent.
Chilling beer to very cold temperature can destroy the flavour, always assuming it had some in the first place. Most quality beer is best somewhere between 10-13 deg C.

welshwizard,

From the little that I know about beer, there are some types best served cool or just below room temperature, while others are best served ice cold. I think any number of British/Irsh beers/ales or stouts taste best when served relatively warm, compared to American brews. Most American brands of beer trace their roots back to Germany and German lagers. I don't think many mass produced American lager beers, such as Budweiser, Coors, Miller, etc. are brewed to be enjoyed that way.

Of course, culture may also play a role as well. The U. S. is one of the few places in the world where I have observed that people like to have their beverages either ice cold or to contain ice. That includes their whiskies, gin and vodka which, as a result, is distilled with a higher alcoholic content to compensate for the dilution of the liquor by the ice.

See W. J. Rorabaugh, The Alcoholic Republic.

Just my 2 cents...

Originally Posted by jhenry

From the little that I know about beer, there are some types best served cool or just below room temperature, while others are best served ice cold. I think any number of British/Irsh beers/ales or stouts taste best when served relatively warm, compared to American brews. Most American brands of beer trace their roots back to Germany and German lagers. I don't think many mass produced American lager beers, such as Budweiser, Coors, Miller, etc. are brewed to be enjoyed that way.

+1

For me, it depends on the beer...

Stouts, such as Guinness, I find to be best when lightly chilled. Lagers, I like good and cold. And ales I can go either way on depending on the ale and the season.

As for the bit about folks in the UK drinking their beer warm. I may be wrong but I believe that's a mistaken urban legend and that they actually chill there beers a bit - just not to point of being ice cold they way most American's seem to like ours. Perhaps some more of or our UK and international members could chime in to shed even more light on their beer/temperature tastes...

Hey, I live in the US and I don't always drink my beer cold.

The darker beers have flavors that stay hidden if it's cold. However if I drink that domestic mass produced swill they call beer it needs to be ice cold, to numb my taste buds to make it palatable.

Thanks for the replies gentlemen. I recently found a local outlet for imported beer, ale, porter and the like. I've been sampling English and Belgian ales, German lagers and others. I found one called Morland Hen's Tooth Ale out of the UK that is the current favorite.

If you can find it, try speckled hen. Extremely popular around these parts and might be produced in large enough quantities to make it across the pond.

I read something quite recently about the american thing of chilling lager to ice. Trouble is I can't remember where I was reading it, or why, so doubtful I will find it again.