How much do you care about drinking at the right temperature ?

Here's a novel idea: Drink it at the temperature you prefer. It's your beer - don't overthink it, just do what you want.

My personal take is that the brewer knows their best and I like to at least try it at the suggested temperature on the label if they feel that's the best representation of the beer they crafted. If I find that I don't care for it at that temperature then I'll adjust the next one.

 

I only drink beer when the label turns blue and tells me its ready.

 

Look, I have no way of knowing the temperature right out of the fridge. Sometimes I want a very cold beer. This is why I keep familiar beers on hand. If I'm doing a review and running the whole ASTMO treatment on a beer, I always let it sit out of the fridge for a short time, so it's not numbingly cold.

 

I actually care greatly about beer freshness.

 

I drink almost all of my beer warm. I rarely put beer in my fridge...I cellar my beer on the kitchen counter.

 

I place beers in different parts of the refrigerator because there is a variance that matters. Also I let some of them sit on the counter for a timed period before opening and drinking (I use this for many Belgians, usually about 8-10 minutes).

 

I myself keep absolutely none of my beer in the fridge. I store it aaaaall in the basement, because I pretty much drink absolutely EVERYTHING at cellar temperature, whether it be a Stone IPA or Arctic Devil Barley Wine. I personally think that all high-quality (meaning: not BMC stuff) beer tastes better at cellar temperature. Sometimes I even let a beer warm up a little above cellar temp. after taking it out of the ol' ale vault (and I ALWAYS let it sit at room temp for a while if it's something I just bought from a store that kept it refrigerated). My basement stays around 55~60 degrees all year round, so it's a perfect set-up for me.

Anyway, I never actually measure temperature. I've drank enough cellar temp. beer to be able to recognize if something's at about the temperature I want to drink it at just by grabing the bottle at feeling it... and then caressing it as I call it "my precious," Gollum-style.

 

I care a lot - my basement fridge is set around 46-48 degrees, and I usually like to open just about any beer I have around that temperature and let it warm up from there, if necessary.

 

I invest a good deal of money into the craft beer hobby so I definitely want to get maximum enjoyment when I drink beers that I paid good money for and invested several years in to cellar. It is just pure science that drinking a good dark beer (stouts, porter, barleywine, Belgian darks) at a temp of 50-55 degrees will enable your taste bid receptors to discern more subtleties in the flavors than if they were drank ice cold. Drinking such a beer at ice cold temps is essentially going to numb your taste buds so as another poster said, you may as well drink a Budweiser. To each his own though, however I think if more people would experiment and say drink a imp stout at 35 degrees and then drink the same stout at 50 degrees, they would clearly note a significant difference in taste perception. Just my 2 cents...

-Scott

 

Interesting. I find that I enjoy most every beer style at warmer than suggested temperatures. The exception might be with some sour styles, and other low ABV beers like kolsch's and AAL's (if I dont have any other beer choice). But for the most part Id rather drink a beer closer to room temperature than refrigerator temperature. It seems like the flavor intricacies come out more that way. To each their own I guess.

 

Yeah- that's what I do. I care enough to keep it in a beer fridge in the upper 40s, but probably not so much that I know exactly what temperature it's at. Just so long as it's not too cold, and I'm happy.

 

The major problem with this whole thread is that you guys are talking in terms of Fahrenheit when really you should be talking in terms of Celsius. Problem solved.

 

I keep a thermometer in my pocket.

This means two things.

 

Well aren't we on a high horse.... DRINK BEER....ENJOY BEER... THIS IS BEER ADVOCACY 101

 

I usually start everything really cold and taste in stages as it warms to find my own ideal temperature, especially stouts. There are several RISs that I will drink at 60-62F. Allowing things to warm can really allow flavors to flourish.

 

I never begin drinking beer without first procuring my stop watch and a digital rectal thermometer. For IPAs without bottle markings I have this little carbon dating kit.

 

I normally drink Imperials and like them to start out at 40, so I just have my beer fridge set to 40 and have become accustomed to drinking lighter beers at this temp, or I just put them in the other fridge if I want them colder, really cold imperials to me don't taste as good as they do when they warm up a bit
I also like to see how the beer transitions with temp change

 

You serve it cold enough...I'll drink it warm enough. Cheers.

 

Very much. Very very much.

 

Start wrapping it, it makes a difference.