Warm bier.

I drink all stouts and porters at room temperature out of the cellar in my basement. Most beer bars serves these styles too cold, as they are mixed in the same fridge as the lagers. Interestingly, I was recently at a beer bar in Lisbon that had a dedicated, higher temperature fridge for stouts and porters. If you get a stout or porter that is too cold, it's amazing how the beers open up and the flavors expand as it warms. So, to answer the question, IMO virtually every beer in these styles improves with some warmth.

 

Your comment above may be the first direct mention in this thread that lagers vs. ales is a reason for beers being better tasting in the cold vs. warm discussion. It makes sense.

 

See Post #4...

 

I 'Liked' your post back there but it didn't sink in to my foggy brain.

 

I think that that one of the biggest differences between Beer and "Craft Beer" is that any Beer that does not warm well has no right to be considered "Craft".
Now I realize there are exception like for example a Brett Beer might get a little too barnyard tasting for a lot of folks.
p.s. Post #4 nailed it.

 

Quick! Forward that test idea to the Brewers Association!

 

Sorry if it came to drinking all my beers at room temp I’d just as soon drink red zins or bourbon. I don’t care about the trade off in flavor, doubly true when the hot weather sets in. Nothing like a room temp beer in Charleston in July vs an ice cold Palmetto beer. No thanks, I taste my beers just fine.

 

No one is claiming that "warm" beer (45-50° F) is best for all beers for all conditions. Only that flavor is muted with cooler temperatures, and that the closer to 32° F, the more muted.

If I am drinking a beer outside in summer, I want a cold lager, not a warm BA stout. However, that does not change the fact that the BA stout has a richer, more complex flavor when consumed at 45-50° F, or even a bit warmer.

 

Definitely agree on both counts, if Stouts get too cold and imo they’re weirdly bitter. But I’m not digging Pils at 45 degrees sitting in the ac in the summer either. I just like my beers colder than most, except stouts.

 

I too drink my beer very, very slowly. it takes at least 30 minutes to an hour to drink one beer.
Maybe I savor the flavor a little too much, but, I like the beer as it changes temperature.
It does seem like some stouts are pretty foamy at warmer temperatures, and serve better when they are colder. I had that experience with Boddington's during Thanksgiving, which maybe that is a one time thing?
Cheers!
Eat Local
Drink Local

 

This reminds me of an old price list from 1902 I came across from a Swedish brewery, in it the brewery has instructions for handling malt beverages and writes that "Beer should be served at a temperature between 15 and 18 degrees (regular room temperature) when it tastes the best." I.e between 59F and circa 64F. Of course, that brewery doesn't exist anymore . It stuck with me since I was surprised to see such temperatures being recommended by a brewery.

On the same subject I recall reading an article (pdf file, in Swedish) on Swedish beer cafés (our version of the tavern) from 1982 which had some pictures of interiors and one of the pictures showed cases of beer stacked against the wall of the locale with the caption stating that "most of the guests" prefered the beer to be served at room temperature.

 

[Sarcasm] I can help with that...




[/Sarcasm]

 

It would seem to make sense, a lager tasting better at a colder temperature. I'm not sure how well schwarzbiers, dunkels or other dark lagers fit that scenario, but crisp, dry pilseners and AALs work well at colder temps in my experience.

All of this warm/cold talk makes me think of the @TongoRad method and how perfectly it helps one understand what temperature does to flavor. Pour two beers into one big glass, and even if the beer starts off ice cold, by the time you finish those 24 ounces, the beer will have had time to warm up considerably. I can't tell you how much I've learned about beer and flavor using that method. You might be surprised how much flavor most AALs have as they warm up.

 

Yup, that certainly was one of the exceptions in my footnote (emphasis added) to that statement:

The other notable one ---well, at least for me --- was a campaign during the early '50s for Ballantine Beer (i.e., not "Ale") the slogan of which was "Flavor that chill can't kill". Although the brewery's own suggested temp. range was 40° to 42° (Top) they admitted that "Americans" like to drink beer colder than that.

A decade later, when the brewery changed the recipe of the beer to a lighter one that many did not like*, Ballantine's "coldest beer" customers signaled to the company that they'd made a mistake (above right / highlighted article).
*Joe Owades called it a "poor beer".

On the other hand...

In the 1930s, Ballantine's recommendations for the ales, porter and stout:
XXX Ale – "...at its best when served at about 55 degrees F."
IPA – "Served at either room or cellar temperature".
PORTER – "It is at its best at about 55 degrees F."
BROWN STOUT - "Serve at room or cellar temperature".

 

I like to start some beers cold and enjoy as warming temp. changes how they drink and taste. For some beers quite cold is the sweet spot, for others room temp. is when I enjoy best. Storing in the fridge for most beers is the best way to keep them at their best.

 

The higher the abv, the warmer i drink it.

If you drink 10% alc Beers cold , you just get the booze and not much else.

The only higher abv beers i drink cool are DIPAs and those terrible strong Lagers that i have once a year where i don't WANT to pick up flavors

 

I may have to report you to the German Bier Drinkers Guild. Punishment for comments like that are baths in Doppelbock.

 

Does wonders for your hair (for those of you with some left).

 

I've heard it helps grow hair, but not necessarily on your head -- and you have to bathe in it (or drink it) "warm."

 

Cue the two classic Guinness jokes re: the fly in a jar of stout and the drowned brewery worker.