"Keep Cold"

Not the whole store, just the part where they keep the beer

 

In my experience, keeping any kind of beer in the fridge too long can result in a permanent chill haze and "kill" the beer ultimately (knock out the carbonation in particular). Cold beer can oxidize, too, just as warmer beer can.

I am not talking about a few weeks or even a month or three but prolonged very cold refrigeration is not good for any beer IMO. Of course, most of us drink it up within these periods, so it doesn't matter.

Short-term refrigeration is essential IMO for unpasteurized but filtered beers. For bottle-conditioned beers, I've kept these at room temperature and they seem unaffected, for periods up to a year or so.

I wonder if fridge temperatures will permit conditioning to continue, I suppose it will very slowly, but my experience again is it works faster and is more consistent with top-fermented tradition to keep the beers at cellar temperature or again even at room temperature.

Each beer is different too, some just age better than others . I'm not trying to lay down any rules but just explain what has worked, or not, for me.

 

Cantillon is stored horizontally due to space issues. They do not favor one fashion over the other. Cantillon has indeed been known to leak, they recently changed their corks, it is better but not perfect as far as I can tell.

 

...Hate you...

 

Can I come over?

 

I always store my OE and MD 50/50 in brown bags too. Easier to hit the streets

 

For most beers, if you live in a temperate climate, it doesn't really matter. I've had no problems. I use the fridge for cooling beers before I drink them, but good beers are fine at room temperature. In this country shops do not keep beers in the fridge (apart from a very small selection of lagers from their stock, for example). Beer is robust, though people do worry about these modern, poncy, aromatic American hops. If you are one of those delicate creatures who worries about this sort of thing, then drink beer made with proper, manly, European hops that function as hops are supposed to function.

 

Poncy, what does that mean?

 

I hope that everyone knows that unless you are getting the beer from the brewery itself that chances are that it has been through many temperatures changes during the shipping process and 99% of the distributors will have huge pallets of these beers sitting for who knows how long.

 

Ah, well, yes, er...hard to describe. It's a derogatory term. Dictionaries will give you the following: pretentious, effeminate etc. I got the following online: 'Darling, do you fancy going to that new little Italian place tonight? Nah, it's a bit too poncy for me. I prefer the chip shop'.

 

Okay I see, thanks. American hops are no different to any other in regard to their function (bitterness or aroma, depending how used), but they do taste different to traditional English types. But no need to put a fine point on it because I can see you were making a light-hearted comment or jape, as it used to be called.

 

I've read online that some beers taste better when warm, however those are beers with strong taste. Keep the beers cold when you are drinking weak beers as they taste better chilled. I've always preferred my beer cold tho

 

If a beer is good I can drink it straight off the shelf, but a question of personal preference.

 

You mean MD 20/20 Haha. Don't forget your roots!

 

I live in Arizona and it would cost me entirely too much during the Summer to have my AC low enough to cellar my beer so, I refrdgerate everything.

 

Beer stored at 60 °F (15.6 °C) will last well beyond 30 days; more like 150 days.

Beer stored at 60 °C (140 °F) will show signs of stale character after just one day.

Cheers!

 

Stale generally means, today, oxidized or (less often in my experience) turning sour. There are different oxidation flavors, one type which is very frequent is the beer smells and tastes of damp cardboard. This is too common, unfortunately. Pasteurized beers can become stale in this way too ultimately although it probably takes longer than for beer not heat-treated. Another common oxidation taste is a sherried note (similar to when you leave red wine too long on the counter).

Various other off tastes can occur, sometimes a brettanomyces taste and I've noticed this in beers dosed with green hops sometimes.

Personally I believe the best form of canned and bottled beer is unfiltered beer. It lasts much longer in my experience than filtered but unpasteurized beer. If you want to pour it clear, easy to do once it's settled, if not, you just pour "all in". The yeast actually helps keep the beer longer because it uses up oxygen in the bottle as part of the re-fermentation. Kept cellar-cool these beers can last for years.