Tasting beer as it warms.

By starting all my beers very cold, I've learned what it means for a beer "to open up." It's always amazing how much the bourbon barrel-aged brews open up as they warm.

But I'm an American raised on ice-cold drinks, so it's hard for me to break the ice-cold habit. I'm getting better about enjoying beer as it warms, and as slow as I sip big ABV brews, I drink a lot of beer that's well over the 50-degree range. But I think part of why I love pilseners so much is they taste so good when they're still very, very cold.

Maybe if I moved north ...

 

In my experience, beer reaches the 50degrees mark the flavored become more intensified

 

Just a side note on temperature preferences: A few years ago at a pub in London I ordered a beer. The bartender asked me if I wanted ice in my beer. I said "No, why would you think I might want ice in my beer?" He responded "You're an American, aren't you?" Sad.

 

Sad ... but not surprising.

And for the record, I'm not that bad. Ice in orange juice? Sure. Ice in milk? Maybe. But ice in my *beer*??? Not even in my eisbock!

 

Its crazy how a beer too cold will lock up some flavors, making it taste like nothing it should and as it warms, it lets so much more flavor out in layers.