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Don't understand how people can drink beer at room temperature. I've been to the CAMRA beer festival in Paisley a few times with some friends and we usually go

Don't understand how people can drink beer at room temperature. I've been to the CAMRA beer festival in Paisley a few times with some friends and we usually go to a pub afterwards as tradition. That cold pint of Tennents is heavenly after dealing with all the lukewarm ale.

eru 8y ago
Heavier bodied and more complex beers do better with warmer temperatures. Eg a lager is best drunk cold, a stout (or lambic) should be a bit warmer. Whether that should go all the way to room temperature depends on how warm your room is. (And how you like your beer.) Eg https://belgium.beertourism.com/belgian-beers/duchesse-de-bourgogne https://belgium.beertourism.com/belgian-beers/duchesse-de-bo... suggests you drink the Duchesse de Bourgogne at 8-12C. If you start at 8C and let it warm up as you sip, you'll notice the taste change over time and the flavours and aromas develop. If you sip your lager slowly, you are just going to have an insipid drink. Especially if you started with something as bland as Heineken.
- benbristow 8y ago
  I don't think Heineken is bland. It's got quite a unique aftertaste.
  - eru 8y ago
    Well, it's definitely not as complex as a lambic. But that's OK, sometimes you want a simpler beer and sometimes a more complicated one. (Though to be snobby again: there are way better lagers around than Heineken..)
    - benbristow 8y ago
      > (Though to be snobby again: there are way better lagers around than Heineken..) Definitely. I do like a lot of the craft lagers/IPAs. Scotland is great for them. We've got tons of great brewers like Innis & Gunn, WEST Brewery, Williams Bros etc.
      - mrob 8y ago
        Innis & Gunn is notable as being AFAIK the only widely available oak-aged beer where you can actually taste the oak. Well worth trying IMO.
        GordonS 8y ago
        They're oaked beers are good, but TBH I find them overly-sweet and a little one-dimensional. They sometimes do "seasonal" specials, which can be more interesting.
- tonyarkles 8y ago
  That’s really interesting about Duchesse! I’d noticed that qualitatively (when we have some, it goes in the fridge). It definitely opens up over the 45 minutes while we watch a TV show
  - eru 8y ago
    My Duchesse never lasts that long: I like it too much. But I start drinking it only when it's warmer. I even managed to get it on tap on a few occasions.
    - tonyarkles 8y ago
      That's how I discovered it! A local place included it in a "different beer" flight they were doing. I went back two weeks later and they were out, so I had to figure out where to find it bottled around here.
      - eru 8y ago
        It's relatively easy to get in London and cheap. But was impossible to get in Singapore for years. I now found a supplier that has a few. Of all places, Japan had good availability. But they seem to have a thing for Belgian beers.
- dep_b 8y ago
  Heineken is pretty good for an industrial lager. A lot of brands seem to cheat with the malt sheet or hop to make beer cheaper. Having said that, I just don't like lager/pils that much to begin with. Tried 20 in the Beer Museum in Prague that were very well made and only two or three hop forward ones I would order again. > Eg https://belgium.beertourism.com/belgian-beers/duchesse-de-bo.. https://belgium.beertourism.com/belgian-beers/duchesse-de-bo.... suggests you drink the Duchesse de Bourgogne at 8-12C. If you start at 8C and let it warm up as you sip, you'll notice the taste change over time and the flavours and aromas develop. Same with Westvleteren XII. You're supposed to sip it over time. Lesser Quads don't taste great over the whole temperature range.
johnnycab 8y ago
>Don't understand how people can drink beer at room temperature. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000384v https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000384v Meanwhile, Cherry Healey is learning how four basic ingredients – water, malted barley, hops and yeast – can be manipulated to make dark, heavy ales, light, fragrant lagers and everything in between. She is also uncovering the secrets of the perfect pint in a scientific study which shows that drinking beer from a curved glass makes it taste fruitier, while a frothy head and a higher temperature also improve flavour. Which is a win for the traditional British warm pint.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]

eru 8y ago

Heavier bodied and more complex beers do better with warmer temperatures. Eg a lager is best drunk cold, a stout (or lambic) should be a bit warmer. Whether that should go all the way to room temperature depends on how warm your room is. (And how you like your beer.) Eg https://belgium.beertourism.com/belgian-beers/duchesse-de-bourgogne https://belgium.beertourism.com/belgian-beers/duchesse-de-bo... suggests you drink the Duchesse de Bourgogne at 8-12C. If you start at 8C and let it warm up as you sip, you'll notice the taste change over time and the flavours and aromas develop. If you sip your lager slowly, you are just going to have an insipid drink. Especially if you started with something as bland as Heineken.

benbristow 8y ago
I don't think Heineken is bland. It's got quite a unique aftertaste.
- eru 8y ago
  Well, it's definitely not as complex as a lambic. But that's OK, sometimes you want a simpler beer and sometimes a more complicated one. (Though to be snobby again: there are way better lagers around than Heineken..)
  - benbristow 8y ago
    > (Though to be snobby again: there are way better lagers around than Heineken..) Definitely. I do like a lot of the craft lagers/IPAs. Scotland is great for them. We've got tons of great brewers like Innis & Gunn, WEST Brewery, Williams Bros etc.
    - mrob 8y ago
      Innis & Gunn is notable as being AFAIK the only widely available oak-aged beer where you can actually taste the oak. Well worth trying IMO.
      - GordonS 8y ago
        They're oaked beers are good, but TBH I find them overly-sweet and a little one-dimensional. They sometimes do "seasonal" specials, which can be more interesting.
tonyarkles 8y ago
That’s really interesting about Duchesse! I’d noticed that qualitatively (when we have some, it goes in the fridge). It definitely opens up over the 45 minutes while we watch a TV show
- eru 8y ago
  My Duchesse never lasts that long: I like it too much. But I start drinking it only when it's warmer. I even managed to get it on tap on a few occasions.
  - tonyarkles 8y ago
    That's how I discovered it! A local place included it in a "different beer" flight they were doing. I went back two weeks later and they were out, so I had to figure out where to find it bottled around here.
    - eru 8y ago
      It's relatively easy to get in London and cheap. But was impossible to get in Singapore for years. I now found a supplier that has a few. Of all places, Japan had good availability. But they seem to have a thing for Belgian beers.
dep_b 8y ago
Heineken is pretty good for an industrial lager. A lot of brands seem to cheat with the malt sheet or hop to make beer cheaper. Having said that, I just don't like lager/pils that much to begin with. Tried 20 in the Beer Museum in Prague that were very well made and only two or three hop forward ones I would order again. > Eg https://belgium.beertourism.com/belgian-beers/duchesse-de-bo.. https://belgium.beertourism.com/belgian-beers/duchesse-de-bo.... suggests you drink the Duchesse de Bourgogne at 8-12C. If you start at 8C and let it warm up as you sip, you'll notice the taste change over time and the flavours and aromas develop. Same with Westvleteren XII. You're supposed to sip it over time. Lesser Quads don't taste great over the whole temperature range.

johnnycab 8y ago

>Don't understand how people can drink beer at room temperature. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000384v https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000384v Meanwhile, Cherry Healey is learning how four basic ingredients – water, malted barley, hops and yeast – can be manipulated to make dark, heavy ales, light, fragrant lagers and everything in between. She is also uncovering the secrets of the perfect pint in a scientific study which shows that drinking beer from a curved glass makes it taste fruitier, while a frothy head and a higher temperature also improve flavour. Which is a win for the traditional British warm pint.

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]