In my latest Beer 101 I venture into the world of the controversial and unproven. I make an assertive and unapologetic claim that beer experiences travel shock (sometimes called bottle shock). I have very little proof for such a grandiose statement, but I stand by it. When beer travels, it loses its balance and character for a short period of time. The agitation of travel jostles proteins and esters and throws everything out of whack, for at least a few days. Or so I claim.

I won’t go into the details of my argument because you can go here to read the column itself. But I will say that anecdotal evidence has led me to a practice of leaving newly arrived beer in my cellar for a few days before opening. I am talking about beer that have worked their way across the continent or the ocean. If it is a six-pack of Alley Kat from 99th Street, I don’t bother.

Personally I have found that if a beer has been mailed across several hundreds of kilometres it arrives in an agitated, unhappy state. It is harsher, less malty and exhibiting off-flavours. However after a few days those bad flavours seem to disappear and the beer presents itself in close proximity to its original profile.

I realize part of the problem is that beer is a short-lived beverage. Most regular strength beer cannot be kept more than a few months. If you ship a beer and it spends 2-4 weeks in hot trucks and cargo holds, you can expect it to be on less than its best behaviour upon arrival. Import beer needs to be evaluated with that in mind. But that is not really what I am talking about. I am referring to the short-lived effects of shipping agitation. They seem to disappear within a few days. Don’t ask me how or why. But I still did a column on it. Feel free to flame me over it.