I recently was asked to give a presentation to a group of restaurant servers and managers. They wanted me to talk about serving techniques and proper presentation of beer. I think the presentation went over fairly well. Many, if not most, loyal readers of this site will know the key stuff – temperature, size of head, etc. But you would be surprised how few people have even thought about it, let alone understand the basis for recommended procedures. For the presentation audience, it was the first time someone had ever explained to them why cold is bad for beer appreciation.

More importantly (for here) I found prepping for the presentation forced me to think more methodically about beer serving and presentation, making me ask WHY I suggest certain approaches or methods. After it was done, I realized I had a good base for a couple Beer 101 columns on the topic. Which is exactly what I did.

The first of a three-part series appeared the other day (you can read the full article here). In this piece I focus exclusively on temperature (other aspects will come in the next couple months) and why too cold is bad. I won’t repeat the bulk of the content – that is what hyperlinks are for – but instead want to expand a bit on a couple of points.

One is that I want to encourage all of you to replicate something I did in preparation for the presentation. I got two bottles of standard macro lager (which doesn’t matter). I served them side-by-side, one straight from the refrigerator, the other basically at room temperature (probably closer to cellar temperature). Not only was the difference huge, it gave me a revelation. We rail against big boy lager for their lack of flavour and body. We might be partially wrong about it. There are flavours in there – you can tell when drinking them too warm. The problem is that they aren’t particularly pleasant flavours. I am not insinuating here that the beer is bad or has flaws. To the contrary I think I realized these are beer DESIGNED to be served cold. They may not have a lot of flavour, but what they have is possibly optimized at near zero temperatures.

Of course this is not true for most craft beer, which brings us back to making sure your beer is served at the right temperature. 4-8 degrees for lagers,12-18 degrees for ales, generally speaking (your preferences and the specific style may require otherwise). For beer drinkers this is easy enough to do at home. Leave the bottle out of the fridge for a few minutes before opening, store it in a cold cellar, etc.

But what are we to do when ordering a pint at our favourite pub? A much tougher task. Frankly our options are limited. Cup your hands around the glass for a few minutes, patiently wait a bit before drinking, suck it up and drink it cold. None are ideal solutions. The resolution to this conundrum is, of course, publicans who understand temperature. Very few pubs in North America handle this aspect properly. The default is too cold. For practical reasons they serve all their beer at the same temperature. The need for quick, easy pouring also factors in.

That is the next hurdle for we who appreciate a well-poured pint. We need to start calling on our better beer bars to figure out a way to up their game on this. It won’t be easy. It won’t be quick. But do it we must. The sooner we get pub owners who not only recognize that different beer taste better at different temperatures but are prepared to do something about it, the better. The new openings of various craft bars in Alberta over the past year or two show us how far we still have to go. Every one has a single keg room set too cold.

We have a long way to go to ensure our beer are served at the right temperature. Which means you will likely continue to see periodic pieces from explaining why temperature matters.