Central Europeans Heat Their Beer On Occasion – Central Europeans have a unique beer culture where they occasionally heat their beer. In some regions such as Germany, Austria, and the Czech Republic, traditional taverns offer hot beer or Glühbier during winter months.
Contents
Which country drinks warm beer?
The German concept of warmed beer as a restorative dates back at least to the 1600s. As 18 th century Encyclopedist Johann Krünitz described in his Oeconomische Encyclopädie, “Warmbier” was a beverage that grandparents would drink in the 17 th and early 18 th centuries as a healthy alternative to coffee.
- Of course this “Warmbier” wasn’t merely warmed up beer, but rather a beer-based concoction made by heating beer and then adding eggs, flour, butter, ginger nutmeg, salt and sugar.
- To be clear, when we talk about “warm” or hot beer in modern times, we simply mean beer that is heated, which is something quite different from the old Germanic protein shake known as “Warmbier”.
As odd as it may sound to most of the cold beer drinking world today, serving beer hot wasn’t just a phenomenon unique to Germany, nor were the alleged health benefits associated with it. As early as 1641, a book was produced for sale at the shop of Englishman Henry Overton entitled: “Warm beere, or, A treatise wherein is declared by many reasons that beere so qualified is farre more wholsome then that which is drunke cold with a confutation of such objections that are made against it, published for the preservation of health.” Warm beer seems to have lost favor in the late 19 th century as W.T.
Marchant bemoans in his 1888 book entitled In Praise of Ale — “It is a matter of regret that some of the more comforting drinks have gone out of date. When beer was the staple drink, morning, noon, and night, it was natural that our ancestors would prefer their breakfast beer warm and ‘night-caps’ flavoured.” In his article in The Atlantic, beer writer Jacob Grier suggests that it was advances in refrigeration technology and the Prohibition-era decline of saloons and the associated room-temperature ales that helped swing the popular vote away from warm ales and over to cold lagers, or just cold beer in general.
Ordering a Warmed Beer Abroad The most well-known and commonly available hot beer in Germany and neighboring German-speaking countries is called “Glühbier”. Pronounced “Glue Bee-Ah” and translated as “glow beer”, Glühbier is usually a spiced cherry beer, although other varieties may be found like Störtebeker Glüh-Bier which is made with elderberry juice and winter spices.
Glühbier is more or less the beer version of the more common “Glühwein” (“glow wine”), or mulled wine, both of which are ordinarily available during the winter season especially at Christmas markets and ski resorts in German-speaking countries. A few commercially bottled examples of Glühbier exist including Appenzeller Glühbier, Glühbier aus Österreich, Glühbier aus Franken and Detmolder Glühbier.
Glühbier is basically the German cousin of the Belgian cherry beer “Glühkriek” (glow cherry), although oftentimes Belgian Glühkriek is sold in Germany under the more generic title of Glühbier. St. Louis Kriek “Glühbier” at a Christmas Market in Berlin, Germany. Aside from the winter seasonal Glühbier, it isn’t very common for beer to be served warm in Germany. However, some traditional German restaurants, particularly in the south, will heat your beer, any beer, for you upon request at no extra charge.
- Simply ask for your beer “gestaucht”, which in this specific context means “warmed up”.
- If a trip to southern Germany for a pint of heated beer is out of the budget, heating beer at home is as easy as pouring a beer into a pot and heating it up on the stove.
- Heating up a sealed beer bottle in a pot of boiling water is not a great idea for two reasons: (1) the bottle might explode and (2) hot beer has a tendency to foam up which can be avoided by pouring the beer into the pot.
If you want to get fancy, Westmark, a German company, makes a beer warming device for about €20-€30. The device itself is a metal cylindrical vessel which is designed to hold hot water. The vessel is then sealed and placed in a beer mug before the beer is poured, which preserves more of the beer’s carbonation as compared to pouring and heating beer in a pot.
- Hot Beer Recommendations Not all kinds of beer are very well suited for being served warm, let alone hot.
- However, there are some notable exceptions, particularly any Glühkriek (spiced Belgian-style tart cherry beer) with some commercial examples being Liefmans, St.
- Louis, and Timmermans (Warme Kriek).
If you have any trouble finding a commercial Glühkriek, making one at home is as simple as heating and adding mulling spices and perhaps some sugar or honey to basically any store-bought Belgian Kriek (cherry) beer. Lindemans Kriek Lambic is already on the sweet-side, so only the addition of mulling spices would be needed. In addition, many dark spiced winter ales can also be pleasant when served hot. As for historic warmed beer recipes and concoctions, Joe Stange produced such a list for Draft Magazine which included mulled ale, aleberry, caudle, Dog’s Nose, Flip, Glühkriek, Lambswool, Posset, Shenagrum, and Wassail (the majority of these are some combination of beer heated in a pot with spices added in).
Where do people drink room temp beer?
Different Views Towards Beer – What it comes down to that Americans and Europeans don’t view the drink in the same way. Of course, both enjoy a beer after a long day at work, or when it is sunny out, but not entirely in the same way. For Europeans, especially Germans, it is very normal to have a beer before work, or maybe even in their break during work.
Do they drink warm beer in England?
Conclusion – In conclusion, while it may be a bit of an oversimplification to say that the English drink their beer “warm,” it’s true that they serve their beer at a warmer temperature than what many other countries consider “cold.” This is due to the unique brewing processes and flavor profiles of English beers, which can be best appreciated at cellar temperature.
- To sum it up, here are five key facts about English beer and its serving temperature: 1.
- English beers are typically served at cellar temperature (50°F – 55°F / 10°C – 13°C).2.
- Serving beer at this temperature enhances the flavors and aromas of the beer.3.
- Traditional English ales benefit the most from being served at cellar temperature.4.
The brewing process for English ales often involves top-fermenting yeast, which ferments at higher temperatures.5. While the tradition of serving beer at cellar temperature continues, there is a growing interest in experimenting with different styles and serving temperatures in the UK.
Why do the British drink warm beer?
It is akin to a good wine, actually. One of the reasons for that is that traditionally, there was no refrigeration available. Also, it’s possible because British beers usually have more taste (as in ‘really better by some orders of magnitude’) than the mainstream American ones.
Do Europeans drink warm or cold beer?
Most Beer Is Not Drunk Warm – But Some Europeans Prefer It At Cellar Temperature – Contrary to popular belief, Europeans do not drink warm beer. In fact, they prefer their beer at cellar temperature which is typically between 50-55 degrees Fahrenheit. Warm beer is popular at German beer festivals. This temperature range allows for the flavors and aromas of the beer to be fully appreciated without being too cold or too warm. Central Europeans, on the other hand, may ask for their beers to be warmed up on certain occasions such as during winter festivals or when drinking darker brews like Bock beers.
Why do some people drink warm beer?
Many microbrew enthusiasts point out one major reason to drink your beer warmer: the flavor. Even if you don’t serve at room or ‘cellar’ temperatures, just a fewer degrees warmer than then average chilled tap (38 degrees) can unlock a wider range of flavor.
Is beer served warm in Prague?
Things you should know about Czech beer | Generation Tours Prague Date: 15 January, 2019 The average Czech drinks about 156.9 litres of beer per year, which makes it the world’s top beer drinking country. In fact, more beer is consumed there than water. Want to know what’s interesting about it, the different types and where to find the best quality beers? Keep reading! With more than 30 breweries, hundreds of specialty beer pubs and bars, and more opening every year, is one of the best destinations in the world for beer lovers.
- Maybe it’s because the Czech Republic has a unique beer drinking culture that can be traced back to the 10th century.
- The Czech Republic was the first country to have a beer brewing textbook.
- The Břevnov Monastery in Prague was home to the first brewery in the country, which opened in 933 AD, and it is one of the oldest recorded in the world.
Back then, there was little to choose from and the most consumed beer was the turbid, cloudy and dark type, that is until the year 1842, which marked another milestone in the brewing process: the Pilsner, the first blonde beer, was produced for the first time. If you are planning to visit Prague, here are 8 interesting facts you need to know about Czech beer:
- The price of a beer in Prague is literally cheaper than purchasing bottled water in a bar. Even in the most expensive places, a pint of the finest beer remains very affordable: 1.20 € (about 30 Czech korunas).
- The most consumed beer in Prague is the Pilsner Urquell, an easy to drink, low fermented type.
- You can visit a beer spa in Prague. The procedure allows guests to bathe in barley, hops, yeast and other natural ingredients used for beer brewing while lying in wooden barrels inside a sauna. On top of that, you get one or two hours of unlimited craft beer and you can even eat their home-made beer bread!
- You can get your beer poured in many ways, and all of them will be right. It can have two fingers of beer and three fingers of foam, or about one-quarter foam, sitting slightly below the half litre mark. Either way, the foam makes the beer taste better since it helps release its aromas.
- If a beer is good, it will leave a foam mark on top of the jar or glass. Czech beer is consumed at a medium temperature, neither too cold nor too warm.
- Beer etiquette is very important for Czech people. They use a beer coaster and toast saying Na Zdraví, which means ‘to your health’ (cheers). When you raise your glass, make sure to make eye contact with those across from you and then drink it off.
- In order to be served, you just have to sit down and place the coaster in front of you.
- If you don’t say a word beforehand, most bartenders will just keep bringing you another one, even before you near the end of the glass!
According to their size, beers in the Czech Republic are called Malé Pivo (small beer), Velké or Pùllitr (big pint) and Tuplák (one-litre beer glass). But there is a huge amount of options depending on the colour, fermentation process, flavour, etc. To get more familiar, here’s a list of the main terms and types of beer you will find in Prague and the rest of the country:
- By colour: Světlé pivo (pale beer), Polotmavé pivo (amber, half-dark), Tmavé pivo (dark beer) y Rezané pivo (a mixture of pale and dark beers).
- By degrees: 10º (Desitka), 11º (Jedenáctka) or 12º (Dvanáctka). One thing to notice is that beers are categorized according to the Balling scale, which measures the fermented sugar concentration in the malt. The higher the degree of sugar, the stronger the beer. For example, a 10-degree beer is made from malt that contains at least 10% extracted sugars before fermentation.
- ALE: used to refer to all top-fermented beers, usually made with hops.
- ALT: a type of malty, moderately bitter and high fermentation beer with an amber colour.
- Pilsner: a blonde beer known by its golden colour and beautiful clarity. In the Czech Republic, the name exclusively refers to the Pilsner Urquell.
- Kvasnicové pivo: yeast beer with a bread-like aroma.
- Pšeničné pivo: wheat beer.
- Nepasterované pivo: unpasteurized beer.
Prague has plenty of places where they brew their own beer, including the Břevnov Monastic Brewery, Klášterní pivovar Strahov, U Dvou koček Restaurant, U Medvídku Restaurant and Brewery and Pivovarský dům.
- If you’re a beer lover and want to get insider tips from a local expert, I recommend taking a to discover the big variety of styles and flavours and dive into the history, culture and even science of this drink.
- Another great option is to visit the Prague Beer Museum, where you can find beer collectables and original bottling machines, and learn about the process of malt production in several themed rooms.
- Whether you are a beer connoisseur or just an enthusiastic traveller, craft beer tasting is definitely one of the best things to do in Prague.
: Things you should know about Czech beer | Generation Tours
Is it OK to drink warm beer?
So, the moral of the story is to keep your beer cold when you can, but don’t worry about beer warming up and then cooling again. It’s totally fine to drink it, and as long as it wasn’t kept warm for too long the flavor likely wasn’t changed.
Should Belgian beer be served cold?
Best Temperature For Drinking Beer? – When it comes to beer, you may think that colder is better. Especially if you’re dreaming of sipping that Corona on a beach in Mexico. But, colder isn’t always better when it comes to all styles of beer. Just like fine wines are served at different temps, beer should be considered the same way.
- So, how do you know the optimal temperature for drinking beer? Well, we’re laying out a guideline just for you.
- You don’t want to be the awkward person drinking their imperial stout at 40 degrees, that would be so embarrassing, right? In the end, you have to take everything with a grain of salt.
- Some people just like red wine cold or ice cubes in their rose.
The same can be said for beer. It might be frowned to drink a lager at 60 degrees, but hey if you like it, you do you. Here are the preferred temps by beer: 35–40°F (2–4°C): Mass market light lagers like Coors and Budweiser. These beers have a low ABV and won’t produce more flavor if left to get a little warm.
Many microbrewers and warm beer enthusiasts point to the so-called “macrobrews” for continuing the “ice cold” beer trend. Unlike with the higher alcohol and flavor content of microbrews and many European beers, many traditional American beers are improved by these cold temperatures.40–45°F (4–7°C): Czech and German Pilsners, Munich Helles, wheat beers, and Kölsch,
Again, The colder the beer, the less carbonation is released; the less carbonation that’s released, the less aroma the beer gives off. These styles of beers aren’t bursting with flavor so they can be served at a slightly warmer temperature, but still chilled.45–50°F (7–10°C): IPAs, American pale ales, porters, and most stouts.
- The worst thing that can happen to a New England IPA is to serve it anywhere below 38 degrees, which is a common serving temperature,” says Eric Bachli, chief product officer at Sixpoint Brewery, previously at the helm as head brewer at Trillium,
- If you serve it below that, you really diminish and lose out on the flavor potential for that beer.” 50–55°F (10–13°C): Belgian ales, sour ales, Bocks, English bitters and milds, Scottish ales.
These brewers tend to brew with different types of yeast they generally come out more full bodied. Regarding sours because there are so many varities, there isn’t really a set temperature to drink them all.55–60°F (13–16°C): Barleywines, imperial stouts, Belgian strong ales, and Doppelbocks.
- This temperature is considered “cellar temperature” and is best for the highest ABV and full bodied beers.
- A warmer temperature allows all of the flavors and notes to unlock.
- Eep in mind these are just guides, most restaurants don’t have separate refrigerators for all their beers.
- And most people don’t show up to dinner or drinks armed with a thermometer.
So if you want to try certain beers a little warmer, just let them sit for a few minutes after ordering. That is, if you can wait. Now, what is your optimal temperature to drink beer? Let us know your opinion in the comments.
What is warm beer called?
Hosts of The International Beer Awards and Mountain Brewers’ Beer Fest. Our event proceeds benefit charity. ‘Ice Cold Beer’ – used in a phrase those three words seem inseparable, but it wasn’t always so. From the perspective of the 20th Century it’s hard to believe, everyone drinks ice cold beer, and in restaurants and barrooms, ball parks, and picnics, beer drinkers mindlessly plunge beer into arctic-like baths of ice with hardly a thought, but why? People drink both hot and ice tea, hot and ice coffee, and hot and cold chocolate milk; why not beer? In beer’s previous 100 centuries of history there was no refrigeration, and anyone served a frigid beer would have assumed it was negligently left out in the cold.
- Warm was the only way to drink beer, and it was drunk that way from the beginning.
- At the dawn of civilization beer was served at ambient temperature, later it was cellared to barely cooled, and for several centuries in between, piping hot was the temperature of choice.
- It was easy to find a hot beer; walking into any tavern from 1500 to the early 1800’s provided ample opportunity.
Called “mulled”, which meant heated, it was the fashion of the day, and drinkers lapped it up in staggering quantities. Not only did they prefer their beer hot, they were convinced it was good for them. Mulled beer was considered an aid to healthy living.
The brief text “Panala Alacatholica” dated 1623, (author unknown) was one of many sources that praised the virtues of warm beer, explaining that it “doth by its succulencie much nourish and corroborate the Corporall, and comfort the Animall powers.” In 1641 Henry Overton echoed the same thoughts in a short pamphlet entitled “Warme Beere.” It maintained that consumption of heated beer and ale was “farre more wholesome than that which is drunk cold.” Overton’s claim was based on a popular if inaccurate notion of human physiology that believed the stomach was ruled by two “master-qualities” of heat and dryness.
Drinking cold beer was thought to put the two in turmoil, upsetting anything from digestion to vaporous humors. Most famous of the hot, spiced beers, dating from the early 1600’s, was Dr. Butler’s Ale. Described in the old “Book of Notable Things”, Dr. Butler’s Ale was considered “an excellent stomach drink, it helps digestion, and dissolves congealed phlegm upon the lungs, and is therefore good gainst colds, coughs, ptisical and consumptive distempers; and being drunk in the evening, it moderately fortifies nature, causeth good rest and hugely corroborates the brain and memory.” Healthful benefits not-withstanding, the actual basis for drinking warm beer was simple.
In the days before mechanized refrigeration beer was commonly served at cellar temperatures. During summer, both cellar and serving temperatures crept upward, but tavern keepers never gave it a second thought, it was what people expected and drank. In the winter time warm beer was equally expected and welcomed.
Interior heating of those days may have been woefully inadequate but a hot tankard provided a pleasant and comforting distraction. It added variety to what at times was a difficult and mundane lifestyle, and mulled ale further soothed the colonial spirits because warming facilitated a quicker absorption of the alcohol.
- Heating beer was also considered necessary because of the dominance of homebrew.
- Frequent use of substandard ingredients, combined with questionable brewing equipment and techniques, made most home brewed beer unpalatable.
- Additions of spices and warming the beer increased its appeal, and if scorched, sugars caramelized, thereby adding a more gentle roundness.
As in Europe, drinking warm ale was a convention that settlers brought with them to colonial shores. In her 1893 book “Customs and Fashions in Old New England” Alice Morse Earle compiled a list of warm colonial beer drinks. Documenting the preference for warm beer over more than two centuries, she compared the practice to other colonial beverages such as mulled cider, rum, tea, coffee and chocolate.
- From the early 1600’s to the mid 1800’s warmed beer was a staple of tavern life.
- Typical recipes for mulled beer called for first infusing the herbs and spices in hot water, cooling, straining, and then adding the ‘liquor’ along with sugar, and sometimes cream and beaten eggs.
- The entire mixture was then heated again, often with a glowing poker drawn from the hot coals of a fire.
Simplest of the mulled beers was ‘Aleberry’ made by heating beer to boiling, then adding sugar, spices, and topping all with floating sops of bread. No one set of spices was recommended, that was left to individual taste. Lambswool was another common drink.
Popular in the 1700’s, preparation began by first roasting several apples until the skins burst. Strong, old ale was heated, into which nutmeg, ginger and sugar were thoroughly blended. Finally, the apples were immersed in the heated beer immediately before serving. Most well known of all the mulled beers was Wassail.
Recipes for this holiday favorite vary, but all were based upon the same basic formula. Sugar was placed in the bottom of a bowl, one pint of warm beer was then poured in along with nutmeg, ginger and cinnamon. After all ingredients were infused the mixture was allowed to stand for several hours.
- When ready to serve it was heated and topped with several thin slices of toast.
- Hot beer drinks were plentiful in old inns and taverns, but as the 19th century progressed, mulled beers faded from view.
- Equal responsibility for its demise came from the introduction of lager beer and the advent of artificial refrigeration.
Lager beer was brewed to drink cold, and refrigeration made its production possible anywhere, and rather than brewing only in cooler months, brewers could make it year-round. Americans responded by enthusiastically embracing light, crisp, ice cold lagers pouring out of breweries.
In the process, heated ales became ‘old-fashion’ and quickly disappeared. Should mulled beer remain buried in history? Clean, well made, flavorful beers may have eliminated the need for spice additions and heating, but the reemergence of holiday releases and other spiced brews is a call from the past.
Listen to your beer drinking heritage. Malty, low-hopped beers eagerly welcome light spicing of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice, honey, and brown sugar. Winter ales patiently wait for mulling, and fruit beers offer even more possibilities. Colder months are perfect for hot beer drinks, they warm both the body and soul, adding a festive glow to the holidays.
Does London have warm beer?
The rumour about Brits drinking warm beer is very misleading. It’s merely that traditional ales are served at cellar (not room) temperature, rather than being chilled, which merely disguises the taste. However lager (both draught and bottled), Guinness and some ales such as Boddingtons ARE chilled.
Do they drink warm beer in Ireland?
10 Things Never to Say in an Irish Pub Source: 1) “Why don’t you serve Guinness warm?” Despite popular belief, warm Guinness is not an Irish tradition. They do serve it cold! Yes, Guinness is great even at room temperature, but it’s meant to be poured cold, into a room-temperature glass.
- 3) “What do you think of the troubles of the IRA?”
- Just don’t.
- 4) “G’day, mate!”
- Just leave.
- 5) Anything about politics or religion.
Please: Save the serious subject for somewhere else. Or, find a private snug area with close friends. When things get heated, order a round of cold ones!
- 6) “Why don’t you serve green beer?”
- Green beer is for rookies!
- 7) “Irish music is for old people.”
Most people think that Irish music is all fiddles and flutes, but the Irish listen to modern music, too, and it’s pretty awesome. Check out the top 20 in Ireland.
- 8 ) “I’m not attracted to redheads.”
- Chances are that there are at least three of them in earshot.
- 9) “I’ll have a SMITH-WICKS!”
Just so we’re all clear, the “proper” way to pronounce Smithwick’s is “smiddicks.” And Hoegarten is “hoo-gar-duhn.” 10) “I thought I was getting potato chips.” Traditional chips in Irish pubs (as in fish and chips) are french friesif you were expecting potato chips, don’t admit it! : 10 Things Never to Say in an Irish Pub
Do Chinese drink warm beer?
Complete your details below – Hot beer has become a winter necessity in China as the 2022 Qatar World Cup kicked off on 20 November. Compared to ice-cold beer, this hot alcoholic drink has gone viral on Chinese social media platforms due to its unique flavour and the warmth it brings during freezing temperatures, Image: Xiaohongshu Drinking hot beer in winter is a tradition in the southwest of China as winters there are always cold and damp. Much like mulled wine, hot beer is simmered with warming spices, citrus and goji berries and served hot as the name suggests.
There are a few reasons as to how the hot beer trend came to be. First of all, drinking cold liquids is widely seen as undesirable in China, as warmer beverages are considered better for digestion and health. On top of that, with the sweetness from the fruit, beer tastes less bitter and is more delectable.
Consumers can also choose almost any flavour imaginable, catering to most palates and making the consumption experience more exciting. Many Chinese bubble tea and coffee brands have also launched new beer-based drinks made with tea, milk, and fruit during this period.
- A ‘Liquor Retail License’ is required when selling alcohol in China, so an approach that some large tea drink chains such as Coco have taken is to collaborate with beer brand Snow,
- This will not only raise their profile but also increase their online traffic engagement amongst the younger generation,
Following the mulled wine craze over the last few years in China, the hot beer trend this year follows an unchanged logic behind ‘recreating traditional products’ which is yielding positive results.
Why is warm beer so gross?
The Benefits of Storing Beer Cold – At Allagash, we store almost all of our beer cold. The main reason we do this is because ultimately cold beer will stay fresher, longer. That being said, it is an old pervasive myth that cold beer, when warmed to room temperature, will go “skunky” or bad.
Skunking is a reaction caused by light interacting with a chemical compound found in hops and has nothing to do with temperature. The technical off flavor name of skunky beer is “lightstruck” and is most common in beer packaged in clear or green glass. Certainly, higher-than-normal temperatures for an extended period of time can have a bad effect on a beer’s flavor.
Heat actually doesn’t create a specific off flavor itself. Instead, it acts to speed up the process of oxidation. Oxidation causes some beers to develop a stale, cardboard-like flavor, accompanied by a note of sherry. More malt-forward beers can even develop a sweet, bready, and toffee-ish flavor. What is too hot? Think of it this way: as the temperature of your beer goes up, the effects of oxidation increase exponentially. So a beer sitting at 60 degrees Fahrenheit will retain its original flavor for much longer than a beer sitting at 90 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Our advice when you’re taking home cold beer? Put it in a shady spot inside your car to keep it from heating up in the sun.
- A blanket always helps.
- That’s about it.
- So grab as many cold beers as you want during your next brewery visit—wherever that happens to be—they’ll still taste great when you get home.
: Is it OK to let cold beer warm up?
Does warm beer taste better?
While on a recent camping trip, I arrived at our Pine Creek Pennsylvania site with a motherload of unchilled beers to drop into coolers for the weekend. When I opened the ice chests, I found each one already full. This was not a problem, exactly. More like an amazing and wondrous discovery for a party weekend with the guys.
- However, this was not the ideal circumstance for me to ice down my brews. No sweat.
- I simply settled in ’round the campfire, popped open a premium Lehigh Valley IPA from my six-pack travel bag, filled my glass, and took a generous sip.
- Then, the question came.
- You’re not gonna drink that beer warm are you?” one of my buddies asked.
“Sure I am. Plus, it’s 50-something degrees out here. And I kinda prefer my beer a bit warmer.” I replied. After catching a few side-eyes and odd looks, I followed up by declaring: “The truest test of a great beer is: What does it taste like when it warms up?” Then, the spirited debate began.
- I need my beer cold!” one pal insisted.
- Warm beer is just plain weird.” another urged.
- Someone get him a few ice cubes,” a third guy demanded.
- I stated my case and explained, “Listen guys, we all love cold pizza, right? It’s tough to beat a morning-after leftover slice.
- But if you really want to bring out the full flavor of the pizza, what do you do? You warm it up in the oven, right? “The same goes for fine whiskey, scotch or a hearty red wine.
You don’t drink that cold, do you?” I concluded. “British beers (bitters, milds, browns, porters) or cask-style beers are much better served at 50 degrees or even 60 to 70-degree range,” brewer Matt McCall explains. Now I had their attention. Or at least, this beer writer remembers it that way. OK, maybe one other guy was listening.
Or maybe he was just humoring me and didn’t want to move his chair into the oncoming campfire smoke. In any case, let’s talk more about warming up to warm beer. My take — and I’m not alone here — is that the whole snow-capped, cold as the Rocky Mountains sloganeering is just a bunch of hype brought on by Big Bad Beer, hellbent on masking the subpar taste of their weak (or worse) lagers.
These mega-macro brewers would prefer to brainwash us into believing that the only way to enjoy beer is to nearly freeze each can or bottle into submission. They seem to have succeeded in duping our traditional beer-drinking dads into buying into that old-school misconception.
Wrong. Sorry guys. Sorry dads. While it may be true that the only way to enjoy some suspect and watered-down brews is to ice them down and zap all the flavor, this makes for a dull and empty encounter. This approach causes you to miss out on all the taste that would reveal itself if a little warmer. Maybe these big brewers are trying to hide something.
Maybe their ice-cold marketing plan is set up to mask what they really don’t want you to taste. Really well-crafted beers taste just as great — if not better — as they warm up. Though most bars/pubs tap flow at about 38 degrees, I don’t think any beer is worth drinking if it needs to be served this cold.
These low temps do succeed in lifting the beer’s carbonation, so that even the most tasteless stuff gives off a bubbly tingle. OK, so extra-cold equals extra refreshing. I get that. A glass of ice-cold water on a hot day is refreshing too, but it doesn’t deliver much flavor, now does it? Surely there is much more to enjoying beer than just forcing down a frigid one.
I want to taste it and savor the experience — as the craft brewer intended. Also, we’re not talking about hot beer here. We’re talking about room-temperature tastings — though my research does reveal that heated ale drinks were once staples of home and tavern life.
- But that’s a column to mull over another day.
- And let’s dispel the myth that beer (canned or bottled) when warmed to room temp, will go bad.
- Skunky” beer is caused by UV light hitting the bottle — the term is “lightstruck” — and has little to do with fluctuation in temperature.
- This is why I prefer beer from a can — it keeps the light out.
I’ve written about this before. (Read my “Embrace the can” and “Help, my beer is frozen” ) I spoke to a few Lehigh Valley beer makers to fetch their wisdom. “Warm beer is subjective,” says brewer Beau Baden, formerly of Fegley’s Brew Works and now with Sherman Street Brewery in Allentown,
- A 70-degree beer may be not as enjoyable to some But as a beer warms up, it brings out the flavor of the beer.
- If it’s too cold, you’re just numbing your tongue with cold beer.” I asked Baden about my truest test of a great beer: How good does it taste when it’s warm? “Yeah, I’d agree with that,” Baden confirms.
“If the beer still tastes great at 50 or 60 degrees (or warmer), you’ve got a really good beer!” Baden adds that the public’s traditional expectations do influence how his beers are served. “I’ve been on the fence on this for a number of years,” he explains.
- I always thought we should serve our beer a little bit warmer so the flavors come out but then about 80% of our customers come in and they expect their beer to be ice cold.
- So we have to consider the consumers’ preferences.” Brewer Matt McCall of McCall Collective in Allentown also weighed in on the issue.
“We have a Japanese rice lager on tap right now that is most definitely better when served very cold,” McCall explains. “It’s true to the style of light lagers. They’re not very malt-forward it’s a pretty straightforward beer. For some, maybe it’s even a little boring (laughs).
“I’d say this is really the only style of beer that has to be served cold- cold,” he summarizes. “British beers (bitters, milds, browns, porters) or cask-style beers are much better served at 50 degrees or even 60 to 70-degree range,” McCall adds. “They really open up and feature some of those esters from that English Ale strain and make the beer taste better.” “Room temperature is really where beer should be served,” notes Sam Masotto of Bonn Place Brewing in Bethlehem.
“But at some point, we developed refrigeration and we decided that beer should be served cold.” Masotto recently returned from a European vacation, so I asked him about the serving preferences in the United Kingdom, where many suppose that warmer beer temps are still the pub norm.
The English actually have developed quite the American palette, and most of the craft beer over there is similar to our journey here,” he says. “They prefer New World hops, it seems and/or cold lager beer. But there are some who do prefer room-temperature beers and do seek them out as they try to keep that tradition alive.” Baden shared another creative approach he’s witnessed.
“I have an old friend who comes in and orders an imperial stout as a second beer. He leaves it sitting on the side (to warm) while he drinks his first chilled one,” he explained. The bottom line is it’s your beer experience, so it’s your choice. As I’ve said before, I’m not a beer expert but I know what I like.
- All I am saying here is that it’s OK to set aside your iced mug for a room-temperature glass.
- And why not try something slightly different the next time you pop one open? Bring your well-crafted brew out of the fridge and give it a few minutes to warm a bit.
- Then pour it into a nice glass, nestle it in your hands, and see how that second half-pint tastes.
I’d love to get your take on the subject of warm beer. Shoot me an email at [email protected] and let’s talk it over Cheers! Morning Call Entertainment Editor and Beer Writer Craig Larimer can be reached at 610-778-7993 or at [email protected] Follow Craig on Twitter @cklarimer and Instagram @larimerc Read more stories by Craig Larimer
Why don t Europeans drink cold drinks?
Do They Like Their Drinks Warm? – Beverage purists will argue that ice in a drink eventually melts, meaning you’re enjoying a watered down drink. For some, altering the taste by watering it down is a worse sin than the drink being slightly warm. Another thought is that since our bodies are warm, putting cold things in them is not good for digestion.
Do German pubs serve warm beer?
When Do Germans Drink Warm Beer? – In the winter, many Germans indulge in Gluhbier, which is the seasonal release of a warm beer in the vein of a Gluhwein you often sample at those German Christmas Markets. But drinking warm beer isn’t a new or strictly seasonal idea.
In the 17th and 18th centuries, the German public decided coffee was too unhealthy to be enjoyed every day so, as a result, Warmbier was created. A healthy alternative to coffee, Warmbier was a beer concoction that included much more than the traditional grains of wheat and barley. A standard Warmbier was made by heating up a beer, then adding ingredients such as eggs, flour, butter, ginger, nutmeg, salt, and sugar to the mix.
The result was more like a protein shake than an actual beer, but it does help explain where the myth of Germans drinking warm beer originates. Apart from this historical beverage, German beer generally isn’t served warm. However, they do tend to serve their beers a little warmer than American beers, with the average temperature of a German ale falling between 35 and 50 degrees Fahrenheit, which by US ice-cold standards is warm.
Was beer originally served warm?
Photo: Photo courtesy of World of Beer October 06, 2015 October 06, 2015 Americans love their ice-cold beers, but did you know that not all brews are best served quite so chilled? In fact, Hannah Davis, director of marketing and certified cicerone for World Of Beer, says that like red wine, some beers are best served at room and cellar temperature.
- Davis says that originally, ales as an entire category were served warmer because they were fermented at warmer temperatures in order to get the yeasts to activate.
- Subsequently, they were also stored and served warm.
- Then, as German brewers started using lager yeast, which is fermented at cooler temperatures, the perception of the ideal serving temperature shifted.
“They took ice from the streams during the winter to keep the beer chilled,” Davis says. “This created the lager phenomenon, and as many of the original American breweries were started by Germans, this style became very popular,” Now, with the explosion of beer styles and flavors, experts are starting to appreciate how serving temperatures affect different styles.
Higher-ABV styles with complex flavor profiles are often best served at cellar temperature, which also tends to encourage a more subdued sipping pace. Davis also says the foam tends to be tighter and longer-lasting on a warmer beer, “so the aroma continues to last over time with all the tiny bubbles continuously popping at the top of the glass.” To get your brew to its optimum temperature, Davis recommends taking a cold bottle from the fridge and letting it rest at room temp for about 15 to 20 minutes.
“You need not let it get to room temp,” she says, “but it’s best served anywhere from 45 to 60 degrees F.” Here are five styles Davis recommends. Belgian Dubbel Typically landing in the 6-7.5% ABV range, this style has a “rich, complex flavor that is full of malt sweetness,” Davis says.
“Raisin and dark dried fruit flavors really come through at a temp of about 50 degrees Fahrenheit.” Belgian Quad Similar to the Dubbel flavor-wise, but higher in alcohol, the Quad’s strength (usually around 8-12%) is balanced by sweetness from the malts, “manifesting in a deep caramel and toasted quality to the flavor of dried black cherries and figs.” Serve it as high as 60 degrees to draw out all the nuances.
Flanders Red “Known as the “Burgundy of Belgium,” this style is reminiscent of an aged red wine,” Davis says. Aged in oak barrels that lend an oaky aroma and flavor, they’re usually blended with younger batches to create a balanced brew. “It’s got a fruitiness like plum or cherries, balanced by an acetic sourness, but if served too cold, you won’t get all these flavors working in tandem, and it tends to be very one-note to the sour spectrum.” I’d serve it at 50-55 degrees.
- Oud Bruin A cousin of the Flanders Red style (also originating from the Flemish region of Belgium), this sour has a sweet flavor profile with “caramel and chocolate notes making an appearance from the rich malt character,” Davis says.
- It’s got sherry-like characteristics; I’d serve it at 50-55 degrees.” Imperial Stout “Brewed in Britain for export in the 1700s, this beer was a hit with the Russian Imperial Court, and at 8-12% ABV, it is definitely a sipping beer.” The rich, roasted malt bill used in this beer can deliver a spectrum of cocoa, coffee, burnt toast and dark caramel notes, meaning if it were served too cold, you wouldn’t get any of these beautiful flavors.
“It’s almost like drinking a boozy espresso,” says Davis. Serve at 55-60 degrees. Emma Janzen Emma Janzen is a journalist, photographer, and book author. Her first book, Mezcal: The History, Craft and Cocktails of the World’s Ultimate Artisanal Spirit, was nominated for a James Beard Foundation award in 2018; She co-authored The Way of the Cocktail with Kumiko owner Julia Momosé (2021), contributed to David Wondrich’s The Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails (2021), and is currently working on The Bartender’s Manifesto with Toby Maloney of The Violet Hour (2022).
Can warm beer still get you drunk?
Debunking Myths: Warmth, Alcohol, and Intoxication – It’s important to address a common misconception associated with warm beer: the idea that it will get you drunk faster. In reality, the temperature of the beer has no influence on its alcohol content or its effects on your body.
What beers are meant to be drank warm?
What Beer Tastes Best Warm? What are the best beers to drink warm?
Malt-driven beers, amber ales, scotch ales, English ESBs, Belgian doubles, and some low bitterness chocolate stouts will be your best choices. Avoid hoppy & lager-style beers and industrial beer.
Have you ever gone camping, hiking, or mountain biking only to return to your car and discover all your beer is warm?? Have you ever gone backpacking or bike-touring for multiple days and packed beer, yet neglected packing a cooling device to save weight or time?? Enjoying a warm beer with a view! If the answer is YES, of course.then keep reading. I contacted 3 Cicerone’s (beer experts/Sommelier of beer) and 4 world-renowned beer experts / authors to find out what is the best beer to drink warm, The beer world is large and complex, so I reached out to experts in the United Staes, London, and Australia to discover what is truly the best tasting warm beer.
Do Chinese drink warm beer?
Complete your details below – Hot beer has become a winter necessity in China as the 2022 Qatar World Cup kicked off on 20 November. Compared to ice-cold beer, this hot alcoholic drink has gone viral on Chinese social media platforms due to its unique flavour and the warmth it brings during freezing temperatures, Image: Xiaohongshu Drinking hot beer in winter is a tradition in the southwest of China as winters there are always cold and damp. Much like mulled wine, hot beer is simmered with warming spices, citrus and goji berries and served hot as the name suggests.
There are a few reasons as to how the hot beer trend came to be. First of all, drinking cold liquids is widely seen as undesirable in China, as warmer beverages are considered better for digestion and health. On top of that, with the sweetness from the fruit, beer tastes less bitter and is more delectable.
Consumers can also choose almost any flavour imaginable, catering to most palates and making the consumption experience more exciting. Many Chinese bubble tea and coffee brands have also launched new beer-based drinks made with tea, milk, and fruit during this period.
A ‘Liquor Retail License’ is required when selling alcohol in China, so an approach that some large tea drink chains such as Coco have taken is to collaborate with beer brand Snow, This will not only raise their profile but also increase their online traffic engagement amongst the younger generation,
Following the mulled wine craze over the last few years in China, the hot beer trend this year follows an unchanged logic behind ‘recreating traditional products’ which is yielding positive results.
Do the Irish drink warm beer?
10 Things Never to Say in an Irish Pub Source: 1) “Why don’t you serve Guinness warm?” Despite popular belief, warm Guinness is not an Irish tradition. They do serve it cold! Yes, Guinness is great even at room temperature, but it’s meant to be poured cold, into a room-temperature glass.
- 3) “What do you think of the troubles of the IRA?”
- Just don’t.
- 4) “G’day, mate!”
- Just leave.
- 5) Anything about politics or religion.
Please: Save the serious subject for somewhere else. Or, find a private snug area with close friends. When things get heated, order a round of cold ones!
- 6) “Why don’t you serve green beer?”
- Green beer is for rookies!
- 7) “Irish music is for old people.”
Most people think that Irish music is all fiddles and flutes, but the Irish listen to modern music, too, and it’s pretty awesome. Check out the top 20 in Ireland.
- 8 ) “I’m not attracted to redheads.”
- Chances are that there are at least three of them in earshot.
- 9) “I’ll have a SMITH-WICKS!”
Just so we’re all clear, the “proper” way to pronounce Smithwick’s is “smiddicks.” And Hoegarten is “hoo-gar-duhn.” 10) “I thought I was getting potato chips.” Traditional chips in Irish pubs (as in fish and chips) are french friesif you were expecting potato chips, don’t admit it! : 10 Things Never to Say in an Irish Pub
Did they used to drink beer warm?
Hot Beer, Anyone? If there’s one thing big beer marketers know, it’s that people like their beer cold. “It’s a simple fact that consumers love ice-cold beer, and we love providing it,” writes MillerCoors, touting their cold-activated labels with mountains that turn blue to indicate when beer “goes from cold to Super Cold.” The problem of insufficiently frigid beer apparently plagues the American consumer and technology is here to help.
But since this is the middle of winter, consider an alternative suggestion. Why not drink hot beer? The idea seems strange today, but heated ale drinks were once staples of home and tavern life. They provided warmth on chilly nights and nutrition when meals were scarce. And although we’re in the midst of a craft brewing renaissance in which no style of beer is too exotic or obscure to bring to market, warmed ales are conspicuous by their absence.
If the allure of hot beer is mysterious, it helps to consider that both the beer and the setting were very different when these drinks were popular. Today’s crisp, clear lagers and bitter, hoppy IPAs are not conducive to being at enjoyed at high temperatures.
- Prior to the 20th century, English and American drinkers were more likely to be quaffing malty ales.
- These fermented quickly without refrigeration, and at their best they offered a full-bodied sweetness that could be enjoyed unchilled or even hot.
- They weren’t always at their best, however.
- Publicans could let them go stale and the ales were prone to spoilage by bacterial invaders.
As historian Maureen Ogle writes in, a history of beer in America, “Wise drinkers edged toward a mug of ale, taking a delicate first sip in order to find out whether the tankard contained sweet beer or sour; a thick, yeasty pleasure or a rank broth with the taste and texture of muddy water.” Today’s crisp, clear lagers and bitter, hoppy IPAs are not conducive to being at enjoyed at high temperatures.
Warnings abound of unscrupulous publicans adulterating their ales with all sorts of unsavory additions to cover up defects. Famed barman William “The Only William” Schmidt cautioned in his 1891 book that ” healthy and agreeable beverage used to be prepared often enough from a mixture containing many violent poisons, as Indian hemp, opium, sulphuric acid, sulphate of iron, etc.—nay, the addition of strychnia even was suspected.” One hopes he was exaggerating.
Even so, when the quality of beer was unreliable, the temptation to season it with sugar, spice, and spirits, all of which were common additions to heated ales, is understandable. The heat in taverns serving these drinks would have come from a fireplace around which stiffened, weary travelers would gather, warming up with a hot beverage of some sort.
An ice-cold beer was probably the last thing they desired. The fire served as a source of heat for the drinks, too. Iron loggerheads were kept in the flames, ready to be plunged into tankards of Flip, a popular mixture of ale, rum, and sugar. Less dramatically, metal mulling pots were nestled amongst the coals to bring malty ales to warming temperatures.
Many of these drinks provided not just warmth and a buzz, but also nutrition. Beverages like caudel and ale berry supplemented alcohol with grains or dairy, blurring the line between food and drink. Books from the 1800s such as The Practical Housewife, Bar-Tender’s Guide, or Cooling Cups and Dainty Drinks contain many variations on the theme of hot and hearty ale concoctions.
- The strangest and most substantial of these was posset, which was prepared by curdling milk or cream with hot wine or beer in a specially designed pot.
- The warm liquid was drawn from the bottom for drinking and the spongy curds spooned from the surface.
- If you ever wondered what the king’s ghost in Hamlet meant when he described poison causing his blood to “posset and curd, like eager droppings into milk,” now you know.) Historian Dorothy Hartley described the appeal of such “soup wine” or “ale meal” in her book,
“After long hours of travel, hot wine, or spirits, on an empty stomach often you were too tired to eat. Thus, the compromise of a caudel, which warmed you, fed you, and ‘kept you going till you could obtain a solid meal.'” He claims that cold beer gave him a headache, toothache, and other illnesses, but drinking beer “hot as blood” restored him to good health.
- Indeed, heated ale was often perceived as being more healthful than cold beer.
- A pamphlet first published in 1641 with the title “Warm Beer” cautioned that although a cold drink is pleasant when one is thirsty, “pleasant things for the most part are very dangerous.” The unknown author of the preface claims that drinking cold beer caused him to suffer a headache, toothache, stomachache, cough, cold, and other illnesses, but drinking his beer “hot as blood” restored him to good health.
He goes on to warn that cold beer could be downright lethal, recounting numerous tales of overheated imbibers falling deathly ill after attempting to refresh themselves with cold beverages. As bizarre as the argument seems, it was grounded in classical theories of medicine that held that the stomach was like a cauldron boiling and breaking down cooked food.
Well into the 17th century, and long after that in the popular imagination, it was taken as a given that digesting was cooking in the fires of the stomach,” explains Rachel Laudan, author of Cuisine and Empire, “Anything that quenched those fires, endangered this vital process. And what more effective dampener of the flames than cold, wet drinks?” These theories of digestion eventually gave way to more empirical approaches, but enjoyment of warm beer continued through the 19th century.
Even so, trends were underway that would eventually drive heated ale drinks out of fashion. By 1888, W.T. Marchant was lamenting their decline in his In Praise of Ale, published in London. “It is a matter of regret that some of the more comforting drinks have gone out of date.
When beer was the staple drink, morning, noon, and night, it was natural that our ancestors would prefer their breakfast beer warm and ‘night-caps’ flavoured.” Perhaps the most important change was the rise of German lagers. Previously enjoyed in the United States mostly by German immigrants and sold in close to proximity to breweries, the development of pasteurized bottling lines and refrigerated rail cars allowed these beers to travel much longer distances and reach much larger markets.
American drinkers gradually took to the style and Prohibition helped complete the transition. When the ban on alcohol was repealed, dormant breweries offered plenty of capacity for making beer, but the market had irrevocably shifted away from the saloon and toward home consumption.
- Brewing’s future lay not in barrels of beer rolled behind mahogany bars,” Ogle writes of the period, “but in the cool, well-lighted interiors of the nation’s refrigerators.” Americans traded their ales for lagers that were colder, cleaner, and more consistent.
- In Portland, Oregon, Cascade Brewing offers their Glueh Kriek, a tart cherry ale served hot with spices.
Appreciation for craft beers has revived in recent decades and it is a great time to be a beer lover. With such an abundance of excellent beers to choose from, one may question whether there is any need to heat them up with all sorts of other ingredients.
- We no longer believe that our bellies are fiery cauldrons that could be extinguished by a cold draft.
- We have better ways of feeding ourselves than scooping curds off a pot of posset.
- We have bosses who frown on starting mornings with a breakfast beer, regardless of its temperature.
- The demands of good health and nutrition no longer dictate that we drink our ales hot.
The only reason left to do so is for pleasure, as a small handful of bars and breweries have rediscovered. The New York cocktail laboratory Booker and Dax has brought back the practice of heating beer cocktails with red-hot pokers. In London, a bar called Purl gets its name from a warm ale-and-gin drink once popular among laborers on the Thames, and it serves a modern spin on the beverage.
- In Portland, Oregon, Cascade Brewing offers their Glueh Kriek, a tart cherry ale served hot with spices.
- As brewers and bartenders plunder the past for inspiration, could hot ale drinks become the next big thing? Will heat-activated cans soon appear at a store near you? It’s unlikely.
- But however dubious their theories of health and digestion, our ancestors did know a thing or two about consuming beer.
Perhaps in these cold winter months, adventurous beer enthusiasts might be willing to step back in time and enjoy what Charles Dickens described as “the happy circumstances attendant upon mulled malt.” : Hot Beer, Anyone?
Can you drink beer warm?
So, the moral of the story is to keep your beer cold when you can, but don’t worry about beer warming up and then cooling again. It’s totally fine to drink it, and as long as it wasn’t kept warm for too long the flavor likely wasn’t changed.