One of the questions we get here at West Vail Liquor Mart is whether we have a particular beer available at room temperature, rather than cold in our cooler. The question often comes from someone who plans to travel with the beer or is in a situation where the beer will not be kept cold for a while. Maybe it will sit in a car while the person is at work. We have actually had customers refuse to buy beer unless it is warm. The theory is that allowing beer to go back and forth from warm to cold causes skunking and other off flavors, which leads to this discussion on storing and aging beer.
According to the web site craftbeerusa.blogspot, Possibly the most widely circulated and believed myth surrounding beer is with regard to temperature. Fluctuations in ambient temperature do not adversely affect beer any more that any other foodstuff. Garrett Oliver, Brewmaster at Brooklyn Brewery and editor of The Oxford Companion to Beer puts it this way: Much has been made of the idea that rapid temperature changes will ruin beer, but this is not generally a real concern.
Most of the beer brewed in the world is intended to be consumed right out of the brewery and is not meant to be aged. It is at its best when young and fresh. Some beer, such as stronger brews with higher alcohol content, can be aged. In either case, proper storage of the beer is important. According to Garrett Oliver, Whereas aging is a practice designed to confer specific benefits upon beer by applying conditions that will produce positive changes over time, storage is largely concerned with preventing negative change over shorter periods. Proper storage will preserve a beers shelf life and help it reach the customer in peak condition.
The biggest enemies of packaged beer are heat, light and oxygen. Beer, like food, lasts longer if it is kept cold. Heat speeds chemical reactions, thus making beer and food age faster. The longer it is kept at a cool temperature, the longer it will last. Going back and forth from cold to warm will not affect the taste of the beer, just like it will not affect the taste of a sandwich, but the longer it is left at room temperature, the shorter its shelf life will be. Most breweries recommend that their beer be kept cold, and encourage retailers to rotate the beer displayed at room temperature to keep it from aging too quickly. Excessive heat will cause a beer to age very quickly and therefore should be avoided.
The skunky taste that some mistakenly associate with repeatedly warming and cooling beer actually comes from exposure to light, or more specifically, the chemical reaction that occurs when light comes in contact with the hops in beer. According to The Oxford Companion to Beer, Certain compounds in hops are light sensitive and when exposed to strong light a photo-oxidation reaction takes place, creating the intensely flavor-active compound MBT one of the most powerful flavor substances know to man. It is a smell and flavor resembling that of a skunks spray. Beer in this condition is commonly said to be light struck. Strong sunlight can produce the reaction in a matter of minutes. Bright fluorescent lights produce the reaction over a period of days and weeks. This is why most bottled beer comes in brown bottles, as the darker bottle keeps out more light. Beer that comes in green bottles or clear glass is more prone to becoming skunky. Cans keep all light out and are therefore the best at preventing skunky flavors. Some breweries have begun chemically altering hops to reduce this reaction. These chemically altered hops are called tetra or hexa hops, and are said to be less susceptible to becoming light struck.
The third enemy of beer is oxygen. Oxygen can react with many compounds in beer to affect it negatively. Beer that has been oxidized will become stale and taste leathery, papery or have a wet cardboard note. Oxygen works hand in hand with temperature to degrade beer. The warmer the temperature at which it is stored, the higher the rate of oxidation. A beer that has a shelf life of 4 months when kept cold may only have a shelf life of three months or less when stored at room temperature. The risk of oxidization is another reason some breweries are canning their beer, as the sealed cans prevent any oxygen from getting in. Pry off bottle caps can let small amounts of oxygen in and twist off caps allow even more oxygen to come in contact with beer. Some breweries go so far as to seal the top of their finer bottles of beer with wax to prevent oxidation.
While most beer is meant to be consumed right away, some beers will take on added depth and complexity when aged. This can be true of a maltier beer that is higher in alcohol, of Belgian style beers such as lambics that rely on wild yeast for their unique flavors, and for other bottle conditioned beers. A higher hop bitterness can also be a factor, as the hops work to preserve the beer, but that fresh hop smell and taste will fade and take on a tea-like quality over time. Generally darker beer with higher levels of residual sugar will age better, however that is not always the case. Beer with wild yeast such as a lambic, and bottle conditioned beers such as a Belgian trippel, where the yeast is left in the bottle to continue to work its magic will also take on added qualities over time. There is no hard and fast rule, and many consumers will experiment by buying two bottles of a certain beer, drinking one now and saving the other to see how it tastes after being aged. Unlike wine which has a cork that can dry out and is thus set on its side to age, it is generally agreed that beer should be stored upright when cellared. This allows the sediment and yeast to collect at the bottom of the bottle where it can be left when the beer is poured. Cellared beer should be kept at temperatures around 52 to 55 degrees, and should be kept in a dark area.
So for most of the beer that we sell at West Vail Liquor, we recommend that it be refrigerated and consumed in a relatively short period of time in order to enjoy it as the brewer intended it to taste. Letting beer go back and forth from warm to cold without extremes will not harm the beer, but excessive heat and light will. We strive not to order more beer than we can sell in a relatively short period of time, and we rotate our beer for freshness. We keep as much of our stock as possible in the cooler, and rotate our display stacks of beer into the cooler regularly in order to preserve the shelf life. And we have a great selection of beer that can be cellared as well. Please let us know if you ever have any questions about the beer we sell. We love it as much as you do!
Chip Bartsch
Beer Buyer
West Vail Liquor Mart
