Skunks, temperatures and beers

A reader a while back asked about "skunked" beer, which is also known as light-struck beer.

BeerAdvocate has an excellent article on the subject. Basically, you should keep your beer away from light, and particularly direct sunlight, because light causes the beer to break down and can give it a sulfur-like character. Brown bottles can slow this process, but don't prevent it.* If you're really anal, you should only buy beer that's kept away from all light.**

That being said, I can't remember the last time I had a light-struck beer. Building on the BeerAdvocate article, a lot of what people think of as "skunked" beer is actually a deliberate character of the beer created by certain strains of lager yeast. I hear about Heineken being skunked a lot. I'm betting it's not skunked -- Heineken is just supposed to taste that way. Check out German pilseners (a loosely related style to Heineken) to see what I mean.

Temperature

The same reader asked about beer's temperature.

In a perfect world, you would always keep your beer refrigerated or at least below 60 degrees. This being Florida, that's not bloody likely unless you have a big fridge. From my experience, taking cold beer from the store and letting it slowly warm up to room temperature in your pantry and later putting it back in the fridge does not cause any real harm. Is it optimal? No. Just don't put cold beer in direct sunlight for any length of time, because then you'll have hot, light-struck beer.

While we're on the subject of temperature, I want to write about serving beer. Most places serve beer far too cold. It shouldn't be just above freezing, because that masks the flavor. Remember: cool, not cold. Stronger beers in particular should be drunk at warmer temperatures -- 50s and 60s -- so that you can fully taste all the complex flavors. I will take a bigger beer (Double, quads, imperial stouts, etc.) out of the fridge and set the kitchen timer for 10 minutes to allow the beer to warm a bit before drinking. The only beer to drink in the 30s is crap beer, and why drink crap?

Also, don't drink beer in a frozen glass because when the beer hits the glass ice particles form, masking the flavor and diluting the beer. But I'm not a jerk about this at a bar or restaurant: When I get an iced glass I simply hold it in my hands to warm it up before pouring the beer into it.

And now the simple act of storing and drinking beer has become complicated. Woo hoo!

*Cans, which got a bad reputation in the past before their technology improved (linings now prevent the beer from touching metal), are the best way to store beer. No light can pass through them and they are more recyclable than bottles and are allowed places glass isn't. More and more brewers are canning their fancy craft beer: Check out Oskar Blues. And if you still poo-poo cans, remember that a keg is just a big can.


**Even I don't do this.