A Pour Too Cold

My disdain for the frosted beer mug, in most situations, is no secret. Recently, however, I encountered its lesser-known but equally misguided cousin: the frosted whiskey glass.

We were enjoying beer and pizza at a restaurant in Blacksburg, Virginia. The place also boasts a large and surprisingly interesting whiskey menu, with prices that are remarkably budget-friendly. I decided to order a pour of E.H. Taylor Small Batch. When I made my request, the server asked, “On ice, or on the rocks?”

My mind went blank for a second before I replied, “No ice. In either form.” He laughed, realizing his slip, and confirmed my request.

When the pour arrived, I could only stare in amazement.

The glass was neither on ice nor on the rocks — the glass itself was frosted, rimmed with ice on the outside.

After wiping it down and letting it warm, the bourbon was, thankfully, quite enjoyable. In hindsight, the bar menu does feature a wide assortment of “shooters,” so perhaps, in their world, all whiskey is meant to be consumed quickly — and cold, like a shot.

Still, good bourbons deserve better than a deep freeze.

Cheers!

Beer, Good. Frosted Glass, Bad.

As I walked by the hotel lobby bar during a visit to Blacksburg this week I spied three tap handles; Hardywood Park Singel, Devils Backbone Vienna Lager and Foothills Hoppyum IPA. That was the entire draft lineup. "This will be good," I thought. I knew how I'd relax at the end of the day.

Late in the evening, as Colleen and I sat down for a late beer and snack, I noticed a Budweiser tap had been added but still, three out of four isn't bad. I was impressed. Then as our beers were set in front of us, we just looked at each other and shook our heads. Frosted glassware! Not just cool, but I can't even hold the glass iciness.

Foothills Hoppyum awaits the thaw

With such a fine selection, it was surprising to see how the beers were served. Obviously somebody is placing good beer in the lineup, but missed the memo about serving them. Buyer, brewers, distributor, somebody should care.

Anyway, once the ice melted, the glasses dried, and the lake that had formed on the bar mopped up, the beers were quite enjoyable. 

Frosted Glassware Is Not Cool

I've been ranting on this for years. Now the Brewers Association has created a brief public service video we can use to help educate beer servers and bar managers.


Frosted Glassware is Not Cool from Brewers Association on Vimeo.
I think I'll bookmark this on my phone and show it the next time I get a quizzical look from my server. 

Porter, No Ice

Just because you call your beer a "Winter Porter," doesn't mean it should come on ice.

Colleen and I were out doing some shopping Saturday evening, and decided to stop in at The Pub and take advantage of the Saturday "Burger Night" special. I wasn't sure if I'd have a beer with my dinner, but I was informed one of the house beers was Cold Harbor Winter Porter. That was a new one to me, so decided I would check it out.

As the beer arrived I could see the shimmer of frost on the side of the glass. Shoot! I thought they were over that. I should have remembered to specify I didn't want the beer "iced." It was all I could do to hold the glass in my hand, it was extremely cold. Fortunately, by the time our food arrived the beer had warmed somewhat and I could begin enjoying it.

This Battlefield Brewing beer was a dark ruby color with a thin beige head. There was mocha and a mild sweetness in the aroma. The flavor was a mocha and chocolate with a hint of roastiness to it. The mouthfeel was on the thin side, with a lingering roasted malt flavor, with some stickiness left on the lips and tongue. While it was not exceptional, the flavor was certainly not unpleasant. When our server came by later, the conversation went something like this:

"Would you like another beer?"
"Sure, if I can have it in a non-frosted glass."
"A non-frosted glass?"
"Yes, a non frosted glass."
"A non-frosted glass? Umm. Okay."

I could well-imagine the conversation going on at the bar after that. Despite having a brewery onsite, The Pub caters mainly to the BudMillerCoors crowed, which by necessity demands beer be served tastebud-numbing cold. However, my beer arrived quickly, served as requested. And despite the beer itself still being overly chilled, I noticed that my empty glass was still colder to the touch than the new serving. I enjoyed the second glass much more than the first; the mocha and roasted bitterness was more apparent without the extreme chill.

Oh, and the burgers? Excellent as always. And that of course was the reason we decided to eat there in the first place.

This Is Cool, Literally

I'm unabashed in my disdain for overly chilled beer, and ice-laden beer glasses, but I would like to try this. Japan's Kirin Brewery has introduced Ichiban Shibori Frozen Draft. LA Weekly reports:

[T]he beer company has developed a special beer foam machine in which "air is blown into the beer to fluff up the head, and then flash chilled" using a a method it calls "Frozen Agitation." 

The resulting head of foam is swirled onto a pint of beer like soft serve dispensed into a waffle cone. At about -5 degrees Celsius/23 degrees Fahrenheit, the foam acts as a "lid" on the beer and will keep it chilled for up to half an hour. This means you can take your time to really savor and appreciate the beer. Or, you do the more fun thing and eat the foam like it's a wonderful cloud of sorbet.

Frankly, I think I'd enjoy a dish of the sorbet-like foam served by itself.

See "Kirin's Frozen Foam Draft Beer: When Beer Meets Soft Serve" for more.

Oops, Procrastination

When I recently brought home the case of Tröegs Nugget Nectar I was pressed for time. I quickly threw a few in the fridge, fully intending to finish the stocking task later.

Over the couple weeks, I've enjoyed the occasional bottle of this fine brew. Yesterday evening, as dinner was being prepared we decided to relax with a good beer. I went downstairs to grab three bottles, one each for Colleen, a dinner guest and myself. Uh oh, there are only two left in the refrigerator! Although there are some beers I prefer at cellar temp, I enjoy many ales slightly chilled from the fridge.

It so happened that we also needed "8 ounces of a red ale" for a recipe. Despite its intense hop level, Tröegs considers Nugget Nectar an "amber ale." Close enough. From the warm bottle, I poured the 1/2 cup needed for cooking, and then poured our three glasses from the remaining 2 and a partial bottles. That chilled the beer just right and we were back on track, all sharing equally in the sacrifice made for recipe. Whew.

Excuse me. I have to go restock the refrigerator to prevent this embarrassing occurrence from repeating.

No Frosted Mugs Please

I've posted in the past about my disgust at being served beer in a frozen mug. I was recently interviewed regarding this problem for an Associated Press article about beverage serving temperatures. From "Setting the Perfect Temperature for a Drink":

His friends may call him a snob, and waitresses may give him odd looks, but David Turley isn't about to drink a beer with chunks of ice floating in it. But that's what can happen at restaurants that insist on serving his favorite beverage in icy mugs. And so Turley has no qualms about insisting upon another, unfrosted, glass.

"I'm pretty passionate about it," says Turley, a 50-year-old information technology worker from Fredericksburg, Va. "The first thing I look at in a restaurant is the beer menu. I consider it a food."

It's nice to see the fight getting some press. I'd like to see more folks step up and reject beer served in frosty, sweaty glassware. The article goes on to talk about proper serving temperatures for beer, wine and other beverages, and can be read in its entirety here.

Read previous blog rants regarding frosted mugs here.

Enjoy a Proper Pour

Conventional wisdom has long told us that the "perfect pour" is accomplished by decanting the beer into a glass held at an angle, then straightening the glass to finish. This is done to create some head at the top, but still get the entire bottle poured in one motion. Occasionally I'll run into the waiter or waitress who will take this to the extreme and pour an entire beer extremely slowly down the side of a glass to avoid any head what-so-ever.

One problem I frequently encounter with this tilted glass method, especially with an unfamiliar beer, is I'll misjudge how much head the beer will produce and I'll undershoot, ending up with insufficient head at the end of the pour. I prefer to err on the side of too much head and pour harder and wait for the beer to settle before emptying the rest of the bottle. This way I get the full effect and can enjoy the beer in it's proper glory. Recently I've found that I'm not alone in this. (Not that I ever thought I was a trend setter.)

In a recent blog entry entitled "How to drink a bottle of beer", Hugh Sisson of Clipper City Brewing noted:

Pour the beer straight down the middle of the glass, intentionally creating a thick collar of foam, degassing the beer a bit, and releasing the subtle aromatics. You will probably have to let the beer settle for a few minutes before you can fill the glass completely, but such patience will definitely be rewarded when one progresses to the next step – smelling.

Now, as you admire the wonderful frothy presentation you have created, pass your nose deliberately over the glass, and breathe in the delicate nuances of malt and hop the brewer has worked so diligently to provide – making note of the synergy and interplay between the elements.

The proper head on a beer is important to get the full aroma out of the brewer's creation. Our sense of taste is highly influenced by our sense of smell. The carbonation from a hard pour will release greater amounts of aroma particles to your nose.

An Associated Press piece published recently called "Use your head to serve beer" also touches on the less reserved pouring method:

Pour a little, wait a little.

Don't tilt the glass. The idea is to keep the head. Pour some beer into your glass, let the head foam up a bit and settle, then keep pouring. It might take two or three pours. The idea is to keep the head while releasing some of the carbonation that otherwise can leave you feeling bloated.

"By doing it that way, it knocks a little gas out of the beer. It makes it taste smoother, less harsh," [beer consultant Randy] Mosher said.

"It's nice to have a thick head on beer. It feels good on the lips. It's all about those details."

Both authors also cover serving temperature, a subject that I've touched on several times in the past, including here and here. Hugh Sisson notes:

... one must begin by removing the bottle of fine malt beverage from one’s refrigerator at least 20 minutes before consumption (this is not advisable with light beer!) This allows the beer to warm ever so slightly, permitting the delicate nuances of flavor to be released from their cold thermal captors and present themselves more effectively to your anxious palate.

And from the Associated Press piece:

Assuming you don't have multiple refrigerators or beer coolors, keep them in your regular refrigerator. Before drinking, let the beer sit on the counter for about 15 minutes. This should get it to a better temperature.

Mosher does urge leaving the frozen beer glasses for only the lightest American industrial beers, such as Bud, Miller or Coors.

"You never want to put a really good beer in a frozen glass. It's a waste of money," he says. "The aromas just can't get out. They get locked into the liquid. So at slightly warmer temperatures, they have the ability to jump out of the glass and get into your nose."

In both of these articles, the indication is that only "light" or "American industrial beers" should be served very cold. The unwritten conclusion here is that these beers have no flavor to be loss in the first place. I highly recommend reading both of these articles in their entirety as they both make excellent arguments for paying close attention to all aspects of enjoying a beer; temperature, the pour, the glassware, and of course the beer itself.

Aargh! Promoting Iced Beer

I came across this humorous ad for The Chillster Refreezable Pint today. The Chillster pint is a plastic cup that can be re-frozen and is marketed as "Keeping Beer Cold and the Planet Cool!." The web page states:

Switch to The Chillster Refreezable Pint. It will keep your drink ice cold and help save the environment.

These Chillster Refreezable Pints are the only pints that keep your drink ice cold... without the ice. Our patent pending design uses non-toxic, refreezable ice crystals to surround your drink, keeping it frosty cold for hours.

Don't you have to use energy to freeze the Chillster before you use it? Wouldn't that use more energy resources than not over-chilling your beer glass in the first place? I actually doubt that anyone drinking a beer they want served ice cold would be nursing the drink for hours.

The web site also makes the claim that "Americans use more than 110 BILLION disposable cups each year!" Okay, I'm all for not drinking beer out of a disposable cup. So why use more energy to "freeze" a plastic cup? Let me have a reusable glass and not use that extra energy to over-chill the beer.

NO NEED FOR GLOVES
Scientifically designed to keep your drink cold while hands stay warm.

No gloves are needed to hold a proper non-frosted glass in the first place. (In fact, I don't actually know anyone who needs gloves to hold a frosted beer mug.)

In actuality, if someone wants to drink their Coors or other mega-beer out of a frozen mug that's probably good since they might not like what they tasted otherwise. Unfortunately, this misconception has a way of causing good beers to be served under poor conditions or other abuses. It's all too funny in a sad way.

Samichlaus Abuse

I came across this posting on a Virginia college's "sports forum."

Oh, and there's a Samichlaus in the fridge
World's strongest beer, brewed once a day on Christmas Day. I got one (from last Dec 25) as a gift a few weeks ago. I think I'll pour it into a frosted mug and see what its li[k]e.

Now, it's no surprise the guy thinks a frosted mug was the way to go. The mega-brewers have been misleading beer drinkers for years by promoting beer in sub-zero mugs in order to prevent people from actually tasting their beers. I'm sorry that the poster didn't get to enjoy the full flavor of the Samichlaus, at the proper temperature. I came across this post because someone else on the forum directed the original poster to my post against frosted mugs, so maybe there's a good outcome to the story. In the poster's followup posts, he makes no mention of the flavor or his experience, other than to reply "too late" to the admonition against the frosted glass. He does mention it took over an hour to finish the beer. At least it had surely warmed by then, and maybe it wasn't too watered down from melting ice.

Of course Samichlaus is no longer the world's strongest beer, nor is it brewed on December 25, but that's beside the point. More on Samichlaus here.

Could I have a non-frosted mug please?

What is it with restaurants and bars serving beer in frosted mugs? I can almost understand the reasoning if the beverage in question is some broccoli-water flavored macro-brew, especially the ones that need a lime to help kill the taste. Serving the beer extra cold deadens the palate. Perhaps if folks really tasted some of these beers, the restaurants might not sell as many. Or perhaps folks would start insisting on better beer. I want to taste my beer. If the only beers available are ones that need their flavor hidden, I'm not ordering! So often though, even when they are serving something other than Bud-Miller-Coors, the frosted glass is the norm in many restaurants.

Besides masking the flavors, serving beer in a frosted glass causes bits of ice to form in the drink. Along with the water that condensates on the inside of the glass, all this moisture serves only to dilute the beer. Then there's the condensation on the outside of the glass that leaves puddles on the table and also makes the glass slippery and hard to hold. And I certainly don't enjoy having my lips stick to the icy glass rim.

On one occasion recently when I've asked for a non-frosted glass, the waitress came back with the glass and stated "Luckily we had one." Lucky indeed. I used to feel a bit awkward when asking for a non-frosted glass. Now I figure since I'm paying for it, I'll enjoy the beer served at least somewhat properly. Perhaps if more people were less accepting of these iced servings, the restaurants would change. Or at least the servers might ask before pouring.