Guinness, room temperature or cold?

[davedove]

No beer is meant to be served at room temperature (70 degrees). But many English-style ales are meant to be served at cellar temperature, which is 50-55 degrees. This might seem warm to Americans who are used to drinking their beer ice cold (30-40 degrees).

The above statements on 'cellared temperature' also hold true to wine. Whites are to be chilled, and reds are to be served at 'room temperature'. Well, when those rules were made, 'room' temperature was 10-12c, not the 20-22c that it is now.

I'm glad this has been mentioned. As Casper said, the "rules" were written when "room temperature" was cooler than it currently is. I find that most red wines are better when cooled slightly. The same could be said for some beers.

Beer for me is like whisky or wine. I am a fan of many and I dislike several. I usually can't stand the big breweries (sorry guys, but I can stand the US big breweries even less), but I have also had some pretty crap microbrews as well as some really fantastic ones.

We always have to remember that the megabreweries are very good at what they set out to do: make a large quantity of a very consistent product and market it around the world. There goal is not to explore the nuances of flavor - despite what some of the commercials say.