As part of my research for my first trip to Bamberg in early Sept, I
visited an off licence in York and selected a few bottles of ale from
some Bamberg/Forcheim breweries. (They had sold out of Schlenkera
unfortunately, so I bought a Bavarian rauch bier).

Question: What is the best serving temp for these ales? Say I bring
them home in the car boot. Will 2 to 3 hrs in the fridge be OK? I
recall my last visit to Munich when I was served ice-cold Augustiner. I
didn't like it.

Question: This pertains to all beer types and I've often wondered. is
it best to pour out the whole of a 500ml bottle into a pint glass, so
as to get a better head? When drinking at home I normally drink from a
small 200ml glass and keep "topping up"!

Thanks
Bruce

bruce_phipps@my-deja.com a crit :


>Question: What is the best serving temp for these ales? 
>

First point : with the notable exception of Schlenkerla's Weizen (and 
possibly other Rauchweizens) these beers are lagers. Bottom-fermented.


>Say I bring them home in the car boot. Will 2 to 3 hrs in the fridge be OK? 
>

Well, three hours at the bottom of the fridge should be about fine. It's 
always easier to let a beer warm up for a few minutes than have it too 
warm for a start.
BTW beer is served ice-cold pretty much everywhere in Germany. the one 
thing to do is to wait, since asking for warmer beer is likely to 
attract scorn from the waiter...


>Question: This pertains to all beer types and I've often wondered. is
>it best to pour out the whole of a 500ml bottle into a pint glass, so
>as to get a better head? 
>

The *ONE* situation where a large glass is a must is when you have a 
bottle-conditioned beer in a 500ml bottle. If you pour it in two or 
three times, returning the bottle to the vertical, you're very likely to 
unsettle the sediment at the bottom, which, in the case of UK ales, can 
be quite unpleasant, since some bottling yeasts have a metallic tinge to 
them.
And if you've got a 500ml of Hefeweizen, you'll want the yeast evenly 
mixed , not most of it in the end...
[As far as filtered beers are concerned, do whatever you like... ;o)]

Cheers !

Laurent


-- 
Warning : you may encounter French language beyond this point.

Je suis un lapin au citron... J'ai pas trouv de citron, alors j'ai pris des frites... 
(F'murrr)

Laurent Mousson, Berne, Switzerland

wrote in message 
news:1121434244.970370.212620@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...

> As part of my research for my first trip to Bamberg in early Sept, I
> visited an off licence in York and selected a few bottles of ale from
> some Bamberg/Forcheim breweries. (They had sold out of Schlenkera
> unfortunately, so I bought a Bavarian rauch bier).
>
> Question: What is the best serving temp for these ales? Say I bring
> them home in the car boot. Will 2 to 3 hrs in the fridge be OK? I
> recall my last visit to Munich when I was served ice-cold Augustiner. I
> didn't like it.
>
> Question: This pertains to all beer types and I've often wondered. is
> it best to pour out the whole of a 500ml bottle into a pint glass, so
> as to get a better head? When drinking at home I normally drink from a
> small 200ml glass and keep "topping up"!
>
> Thanks
> Bruce
>

I tend to cool to my own preferences different beers need different 
temperatures.
I would suggest trying different temperatures.

Simon

Had a bottle of Hummel Raucherla, a smoked Marzen lager 5.6%. Very
nice.
Also, a Neder brown ale which I didn't like at all...
And a bottle of Neder unfiltered kellerbier, which I liked despite it
having no head at all.

Bruce