The perfect way to store your beer...

I’m often asked by customers how they should store beer and if you Google it, there’s loads of great articles out there but also a lot of information to wade through.  So, in a very condensed manner, here’s my top advice for making sure you store your beer in the best possible way to ensure it tastes great…

Keep it upright – 2 reasons; it stops a yeast ring forming if stored on its side and storing it upright also decreases the amount of exposed beer which slows down the oxidation

Store it in a dark place – I’m sure there’s other reasons but the light going out when you close the fridge door is great for storing your beer.  What darkness actually does is prevent ‘skunking’ – this causes the beer to both smell and taste a bit funny if exposed to excess light.  If you don’t have room in the fridge, try and make sure you store it in a cool, dark place to give it the best chance of tasting well

Chill at a temperature relative to the strength – quite simply, the stronger the beer the higher the temperature you should store it at.  Now we don’t all have the luxury of 3 different fridges, so as a compromise you’re best storing your beer around 10°C to 12.8°C .  As a guide though if you do just happen to have 3 fridges, here’s what we recommend…

• Strong beers such as dark ales should be stored around 12.8°C to 15.5°C
• Mid-range beers such as IPA’s should be stored around 10°C to 12.8°C
• Lighter beers such as lagers should be stored around 7.2°C to 10°C

Once opened, drink it – it sounds obvious but the carbonation will evaporate and your opened beer will go flat and the taste will deteriorate.  In the rare circumstances you do leave any beer, there’s loads of recipes you can find to use up that undrunk beer

These aren’t just words, at Beers@No.42 we follow them and all our beers are stored in a cool dark environment to make sure they reach our customers in the best possible condition.

If you’ve got any questions about any of this, please give me a shout – jez@beersno42.co.uk