Numero 32/2025
5 Agosto 2025
Beer temperature and its impact on food
Lotte Peplow, Brewers Association’s American Craft Beer Ambassador for Europe explores the fascinating world of beer temperature and the effect it has on the flavour of food
The majority of American craft beer styles are typically enjoyed chilled, valued for their crisp, refreshing character. However, when pairing beer with food, raising the serving temperature of the beer just a few degrees can have a subtle impact on its interaction with the dish unlocking deeper flavour nuances and enhancing the overall tasting experience of both.
The Brewers Association, the not-for-profit trade association for small and independent American craft brewers, recently demonstrated how American craft beer and the temperature at which it is served can interact with food to create harmonious and memorable flavour profiles.
Taking place at Manteca in London, the event featured a five-course paired menu curated by Adam Dulye, Executive Chef of the Brewers Association in collaboration with Manteca Head Chef, Chris Leach, The pairings explored how varying degrees of temperature can shape a beer’s character and elevate its harmony with food, revealing the complex interplay between temperature and flavour.
The meal started with 1944 Golden Pale, helles bock lager from The Bold Mariner Brewing Co served chilled, at a lower temperature than an exquisite plate of salumi, focaccia and silky house-made ricotta. The crisp, clean, refreshing character of the beer offset the ambient temperature of the food ingredients creating a complementary interplay on the palate.
Next up came a chilled dish of sea bass crudo with a grilled nectarine salad, shiso and hazelnuts paired with Hinterland’s Jamaican Haze IPA, served a few degrees above the normal serving temperature of approximately 7°C/45°F. Ice cold temperatures can mute hop aroma and flavour so IPAs are best served slightly chilled. This IPA is brewed with Sabro hops giving notes of coconut and lime which were showcased perfectly at the slightly warmer temperature and blended with the delicate flavours of the fish.
Allowing a beer to warm slightly before serving allows the expression of more flavour nuances. If the beer is too cold the palate can become numbed and unable to appreciate the full taste profile of the beer. Lagers and lighter styles are typically served very cold to maximise refreshment but beers paired with food are an integral part of the dish and the temperature should complement that of the ingredients to enhance the overall dining experience.
A campanelle pasta dish with duck ragu sprinkled with duck fat pangrattato came next. Leftover foccaccia is dehydrated, blitzed into crumbs and cooked in seasoned duck fat to create a duck crouton crumb. The dish was paired with Samuel Adams Boston Lager for its malt sweetness and spicy hop bitterness to offset the richness of the duck and balance the strong, meaty flavours of the dish.
The fourth course demonstrated how seamlessly the two paired beers complemented the dish, so much so that they could have been part of the recipe. Featuring a rare breed pork chop, a fresh cherry sauce finished with mustard oil, roasted potatoes with roasted charcuterie and a flourish farm salad, the two accompanying beers were natural partners. Served a few degrees above chilled, Toppling Goliath’s King Sue double IPA was bursting with juicy tropical hop notes layered with a cream popsicle orange citrus note underpinned with a gentle vanilla to soften the bitterness and round out the flavours. Equally harmonious was Coldfire’s Cerise Rouge 2024, a foeder fermented sour blonde base ale aged in white wine barrels then refermented on Montmorency cherries in a meticulous process that takes three years, served at cellar temperature. Both beers were natural extensions to the dish, the only difference being they were in a glass not on the plate!
And so to a decadent dessert of chilled profiteroles paired with a room temperature imperial oatmeal vanilla porter from Virginia Beer Co, Pinwheel Porter, showcasing flavours of chocolate and vanilla and brewed with flaked oats to give a creamy mouthfeel with traditional carbonation. The harmony between the cold chocolate and vanilla cream profiteroles and the beer’s matching flavour profile was striking, and made all the more expressive and nuanced by the beer’s warmer serving temperature.
The event clearly demonstrated that American craft beer has limitless food pairing potential not only with flavour synergies but also through thoughtful temperature contrasts. Allowing the beer to warm slightly enhanced the flavours of both beer and food.
THE MENU
Welcome beer
Sierra Nevada Brewing Co – Hazy Little Thing IPA
Wild farmed focaccia
House-made ricotta, fennel pollen, Manteca salumi selection
The Bold Mariner Brewing Co – 1944 Golden Pale Lager
Line caught sea bass crudo, cucumber, rosemary, grilling nectarine salad, shiso, hazelnuts, chilli
Hinterland Brewery – Jamaican Haze IPA
Campanelle, duck ragu, duck fat pangrattato
Boston Beer Co – Samuel Adams Boston Lager
Pork chop, cherry mostarde, salumi roast potatoes, flourish farm salad
Toppling Goliath Brewing Co – King Sue Imperial IPA
and
Coldfire Brewing Cerise Rouge 2024
Profiteroles, chocolate sauce
The Virginia Beer Co – Pinwheel Oatmeal Vanilla Porter
Look out for award-winning American craft beers throughout Italy. Their style-diversity, world-class quality and flavour creativity make them ideal as a food accompaniment.
Free downloadable resources about American craft beer are available at www.brewersassociation.org or www.craftbeer.com
-ENDS-
About the Brewers Association
The Brewers Association (BA) is the not-for-profit trade association dedicated to small and independent American brewers, their beers and the community of brewing enthusiasts. The BA represents 5,600-plus U.S. breweries. The BA’s independent craft brewer seal is a widely adopted symbol that differentiates beers by small and independent craft brewers. The BA organizes events including the World Beer Cup®, Great American Beer Festival®, Craft Brewers Conference® & BrewExpo America®, Homebrew ConTM, National Homebrew Competition and American Craft Beer Week®. The BA publishes The New Brewer® magazine, and Brewers Publications® is the leading publisher of brewing literature in the U.S. Beer lovers are invited to learn more about the dynamic world of craft beer at CraftBeer.com® and about homebrewing via the BA’s American Homebrewers Association® and the free Brew Guru® mobile app. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Issued on behalf of the Brewers Association, 1327 Spruce Street, Boulder, Colorado, 80302 USA. www.brewersassociation.org
For further press information: Lotte Peplow at lotte@brewersassociation.org +44 (0)7973 698 414
