Skunked beer is the bogey man of the beer world. New beer drinkers are told to never ever let refrigerated beer get warm - and definitely don't cool it again! - or suffer off-putting and skunky flavored consequences. Let's put this myth to rest right now, shall we?
The truth is that moderate temperature exchanges will not affect the flavor of your beer, like taking un-opened bottles from the fridge to the counter and back again. Really extreme temperature changes are another matter, but we're guessing that you don't take your beer from boiling to freezing very often.
What does actually affect the flavor of beer is exposure to ultra-violet light. Under exposure to the UV rays in sunlight and store display lights, the hop-derived molecules in the beer will break apart and recombine with a sulfuric compound. These "light struck" beers have a distinctive wet cardboard flavor that's not very appealing to drink!
Brown-tinted bottles are mostly effective at blocking out UV rays, so we almost never have to worry about beer in these bottles getting light-struck. However, beer packaged in clear or green bottles is much more vulnerable. This has led to another beer myth that these beers are automatically skunked and should be avoided, but there's not usually an issue if these beers have been stored correctly.
What's been your experience with skunked beer?
Related: Brewing Beer at Home: The Wort and First Fermentation
(Image: Flickr member Three if by Bike licensed under Creative Commons)
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beer sucks, drink wine!
you're welcome.
WRONG
Beer is awesome
Nothing worse than a wine snob.
i am an equal opportunity drinker. as long is a beverage is well made, i am at least willing to try it. though i find that some of my favorite new york beers, after making the trek to my new home in texas, don't taste anything like i remember them. they aren't "skunked"--just old tasting, or more bitter than i remember them.
maybe this topic has already been covered, but i'm curious about the different tastes in beer from the keg, the bottle, and the can...i've never done a taste test, but i swear they're all slightly different.
Can't drink beer at my FIL's house in the summer because he stores it in his garage, in the 90 degree southern summer heat. He's elderly, and I think his tastebuds aren't terribly sensitive these days. I had to choke down a completely skunked beer he gave me once, and now I only agree to it if we're in the dead of winter.
This is exactly why I don't buy my beer from gas stations or 7 elevens. I have had too may beers that were undrinkable from that type of place, so now I only buy form liquor stores. They tend to manage their inventory better and know how to take care of it.
The temperature thing sounds like something a frat boy would say to a girl. "The beer is already out. Putting it back in the fridge will skunk it. We have to drink it."
ugh... wine snobs.
thanks for the info on skunking!!!!
A friend of my father's was once paid by a beer company to figure out why Corona keeps in clear bottles. To help they paid him grants and granted him free access to their product's and Corona's.
He never figured it out, but had an amazing time trying!
the latest issues of details and GQ have articles about all the killer beer that comes in cans lately. yes, cans. aluminum eliminates the uv problems that can lead to skunky beer.
i'm gonna hit bevmo and see if they carry any of the beers mentioned in the articles :)
What about expiration or "born on" dates on beer? We over-bought beer for our wedding a year ago. I still have about 6 cases of good quality, local beer (River Horse and Flying Fish) kept in my cool, dark basement. It still tastes great to me.
pbelardo, I don't know those brands, but good darker beers can benefit from cellaring. I wouldn't doubt that yours are going strong.
@glittercore - normally bottled and canned beer is pasteurized, while kegged beer isn't.
@glittercore - also the carbonation in kegged beer can vary greatly depending on the temperature the keg is stored at, and the serving pressure. Plus the cleanliness of the draft system will affect the beer flavor as well.
guess what never skunks...
root beer!
i got a keg of it for a party awhile back. kept it on my back porch for 2 weeks, and was delicious daily despite heat. mm mmm.
I found some interesting information online related to skunked beer. There is a company out there commited to preventing skunked beer. They have a clear coating that is applied to the outside of the bottle that blocks UV light. They also have a lot of information on their website about skunked beer. www.skspolytech.com