The Outdoor Beer Cooling Season

[jlttb]

I don't know what it's like everywhere else, but here in the Northeast we've passed an important seasonal milestone: it's now cold enough to keep beer cool outside! Who needs a fridge when I can stack up cases in my mudroom and have all the beer I can handle at an ideal temperature (if not too cold!) And the fun'll last for months! Enjoy!

[hops99]

Amen, brother! From November to March, I can typically turn my beer fridge off - it's located in a room off my (finished) basement that's not heated, and the temperature in there will hover around 45-50 degrees, although it can dip down as cool as the upper 30's in an intense cold snap, so I have to be careful.

Cheers to Mother Nature!

[paul84043]

This time of the year I actually have to put a small heater in my fridge in the garage or it get too cold.
I use a small candle warmer and it seems to give the fridge just enough load to help it regulate without running hardly at all.
(25 watts I think)
What I like best is the fact that I can brew in my garage and not feel like I'm melting....

[bigmf]

Hmm... I don't get these benefits. Up here my beer would freeze in the garage. I have to use my basement (room temp) and beer fridge for the whole year.:(

M.

[studentofbeer]

well for some godawful reason its still like 60 degrees in chicago. it keeps dipping really cold then returning to sept. temperatures. even when it gets cold tho, all that means is my landlord turns on the radiators and my apt becomes hotter than hell. it gets too cold to put things outside and too hot inside. someday ill have a house with a basement. until then, its the refrigerator all year long.

[MagTheGrate]

I think I'm allergic to snow... :D

I prefer the warmer climes of southern California... and I'll happily keep my beer fridge plugged in.

-Mag

[Wilson]

Originally posted by MagTheGrate
I think I'm allergic to snow... :D

Me too! High today of 75 in Louisiana. I love it! My A/C is still on. My girlfriend complains that it is too hot for mid-November, so I said, "Go to Maine if you want cold, what do you expect here?"

[studentofbeer]

yeah, but there's something just not quite right about drinking an anchor xmas ale or bells expedition stout while sitting in your shorts in the backyard in the middle of december :p tho we'll see if that stops me when i go home to LA for thanksgiving and new years.

[hops99]

I need my change of seasons. Don't get me wrong, I love Summer, but as StudentofBeer pointed out, Christmas wouldn't be the same to me if it were 70 degrees outside. Give me a brisk Sunday afternoon in October with the leaves falling and a Spaten Okto in my hand; a snowy January night with a glass of any winter warmer; a bright and warm May afternoon with a fruity pale ale; or a hot July day with a refreshing Hefe.

That's one of the reasons why I love beer - it changes with the seasons.

[hopjack13]

Originally posted by MagTheGrate
I think I'm allergic to snow... :D

I prefer the warmer climes of southern California... and I'll happily keep my beer fridge plugged in.

-Mag

amen to that brother mag...if i want snow i'll go to the mountains, if i want the ocean i go to the beach , if i want the desert i can go there , never too cold or hot unless i want it that way, i love SoCal! .....most of the time....wish everyone and there mothers would go back where they came from though, it's a little on the crowded side here.

[paul84043]

i love SoCal! .....most of the time....wish everyone and there mothers would go back where they came from though, it's a little on the crowded side here.

That's funny!! I wish all the Californians that are moving here to Utah would go somewhere else!! They're ruining our housing market!!!

They are better drivers than the average Utah driver though....we have some of the most inconsiderate drivers in the nation.
They get this holier than thou attitude and get behind the wheel of thier MAV (Mormon Assault Vehicle) and cruise at 55 in the left lane and don't yeild for anybody....

Damn, now I'm all stressed....time for a beer.

[threecb]

Originally posted by paul84043
... and cruise at 55 in the left lane and don't yeild for anybody....

are you sure you're not in New Jersey?!?:D

[hopjack13]

Originally posted by paul84043
They get this holier than thou attitude and get behind the wheel of thier MAV (Mormon Assault Vehicle) and cruise at 55 in the left lane and don't yeild for anybody....

Damn, now I'm all stressed....time for a beer.

lmao, i have a brother that lived in utah, we went to a party and i dank beer after beer and all it did was make me piss and give me a headache. whats up with that? the mormons went out to salt lake (i read some where) to get away from persecution from the christians, now they run the whole damn state. and what the hell do those morons...uh mormons have against beer anyway? i have friends who are mormon and the only part of the religon i like is the more then one wife thing..he he he . of course i don't think i could put up with more then one woman.

[davesarman]

I have lived in MN and SD my entire life and must say that I love the changes in season. Sure it's nice to go to CA or FL in the winter to escape the below zero temps in January for a week or so, but I can't imagine Christmas without snow or cold temps. As a matter of fact, today I put up the Christmas lights on our house and it was probably about 30 degrees out with a brisk wind, with a winter storm warning for this weekend. Let me tell you, after I got done, I was tired and chilled to the bone, but OH, did that Summit Winter Ale taste so good! As a couple of previous posters have noted, there's nothing like the cold temps to make the winter beers that much more satisfying! Shoveling the sidewalk or having a snowball fight or going snowmobiling, or skiing, and then coming in to a warm room with a fireplace with a Bell's Expedition Stout or a Summit Winter Ale or a Schell's Blizzard Ale (plus, there's a difference between living here in the winter and vacationing here! Does that sound snobby? I hope not. Everyone here laughs when we see on the news when CA or AZ, or even the East Coast gets 1/2" of snow and there are 30 car pile ups on the freeways! Here, unless there is at least 8" of snow, you don't complain!)....I can't imagine drinking those kinds of beers in 70 degree weather and being able to appreciate them the same way...Sheesh! I guess I just went off on a rant here!..."but that's just my opinion, I could be wrong!" ~ Dennis Miller :p

[BluesHarp]

Living in WI, I enjoy the change of seasons as well...except for right about now to April. I'm not into winter sports and don't really like the cold (especially as I get older!). Sure we get blizzards and tornados here; but for the most part, we don't have to worry about hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, mudslides, and brushfires that many of you have to deal with.

There is always something special about the first warm days of spring; the firast day you can walk outside without a jacket...feeling the warmth of the sun like a visit from an old friend. The brown is slowly replaced by the new green growth...life is re-born.

Autumn can also be a great time...summers here can be in the 90's and humid; a crisp 60° fall day is very refreshing. There is nothing like climbing on the Harley and going for a cruise on the winding roads that meander through the forests here. The leaves on the trees are every color from green to yellow to orange to crimson to fiery red; and there is a certain wonderful smell in the air that only occurs in autumn.

Then you have winter...cold temps, strong frigid winds, ice on your car windows and on the roads; it takes fifteen minutes to get dressed to go outside. I don't care much for winter, but it sure does go well with a big beer - winter ales, stouts, porters, barley wines...it does make us a hearty people. :cool: