The Best Beers for Cold Weather

What is a good beer or beer style for cold weather?

We do not pay that much attention to the weather when we are picking out beer, at least not consciously. We probably pick different beers one a hot sunny day than we would on a cold, rainy day but we do not do so with a plan. Even so, we know that there are some beers than lend themselves more readily to cold weather than others.

Our first thought is of dark beers: stouts, porters, the dark ones.
Their flavor tends to be big and chewy and demands that you slow down and savor them. After all, when a cold wind is whipping around outside, who wants to be gulping down cold ones? No, when you are sitting at the fire with a blanket around your shoulders, you want a drink that you can slow down with and sip contemplatively while you stare and the flames and consider your mortality.

Besides being sipping beers, the big, dark styles tend to taste good whether they are cold or warm. You can let a glass of stout sit in your hand and warm up, and it is just as delicious as it was when you grabbed it out of the fridge. Lighter beers, especially Pilsner and pale lagers, are almost unpalatable when they get up to room temperature, so they are best avoided when you are trying to stay warm.