Just How Cold Should Beer Be?
Plus, four questions with craft beer’s ultimate champion ahead of his retirement
Illustrator: Halie Chavez for Bloomberg Pursuits; Getty Images
Tony Rehagen here, your beer expert and man about suds. Summer’s waning days have me a bit wistful. So permit me a moment. It’ll pay off.
My dad owned the gas station in Westphalia, Missouri (population 377). It was the place for locals and passers-through to buy night crawlers (worms for fishing bait), lottery tickets and, thanks to the state’s liberal liquor laws, cold beer by the case. In fact, dad’s walk-in beer cooler was renowned as the coldest in Osage County. I don’t remember the exact number on the thermometer, just that when I went in to stock the shelves, I always wore a coat, I could always see my breath, and my glasses were always fogged when I emerged.