All-Day Beer: The World’s Most Refreshing Beer?

This post is part of a series on “All-Day Beer“.  Designed to let you enjoy your favorite beverage throughout the day while still remaining an upright and functional human.  You can check out the full set here.

Now that you’ve finished up breakfast, maybe it’s time for a little yard work.  You want something thirst quenching that won’t interfere with your ability to operate heavy machinery.  Is the World’s Most Refreshing beer your only choice?  Let’s look at what makes a beer (or any other drink for that matter) refreshing.

Lots of things that contribute to the sensation – but a high level of acidity seems to be the key.  The acids get the saliva glands working when you’re feeling a bit parched.  It should finish fairly dry – too much residual sweetness seems to interfere with that crispness.  Also a higher carbonation level will create additional carbonic acid and a bit more spritz on the tongue.

Temperature seems to play a role as well.  A nice English style bitter is perfectly quaff-able at 55ºF but you might perceive it as too warm on a hot day.  We know that serving beer too cold will also mute some flavors – so you have to find a balance.  But in this case I’d lean towards a slightly colder than normal serving temperature.

We could apply these attributes to easily a dozen different styles.  And we haven’t even started talking about the ingredients yet.  So can the most refreshing and drinkable beers be limited to one style?  I think not.

What do you think?  What makes a beer refreshing to you?

Stay tuned for some recipes as we try to find a new king of lawnmower beers!

Photo by Rennett Stowe.

Tagged as: All Day Beer, drinkability, qualities, refreshing, worl'd most