It appears this is a persistent myth! Draught beer is not necessarily better than bottled beer, says beer sommelier Sofie Vanrafelghem. ‘Whether draught beer is better depends on the beer style and the maintenance of the pipes,’ she says. VRT News asked Sofie to tell us how to make the best choice and what it is better to avoid.
Nothing beats a freshly tapped beer, you often hear. Recently, Westmalle brewers even chose only to offer their new Trappist only on draught. But this begs the question, is draught beer always better than beer from a bottle?
‘Draught beer is absolutely not better,’ says beer sommelier Sofie Vanrafelghem. ‘That idea persists, but whether beer from the barrel is better depends on the beer style and the maintenance of the pipes.’
There's a wealth of beers in Belgium...
According to Sofie Vanrafelghem, classic lagers are better when drunk from the barrel. ‘Lagers age quickly and you should drink them as fresh as possible. So if you can order a lager straight from the cask, correctly tapped, from nice and clean pipes… that is certainly not something I would turn down.’
It’s also better to drink IPAs, strongly hopped beers, on tap. ‘The hop aromas disappear quite quickly, already after a few months they start to go downhill. When you have an IPA on tap, you are getting a fresh IPA.’
But should you avoid abbey beers on tap? ‘That depends on your personal preference, of course,’ she says. There may be a reason to reach for a bottle. ‘In Belgium, many of these beers, such as Tripel beers, are re-fermented in the bottle. That refermentation gives the beer extra body, flavour and character. Sometimes it also slightly increases the alcohol content.’
‘Most draught beers, more than 95% anyway, will not have been refermented. That’s why the beer will still lack a little body’. ‘Sometimes there is a lot of pressure on pubs to offer beer on tap. But generally speaking, when it comes to speciality beers, Belgians still prefer bottled beer.’
But there are also exceptions. ‘There are breweries that referment beers in the cask, but this is not easy and requires a lot of expertise. Brewers who do this, for example for Westmalle double, are also only going to make their brew available at pubs where they know they really care about the beers, the pipes and how it is served.’
‘There is definitely a taste difference between bottled and draught beer,’ Vanrafelghem concludes. ‘Duvel, for example, has a fairly revolutionary tap system allowing you to serve from the cask. The result is not bad, but still, give me a Duvel straight from the bottle!’
Oh the dirty pipes!
It is not only the type of beer, but also the tap system's pipes that matter. ‘It is important that those are cleaned sufficiently. If that is not the case, as a beer lover, you will really notice it. Often people can't put their finger on it, but the beer simply doesn't taste right.’
‘It is unfortunate that there is so little guidance is provided about this issue to pub landlords. Fortunately, many breweries now offer training, but there is definitely room for improvement.’
As a beer consumer, you don't really have much control over this aspect. You can't easily identify a poorly maintained pipe ‘on sight’. ‘But usually if a pub is busy and gets a big crowd in, there will be a fair rotation of the draught beer. If you walk into a pub where the focus is on beer, in 90 per cent of cases, the pub landlord really does know what he or she is doing and the beer will be served correctly.’
What about beer temperature?
Some punters say beer should be drunk at the same temperature as the number of degrees of alcohol the beer possesses. A lager at a temperature of 5°C, for example, because that contains about 5% alcohol. That too is a myth, Sofie explains. ‘It just depends on the beer style!’
‘In general, light, fresh beers like lager and white beer are best drunk cold. If we are talking about more complex brews, then I’d up the temperature a bit, though I would never serve a 10% alcohol beer at 10°C, because that's way too warm.’
Fortunately, many Belgian breweries often state the best temperature as advice on the bottle! Your health or should that be ‘Gezondheid’?!