IMPORTANCE OF TEMPERATURE IN THE PRESERVATION OF FRESHNESS
"Do not keep [beer] in a warm place."
---A Beer Dispensers Handbook, United States Brewers Association (1938)
"Besides time, the temperature of storage is the most important factor (in shelf life of bottled beer).... Less attention has been given to not letting it get old by reducing time (and temperature) between packaging and consumption....The industry must rely on (among other factors) low temperature storage..."
---The Practical Brewer, Master Brewers Assoc. of America, 1974
"For instance temperature extremes during shipping, warehousing and at the retail store you purchase your beer from can double the "aging" of the beer for each increase of 10 deg. F. That means beer with a "shelf life" of 6 months at 40 F will have a "shelf life" of 3 months at 50 F and 6 weeks at 60 F."
--- Mark Ruedrich, brewmaster, North Coast Brewing Company
Fritz Maytag, both the godfather of craft beer in the US and an early pioneer in flash pasteurization of both bottled and kegged beer in America, whose Anchor Brewing Company's FAQ states : "...we require all of our distributors, national and international, to refrigerate our products during transport from the brewery to the warehouse. It is a very important consideration; many distributors find this to be either impossible or too expensive for them. As a result, this requirement has limited our choice of distributors."
“Shipping and storage temperatures are important to beer flavor. Beer contains a variety of compounds that are capable of autoxidation if temperatures get high enough. In practical terms, beer that has been held at 38° C (100° F) for two weeks will have the same loss of freshness in flavor as beer that has been held for three months at 21° C (70° F) or beer that has been been held for more than one year at 4° C (39° F).”
--- Handbook of Brewing By William A. Hardwick, 1995
"Maintaining a consistently cool storage temperature is probably the single most controllable factor affecting beer quality once it is packaged. Cooler storage temperatures help slow almost all flavor-changing reactions. Years ago we made the commitment to transport all of our beer in refrigerated trucks if it takes more than a few hours to arrive at a warehouse, which we also require to be refrigerated. Heat damages all beer..."
---Ken Grossman, Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., Beyond the Pale (2013)