I know you think your customers want it, but they don’t. The ones that are beer geeks (like me) just wish you wouldn’t, while the others are missing out on the flavor of their beer just because they don’t know any better.

I’m not the only one who thinks so. Ask around anywhere in the beer blogosphere and we’re all pretty much on board. Just ask Jim Zebora of the What’s Brewing blog about the worst Stella Artois he’s ever had.

I ordered the brew and neglected to pay attention to the bartender, who poured it into a frosted pint glass before I could protest. This Stella tasted bad – way too bitter, unbalanced, metallic. I switched to a margarita, leaving half the beer in the glass.

My word! You forced the poor man to a sweet girlie drink!

Thankfully, ol’ Jim wasn’t content to let this dog lie, and consulted with no less august an authority than Jim Koch, the founder of Samuel Adams.

“If you have beer at 33 degrees – a tongue-numbing temperature, you taste less of it. What you get is the sting of the carbonation, and a little bit of the bitterness of the hops.”

The rest of the beer experience – the sweet malts, rich body or smooth mouthfeel, hop perfume and more – is missing when a brew is too cold, Koch says.

Like a good geek, Mr. Zebora conducted an experiment by drinking two Samuel Adams Brown Ales, one straight out of the refrigerator and one warmed up to a more proper temperature.

But on the second evening, when the brown ale was nearing 50 degrees, it hit the tongue like a symphony of malt and hops. The brew was rich with distinct flavor tones ranging from a hint of black coffee to light molasses. It was moderately bitter on the sides of the tongue, and faded slowly to a long, sweet finish.

Are America’s megabrewers chanting the “ice cold” mantra so much because that’s the only temperature that their product becomes palatable? Perhaps. Then I’d ask that you restaurant owners save the frosted glasses for those types of beers. If someone orders something a bit more flavorful, please do them a favor and use a glass that is at room temperature.

Oh, and while I have your attention: Please add a bit more variety to your beer selections. I have had this exchange far too often:

Me: “What kind of beer do you have?”

Server: “We have Bud, Bud Light, Coors Light, Miller Lite, Heineken, Corona, and Sam Adams.”

That’s bad enough, but it doesn’t end there.

Me: (Knowing that the Boston Beer Company has upwards of 20 styles on the market.) “What kind of Sam Adams?”

Server: “The regular one.”