Beer etiquette

My husband's cousin informed me yesterday that I was committing a "cree-mee"--that's a "crime" in Portuguese. My offense? I was drinking beer that was not, well, ice cold. It was not warm--though that was what I was accused of--drinking warm beer. My less-than-ice-cold-beer was then promptly dumped out and my glass was refilled with sparkling golden ice-cold Brazilian beer. It did actually make a positive difference in my beer drinking experience. I may become an ice-cold beer snob before long. I was thinking in the moment--wow, what would they say about the red plastic cups at the keg parties in the States? Major offense.

Apparently, Americans--and probably Brits alike--have a reputation for drinking warm beer. Not because we serve it that way, but because we drink pints, or pitchers of beer that inevitably get "warm" (read: do not remain ice cold). In restaurants, beer is kept in special refrigerators where the temperature is boldly displayed to assure you it is near-freezing. Then, beer is served in a small glass, called a "chopp" (SHO-pee) so that it does not have time to get warm. If you order a larger bottle of beer, it is put in a beer bottle koozie. There is an affinity for the beer koozie here. And where there is no koozie, your beer may be kept on ice in a cooler at your table, another recent experience. So, moral of the story: when in Brazil, do not settle for less (or be caught drinking anything other than) ice-cold beer.