International Beer Day: use one day to explore how broad beer really is.

International Beer Day takes place on the first Friday in August and has been celebrated since 2008. Its broad remit makes it an ideal discovery moment rather than simply an excuse to repeat the usual order.

Lager, pale ale, stout, wheat beer, sour beer, saison, bitter and alcohol-free beer can taste so different that “I like beer” is almost admirably vague.

The fermentation family matters, but malt, hops, water, yeast, strength and process create far more variation within ale and lager than the two labels suggest.

Flavour-led exploration is more useful than treating the choice as a binary argument settled in a pub twenty years ago.

Cold beer is welcome in August, but serving every style near freezing suppresses aroma and flavour. Crisp lager tolerates colder service better than many richer or more aromatic styles.

“As cold as possible” is excellent advice for ice packs and rather less universal for beer.

Carbonation, bitterness, malt sweetness and roast give beer several useful pairing tools. Lager handles salty fried food, pale ale works with grilled dishes, stout can meet chocolate and roast, and wheat beer suits lighter spice and citrus.

A food-led route also helps users discover unfamiliar styles with less risk.

Modern alcohol-free beer spans lager, IPA, stout and other styles, so it deserves comparison by flavour rather than being placed in one apologetic corner.

For a summer beer day, that range also makes sensible pacing considerably easier.