Dispense
Bottle, filtered
Filtered, force-carbonated bottled beer — bright and consistent, but less resilient with age.
What it does to the beer
- Filtered and force-carbonated before packaging, giving brilliant clarity and no sediment.
- Without live yeast to scavenge oxygen, it is more vulnerable to oxidative staling over time.
How it is served
| Container | bottle |
|---|---|
| Gas | Carbon dioxide |
| Carbonation | 2–3 vol CO₂ — volumes of CO₂ |
Temperatures are ranges with reasons, not targets. Cellar temperature in a British pub is a band that varies with the beer and the weather, and a degree either way is not a fault.
Styles served this way
- Alcohol-free IPA
An alcohol-free beer built around heavy dry hopping, since hop aroma is added after fermentation and survives the process intact.
- Alcohol-free pale lager
A pale lager produced at or near zero alcohol, now the largest and most refined part of the no-alcohol category.
- Alcohol-free wheat beer
An alcohol-free wheat beer — often the most convincing of the category, because wheat body and yeast esters survive dealcoholisation well.
- Flanders red ale
A deep red sour ale matured for years in oak foeders, balancing sharp acidity against dark fruit and a vinous depth.
- Foreign extra stout
A strong export stout, more intense in roast and body than a dry stout, historically brewed to travel.
- International pale lager
The global mainstream lager: pale, clean, lightly hopped and built for consistency and refreshment above flavour intensity.
- Irish extra stout
A stronger, fuller dry stout with more malt depth and body while keeping the sharp roasted-barley character.
- Kristallweizen
A filtered Weissbier: the same banana-and-clove character in a brilliantly clear beer with a lighter, crisper body.
- London brown ale
A low-strength, notably sweet dark brown ale from London, now largely extinct as a commercial style.
- Oud Bruin
An East Flanders aged brown ale, maltier and less sharply acidic than Flanders red, with raisin and caramel depth.
- Sweet stout
A stout sweetened with lactose, giving chocolate and cream character over a full body and gentle roast.
Other ways to serve beer
- Bottle conditioned — Beer refermented in the bottle with added yeast and sugar, producing natural carbonation and excellent ageing potential.
- Cask, gravity-dispensed — Cask beer poured straight from the tap under gravity, with nothing between the cask and the glass.
- Cask, hand-pulled — Beer that completes fermentation in the cask and is drawn by hand pump without added gas, served at cellar temperature.
- Keg, CO₂ dispense — Filtered or unfiltered beer force-carbonated and dispensed under CO₂ pressure — the standard modern draught format.
- Nitrogen dispense — Dispense with a nitrogen-CO₂ blend through a restrictor plate, giving a dense creamy head and a notably softer palate.
- Tank beer — Unpasteurised beer delivered fresh to venue tanks — the Czech format that shows a pale lager at its best.
Compare dispense methods directly on the comparison index, or read how packaging affects freshness.
Last reviewed 2026-08-15.