55-61 seems on the high side to me, That's about 13-16 Celsius. I think that a decent real ale at 16 degrees is bordering on the obnoxious-to-totally-flabby, and it's only going to warm up even more as it sits in front of you. You pay a lot of good money for a pint. Better that its temperature should be slightly on the low side, say 10-11 degrees, than too much the other way. It'll warm up a bit on the table anyway as long as you don't drink too fast (heaven forfend ;-)). At Sharps we do the tasting at 12 degrees.