Big Heads On A Beer

Are you chugging the beer immediately? If I pour a beer that results in that much head, I wait a few minutes to enjoy.

 

Head is beer. It doesn't just make the beer vanish.

Head releases aroma and smell = 90% of taste. Head is great. The more the better.

 

I don't think the enormous heads are typically intentional.

 

The beer isn't quite disappearing into thin air when you pour a beer with a nice, aromatic-releasing head, you know.

 

The problem with big head isn't when you pour it from a bottle or can, it's when you get a beer poured for you at a bar and the head takes up most of the glass. Out of the bottle/can you're still getting a full 12 oz. From the tap you can get shorted and have a pour that is less than 12/16oz. Only downside to big head from the bottle/can is maybe waiting a little for the head to settle.

 

A 1 inch head in a shaker pint is 4 oz. This is true, measure it if you doubt me.

 

German Hefes usually have an extremely large head after being poured from the bottle even if the pour wasn't aggressive.
I usually let beers sit until the head subsides to around a finger. I'm not a fan of all the foam.

 

i enjoy the common practice of a top up in the UK for this very reason. bars have taken the head thing too far these days in the name a "properly" poured beer. ud be lucky to get 14oz in a shaker pint around chicago these days. great for the bar...not so much for the consumer imo.

 

I'm not trying to be rude, but are you serious? The amount of head is irrelevant to the amount of beer you drink. It's the exact same amount whether you pour with a 7" head or a 1/8" head. Eventually, the head will settle into beer. You won't have lost any beer by pouring heavy and getting a huge head. It's the beer equivalent of conservation of matter.

If you're talking about a bar pouring a huge head on tap, then yes, you are losing something because you don't have access to any more beer, but when you're at home with a 12oz. bottle of beer and you pour hard and get a massive head, no matter how much or how little gets into the glass or remains in the bottle, when all the liquid and head is gone, you'll have drank 12oz. of beer.

 

This makes much more sense. I do a lot more drinking from cans/bottles so if this is what OP is referring to, then absolutely his concerns are valid. Given his reference to "pictures posted", I would assume that most BAs are posting pictures of beers poured from a bottle/can rather on tap, though.

 

When I am at home I pour right down the middle to get a nice full head. The beer will smell great and after a few minutes it will subside plenty for drinking.

 

Orval and a lot of specific Belgian brews need to be poured correctly.

You can get away with many other styles without much worry.

As someone already said... you want to PUNCH out aroma, you want head... we all love it.. For me it's a great judge on how well a beer is going to be dependent on style of course (some styles have good head and retention, so if I don't get one 9 times out of 10 the beer is subpar).

If you think you are being cheated, well that's all in your head. no pun intended

Excessive or aggressive sure... is bad.. and that's a waste... but that's the exception than the rule.


Hair of The Dog - Ruth Pale Ale by imbibehour, on Flickr

Also pour your beers all the same way to be consistent...

 

I usually shoot for a 2 finger head, sometimes the beer has other plans though. Saison Brett is a beer where I could take 20 minutes to pour a 2 ounce taste and it would still have a 6" head that lasts half an hour. Pouring a style not known to have a head overly hard to force a head could be construed as detrimental I suppose, since you may knock out more carbonation than intended. Other than that though you're not losing anything.

That said though it doesn't make a difference to me, with some beers (especially farmhouse ales with more proteins) when the head forms a big pillar I think it looks phenomenal, and head or no head I'm consuming all of it either way.

 

I had the same thought @Beertsipper . I always thought 1.5 - 3 fingers of head was a goal to achieve when pouring. But every day I see more and more pictures in the "What beer are you drinking now" threads of glasses full of foam, at least half the glass.

Sure, head releases aromas, but do you need that much? I myself hate having to wait several minutes to drink my beer.

And I disagree with pouring all beers the same way, some beers explode into foam just by touching the glass even if served as if you were pouring nitroglycerin. Others you go straight to the bottom with force and barely reach the 2 finger tall head.

 

I've done my share of those, and yeah it's a total f-up on my part. I usually shoot for an inch of foam because there is such a thing as too much.

 

If it's from a bottle or can a large head is no more than a nuisance which gets in the way.The aroma of course is stolen from the body of the beer and lost into the atmosphere.
If on draught a large head means paying beer prices for gas.

This would be regarded as an excessive head and in fact the server invited me to take a large swig to make room for a full 20 ounce pint.

Very high quality malt is noted for poor head retention so I don't see a large head as a good sign.