Proper Pour

Gave this a go with a founders centenial even knowing the outcome. Lost more than half to head alone and overflowed with a good bit of other foam. Came out with about 5oz of my beer. Thanks BA!

I'm going to go ahead and keep pouring beer the actual correct way. Beer specific. Pour lambic this way and you will get ropey foam. Pour highly carbed beers this way and you lose the majority of the beer.

Terrible terrible sweeping advice from a source I would thing would know better.

 

I never did understand the allure of a large head to my American friends.It is regarded by many as the result of high nitrogen barley.Talking to a head brewer once he said that he could brew beer like that if he used a cheaper malt. But he insists on still using Thos Fawcetts floor malted Maris Otter regardless of the price. His cask ales have about a half inch of dense foam which persists down ths glass which does seem perfect. Though the best pint of Bass I have drunk in over 50 years had no head at all and was as clear and still as a mountain stream.

 

Neither do I.

 

Well, which is it? You imply other (non-cask) beers are "over-carbonated" and then ridicule such a beer when it's poured with a large collar of foam to expel that excess carbonation.

The beer that creates the head in the glass is not "lost", it turns back to liquid beer (sometimes too quickly / other times, hopefully, more leisurely).

Yes, that "overflow" is lost but, perhaps not made clear in the many explanations of the "proper pour" - one is supposed to stop pouring the beer once the head approaches the top of the glass, regardless of the amount of beer left in the bottle or can. That beer is then used to top off the glass, either after waiting for the collar to die down a bit to make room or after a few swallows.

 

I did stop pouring. Foam is funny like that. It kept rising.

 

I love appearance and aesthetics. Always makes things a more enjoyable experience.

One of the things I've always noticed particularly with all the beers I've reviewed is their head formation seems to correlate to my enjoyment of the brew. Often I find a poorly formed head on one almost nine times out of ten is going to be a lacking brew.

 

At home, sure a hard pour is fine since you still have the same beer quantity, but @stevepat nails it - if you're going to give me 2-4" of foam at a bar or brewery, I'm gonna give you stink eye. Oversize the glass, and give me the 16 oz I paid for!

 

I've always aggressively poured my beer about like he recommends. I believe it's even more important with aals. I drink a variety depending on my mood, but Budweiser easily has the best head and the best retention I've seen in that style. I was a bit surprised that it was a dense foam head vs the light prickly head you see in say a Miller.

 

Sorry, I find much of this "proper pour" and "proper glassware" talk somewhat snobbish. Just my opinion of course. Whats next, sniffing the cap of an IPA to make sure it's still fresh ?

I would be willing to wager that visuals aside, there isn't a person here who could consistently differentiate between a properly poured beer versus an "improperly" poured one going by taste alone.

 

Remember that your beer has only so much flavour component. If you release a lot of aroma in the pour there is that much less to flavour the body of the beer. A modest head is all it takes to give you the desired aroma without wasting any.
And froth by the way does not eventually subside into liquid. Some does but not much.If I am given a beer with too much head I am often asked to take a couple of big gulps to make room for a top up,being entitled to a pint of liquid.

 

Eat a plate of Genoa Salami, Salonika Peppers, Kalamata olives, pickled eggs, pickled pigs feet, raw red onion, a Slim Jim or two, and 32 ounces of Blatz draft. It used to work for me when I had BDD (burp deficit disorder). It cured me...

 

Remember, the majority of what you taste is input from olfactory input.

 

Typically I go for a pour that looks like this

 

I have been doing it okay. I generally pour hard enough until it's obvious it's too hard. I've never had stomach issues though because I rarely eat when I drink. Beer = food.

 

Wow - I'm impressed how you packed two bottles of beer into that glass!!!

 

Could some one explain why creating the foam

I get that the foam might trap the aroma underneath, in some way collecting it, so when you drink the beer you smell a more concentrated aroma. But is there more to it?

 

See here:

https://www.craftbeer.com/craft-beer-muses/the-science-behind-beer-foam

 

The perfect pour in a "dirty" glass is still a waste of beer to me.
Seeing loads of pictures on beerapps that have to be taken within 10 seconds of pouring or the foam just blows up big bubbles and dissapears almost instantly afterwards.

 

Who is this guy? Guessing he is somehow affiliated with AB InBev since all the beers on his bar are AB owned beers - Blue Point, Goose Island, Golden Road, and Karbach.

****Edit: Yup, if you click on the additional info on Youtube:
"Max Bakker, a Master Cicerone (think a sommelier for beer) and High-End Educator at Anheuser-Busch InBev shows the correct technique."