Enjoying Beer to its Fullest: How to Serve and Pour Beer

As I said in my first post, there's a lot more to beer than its alcoholic content and the potential resulting drunkenness. Some people might disagree with that and that's alright. But if you really want to enjoy beer to its fullest there are a number of simple things you can do.

For starters, let's talk about how to properly serve and pour beer.

Tulip Snifter

1. Pour Your Beer Into a Glass - There are two good reasons to always pour beer into a glass. First: it allows you to see the actual beer. To observe its color and clarity. Second, it releases the carbonation and, much like wine, lets the beer "breath" and ultimately deliver its aromatics to your awaiting nostrils.

2. Pick the Right Glass - I could devote an entire post to beer glassware but I'm not going to. Suffice it say, there's a lot of different shapes and sizes that compliment certain beer styles. You can see a full listing here: http://beeradvocate.com/beer/101/glassware. One example and a favorite of mine is the tulip/snifter hybrid. The tapered and slightly flared lip helps capture and enhance the aroma while also inducing a large foamy head (insert sexual joke here). This glass is perfect for imperial IPAs/stouts and American barleywines. Other things to note: make sure your glass is clean, don't use your beer glasses for anything other than beer, make sure the glass is rinsed thoroughly of any soap and let your glass air dry to avoid fibers from towels getting in your beer.

3. Pour Your Beer Correctly - I remember for the longest time thinking that the less foam on your beer, the better. I still get served a lot of beer at restaurants (and worse, bars) that are sadly lacking in the foam department. People need to be educated that foam is your friend. A solid inch or so of head not only makes your beer look more appealing but as mentioned above, it releases aromatics which (as I'll go into in the next post) are a huge part of the beer drinking experience. Getting the perfect pour is actually simple, as the video below shows. Tip: while pouring, the further the distance between the glass and the bottle, the greater the amount of foam you'll get.

 

In the next post I'll actually talk about how to taste and fully appreciate all that a beer has to offer.