Why tilting a beer glass to avoid foam actually makes you bloated
Foam is your friend
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Your support makes all the difference.If you’ve ever tried your hand at bartending only to realise you are unable to pour a beer without forming a head of foam - you are in luck.
A beer sommelier has revealed to Business Insider the proper way to pour a beer - and it turns out that a head of foam is actually a good thing when enjoying a nice cold one.
According to Max Bakker, the first and only Master Cicerone in New York - a certification which means he has an exceptional understanding of all things beer related - without that collar of foam, a beer is not a beer at all.
And beer bloat is actually the result of pouring a beer incorrectly - or pouring a beer with minimal foam.
According to Max, carbon dioxide that has not been released into a glass when pouring a beer, which is what happens when you pour beer into a tilted glass slowly, has a disastrous effect when it settles in your stomach.
This slow-pour means the CO2 has nowhere to go - which leads to bloating when the liquid is disturbed in your stomach and the remaining carbon dioxide is released - especially once you add food to the mixture.
The solution? Pouring a beer down the side of a glass with vigour.
This method of pouring a beer ensures that the CO2 is broken out into the glass - meaning the bloating that occurs when drinking a beer that was not poured properly doesn’t happen.
So before you try to send back a beer for having too much foam, remember that the foam is actually protecting you from feeling full and uncomfortable.
The foam always turns into beer anyway, according to Max.
And the foam is where “you will taste the sweetness of the malt and the bitterness of the hops” as well as protect the integrity of the beer aroma.
Cheers to that.
This article was originally published in January 2018
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