5 Scientific Steps to a Perfect Pour

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you’ve probably already mastered the perfect beer pour.  But if you haven’t yet, or you think your pour could be improved, you may want to check out this 5-minute YouTube video, which shares the “5 Steps to the Scientifically Perfect Pour”.  The whole trick, the video tells us, is to control the speed at which the head (aka “nucleation”) is created during the pour.

The five steps are:

1. Select the beverage and a nice clean glass.  A dirty or scratched glass can cause too much head to form during the pour.  A quick rinse with cold water can reduce this effect somewhat.
2. Hold your glass at a 45-degree angle , and hold the can or bottle so that there is a small gap between the interior of the glass and the top of the can/bottle of beer.  The less air that can enter the beer during the pour, the less chance of getting too much head.
3. When the beer reaches the lip of the glass, carefully stop pouring and turn the glass upright.  The pour should have very little head at this point.
4. Pour the remaining beer from a distance into the glass, which will cause it to start forming a head.  Pour until the head just starts to bow up at the top of the glass.
5. Rather than sipping, take “measured mouthfuls” to ensure that you don’t slurp away all the head you’ve just carefully constructed.  This will help to ensure the constant release of aroma from the head as you drink.

 

Every beer is a little different, so some will need more or less distance pouring (step 4) to achieve the desired amount of head.