If you’ve been pouring beer slowly into a glass with the sole aim of getting little or no foam on the top – you’ve been doing it all wrong. Sorry.
Beer is carbonated so when you pour beer slowly along the side of a tilted glass, you’re keeping all the CO2 inside the beer – not letting it out, and so there’s no foam.
This is all well and good until the beer gets into your stomach with all that CO2 still in it. Then if you eat something (like peanuts, or your bar snack of choice) it mixes with the CO2 and it all comes out – causing pain, bloating and discomfort.
With me so far? Foamy top = CO2 has been let out. No foamy top = CO2 still in the beer.
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If you don’t release the CO2 in the glass, it gets released in your stomach.
Instead, you should pour beer into a glass with gusto – quickly, and boldly to get the CO2 out of the beer while it’s in the glass, not in your stomach.
Yes, this might be a messier way to do it as the foam will likely spill over – but it’s better than a bloated stomach down the line. No?
Beer sommelier Max Bakker told us all what we’ve been doing wrong in a video with Business Insider.
And people’s minds were blown.
And there are other benefits to the pouring method Bakker suggests – the extra foam turns into beer anyway so you’re actually getting more beer for your money, and the foam contains flavours that make the beer taste that much better.
So next time you see a bartender pouring your beer wrong, be sure to tell them you want your pint extra foamy, please.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.