Kitchen Hacks

The Surprising Reason You *Want* Bubbles in Your Beer Glass

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January  3, 2018
2 Comments

When it comes to beer, I’ve been taught that a slow pour is a good pour. Many think it’s best to tilt and fill, slow and steady, to avoid a thick ring of foam from rising at the rim. Apparently, this strategy is misguided. That halo of bubbles we’ve been told so adamantly to avoid may actually be beneficial.

This counterintuitive intelligence comes from Business Insider—earlier this week they tweeted a video of Anheuser-Busch InBev Beer Educator Max Bakker explaining the ins and outs of the perfect pour. The crux of the matter is carbon dioxide, the gas that gives beer its fizz. Check out the video to see what he has to say:

Pouring a bubble-free glass keeps the beer from releasing its natural CO2 until it’s in your stomach, leaving you feeling bloated and full of air. Instead, Bakker recommends a more active pour that allows the bubbles to emerge in the glass and release CO2 before you ingest it. Foam, isn’t the enemy: a heavy topping of bubbles doesn’t damage the drinking experience—eventually those bubbles themselves fizzle into beer.

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So, get to pouring (and drinking!). But remember if a swollen stomach feeling is not something you're chasing, try an active pour to pop those bubbles in the glass and not in your tummy.

How do you pour? Let us know your technique in the comments.

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Valerio Farris

Written by: Valerio Farris

Valerio is a freelance food writer, editor, researcher and cook. He grew up in his parent's Italian restaurants covered in pizza flour and drinking a Shirley Temple a day. Since, he's worked as a cheesemonger in New York City and a paella instructor in Barcelona. He now lives in Berlin, Germany where he's most likely to be found eating shawarma.

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2 Comments

Michael C.
Michael C. September 30, 2018
EVERYTHING in this world we live in is OVER analyzed. Open a bottle of beer with a bottle opener (hard huh?). Slightly tilt a clean glass (chilled if you prefer) and pour your beer into the glass aiming for about an inch or two of a foam head. Drink said beer. Now how hard was that? I bet you every penny in my pocket you will enjoy said beer.
 
Ron M.
Ron M. January 3, 2018
Interesting article. But the article is implying that you pour it to release more the CO2, but if all the CO2 is gone, the beer would be flat. There must be some "good level" of CO2 that you want (maybe a trade-off between bloating and taste?), and my guess is for many beers, the preferred level is what comes in the bottle / can / keg (meaning that a careful pour would be better).