It turns out we’ve been pouring beer into glasses all wrong, all this time.
Well, that’s assuming you pour it in the popular way, tilting the glass, to ensure there is little to no foam – do it wrong, and you can actually end up with some stomach issues, shall we say.
Max Bakker, a Master Cicerone – a sort of sommelier but for beer – made a video to show beer fans the correct technique.
The trick is to pour hard, to get the carbon dioxide out of the beer – because, as Max says, remember ‘froth always turns to beer’.
Here he shows Business Insider how it’s done:
According to Beer Advocate, pouring beer is an ‘art’ and doing it correctly is ‘definitely part of the overall tasting experience’.
They say it’s always best to drink a beer out of a glass and you can also pair beers with their ‘perfect glasses’.
Here they tell you the steps to take to pour the perfect pint:
Use a clean glass, not that it takes any explaining or reason – it kind of goes without saying – but a dirty glass ‘may inhibit head creation and flavours’.
Next, you must hold your glass at a 45 degree angle, pouring the beer and ‘targeting the middle of the slope of the glass’ – this is where you should ‘pour hard or add some air between the bottle and glass’.
Half-way through pouring, bring the glass up to a 90 degree angle, continuing to pour in the middle of the glass.
This will induce the perfect foam head, and remember, having a head on the drink actually a good thing.
The head ‘releases the aromatics and adds to the overall presentation’ and should be between one inch and one and a half inches.
We all know few things beat a nice pint in an evening to unwind, some more than others – in fact, ales in particular have become more and more popular in recent times.
There is an ale which is illegal in 12 states in America.
Samuel Adams’ 2017 Utopias have an ABV of 28 per cent, which means technically it isn’t even a regular ale at all, but a barleywine.
Even if it’s legal for you to get your hands on the sweet, strong nectar, it won’t be at all easy for you – there are only 13,000 bottles being produced this year along with 68 casks of the stuff.
If you miraculously see one of the 2017 Utopias in your local supermarket, then be prepared to fork out an inordinate amount of money, as these bad boys can only be yours if you’re willing to spend $200 a bottle.
Jim Koch, founder of Sam Adams, told Forbes:
Utopias challenges conventional thinking about beer but it is definitely a beer – that’s what’s so exciting!
Utopias is brewed like any other Sam Adams beer, using four main ingredients and the traditional brewing process, but it’s the yeast strains we use, as well as our barrel-ageing and blending process that makes Utopias truly one-of-a-kind.
I think I’ll pass.
