In my Beer 101 column in December (which you can find here) I started a series on serving beer. Last month it was the heated subject of temperature. This month – pouring etiquette. The column itself (which you can read here) spends a fair bit of energy walking through how to create a perfect pour, which I define simply as just the right amount of head, a balanced carbonation level remaining and no other impurities (i.e., effects of a dirty glass).

Pretty straight forward stuff for the experience beer drinker. However, I also discuss some of the common mistakes I see in pubs in Canada. Some are mild irritants while others totally put me off my pint (well, not really as that would take a lot, but you get my point).

I would have thought that pouring with the right amount of head would be draught-serving 101 in most pubs. I am  surprised how often I get a beer that is 1/3 foam, or has absolutely no head at all. If the place is busy and the bartender is running ragged, I can generally forgive such an error – shaving off that extra couple of seconds to make sure the head is right can be a lifesaver when the bar is slammed. But on the whole I find it fairly unforgivable and it is a sign for me that the server/pub owner are not paying enough attention to this important function. All it takes is a bit of familiarity and practice with the tap system and particular beer and an extra second or two of time while pouring.

On a much lesser scale, the practice of dealing with too much head by dumping some of it off and re-filling, is inelegant and a tragic waste of good beer, but fairly harmless (to the beer, anyway) and sometimes inevitable. A finicky beer or a mis-behaving tap line can create those problems for even the most highly trained server.

I don’t mention it in the Beer 101 column, but another practice that bugs me is pouring that excess foam into another glass which is used for the next order. Maybe this is (marginally) acceptable if the next order is a minute or so later, but I have seen bars where that half full glass sits for 10-15 minutes before becoming the starter of a fresh pint. Half of that beer becomes warm, degassed, agitated leftovers. Lovely. The pub owner’s attempt to save a few pennies comes at the expense of my drinking experience. If you can’t get your foaming under control, suck it up and let the excess go down the drain. I will happily a few cents more for a pint just to get you to stop that practice!

One of my biggest pet peeves is dipping the tap nozzle in the beer as the glass fills up. Yuck!! I don’t think I need to say why this is a bad idea. What flummoxes me is that this only happens with beer. A server wouldn’t THINK of allowing the top of the wine bottle to touch the wine in the glass. Even soda dispensers are held above glass level. It is just plain lazy, thoughtless pouring.

It is not just with taps where beer pouring can go wrong. Pouring from the bottle, while definitely easier, still requires some attention. At home, I make it my goal to make every glass I pour a perfect one. I don’t always succeed, of course, but I try. Temperature fluctuations,  evolving carbonation levels in my bottle-conditioned homebrew, patience and luck all come into play as well. Which means I shouldn’t be too hard on servers who make the occasional mistake – and I try not to be. My ire is directed not at the odd mis-pour, but at places where shoddy practices are commonplace or, worse, company policy.

As beer consumers we have a role to play in articulating our preferences and what we consider bad form, but ultimately it is up to pub owners to up their game, figure out the essentials to pouring good beer and ensuring their staff are trained on those methods. It doesn’t take long – a few principles, a handful of rules and practice – to ensure you have mastered the fine art of pouring.