OT: How much head do you like on your beer?

[IronFist]

Say you have a nice pint of beer. When it is served to you, what percentage of the contents of the glass should be head?

Just so there's no confusion, answer like this: 50% would be half beer and half head. 20% would be 80% beer and 20% head.

Got it?

Anyone ever had O'hara's Celtic Stout before? I just opened a bottle and it's not bad at all! It has a very dark, roasted taste. It's as black as Coke.

My parents gave me this 10-pack for Christmas called "Beers of the World." It's got 10 different imported beers from different countries. They love me :D Try to contain your jealousy.

IronFist

[Laughing Cow]

Head on the Beer.

Very little to none is best for me.

Why should I be jealous I can get beer from all over the world close by, nothing beats the Budvar Budweiser.


:D :p

[Laughing Cow]

Head on the Beer.

Very little to none is best for me.
The head is just there to cheat you out of a full glass of Beer. :D

Why should I be jealous I can get beer from all over the world close by, nothing beats the Budvar Budweiser.


:D :p

[Repulsive Monkey]

I half agree with Cow, very little head indeed, maybe half a cun atmost. However I feel Budweiser make one of the weakest beers around and certainly not the tastiest. I also drink lagers too so for me Stella Artois, and Kronenberg (my fav!!) are best. I always used to enjoy Newcastle Brown too. However I'm also a Cider drinker too and equaly enjoy Blacthorn aswell as Strongbow. I'm not making fun of our American cousins but a few years ago when I heard that the upper classes of America had just discovered Cider and they treated it like an apperitif I laughed my backside off. They were drinking it in wine glasses of all things. When an American friend told me the same thing and came over to the UK he was blown away when I got the barman to pull him a pint of Thatch. Plus he was legless in minutes too!!!
Obviously with Cider there should be no head whatsoever and a decent pint of cider is one where you can't see throught it at all just billowing clouds of near solid clouds.HHHMMMMMMM

[Laughing Cow]

RepulsiveMonkey.

I am talking the European Budweiser from Budvar not the American stuff going by the same name.

:D :p

But I don't shy away from a good cider either.

[IronFist]

Originally posted by Repulsive Monkey
Stella Artois

There's one of those in my Beers of the World pack, but I haven't had it yet. So it's pretty good I take it?

IronFist

[Mr Punch]

The head depends on the beer.

Stella's really beautiful in a pavement bar on a hot hot day in the south of France, when it can be disgusting in a smokey, badly-kept dive in the UK Midlands. But by the same token, you may complain about the head in the UK cos you know it's probably mostly pipe-cleaning detergent, whereas a similar sized head in that French bar would be pure heavenly froth...

Hmmm, Budvar Budweiser!

Eeew, US Budweiser!

[David]

My local sells the Budvar. It's a very 'right-on' pub hehe. I don't drink Stella because of the ridiculous additives in it. There's no worse lager for hangovers yeuch!

I don't want a head on my beer and I don't even want it filled to the top. There's one thing worse than not enough beer and that's beer spilled over the bar/table your using.

-David

[Laughing Cow]

Originally posted by David
There's one thing worse than not enough beer and that's beer spilled over the bar/table your using.
-David

I know the feel about too much spilled Beer.

Been too a few places where the rough wood floor in the morning was under 1/2 inch of Water, Ice, Beer and any other liquid that was spilled. Very slippery and not that nice smelling.

But than it was the ONLY watering hole for about 5.000 People over 2 nights & 3 Days.
:D :p

Heck, we had the ladies queueing with the Guys for the toilet due to congesting on their side.
And , yes, they used the urinals along side us.
;)

[Internal Boxer]

The problems with stella and Kronenberg is when its brewed in the Uk (by Courage in Glasgow), We are great at producing our own bitters, but when it comes to french beer we just fu.ck it up, having tasted a lot of french beer in france I can safely say it aint the same, stella and Kronenberg is crap here unless you read on the bottle that is has been brewed in france and imported.

Whats good about the rest of Europe is they observe the "purity Laws" with much more emphasis on producing quality lager with the least amount of additives, but over here you end up getting a co.cktail of chemicals and it completely ruins the beer. The CAMRA organsiation attempts to encourage people to buy only quality ale, but I guess most people over here are just happy with drinking sh.it beer.:rolleyes:

[FatherDog]

I prefer as much head as possible.










....oh, on beer. No head at all, then.

Stella Artois is lovely; probably my favorite lager. Too bad it's $6.50 for a six pack of it in this neck of the woods...

Oh, and it's not French, it's Belgian. The French couldn't make anything as good as Stella :D

[GunnedDownAtrocity]

im with father dog. before and after he corrected himself.

[IronFist]

In my one year of (legal) beer drinking, here are some of my favorites.

Hey, speaking of which, my birthday was last Friday. Go me!

Alright.

Löwenbräu. Yeah. This beer owns. A lot of my friends who only drink **** beer like Bud Light and Keystone Light don't like this one. I tell them, Löwenbräu is a good beer you drink when you want to enjoy a beer, but it's too expensive to get wasted off of. Remember, I'm still in college and the object of drinking in college is to get wasted.

Tucher Helles Hefen Weizen. A good Weißbier. Must be drunk from a glass. Mmmm.

Stiegl. Another beer that owns. I don't think I've ever seen this one for sale in stores, though.

Guiness. Ahhh, Guiness. I've always had it from the tap, but I had one in a bottle the other night and it sucked. It tasted flat from the time he opened it. Wtf? I know Guiness isn't that carbonated to begin with but come on. In a can it's fine, but this one in a bottle just sucked.

Gösser Dark. I had this one in a German restaurant in Minnesota (only because they were out of Stiegl). I don't remember what it tasted like, but I remember really liking it.

So what's this deal with Guiness in a bottle. Is it always that bad? It had that little ball thing in it like the cans do, but it still wasn't very carbonated at all. (That's the purpose of the ball, right? To keep it carbonated?)

This discussion of beer is one of the best KFO topics ever.

IronFist

[Liokault]

LOL a thread about beer and all the UK guys come out of the wood work.


I agree with a lot of what has been said (even by RM and thats very uncommon) but i do feel that Stella is best drunk in a grimmy smoke filled hole with a skin head wondering if u are looking at his girl rather than on some poncy wine bar frontage.


The other thing about head on beer in the UK is thst by law our pint glasses have been made bigger so that u get 1 pint of liquid plus some head.

In the past if u felt that u had to much head (?) u could ask for a top up to make up for it.


On a side note i have no idea how u get drunk on your Armerican beers if the imports (?) that we see are so weak and taste less.

[guohuen]

1/2" to 1 1/2" depending on the density of the beer. ie. wheat beer, 1/2" and stout, 1 1/2". In my experience no brewery reproduces another brewery's product worth a darn. The Foster's brewed in North America doesn't taste anything like the real stuff. Same with Tuborg. The list goes on.

[Chang Style Novice]

With a stout, three fingers seems about right, one and a half in the glass and the rest bulging over the lip of the glass. I know some folks who write an initial in the head with a fingertip to test it's thickness and resiliency. Stouts, of course, have the thickest heads with the tiniest bubbles.

With a pale ale or IPA (my usual quaff of choice) one finger that quickly disperses to just the edges is fine.

With a pilsner, about the same.

With a wheat beer, maybe half a finger before you squeeze the lime onto it - that should get rid of the rest.

One of the most beautiful things in the world is the 'brussels lace' that a good, persistent layer of foam leaves on the inside of the glass as you sip it, and a little bit more head clings to the surface. This is almost a sure sign of a well balanced, fresh beer.

Mmmmm...beer.

[Oso]

first, let's take a poll on how long this lasts before it's moved...
I've got 30 posts.


now, on to the beer at hand...

depends on the beer is correct on all counts.

a drawn guiness or other stout should have a decent amount
of head exactly as stated by CSN, porter's slightly less so.

I rarely drink anything but stouts and porters so I can't comment
on lighter beers.

Guiness should be tapped with nitrogen and not carbon dioxide.
the Guiness cans are closest to approximating an bar drawn
pint, really close imo. The new bottle guiness isn't that great
at all.

Guiness is King.

didn't we have this conversation in KC Elbow's Tuesday Night
Drinkin' Thread???


cheers!

[norther practitioner]

I'd have to agree with most of what is said. I like enough head on the lager to wet the top of my lip the first two sips, after that it should be gone. I'd have to say about the same for the pils, pilsners, etc.
Some good beers, well, I was too young to remember the names of all the beers I had when I was in Germany (over 7 years ago). But I remember the Budweiser being better, I think it was brewed in the Czech republic. Some of the heffe weissens were outragous. One of the big beers out of Finland was pretty good that I had when I was there (actually just about all I drank). Nowadays, it usually comes down to drinking a 22 of Newcy before moving to the cheap stuff before we go out. Or if we are chilling in a bar, maybe one of the microbrews, sunshine wheat, fat tire, single track, etc.

[FatherDog]

I prefer Harps to Guinness, but I prefer lagers to stouts in general, so no surprise there.

[Chang Style Novice]

Mostly, I'm all about the hops. Hence my love of IPAs.

Now - how important is the shape of the glass to you? I have a set of pilsner glasses at hope for bottom fermented beers (lagers), and a set of wider, shorter pint glasses for top fermenters (ales.) I don't have any goblets for the Trappist styles, though.

I figure it's really not critical (and drink out the bottle more than anything else) but for traditions sake, If I pour, I like to pour into the appropriate vessel.

[Oso]

CSN, I agree the glass matters. I've just recenly read about
how much the glass matters for wine, red in particular.

There's a company that makes a different wine glass for every
type of grape. crazy.

I like my beers kinda on the sweet side, lots of malt. I can deal
with a fairly bitter beer if it's still plenty malty but I really don't
care for IPA's and wheat's make me want to puke from the smell.

but I drink more liquor and wine in the winter anyway.

[guohuen]

I'm getting thirsty. The glass has to be really clean with no soap residue to kill the head.

[Serpent]

I agree, depends on the beer, but about a 1/2 inch is probably a safe average. But a real beer, like Wadworth 6X for example, shouldn't have any head at all.

And has anyone noticed that the more beer you drink, the more head you want... but not on your beer.

[IronFist]

Originally posted by Chang Style Novice
Now - how important is the shape of the glass to you? I have a set of pilsner glasses at hope for bottom fermented beers (lagers), and a set of wider, shorter pint glasses for top fermenters (ales.) I don't have any goblets for the Trappist styles, though.

Sorry, I'm new to this.

I have some pilsners (I think). I have the tall glasses that are skinny at the bottom and wider at the top. Those are pilsners, right? I've heard you're supposed to drink white beers out of that kind of glass. But, I drink all my beers out of those because that's the only glasses I have in my apartment. (Unless I'm drinking from the bottle).

Can I have a description of the other types of glasses?

IronFist

[joedoe]

About 1/2inch of head on most beers is good. I like more on Guiness because I love watching the head disappear :)

[Laughing Cow]

Personally, I prefer a cool "Stein" mug with the Lid.

[Chang Style Novice]

sounds like you've got pilsners, alright. Here's two fairly typical pilsner designs

http://www.1andonlygifts.com/j_charles/jc_4_1_a.jpg

Some goblets

http://www.barrelsandbottles.co.uk/images/beer_glasses.jpg

Not sure of the proper names of these, but they're the shorter wider pint glasses I mentioned

http://www.tufts.edu/webcentral/presentations/ssi/images/lg-include-beer-4pack.jpg

There are also mugs, sometimes called steins

http://calgaryonlinestore.com/images/CPS-K-IC-Beer-Mug-Glass-set-image-6-a_details.jpg

Which, I think if you put a hinged top on 'em become tankards.

That's most of it. I think that classifications are even more refined than that sometimes, too.

[Serpent]

That last pic is indeed a stein, or a mug. It's also a tankard, the inclusion of a lid is not relevant. A tankard is usually metal, silver or pewter, lidded or not. That pic is really a glass tankard, which the German's call a Stein. A Bierstein usually is a litre glass though. The chicks at beerfests that can carry several 1 litre Biersteins in each hand really turn me on!

Often the classic English pint glass is called a jug, sometimes a pot. That's the one that's like a fat version of CSN's tankard pic with square dimples all around. That's the best type of glass for ales imo.

[joedoe]

Originally posted by Serpent
That last pic is indeed a stein, or a mug. It's also a tankard, the inclusion of a lid is not relevant. A tankard is usually metal, silver or pewter, lidded or not. That pic is really a glass tankard, which the German's call a Stein. A Bierstein usually is a litre glass though. The chicks at beerfests that can carry several 1 litre Biersteins in each hand really turn me on!

Often the classic English pint glass is called a jug, sometimes a pot. That's the one that's like a fat version of CSN's tankard pic with square dimples all around. That's the best type of glass for ales imo.

Someone once told me that the dimples were really important for generating a good head on the beer and the pewter also does something for the taste of the beer.

[Serpent]

This isn't the best example, but it's the only pic I could find of the classic dimpled mug:

[Serpent]

And this is the classic modern English tall pint glass:

[Chang Style Novice]

Then again, if you want to get really old school, you could always try a drinking horn!

http://www.warhorse.com/graphics/labracombo.jpg

http://www.civilization.ca/media/docs/images/vik05b.jpg

[Serpent]

That second one is a beauty!

[Chang Style Novice]

A guide to the various shapes and uses of beer glassware. (http://www.johnsgrocery.com/Departments/Breweriana/styles.html) Strangely, Horns, Pots and Tankards are not mentioned among the Boots, Chalices, Thistles, Pilsners, Flutes, Mugs, Imperial Pints, Nonick Pints, Tulips/Snifters, Quaker Pints, Stiens/Krugs, Tumblers and Weizen.

[Serpent]

Originally posted by Chang Style Novice
A guide to the various shapes and uses of beer glassware. (http://www.johnsgrocery.com/Departments/Breweriana/styles.html) Strangely, Horns, Pots and Tankards are not mentioned among the Boots, Chalices, Thistles, Pilsners, Flutes, Mugs, Imperial Pints, Nonick Pints, Tulips/Snifters, Quaker Pints, Stiens/Krugs, Tumblers and Weizen.

Well, I imagine that Pots and Tankards are just regional dialectical variations covered by Mugs and Steins (though I'm surprised the Tankard is not included).

The omission of the horn, however, is a heinous, unforgiveable crime.

[Chang Style Novice]

I'm such a sucker.

I hadn't thought of drinking horns in years, and now that they're on my mind I totally want a big ****ing drinking horn, with a quart capacity, enamel lining, and ornately detailed stand and hinged lid (with a thumb-lever for easy opening.)

It's the ultimate in useless, conspicuously consumptive boozy paraphenalia.

This one (http://www.beerglasshopper.bigstep.com/item.html?PRID=1275553) looks perfect, and only $259!:rolleyes:

[IronFist]

Originally posted by Serpent
That pic is really a glass tankard, which the German's call a Stein. A Bierstein usually is a litre glass though. The chicks at beerfests that can carry several 1 litre Biersteins in each hand really turn me on!

Actually, I've always been told that German's don't call those "steins." Like, ok. "Stein" (with a capital s, like all nouns in German) is the German word for rock or stone. But the drinking vessel that you refer to as a stein isn't a German word.

That's what I've been told.

And if you're curious, the German word Stein (rock) is pronounced like "Shtein" (rhymes with English "pine.").

IronFist

[FatherDog]

Originally posted by Chang Style Novice
I'm such a sucker.

I hadn't thought of drinking horns in years, and now that they're on my mind I totally want a big ****ing drinking horn, with a quart capacity, enamel lining, and ornately detailed stand and hinged lid (with a thumb-lever for easy opening.)

It's the ultimate in useless, conspicuously consumptive boozy paraphenalia.

This one (http://www.beerglasshopper.bigstep.com/item.html?PRID=1275553) looks perfect, and only $259!:rolleyes:

Do what I did.

Buy an actual horn, unworked, unfinished.

Sand down the edge so you can drink out of it without gouging your lips, and cover the inside with food-grad sealant.

Voila! A drinking horn.

I use mine on camping trips, 'cos I can dig the point into the ground next to me so it doesn't fall over.

[SevenStar]

dunno - I don't drink beer

[Serpent]

Originally posted by IronFist


Actually, I've always been told that German's don't call those "steins." Like, ok. "Stein" (with a capital s, like all nouns in German) is the German word for rock or stone. But the drinking vessel that you refer to as a stein isn't a German word.

That's what I've been told.

And if you're curious, the German word Stein (rock) is pronounced like "Shtein" (rhymes with English "pine.").

IronFist

OK, I'll give you that. I don't know if the Germans actually refer to it as a Stein, but in England a Bierstein is a big, glass 1 litre beer glass from Germany, which is also used in many other European countries.

And those chicks that carry loads of them around at beerfests still turn me on.

[Oso]

...any chick bringing me beer is turning me on

[Serpent]

Originally posted by Oso
...any chick bringing me beer is turning me on

Good point. Well made.

[Martial Joe]

Im only 16 but that doesnt count everywhere...


Id have to say...Just enough to leave alittle foamstash for your woman to go after.

[Serpent]

Originally posted by Martial Joe
Im only 16 but that doesnt count everywhere...


Id have to say...Just enough to leave alittle foamstash for your woman to go after.

LOL. Ah, youth! ;)

[Oso]

props to him for being 16 and having a woman and not a girl.

[Laughing Cow]

Where I come from a "Stein" is a earthen or clay mug (500ml) with or without a Lid.

The glass ones go by a different name
(Kruegel), but we got a few different glasses with different names.

And than a lot of my Country-men like their Beer warm and use an electric Coil to keep their beer that way. YeeeewwHH.

Cheers.

[Oso]

beer, of any persuation, is always served way too cold in the US

how bout some Sam Adams Triple Boc?

I had to go to another state to buy some 'cause NC is in the
middle of the southern Bible Belt and if it's beer and more
than 6% ABV then you have to label it as 'malt liquor' and SA
wouldn't do that to their TB.

Although, in the right frame of reference, an OE800 40 can be
just the right thing.