THE PURPOSE OF A FOAM HEAD ON BEER
It looks good and delicious every time! A beer with a nice thick foam head on top of it. The sight of this will make you want to have a beer as well. The question that’s often asked is, why does beer have a foam head and what is the purpose of a foam head?
A foam head covers beer like a blanket. It protects the beer. The foam head functions as a lid that prevents the carbon dioxide to quickly evaporate from the beer in the glass. Without the protective foam head, the tingly fresh flavour of beer disappears quite fast.
That same foam head ensures that your beer is protected from air. It is almost like an airtight cover over your beer, preventing it from oxidising too quickly. Oxygen can rapidly affect the flavour of beer. Oxidised beer just doesn’t taste well, the once refreshing aromas that were in your beer has changed into a dull and flat flavoured beer.
The sturdiness of a foam head is of great importance. You would like the white blanket over your beer to remain as long as possible. This, of course, is measurable. Experts measure this with the half-life system. This is actually pretty simple. The time is measured in which the foam head halves in volume. If the time is 110 seconds or more than you have a nice thick foam head protecting your beer.
THE IDEAL BEER SERVING TEMPERATURE
A warm pilsner beer? Not a lot of people would prefer that. An ice-cold bock beer? Again, most would prefer it a few degrees Celsius warmer. The ideal serving temperature of a beer can occasionally be underestimated. It is not that difficult to learn which beer should be served at a certain temperature. Here, we will provide you with a guideline that should help you to fully enjoy the beer of your choosing.
For example, try it with an aromatic beer. Chill it close to freezing point and pour it in a glass that suits the beer you’ve chosen. Pour another glass with the same beer, however, this time a degree or 8°C / 46.4°F warmer. The cold beer, you can slightly smell, but to say without a doubt that it’s an aromatic beer is impossible. Try the warmer glass of beer and swirl it around just like you would with a glass of wine. Place your nose close to the foam and the beautiful scent of aromas comes charging your way. A big difference! Precisely for this reason it is essential to serve beer at the correct temperature.
A general guideline with bottom-fermenting yeast beers is, that it’s drunk at a lower temperature than top-fermenting yeast beers. Bottom-fermenting yeast beers, such as a pilsner is drunk at a temperature of 3° – 6°C / 37.4° – 42.8°F. The ideal serving temperature with top-fermenting yeast beers usually starts around 6°C / 42.8°F and can go up till room temperature.
Vacu Vin’s Active Cooler Beer can help you chill your beer in minutes!
RECOMMENDED IDEAL BEER SERVING TEMPERATURES:
Witbier: 3° – 5°C / 37.4° – 41°F
Weissbier: 6° – 8°C / 42.8° – 46.4°F
Pils(ner): 3° – 6°C / 37.4° – 42.8°F
Trappist beer: 8° – 14°C / 46.4° – 57.2°F
Blond Ale: 11° – 14°C / 51.8° – 57.2°F
Bock: 7° – 10°C / 44.6° – 50°F
Cheers!
THE BASICS OF BEER PAIRING
Although it is up and coming, it is probably not as well known as pairing food with wine. The idea of pairing food with beer still surprises people. However, the possible variations with “beer pairing” (as it’s called) are far more compared to “wine pairing”. To ensure you’ll have a successful beer paring, we will provide you with this beer pairing basics guideline to assist you. The most important thing about beer pairing is, deciding what the main flavour is going to be. Beer, as well as the dish, have the main flavour. The main flavour can be sweet, sour, bitter or salty. The main flavour of food can really influence the way other flavours are experienced. A few examples of reactions that flavour combinations gives.
- Sweet amplifies sweet
- Sour dulls salt
- Umami amplifies Umami
- Bitter dulls sweet and vice versa
If you don’t feel like experimenting, we will provide you with a few delicious beer & food pairings.
IPA
IPA’s pair great with salads or ice creams. However, burritos, grilled meat and spicy dishes such as an Indian curry are a good pairing too.
BLOND ALE
Blond Ale’s are fruity and have hoppy smells with a relatively high malt content. A blond Ale combines well with a cheese platter or cheese snacks. Fish and Eastern dishes are a great paring too.
WITBIER
Witbier has a fresh, fruity, mild flavour and pairs great with food such as sushi, medium to spicy cheeses. Also, lighter fish dishes like oysters and mussels pair well with this beer.
BOCK
Bock is a lovely seasonal beer that has a hint of caramel to it. This makes this beer perfect to pair it with snacks such as drumsticks, chorizo, lamb chops and mature to very mature cheeses.
Cheers & Enjoy your meal!
