How Much Beer Foam Is Too Much?

Whether you're enjoying it by the bottle, can, or keg, and by any other name, beer is one of life's most celebratory beverages. We chug it at the game, knock a few back with friends after work, and generally sip on one with all the lusty thirst of a character in a Super Bowl commercial. But there's one big bummer that can deflate the sudsiest satisfaction: too much foam.

As with drunken effusions, a little bit of beer foam goes a long way. If you picture a perfect pour right now, whether it's served in a mug, a pint glass, or any of the many other sundry beer drinking vessels in existence, you are already likely imagining, too, the ideal ratio of foam to liquid gold. About 1 inch is plenty to crown your brew. This is why you'll see bartenders holding those pints at a particular angle under the tap, to better control its pressure to achieve just about that right amount of that frothy layer of carbon dioxide. Most people will instinctively try to do the same when negotiating a home pour to varying degrees of success. If you're accumulating too much foam, caused by all that carbonation knocking around, you can tilt the glass a bit less, and vice versa.

Like with wine, beer imparts a unique perfume. Its foam is the ideal vehicle for that aroma, a diffuser between elements. It also carries a high texture quotient and resulting sensory recall; you might be remembering a time when that soft cloud seemingly dissolved into a crisp lager upon your first sip at this very moment. It signals freshness, too, regardless of how long the stuff has actually been kicking around. So yeah, you need a little. If a pour doesn't have any, that could indicate a flat beer or other issues with brewing or serving.

Too much foam, on the other hand, more than about an inch and a half, throws this all out of whack. The fragrance gets muddled, the proportions don't land right, it just looks weird, and its improper appearance creates the uncomfortable feeling that you're being ripped off somehow. Now, beer varieties and their corresponding presentations may merit this measurement to change by a tick or two. But clear across lagers and pilsners, porters and stouts, an inch is a cinch.