Getting Head

[RogerB]

When Greene King experimented with their St Edmunds Ale a couple of years back with their Northern / Southern pull contraption, I tried a pint of each version in the Dog & Partridge, Bury St Edmunds. Both me, Mrs B and the mate I was with preferred the the northern version with the head. Chatting to the very lovely but typically dopey barmaid (as you do), she informed me that most people in the pub came to the same conclusion. Of course, the other 99.9% of the drinking population prefer another brewery's beer altogether but that's for another thread.

[arwkrite]

I like a full pint of liquid , in a lined glass , which tastes as the brewer intended. It should also be fit for purpose in that should I wish to get plastered ( Heaven Forbid) it will do the job. Well thats the basics.
A nice head is aesthetically pleasing but does not make up for short measure. There is no argument with a lined glass. I seem to remember that on some keg taps if ,at the end of pouring the pint, you pushed the toggle back a creamy head was supposed to appear on the pint. The less fussy bar staff pull a pint glass full of beer and bubbles and dump it in front of you. They could not be bothered if it settles properly. At one time I would have made a comment about topping it off with a glace' cherry but I am perhaps older and wiser now.

[Eddie86]

The modern phrase is 'can I have a flake with that' - in Hay anyway!

[Farway]

I'm with runningdog on this one, as another Southerner I grew up with no head beer and one with a head was normally the publican giving a short measure

But the taste is the thing of course

[runningdog]

The modern phrase is 'can I have a flake with that' - in Hay anyway!

Mine is usually, 'Is that vanilla?'. It's mostly wasted, but one lass, quicker than than most, came back with 'I'll try the kitchen'..........

[Oggwyn Trench]

I prefer a head , though on the rare occasions i am down south i drink it without but it usually has a light covering of froth not completly flat . Last time i was in Leeds (years ago) i got served a pint with what looked like a Meringue on top .

[PaulOfHorsham]

Aaah! Sparklers! Can't be doing with the things - they seem to drive all flavour out of the beer. Well, not in all cases, but in far too many, although I have to admit to being an irregular traveller to Northern England. Seems to me that, in the Midlands (well, Leicester, anyway - once again, my experience is not extensive), they use what might be termed a 'light' sparkler, so you don't have to fight your way through the froth to get to the liquid.

Beer in London served 'northern style' is often an indicator of a pub that's trying to sell you less than a full pint, as they're unlikely to be using a lined glass.

Finally, though, properly conditioned ale served through a handpump ought to have some head on it. Try a visit to somewhere like the Evening Star in Brighton and you'll have to wait for the beer to settle before it's topped up. That's just excellent quality ale.

That's my two-pints worth, anyway.

[Farway]

Thanks Paul for the nod about Evening Star in Brighton, I wlll make that number one on my list for my Brighton stopover via 700 bus from Pompey

[aleandhearty]

some beers are actually brewed to be poured through a sparkler (sparkler knocks out CO2, making beer sweeter, hence northern beers traditionally being brewed more bitter than southern ones - can't remember where I learnt that from,

Eddie, I think it was here: www.roosters.co.uk/faq.htm. I transcribed it for a similar debate elsewhere.

As someone who has lived in West Yorkshire most of my life, it's not surprising I prefer beer with a head. It's personal preference borne out of familiarity with a regional style of serving. I think the key is to respect the difference. If I drink down south I respect that the beers are brewed to be served without a head. End of. What I struggle with is people drinking Northern beer, in the North, and asking for the sparkler to be taken off. They are altering the balance of the beer and being intolerant of regional diversity in beer culture.

I love the texture of a head on beer. With porter for example that texture seems to come from within the beer, the head is not something that sits scum like on top. A lot of Northern beers are brewed to have that 'integral texture' and that is why I and many others find it so easy to drink.

[Dave M]

I was just at the Portsmouth CAMRA site researching the Gosport beer festival and noticed the 'Spot the Difference' on the front page.

Shouldn't they be advising people to make sure it is not a lined glass before phoning Trading Standards?