This Is the Right Way to Pour Beer and Avoid Belly Bloat (Watch Video)
Not much is better than sipping a cold beer with a squeeze of lime on a hot summer’s day. Unfortunately, beer and belly bloat often go hand in hand. Enjoying just one glass can leave you loosening your belt and feeling uncomfortably full. But did you know these symptoms might be caused by the way you’re pouring your beer — and not by the beer itself?
According to Max Bakker, a Master Cicerone (like a sommelier for beer), we’ve all been pouring the wrong way. Watch the video below to see his demonstration.
Max Bakker’s Technique for Pouring Beer
“We always want to drink beer out of a glass because beer has a sound to it, just like a taste,” he explains in a video for Business Insider. “Beer is carbonated, and we need to release that carbonation into a glass.”
Bakker goes on to explain (and demonstrate) the wrong way of pouring beer: very slowly, while tilting the glass to avoid as much foam as possible. Most people prefer beer without lots of foam at the top, so this tip may come as a surprise — but it turns out, tilting the glass traps all the carbon dioxide inside the beer.
“Without that collar of foam, it’s not really a beer,” Bakker argues. He also notes that if you eat any food after drinking beer this way, all of the carbon dioxide (CO2) will foam up in your stomach, filling it with gas that’ll turn into bloat.
So, what should you do instead? “Get a beer, pour it down the side [of the glass] with vigor, and you’re breaking that CO2 out … granted, people say that looks like a lot of foam, but foam always turns into beer.”
After drinking beer that’s been allowed to foam, you should be able to eat food without the belly bloat. Plus, the foam is where the flavor is, according to Bakker. “In this foam is where we’re going to taste the sweetness of the malt and the bitterness of the hops,” he explains. “But really, it’s going to protect the integrity of that aroma that’s underneath the foam, through each sip.”
Who knew foam was such an essential component of beer, to be embraced rather than discarded? Remember this trick at your next summer cookout, and tell your friends.
Note: This method might not reduce bloating after drinking beer if you have a gluten intolerance or allergy. Speak to your doctor if you think you have one of these conditions.
