Pouring Homebrew - What's the Big Deal?

Hang out with a homebrewer, and likely they'll spend some time teaching you how to pour a beer. Try not to take offense, folks - we know that you've been pouring beverages from bottles for a long time. The fact is, unless you bottle from a kegging system or filter your beer, homebrew is a little bit different from pouring a Pepsi, or even a Sam Adams. As a judge or an aficionado, it's important to know how to pour a homebrew properly, and I'm going to tell you why. That said, the bottom line is enjoyment - so long as you're enjoying the beer, it really doesn't matter how you pour the damn thing, and even if you choose to drink it right from the bottle - something that would make some homebrew snobs cringe - that's great. Just be aware that you may not be experiencing the flavors intended by the brewer.

Bottle Conditioning
When you bottle homebrew, it's completely flat, which isn't usually all that palatable in a beer. Sugar is added as the beer is moved into the bottles, and just like during fermentation, live yeast present in the beer convert the sugar into a little bit of alcohol and carbon dioxide - the latter is what carbonates the beer and makes it so damn fun to drink. In addition to alcohol and CO2, this fermentation creates some solids - mostly dead and dormant yeast cells - that settle to the bottom of the bottle. These solids aren't harmful to the beer (they're actually beneficial, to a degree), but if they get mixed up with the beer, they contribute some flavors that usually don't belong. Most commercial breweries filter their beer before bottling, removing the yeasties and avoiding the need for a special pour. We pour homebrew in our secret, snobby way in order to get as much good, clear beer into our glasses as possible, while trying to keep these yeast byproducts out. Here's how.

Start with glassware appropriate to the style - when in doubt, a standard pint glass is nearly always acceptable. Tilt the glass at about 45 degrees, and pour the beer gently down the side of the glass. It's important not to let the beer "glug" out of the bottle - pour gently and aim for one, smooth pour from beginning to end. Sometimes, a smooth pour will not produce much head, and a good solid head is what carries malt and hops aroma into the air and to your nose - head's a really good thing, so if your pour doesn't seem to be producing any, pour the second half of the beer into the center of the glass, rather than down the side - this should stir up some head without stirring up your sediment. Watch the pour carefully, as when you get near the end, you'll be able to see the sediment getting carried toward the mouth of the bottle, floating along merrily in your beer. Stop pouring before it gets there, and dump the remaining sediment and beer out. With just a little practice, you'll be able to pour a homebrew without sacrificing more than a tablespoon or so. That's all there is to it! Here are a couple more of our snobby beer-pouring rules to consider:

- Always pour the entire bottle in one fluid motion. Never tilt the bottle back upright mid-pour, as the sight sloshing of the beer will stir up the sediment, and you'll never get rid of it.

- If you're pouring from a bottle that's larger than your glassware, use two glasses, and switch "on the fly."

- Several beer styles, most notably hefeweizen, are intended to be enjoyed with the sediment in the beer. With these, all rules are off. Pour half of a glass to make a little room in the bottle, swirl the bottle energetically, and pour the rest, capturing as much cloudy sediment as possible.

- Drinking homebrew from the bottle makes it impossible to separate the sediment. We use glasses for that reason, and not because we don't enjoy a good lawnmower beer from a bottle or can on a hot day or at a tailgate party.

There, the mysteries of homebrew pouring - exposed! Now you can be perfectly at home among the brewers in your life, and more importantly, enjoy the fruits of their labor as they'd want you to - unadulterated by off flavors. Cheers!