How you pour a beer is as important to the beer drinking experience as having the correct glass to pour it into.  As mentioned in “Glassware,” achieving a head on the beer is desirable and a clean glass is important to its formation and retention.  Any soap or grease or left over whatever will adversely affect the head of your beer even if you pour with perfect form.

Why is the head important?  It is meant to enhance the aroma of the beer you are drinking.  The bubbles hold on to all of the hoppy, yeasty, malty goodness in your brew allowing enjoyment of that bouquet while you drink.  If the bubbles are gone, much of the aroma is gone with them.

Generally the way to pour (as I understand it) starts with your glass at a 45-degree angle or so.  Pour the beer to the middle area of side of the glass until it is about half full.  Agitation of the beer is important to release those aromas, so don’t hold the bottle too close to the glass.  From there, straighten the glass and pour directly into the middle to form the head you are looking for.  If you are dealing with a beer that has yeast sediment in the bottle, be sure to pay attention during the pour unless you want that is the glass. Suggestions on how tall the head should be varies (by person and style of beer), but one or two fingers high is a good guideline.

Again deferring to the late beer guru Michael Jackson, here are his additional suggestions on pouring per the beer style:

Pouring an ale
·    A gentle, steady pour down the side of the tilted glass will stop the beer from foaming excessively.
·    Steepen the angle and pour more directly to avoid the beer being too flat. Aim for one “finger” of foam.
·    Too much creaminess will rob the beer of its appetizingly bitter character. The hop oils will migrate from the beer itself and hide in the head.

Pouring a stout
·    Pour stout slowly, to allow the head to develop. If it grows too quickly, stop for moment.
·    A two-staged pour will make for a denser, creamier, more solid head, which will suit the coffeeish flavors of the stout.
·    A bottled stout will have a rockier, less rich head and a more natural flavor than the “draft” versions containing a “widget” (nitrogen capsule).

Pouring a pilsner
·    Bottles may take less than seven minutes prescribed for a draft, but a real pilsner must have a blossoming head.
·    A soft, sustained carbonation further enlivens the golden color with a consistent rise of small bubbles (known as the “bead”).
·    The head should rise, almost like a soft ice cream, above the rim of the glass. This brings forward the hop aroma and holds back bitterness to the finish.

Pouring a wheat beer
·    Beers containing yeast have high carbonation, so an especially gentle pour is required. The Belgians wet the glass to control the head.
·    In Bavaria, wheat beer is typically served with a huge head, especially if it is a bottle-conditioned example. Some yeast is included in the pour.
·    If the beer is deemed insufficiently cloudy, the last few drops may be rolled in the bottle to loosen the remaining yeast sediment. This is then added to the glass.

Pouring is actually one of the things that I do differently than all of the recommendations suggest.  Since I am trying to develop an ability to detect aromas in beer, I need some additional help in picking them out.  Many times I pour quite vigorously and mostly down the center of the glass to really agitate the beer and open up the aromas more than they would be otherwise.  I don’t always pour that way, but I would rather err on that side than pouring with no head at all.

As a bonus for your viewing pleasure, here is a video showing how to pour a “proper pint” of probably the most well known beverage to go into a pint glass.