| I listen to voices in my head. They are trying to tell me something. And even though most other people can’t hear them, I believe everything they tell me.
You may be one of the many people who see head on your beer as a bad thing. It takes up space in your glass that could otherwise be occupied by beer. But if you would only listen, your head is trying to tell you something, too.
If you can understand its language, aside from merely being visually appealing, a beer’s head can tell you a little about the flavour of the underlying beer. In fact, you can even subtly change the flavour of your beer by pouring it with, or without, a big head.
Good head development and retention are aided by high levels of carbonation, protein and hop oils. On the other hand, high alcohol content, detergents and fats detract from head. Assuming that you clean and rinse your glassware, negating the effects of detergents and fats, the head that eventually develops on your beer will result from the remaining factors, which are characteristics of the beer you can’t control, and the vigour of your pouring, which you can control.
Since head is a result of several factors and the flavour of the beer is a result of uncountable additional factors, you can’t know how a beer will taste based solely on the presence or lack of head. But combined with other clues, the presence or absence of head will allow you to hazard a pretty good guess about some of the flavours.
A big head that is comprised of large bubbles, coupled with beads of bubbles rising through the beer, is evidence of high levels of carbonation. Carbonation results in a drier flavour, so such highly carbonated beers tend to be perceived as being balanced more to the bitter side.
A hazy beer combined with a big head is probably high in protein. While a protein-induced "chill haze" does not itself affect the flavour, a common reason for a beer to be high in protein is that wheat, in addition to barley, has been used in the recipe. The use of wheat will often result in a glutinous mouthfeel, although the flavours will be less assertive. Hazy varieties of wheat beer are often lightly tart.
A clear beer, with no beading, which nonetheless pours with a big head could be high in hop oils. These are what provide the hop flavour (as opposed to hop bitterness), so beers high in hop oils will taste hoppier, although they are not necessarily more bitter (bitterness comes from isomerized hop acids). Try tasting a mouthful of head and compare the taste against that of liquid beer. The difference is the hop oils.
On the other hand, a beer showing high levels of carbonation, but pouring with no head may be high in alcohol content. Alcohol is lightly sweet or could have fusel or medicinal flavours. Expect a high-alcohol beer to be slightly warming.
Armed with all this knowledge, here is how you can change the flavour of your beer by controlling the vigour of your pour. The alcohol and protein levels are pretty much fixed, but the amounts of hop oils and carbonation can be changed. By pouring vigorously and creating a big head, you can extract carbonation and hop oils out of the beer, making the remaining beer sweeter. Conversely, leaving carbonation and hop oils in your beer by pouring with little head will leave your beer drier and more hoppy.
Now that you, too, listen to voices in your head, at least you also know how to control them. |
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