What is a good head on a pint?

[ian]

I was in a nameless Sam Smiths pub yesterday standing at the bar and observing the bar staff. And very good bar staff at that.  If I owed a pub I would employ them to run it for me.

The only thing I saw wrong was the heads on the stout.  I saw 4 pints sold while I was there and 3 of them had a good inch head on them and the 4th had a 2 inch head on it.

Both the drinkers just drank there pints without asking for a top up. Am I alone in asking for a top up if the head on my pint is more them half a inch?

ian.

[OldBreweryDrinker]

I have also been to severla Sam's pubs in the last few weeks, where the heads on both bitter and Alpine have been about a good 2 inch thick. I cannot believe customers are letting managers get away with it, as they just walk away from the bar. I know some pubs on a Saturday night are busy though.

[shemon]

My customers expect no more than 1/2 inch head on their pints.  Is that why I am not achieving my 5% gp?

[yorkie]

A one inch head or more is normal in my regular haunt for OBB & Alpine. All the regulars are now waiting for the OBB to settle and asking for a top up. The lager drinkers seem more ready to accept short measure.

The frustrating things are:

1)   For the first pint I have to wait 5 minutes for it to settle.
2)   For all other pints I have to have a fresh glass so I can finish the previous pint while the next one settles.
3)   By having to top up most pints the pub loses more beer than it saves in short measure.
4)   Having to carry a topped-up pint results in wet hands and spillage all over the carpets.

[devastatedrelative]

I think by now a lot of regular customers know about this 5% surplus and what SS does to managers who don't achieve and, therefore, do not ask for a top up. 

[DarkieBoy]

My local Samuel Smith's pub serves cask OBB with nearly an inch head (if you let it settle) on it and usually far too cold.  When beer is cold it takes longer to settle and therefore form a head.  Therefore, I find myself sat cradling my pint until it warms up to a normal cask pint temperature.  Then I ask for the top up and get the pint I've paid for!

DB.

[whizz]

There is a notice in the York Arms, "Please as for a top up if you require one", more often than not you dont need to ask, they do it. As was said, to much and you get spillage and wastage, although I take a slurp before I walk away. The price is so good I wouldn't nit pick anyway

[antthe2nd]

darkie boy?? so you mean to tell us you walk into a pub,order your drink then cradle it until you think its of the required temp?? anywhere between 9 /11 what is wrong with you?? just drink and enjoy
Post Merge: [time]Jan  6 - 2011[/time]topping up a pint has been part of the game since i can remember and im 407,c,mon guys
Post Merge: Jan  6 - 2011darkieboy, if the temp rises and too much mixed gas your obb will go lively, if the temp drops and gas goe,s then wetalking pg tips.....

[OldBreweryDrinker]

Some Sams pub that i go into have the sign for top ups if required, but several over the last year or so they seem to be disguised or hidden away so customer dont see them.

[DarkieBoy]

darkie boy?? so you mean to tell us you walk into a pub,order your drink then cradle it until you think its of the required temp?? anywhere between 9 /11 what is wrong with you?? just drink and enjoy
Post Merge: [time]Jan  6 - 2011[/time]topping up a pint has been part of the game since i can remember and im 407,c,mon guys
Post Merge: Jan  6 - 2011darkieboy, if the temp rises and too much mixed gas your obb will go lively, if the temp drops and gas goe,s then wetalking pg tips.....

antthe2nd, I don't enjoy cold beer...if I wanted tasteless cold beer I'd drink Carling.

DB.

[JettaP]

Yeah but it's not only Sam Smiths pubs.... if the landlord and staff can get away with it they will...in any pub....... and its a regional thing too. I drink in Hertfordshire during the week where they view sparklers as the spawn of the devil and most pints are as flat as a witches tit so come full to the brim. Up't North where we like a creamy head I am always amazed at the number of people who don't ask for a top up......Yet if they bought a gallon of petrol and only got 95% they would complain...AND that's cheaper by the gallon (litre OK to be strictly PC) than even Sams cheapest draught.

[DarkieBoy]

There's only one solution that I know of - over-sized pint glasses.

And as for flat beer, it is actually us Northerners who drink it flat, not southerners.  When the beer goes through the sparkler the gas in the liquid is forced to the top of the drink, forming the head.  Therefore, the liquid is flat up north, and gassy down south!

I'll be hanged out to dry the next time I'm back in Lancashire!

DB.

[JettaP]

Flat pints up't North...... nay ....DB

Wikipedia says:  A sparkler (also called a sparklet) is a device that can be optionally attached to the nozzle of a beer engine.Designed rather like a shower-head, when beer is dispensed through a sparkler, the beer becomes aerated and frothy which results in a beer that has a noticeable head on it. Some CO2 is carried away into the head, resulting in a softer, sweeter flavour due to the loss of normal CO2 acidity.

There is some dispute about the benefits of a sparkler. There is an argument that the sparkler can reduce the flavour and aroma, especially of the hops, in some beers.The counter argument is that the sparkler takes away harshness.Some pubs favour sparklers because the presence of the head means that they can get away with serving less than full measures of beer.

Breweries may state whether or not a sparkler is preferred when serving their beers. Generally, breweries in Northern England serve their beers with a sparkler attached and breweries in the South will serve them without, but this is by no means definitive. The Good Beer Guide indicates that when a brewery has not stated a preference, their beers should be served without sparklers.

[DarkieBoy]

It's what the owner of a regional "northern" (I dispute it being in the north) told me!  His claim was based on the sparkler taking out the CO2 and making the beer flat...like removing the CO2 from fizzy Vimto (see, I am a northerner) and making it flat.

DB.

[jackrussel]

Post Merge: [time]Jan  6 - 2011[/time]topping up a pint has been part of the game since i can remember and im 407,c,mon guys   

quote by DarkieBoy.


Cor, you really that old? I bow to your long experience mate! Seriously, I have had some too cold pints of OBB recently, however, the weather was apallingly cold. I have had this in more clement conditions, though. Flavour does suffer at too low a temp, so this is where the 'all fires lit' policy pays off. Also, yer right re the flat up North theory- logical if given thought. It never occurred to me until I read your post, despite nearly 40 years a drinker and homebrewer. I believe the sparkler also alters the texture and mouthfeel of the beer, and it's what I'm used to, and prefer, which is a big part of it too I suppose. Top ups? I always ask for one if I think it's justified, and have NEVER been refused or had adverse comment in return. However, first time that happens, I will be on my toes, never to return to that establishment that offends so, after appropriate comment. Sams pubs I get in regularly always excel in this respect. Cheers!!