Not that kind.
Beer.
Do you like your beer to have a head or do you prefer to get straight to the liquid?
A beer with a head on it looks nice and inviting, but texturally it is just in the way of the beer. When I pour beers at home I try to reduce the head as much as possible.
I like ‘Nero Wolfe’ and so I notice that he pours his beers like he’s pouring water. As a result he gets, in flanders’s’s’s words “Mostly Head” Doesn’t that somehow waste beer?
What’s your preference?
The fact that the beer can give good head, so to speak, speaks well of its freshness (lack of flatness), but anyone with half a lick of sense will try to minimize it when pouring.
I like my women to have a nice flat head, so I can rest my beer on it while I get head.
When I was in college a thousand years ago, one guy had tons of money from his family and the story went that his grandfather invented the chemical that gives the head in American beer. Seems the American stuff just doesnt’ look good when poured without this chemical additive.
At least that was the story I heard back then and I had no reason to doubt the dude.
A chemistry professor at my school invented Sex Wax. He has scads of money and only teaches for the fun of it.
Ah yes, Sex Wax. Imagine the hilarity that ensued when my Mom borrowed my car while hers was in the shop and she found that lovely surfer dude product on the floor of my car.
After explaining what it was and why her 16 yr old son wouldn’t be stupid enough to leave sexual paraphanalia in plain sight of his MOM, she commented on the odd names we kids have for things anyways.
As for the OP… Yes, like head.
Definitely need a good head on a beer. Maybe a quarter inch? To give it the frothy look.
On a related note, anyone ever try to ask for beer with ice? Man, those German bartenders have no sense of humor. 
I don’t really like beer at all but I have tended bar on a number of occasions and when people seem most impressed is when I leave about 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch of head on top of a pitcher.
Precious few people actually buy pints where I used to work so I really don’t have a good sample to work with but 1/4 inch seems about right from those I have served.
Not quite true. Many beers are better appreciated with a full head to carry the aroma of the beer to your nose. You may have noticed that some boutique beers are served in particuarly shaped glasses. Some beers are served in short, wide glasses which serve to minimise the amount of head at the top. This is because these beers are better appreciated without a huge amount of froth (e.g. most lager-style beers).
OTOH, other beers are deliberately served in tall, skinny glasses which accentuate the head. These beers are supposed to be tasted through the aroma of the beer froth.
What beers are best served with head? I always try to minimize it, for the reasons in the OP, but am willing to try some beers with head if I can expect a different experience. (And FWIW I prefer IPAs and the rare porter or stout–even superb lagers don’t do much for me)
Daniel
I prefer straight liquor, yes. Vodka, preferably.
[SUB] oh…nm[/SUB]
A head doesn’t bother me with the right beer. I like pouring a Guinness and having to lick it off my lip. Besides, it looks beautiful, and has a nice frothy/creamy consistency that blends well with the thinner beer on those first few sips.
If I pour a Budweiser, though, I don’t want a head. It’s got a fizzy/foamy consistency that I don’t like.
The head on Sam Adams Boston Lager (my most drank beer) is minimal, but a little fizzy and a little creamy. I don’t mind it.
Hmm…I was wondering if Guinness was an example. I can’t stand the stuff, although it may be a result of drinking it in the US; every time I’ve had it, it tastes really flat and slightly metallic to me, with no good flavors.
A local brewery’s stout–Highland’s Mocha Stout–is sublime, on the other hand, full of coffee and cocoa and toast and other good stuff. On a stout like that, I guess I’d like the amount of head that you get on a cup of good hot chocolate: just a wee bit of foam on top.
Daniel
Beer should have no more that 1/4 " head on it.
FTR, I once traded a Sex Wax t-shirt to a girl for some head (the really good kind).
This is so odd. Last night, I sat down to watch my TiVo’d Chelsea v Barca, and poured myself a nice Leffe blond. As I watched the head grow I thought I should start a thread about head on beer and would people take the title the wrong way. (I would have put it in Cafe Society, so less likely). Just saw your thread now, but you started it at almost exactly the same time I had this thought.
Quit it, you’re freaking me out.
That said, I generally like head on beer, but more so on Belgian ales and German pils and lagers. A nice, light froth on top of a Guiness is also appreciated.
You have an itch on your left buttock, and in about seven minutes you’ll feel thirsty.
Amen brother. Part of the Guinness experience is the post-first-drink slurp of my delightfully delicious foam encrusted mustache.
As mentioned - stouts have great head. IIRC, a core feature of Belgian ales is their head. I have had Duvel many times and the beer is impossible to pour without getting a lot of foam.
I can’t stand beer with no head. Even lagers.
Even though I don’t do homebrewing these days (need to start again), I still drop by the homebrew supplies store and buy some bottle washing powder. I wash my beer glasses in it and never use those glasses for any other type of drink. It keeps the head on the beer, and is what bars use in their bottle washing machines. Household detergent flattens it - even if you rinse the glass a zillion times.
It’s also a decent indicator of a beer’s body, so long as there aren’t any funky additives for heading added. Generally, the brewing ingredients and processes that will ensure a good head on a beer will also give it good body as well. Unmalted barley and wheat are especially known for being good at this.