### Author:  [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2008, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-widespread-is-the-salting-of-beer-and-what-is-its-purpose/440400/8 "2008-03-07T02:21:49Z")
Back when I drank beer in the '70s and '80s, in Canada, there would be a salt shaker on every table in most bars. Beer was salted mainly by older guys, and it was always draft and not bottled beer. One of the best things I’ve ever tasted was walking into a bar out of 100-degree weather and receiving a large Molson Export draft, in a tall glass that had been dunked in water, the rim dipped in salt, and stored in the freezer.
---
### Author:  [@wolf\_in\_second\_hand\_clothing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_in_second_hand_clothing)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2008, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-widespread-is-the-salting-of-beer-and-what-is-its-purpose/440400/9 "2008-03-07T02:23:12Z")
Residue from soap kills beer foam, so bars that do a lousy job washing their glasses would be serving beer without any head. BUT a sneaky bartender can add a pinch of salt to act as nucleation points for the CO2 bubbles to come out of solution. Many bars have some salt on hand for that purpose.
Maybe some people found out that they just liked the taste.
---
### Author:  [@descamisado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/descamisado)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2008, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-widespread-is-the-salting-of-beer-and-what-is-its-purpose/440400/10 "2008-03-07T02:23:38Z")
[QUOTE=WF Tomba]
Buckskin Bill? Is that you?
[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=Doctor Who]
Yes, but salted beer is disgusting. On preview, damn you **WF Tomba**! \
[/QUOTE]
But salted bear served with salted beer, uhhmmmm.
:smack:
---
### Author:  [@SharkB8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SharkB8)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2008, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-widespread-is-the-salting-of-beer-and-what-is-its-purpose/440400/11 "2008-03-07T03:31:11Z")
When I was little, my brother showed me how to do that trick with cola. Drinking disgusting, salty soda was totally worth the awe of the phenomenon.
---
### Author:  [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2008, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-widespread-is-the-salting-of-beer-and-what-is-its-purpose/440400/12 "2008-03-07T07:34:29Z")
I used to see a lot of people putting salt in beer back in Texas in the 1950s. I don’t think the beer was necessarily draft beer; I seem to recall people pouring beer from bottles into glasses and then salting it.
---
### Author:  [@Concoctious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Concoctious)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2008, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-widespread-is-the-salting-of-beer-and-what-is-its-purpose/440400/13 "2008-03-07T07:44:07Z")
In the first cartoon appearance of Woody Woodpecker, Andy Panda is trying to shake salt on his tail (having been told that’s how you catch a bird). Woody then whips out a stein of beer and lets the salt fall on the head. Finally, I understand that gag.
---
### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2008, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-widespread-is-the-salting-of-beer-and-what-is-its-purpose/440400/14 "2008-03-07T08:31:13Z")
Is something wrong? Why hasn’t anyone asked about _Bacon_ salted beer?
---
### Author:  [@Oliveritaly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oliveritaly)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2008, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-widespread-is-the-salting-of-beer-and-what-is-its-purpose/440400/15 "2008-03-07T12:08:23Z")
Tecate beer, drank in Juarez or Elpaso, is (in my experience anyway) usually served with a bit of squeezed lime and salt on the rim of the can … it’s very good actually.
---
### Author:  [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2008, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-widespread-is-the-salting-of-beer-and-what-is-its-purpose/440400/16 "2008-03-07T12:30:30Z")
Wow. I come from possibly the world’s leading beer drinking nation after Germany (and I suspect the UK these days), and I have _never_ heard of this.
Here, some (older) guys might ask for a “Glass of {brand} with a dash”, which means an ounce or two of lemonade, and in Queensland they sometimes put sarsparilla in their beer (they’re odd up there), but salt? Odd.
---
### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2008, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-widespread-is-the-salting-of-beer-and-what-is-its-purpose/440400/17 "2008-03-07T12:34:29Z")
[QUOTE=TheLoadedDog]
Here, some (older) guys might ask for a “Glass of {brand} with a dash”, which means an ounce or two of lemonade.
[/QUOTE]
Mentioned only for the sake of interest/information exchange and so forth - in the UK, this is a ‘top’ - so ‘lager top’ means nearly a pint of lager, topped up with lemonade (by which we mean lemon soda), ‘bitter top’ is the same, but with bitter. Not sure if anyone does it with other types of beer such as stout (actually, I bet they do).
---
### Author:  [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2008, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-widespread-is-the-salting-of-beer-and-what-is-its-purpose/440400/18 "2008-03-07T13:02:06Z")
I was told to do this as a youth to get rid of the head. If my beer has too much head, I would simply prefer to wait patiently rather than put salt in it.
---
### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2008, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-widespread-is-the-salting-of-beer-and-what-is-its-purpose/440400/19 "2008-03-07T13:18:22Z")
The idea that a head on beer could be seen as a bad thing is utterly alien to me.
And if it’s got _too much_ head, then it was poured carelessly, and I’d wonder if it might be better to drink somewhere else.
---
### Author:  [@Daithi\_Lacha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daithi_Lacha)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2008, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-widespread-is-the-salting-of-beer-and-what-is-its-purpose/440400/20 "2008-03-07T13:24:03Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout]
Mentioned only for the sake of interest/information exchange and so forth - in the UK, this is a ‘top’ - so ‘lager top’ means nearly a pint of lager, topped up with lemonade (by which we mean lemon soda), ‘bitter top’ is the same, but with bitter. Not sure if anyone does it with other types of beer such as stout (actually, I bet they do).
[/QUOTE]
If the mixture is half-and-half, is that what’s referred to as a “shandy?”
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-widespread-is-the-salting-of-beer-and-what-is-its-purpose/440400.md?page=2)