How to Properly Pour a Beer According to Experts

If you don’t like drinking beer because of the dreaded beer bloat, don’t blame your brew. Blame whoever poured it, according to Max Bakker, an AB InBev educator and one of 13 master cicerones (the beer equivalent of a sommelier) in the world.

A beer that’s poured slowly down the side of the glass to create as little foam as possible is the reason for feeling like an inflated beach ball. Around “2.5 bottles of CO2” are trapped in a beer when you transfer the liquid from bottle to glass in that way, Bakker explains in a Business Insider video.

“I decide I’m gonna order some nachos,” Bakker says while violently shoving a wooden spoon into the beer and releasing carbonation, “and I take that first bite, and once it hits my belly, that happens.” A waterfall of foam cascades out of the beer glass. While stomach lining and glass are not exactly the same, you get the point.

Carbon dioxide is dissolved into the beer either naturally by fermentation or artificially after it’s brewed. That carbonation creates pressure that’s released when a bottle or can is opened and that rises to the surface when the beer is poured. Any carbonation that wasn’t released from the pour or freed over time is released after you swallow the beer.

Hold your glass at a 45-degree angle from the beer. Aim the opening of the bottle or can at the side of the glass near the middle and pour away, leaving some room between the edge of the glass and the bottle. Then, once your glass is about halfway full, turn it straight up and finish pouring in one smooth motion. If you see a nice, foamy head, you know you’ve done it right.