Although customers in your bar choose a beer based on its taste, you can impress them by serving an attractive glass of beer. How that glass looks depends on two things: how clean the glass is and how you pour the beer into the glass.
Following are a few tips for obtaining a clean glass of beer; that is, an eye-appealing glass filled with a beer with a clear color and a good, tight collar of foam. A three- or four-sink setup is ideal for getting glasses beer clean; a three-tank setup is most common. The first tank is for washing, followed by two rinsing compartments.
A beer glass should be washed each time it is used — unless the customer requests that his glass be refilled. Proper cleaning and drying can be accomplished in four simple steps:
Used glasses should be emptied and rinsed with clear water to remove any foam or remaining beer that will cause dilution of the cleaning solution.
Each glass should be brushed in water containing a solution of odor-free and nonfat cleaning compound that will thoroughly clean the surface of the glass and rinse away easily in clean water.
The glass must then be rinsed twice in fresh, clean, cool water — with the proper sanitizer in the last tank.
Proper and complete rinsing is most important for a “beer clean” glass.
Dry glasses upside down on a deeply corrugated surface or stainless-steel glass rack.
Never towel-dry glasses. Store air-dried glasses away from sources of unpleasant odors, grease, or smoke that are emitted from kitchens or restrooms.
The right head of foam gives a glass of beer that essential eye appeal. You control the size of the head by the angle at which you hold the glass at the beginning of the draw. If you hold the glass straight so the beer drops into the bottom, a deep head will result.
If you tilt the glass sharply so the beer flows down the side, the head of foam will be minimized.
For most beer glasses — and to please most customers — the head should be allowed to rise just above the top of the glass without spilling over and then settle down to a ¾-inch or 1-inch head of frothy, white foam.
Another secret to serving a perfect glass of beer: Rinse the glass with cold, fresh water just before filling it with draft beer.