Some Czechs love the foam so much, you can order a “Šnyt” (half foam/half beer) and even a “Mlíko” (all foam). Rumor is you can ask for a "Čochtan" (no foam) but if you ask, the bartender looks at you funny or laughs, and gives you either the standard two centimeters of foam or a smaller amount of beer. I love Prague, love the hospodas and the pivovars, but do wish they'd serve the beer better. Rant over. Na Zdravi!!!
We do this as well here in Japan and it bugs me so much since, not only did I start drinking for the first time in the US as a university student (I went to the US for high school and university as a foreign student), but I also took on a part-time job as a bartender, learning how to tip the glass diagonally when pouring a draft beer so as to minimize the foam. So I've developed a compulsion when not only Japanese bartenders do this but when my friends pour beer (in Japan, it is also custom not to pour our own drinks but to pour each other's drinks so as to avoid looking like a complete drunkard) to correct their way when they just dump beer straight vertically to create so much foam that it occupies about a third of the glass. A teeny bit of foam can have some aesthetic appeal as I see it but not a quarter to a third of the entire mug. Here even Japanese beer commercials have beer being poured straight vertically creating maximum foam with a man or woman drinking it and expressing satisfaction when I want to scream at the TV, "That's not how you pour a beer!" On my personal rant, I've been trying to study creative writing recently and I've learned it's thoroughly counter-productive to the very academic style of writing I learned focusing mostly on STEM. In the sciences especially, tentative/hedge language is thoroughly embraced. We love words like appear, seem, most likely, probably, perhaps, etc, to qualify our uncertainties. So coming from this background, I want to write things like: >> "Jane appeared to grow bored of the conversation." ... as opposed to the more assertive: >> "Jane grew bored of the conversation." The latter is considered superior yet that's so contrary to how I was encouraged to write all along in my technical field, encouraged to express our uncertainties whenever appropriate and avoid conflating our subjective assessments with factual assertions. In fact, the level of pedantry I was encouraged to express might even tempt me to write: >> "Given the data I've observed so far, I would estimate that there's a 75% probability that Jane grew bored of the conversation." It wants to work to that degree of expressed uncertainty, but I've found it's considered an ultimate sin in creative writing that tends to disengage readers. I sometimes wonder if I've grown too reliant on this -- taking pride in expressing my uncertainties wherever I can -- that I'm beyond the threshold of ever being able to write compelling fiction of my own. What does click with me a bit more and suits my empirical nature is to just express observed facts: >> "Jane yawned and repeatedly glanced at her watch." That seems compatible with good creative writing ("show, don't tell") but I suspect we can only rely on it to such a degree before we need to start asserting ideas of how characters feel in a story (if only to summarize) for which I immediately develop the habit of favoring tentative/hedge language.
A Czech here, I like the foam. When you drink it the foam stays on top and you drink the beer anyway. Also the preservation aspect is true, try to let the beer sit for half an hour with no foam and it tastes worse. It's also nice to see when the glass is clean and the foam leaves circles as you take sips of the beer. If you drink it right away it tastes better with foam.
It's a matter of taste to be sure. It's interesting to me how the serving style differs from country to country, I know I don't like foam and dislike that pouring a beer so that it has the big foam head means it loses carbonation sooner.
Some Czechs love the foam so much, you can order a “Šnyt” (half foam/half beer) and even a “Mlíko” (all foam). Rumor is you can ask for a "Čochtan" (no foam) but if you ask, the bartender looks at you funny or laughs, and gives you either the standard two centimeters of foam or a smaller amount of beer. I love Prague, love the hospodas and the pivovars, but do wish they'd serve the beer better. Rant over. Na Zdravi!!!
We do this as well here in Japan and it bugs me so much since, not only did I start drinking for the first time in the US as a university student (I went to the US for high school and university as a foreign student), but I also took on a part-time job as a bartender, learning how to tip the glass diagonally when pouring a draft beer so as to minimize the foam.
So I've developed a compulsion when not only Japanese bartenders do this but when my friends pour beer (in Japan, it is also custom not to pour our own drinks but to pour each other's drinks so as to avoid looking like a complete drunkard) to correct their way when they just dump beer straight vertically to create so much foam that it occupies about a third of the glass.
A teeny bit of foam can have some aesthetic appeal as I see it but not a quarter to a third of the entire mug. Here even Japanese beer commercials have beer being poured straight vertically creating maximum foam with a man or woman drinking it and expressing satisfaction when I want to scream at the TV, "That's not how you pour a beer!"
On my personal rant, I've been trying to study creative writing recently and I've learned it's thoroughly counter-productive to the very academic style of writing I learned focusing mostly on STEM. In the sciences especially, tentative/hedge language is thoroughly embraced. We love words like appear, seem, most likely, probably, perhaps, etc, to qualify our uncertainties. So coming from this background, I want to write things like:
>> "Jane appeared to grow bored of the conversation."
... as opposed to the more assertive:
>> "Jane grew bored of the conversation."
The latter is considered superior yet that's so contrary to how I was encouraged to write all along in my technical field, encouraged to express our uncertainties whenever appropriate and avoid conflating our subjective assessments with factual assertions. In fact, the level of pedantry I was encouraged to express might even tempt me to write:
>> "Given the data I've observed so far, I would estimate that there's a 75% probability that Jane grew bored of the conversation."
It wants to work to that degree of expressed uncertainty, but I've found it's considered an ultimate sin in creative writing that tends to disengage readers. I sometimes wonder if I've grown too reliant on this -- taking pride in expressing my uncertainties wherever I can -- that I'm beyond the threshold of ever being able to write compelling fiction of my own. What does click with me a bit more and suits my empirical nature is to just express observed facts:
>> "Jane yawned and repeatedly glanced at her watch."
That seems compatible with good creative writing ("show, don't tell") but I suspect we can only rely on it to such a degree before we need to start asserting ideas of how characters feel in a story (if only to summarize) for which I immediately develop the habit of favoring tentative/hedge language.
A Czech here, I like the foam. When you drink it the foam stays on top and you drink the beer anyway. Also the preservation aspect is true, try to let the beer sit for half an hour with no foam and it tastes worse. It's also nice to see when the glass is clean and the foam leaves circles as you take sips of the beer. If you drink it right away it tastes better with foam.
It's a matter of taste to be sure. It's interesting to me how the serving style differs from country to country, I know I don't like foam and dislike that pouring a beer so that it has the big foam head means it loses carbonation sooner.
What weirdo lets their beer sit for a half an hour?