SIMPLY STOUT & HOW TO POUR THE PERFECT STOUT

If you are like me and you enjoy a pint of Irish black magic every once in a while, then you appreciate when a bartender has the skill and know-how to pour a pint properly. It’s the difference between leaving a bar with a smile on your face or a bad taste in your mouth. With St. Patrick’s Day coming up soon, it’s an essential skill to have.

When I was a young fella back in Ireland starting my first job at the Sail Inn in Killybegs, the first thing I learned when I went behind the bar was how to pour a pint of a stout correctly. If you pour a bad pint in Ireland, most of the time it will come back across the bar to you – and my old boss Vernon Graham didn’t appreciate you wasting his profit on a poor pint.

Stout runs on nitrogen rather than CO2; for some bartenders that causes a problem and they end up scooping out half the keg of stout rather than taking the time to learn how to pour it correctly.

On behalf of everyone who enjoys a well-poured pint, here is a little advice to the bartenders of our fine city – and to those who already follow these steps, thank you and give yourself a pat on the back.

If you still can’t get it right after these step-by-step directions and diagrams, then get rid of your keg and stock the bar with draught cans or bottles and let your guest do the rest. After all, we just want a good pint.


HOW TO POUR THE PERFECT STOUT

(1) Start with a clean, room-temperature glass – a frosted glass will screw it all up. Tilt the glass to a forty-five degree angle & pull the tap towards you, filling the glass about two-thirds full.

(2) Now leave the glass alone for 119 seconds – go make a martini or something for the hot blonde down the end of the bar.

(3) When the pint has had time to settle and a nice, thick, white head has formed, put the pint right up to the nozzle and push the tap away from you. Fill it all the way to the top and notice how the stout sits slightly above the rim of the glass; the head is now said to be “proud” of the pint.