We’ve all been to a kegger where the person controlling the keg has clearly never learned how to correctly pour a beer. They hold the beer tap directly over your red cup and fill it up with a shitload of foam. Awesome.
So what do you do now with this cup full of foam?
Photo by Juliette Kelly
Someone once told me that if you swipe a little oil off of your nose or forehead and swirl it around the top of your beer, the foam will disappear. Is this myth really true?
According to science, IT IS. The foam in beer is made of small bubbles of carbon dioxide that merge with proteins while rising to the top of your cup. The foam in your beer will hang around the top of your cup, unlike the foam in your soda, because of the carbohydrates in beer. The darker the beer, the more carbohydrates the beer has.
Photo by Juliette Kelly
According to one source, when you introduce oil from your face into the mix, the oil breaks up the carbohydrates and proteins and gets rid of the foam.
Your face is one of the parts of your body that contains excess oil. It is also the most convenient place to get a good swipe of grease, unless of course you carry around a bottle of Pam or a stick of butter… Hey, it could add an interesting flavor.
Photo by Juliette Kelly
So go ahead, wipe that oil off of your greasy face and give it a whirl. This is probably the only time you’ll feel proud to have oily skin. But you might want to make sure your hands are at least somewhat clean first.
It is kind of a gross technique and people may give you a strange look while you do it, but now you can explain to them that it’s a technique backed up by science — and science rules (thanks, Bill Nye).