If you want to show your customers how much you care, follow these top tips to pour the perfect pint:
1. Get the glassware right
Before you put the beer glass anywhere near the tap, rinse it with water to remove any trace of detergent, and dry. Doing this will ensure the flavour is as it should be, it will allow CO2 to properly escape and will aid head retention.
2. Get the angle right
Before you start to pull the pint, position your clean glass at a 45-degree angle underneath the tap. Pour at this angle until the glass is about half full and then turn it until the glass is 90 degrees (upright). For less carbonated beers like stouts and porters, leave the glass standing underneath the tap. Fill it two-thirds of the way up, then allow the beer to settle for a minute before pouring the rest.
3. Get the timing right.
Before the liquid reaches the top, turn the tap off. You need to allow about half an inch for the head. This applies to both carbonated beers like lager and IPAs and nitro beers like stouts and porters. Let the full pint settle for a few moments before serving.
As with all good bar management, preparation is key. If you truly want to pour the perfect pint, you’ll need to maintain a well-kept cellar and train and recruit enough staff to deliver it to customers.
It's not all about the individual pourer, here are the three steps pub, bar and restaurant owners will need to take to ensure their staff pour the perfect pint.
Step 1: Maintain a well-kept cellar
Storing beer in the correct way will pay dividends as there's a greater chance that this will result in a quality pint being pulled, which in turn will keep drinkers happy. It will also help keep beer wastage in pubs to a minimum. According to beer line cleaning company Beer Piper, around 40m pints of beer are thrown away before they are served, costing pubs thousands of pounds a year.
To avoid this, areas that need to be considered in cellar maintenance are temperature (it must be maintained between 11C and 13C for cask ale, according to independent beer quality control organisation Cask Marque) and hygiene. The cellar needs to be kept spotless and beer lines need to be regularly cleaned to avoid a build-up of bacteria, yeast and mould. If beer lines aren't cleaned correctly, they can affect the smell, taste and appearance of the liquid they transport from cask to pump, so will have a negative impact on the beer served.
Regular checks of equipment will help in good cellar management. For guidance in this area, publicans should consult organisations like the British Institute of Innkeeping (BII).
Step 2: Train staff
If you want your bartenders to pour your customers the perfect pint, they will need the right training and support. It's no good expecting staff members to simply turn up and know what to do. As with good cellar management, ensuring staff receive continual training, especially if systems and processes change, can reap benefits, but it must be made a priority. Training in all areas, from health and safety to customer service, should be carried out before your pub opens its doors for business, so that staff can feel confident about serving your customers in the right way, particularly when busy.
Checking that glassware is clean, knowing about the products being sold, and understanding how to work the EPoS system are just some of the elements involved in staff training. And, thanks to technology, hospitality training can take place wherever a staff member has online access, so they can come into work with the knowledge needed to do their job and focus on keeping your customers happy when behind the bar.
Step 3: Recruit enough staff
It may be stating the obvious, but if you are expecting your pub to be busier than usual, it's essential that there are enough staff behind the bar to serve high numbers of customers. Overwhelmed bartenders will be rushing to serve thirsty punters and could forget everything they know about how to pour the perfect pint in the process. All other elements involved, from checking equipment in the cellar, to ensuring glassware is clean, are more likely to be forgotten about too, meaning the end product could be of lower quality. Giving managers access to reliable people management software so they can plan rotas in advance, manage holidays and absences, can help maintain a reliable workforce and ultimately help provide fast and seamless service to customers.