Swirling your beer?

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TurboBrew

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I've seen this with wine but never beer. These guys do it CONSTANTLY. It's almost annoying, but maybe that just because I think it's rediculous. Can anyone enlighten me to the purpose of swirling your beer?
 
If you notice in the video, when he swirls the glass, it agitates the beer causing the head to foam up a little. Many believe that the head or foam of the beer is where you can really get the hop aroma. I don't swirl beer when I am drinking it, but I do know that head retention is always a goal for homebrewers and mainly beacuse of the hop aroma. Just a theory.

Eastside
 
I think the lace on the sides of the glass looks kind of gross when I'm taking awhile drinking a beer, so I swirl it to knock it back into the beer and clear the glass.
 
If i am drinking a beer and taking in everything about it I find myself doing a fair bit of swirling. If it is a beer i have had numerous times and do not need to find every aroma possible in it but rather just enjoy the flavors then its down the hatch.

Agreed, nothing better than a beer glass with beautiful lace...............well, a woman wearing lacy drawers maybe
 
Agreed, nothing better than a beer glass with beautiful lace...............well, a woman wearing lacy drawers maybe

Well, see - I do the latter instead ;)

It just dries up and looks weird at the top. I know it's prized - hence I knew what it was called (I didn't call it "that white beer goop") :) but I just don't know how I feel about it yet.
 
I'm reading this as I enjoy a nice homebrew- David 42's recipe for his "Bent rod rye". I think you all would hate it-
DSCF0246.JPG


Trust me- it's good! I'm kind of proud of the clarity and the lacing!
 
I swirl mine a couple of times while drinking, just for the aroma and watch how the beer plays along the side of the glass.

A waitress brought me a glass of beer the other day and asked if I wanted a glass. I told her, "yes, because it allow sme to enjoy the aroma more." She got a look on like epiphany and went off to get a glass.
 
I do it from time to time to reinvigorate the aroma. Normally I don't though. People see wine geeks do it so maybe they think that in order to be a beer geek you need to do the same thing.
 
I do it from time to time to reinvigorate the aroma. Normally I don't though. People see wine geeks do it so maybe they think that in order to be a beer geek you need to do the same thing.

I think it's the other way around, people see wine geeks do it, so they think that in order to be a beer geek you can't do it.
 
IMHO i would feel like a big beer snob/ tool swirling my beer, even if it served a purpose. BUT, thats just me, my friends already roll thier eyes at me when I don't order bud light/ miller lite at the bars.
 
I do stir to release some aroma and to get the head back , but I try not to look too snoby about it:)
 
I don't usually swirl my beer, I usually have some good head retention while brewing so I don't require it, since a lot of the hop aroma is released from the head. :off: After wathching their DVD my brother and I always quote these guys while brewing more as a joke than anything,l but it always makes us laugh. If you haven't watched it you should dsefinitely check it out, it's very basic and you may not learn much but it is good for a laugh or two.
 
I don't usually swirl my beer, I usually have some good head retention while brewing so I don't require it, since a lot of the hop aroma is released from the head. :off: After wathching their DVD my brother and I always quote these guys while brewing more as a joke than anything,l but it always makes us laugh. If you haven't watched it you should dsefinitely check it out, it's very basic and you may not learn much but it is good for a laugh or two.

All this talk about swirling is making me have to pee. I'm not even touching "head retention" though.
 
Coff said:
All this talk happened 5+ years ago. :D

Yea NS I didn't realize that. However you are probably the same guy that would bust my balls for posting a question that has been answered 15 times over the years too right?
 
It will also de-carbonate your real beer to a point...
since cask conditioned ales are my favorite, I usually swirl my pints until the last couple gulps.
 
Yea NS I didn't realize that. However you are probably the same guy that would bust my balls for posting a question that has been answered 15 times over the years too right?

Relax, I'm just busting your balls.
 
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