Head coloration, taste, and size

[Brew_Force]

While drinking a bottle of Piraat I started thinking and noticed that while two beers might be in the same style according to the guidelines set by the BJCP, they might not have the same head characteristics.

I quite enjoy large, white, foamy heads of on my beer, and I've seen it in almost every of style, but every once in a while I'll come across a commercial beer that has a darker, thicker, more subtle head: like the Dogfish Head Santo Palo, and some Old Rasputin... while I know what comprises head characteristics on a basic level, I'm confused on what makes up a thick white head across a number of styles.

I know this seems like a convoluted question, but why can two beers of the same style have drastically different head colors, qualities, and other properties? Why do some commercial brewers choose to seemingly neglect this facet of their beer, and how do others pull it off so flawlessly?

Edit: I suppose for clarity I should add that I understand mashing schedules, malt properties, and many other things can contribute to a certain head quality; but I don't understand the reason why two beers in the same style would have two drastically different head characteristics, and why the brewer would choose to do this to the beer.

 

[smagee]

Your edit seems to cover precisely what causes these discrepancies; the largest contributor will be grain selection. Adding flaked wheat to, say, a blonde, will produce a fine white head and result in a protein haze in the beer itself (as a general example). Other specialty malts can result in different changes in the head's consistency, color, thickness, and retention. Two beers in the same style category can contain wildly different grains, all of which should (and usually are) selected at the brewer's discretion.

As for the why, you may have answered your own question: you prefer large, white, foamy heads, so when constructing your own recipe, you'd likely tailor your specialty malts to at least work towards that goal. Not all beers will necessarily be suitable for this; a RIS, for example, is probably unlikely to end up with a pure white head.

A good book for identifying precisely what grains usually end up giving styles their unique head characteristics is Designing Great Beers, not to mention assorted online resources.