TOPIC:

So we had our Heineken Star Serve training at work today. For anyone that doesn't know what it is, it's essentially Heineken's 5 Step pouring technique they're pushing in pubs to make them stand out from the rest of the lagers. To do it one should;

Rinse a clean glass using the rinsers they've installed.
Pour at 45degree angle.
Skim the head off the top.
"Check" the pint to make sure it's ok.
Present on Heineken beer mat with logo facing customer.

The bit I'm curious about is the skimming. I was always under the impression that more head = better pint as it prevents air getting at your beer and keeps it cooler. And I assumed this is why beers on the continenent have nice big heads that rise way above the glass, particularly wheat beers. The rep however told us that the bittering elements of the hops used in the beer float to the top of the pint and skimming them off gets rid of this and thus gets rid of the "bite" and ensures that each pint is consistent. They however make no mention of this in their press releases or anything and told us that if a customer asks why we do the skimming we should say it's either to keep it fresh or to lock in the CO2. Is this all bullshit? For starters, if that were true wouldn't all the "bitterness" float to the top of the keg? And how could taking a small layer of head off the top ensure freshness?

He got us to do a taste test of the non skimmed and skimmed Heineken, needless to say, no one noticed a difference though I told him I'd prefer it to be more bitter anyway. <!-- s:lol: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_lol.gif" alt="" title="Laughing" /><!-- s:lol: -->

Sounds a bit like 2 part pour? Does it actually serve a purpose? I heard Guiness are trying to do away with this as it affects sales in night clubs in particular-where people do not want to wait. Will Heineken suffer a similar fate?

Do they clean the skimmer each time as I have never seen anyone do that!?

Sent from my AN10G2 using Tapatalk

sounds like martketing rubbish and cleaning the skimmer would be a worry if I say someone running something acoss the glass. Is thsi the latest american "head on beer is bad" racket.
diago messing with guinness, no suprise there. Get a Foreign extra Stout and leave the nitro alone, tastes better.

I remember this at some promo about 2 years ago. The "advantage" according to them to skimming the top is "that it gets rid of the bitter hop taste"

Enter that rep in the next international bullshit competition,he will win it. <!-- s:lol: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_lol.gif" alt="" title="Laughing" /><!-- s:lol: -->

&amp;quot;Stitch&amp;quot;:3hsfec3j wrote: Sounds a bit like 2 part pour? Does it actually serve a purpose? I heard Guiness are trying to do away with this as it affects sales in night clubs in particular-where people do not want to wait. Will Heineken suffer a similar fate? [/quote:3hsfec3j]

I think the entire idea is to make a pint of Heineken have a little bit more theatre to it than any other lager and thus make the customer think it's a better quality pint. In the exact same way that a customer would assume a Guinness poured in 1 go won't taste as nice. The purpose they are telling us though is to get rid of the bitterness and to ensure consistency. They seem to be under the impression that the first pint is crucial i.e. if the customer has a good first pint they will drink Heineken all night and if it's not good they'll switch. IMO that is a seriously deluded way of looking at things as I've rarely seen a customer order one lager and then switch to another next time round.

&amp;quot;Stitch&amp;quot;:3hsfec3j wrote: Do they clean the skimmer each time as I have never seen anyone do that!?[/quote:3hsfec3j]

We have been given a little holder for it that is filled with water and have been told that it's grand to empty/clean it once a night. <!-- s:roll: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_rolleyes.gif" alt="" title="Rolling Eyes" /><!-- s:roll: -->