Which would you think is faster: an order from a food truck or a slow-poured pilsner? The two times I took this challenge at TAPS Brewery and Barrel Room, the taco won handily both times. Why would I want a beer that takes forever to pour, anyways?
I first had a slow-pour pils was at Denver’s German-style beer hall called Bierstadt, where the pilsner is poured out of a special faucet straight into the bottom of the glass in three phases, each taking a couple of minutes per phase. First, it’s poured until foam hits the rim and settles out, next comes a second top off, then finally finishing with a tidy foam cap. The whole process takes around six minutes, and it’s so worth it.
Once the beer is served, it’s picture perfect with a muffin top of meringue-like head peaking above the rim. The beer’s hop and malt notes get captured in the foam like a spider web, and once sipped, the bubbles pop releasing all of those trapped aroma compounds making your first sip like a quick jab of hops to the nose from Mike Tyson.
Pouring this way also helps out with drinkability and gut-feel, shaving down all that carbon dioxide bite that can help you drink a little bit faster, and also helps you feel less full…which in turn helps you drink another pint. Protip: order a second when you’re about halfway done.
TAPS Bjorn in the USA is the beer poured out of the slow-pour faucet and is a west-coast hopped up version of a German pilsner that has plenty of cracker-like malt and zesty hop aromas. Check it out on your next visit!
TAPS Brewery and Barrel Room is at 15501 Red Hill Ave, Tustin tapsbrewery.com
Greg Nagel has been writing about beer since 2011, is an avid homebrewer of wine, cider, and beer, is a certified Cicerone Beer Server, level 1 WSET in Wine, a podcaster with the Four Brewers Show, and runs a yearly beer festival called Firkfest happening on June 29th in Anaheim!
I love this place, great vibe for beer and food.