Stout support Science backs up Guinness pouring ritual

Guinness has long maintained that "good things come G to those who wait" - with its elaborate two-part pour being essential for achieving the perfect head and flavour profile, not to mention the dome synonymous with a proper pint of the black stuff.

- Linda Geddes

But an Irish barman has worked Guinness aficionados into a lather by insisting that there is no such thing as the perfect pour and "little craft in pulling the beer lever".

Nate Brown, the owner of Paloma Café, Soda & Friends, and Nebula, cocktail bars in London, told FT Weekend Magazine that pouring Guinness in two stages was not done "for the beer's sake" but to "speed up serving the masses at home time [as] the brand has always had the savviest of marketing departments".

Yet scientists say there may be some benefits to waiting for the bubbles to settle before topping up.

Based on his lab experiments, Dr Tomoaki Watamura, at the University of Tokyo, says pints of Guinness may even benefit from being topped up repeatedly, rather than just twice, to get the desired liquid-foam ratio. "Even with considerable technique it is difficult to control the multi-scale [bubble dynamics], so it is better to repeat pouring many times."