A university professor has claimed we are pouring our Guinness too slow – and its all Guinness’ fault.
William Lee, who is Professor of Industrial Mathematics at the University of Huddersfield, also says that the Guinness glass is the wrong shape.
If he had his way the iconic pint of the black stuff would look like a very different drink indeed – but we would be served much faster.
It all comes down to the science of the bubbles, which helps to explain a key difference between Guinness and other beers.
The bubbles in a pint of lager will start at the bottom of the glass and float upwards, but, remarkably, the bubbles in Guinness seem to defy gravity by starting from the top of the glass and sinking down.
This is because regular beers have carbon dioxide bubbles, whereas Guinness bubbles are nitrogen.
However, it’s not as straight forward as that and the direction of the bubbles is also influenced by the shape of the iconic Guinness glass.
For more details, check out the video below.
The sinking bubbles mean that it takes longer to pour a pint and, as any good bartender will know, you have to take a break in the middle of pouring a pint to let the drink settle before filling it up to the top.
While this would usually be seen as an inconvenience, Guinness showed their marketing genius with their ‘good things come to those who wait’ slogan as well as instructions for pouring the perfect pint.
One person who isn’t happy to wait is Prof Lee who believes that the perfect pint could be poured far quicker – but into a very different looking glass.
He says that pouring the Guinness into a huge martini glass would remove the issue of the bubbles being pushed down the glass and you would be able to pour a pint in one go, without a long wait in the interim.
However, the huge glass wouldn’t be the easiest thing to drink from – or carry a round back from the bar.
It certainly has a distinct look of its own, but we can’t see it replacing the iconic pint glass that we all know and love.
Take a look at the video below.
Written by Michael Kehoe @michaelcalling
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