Are jugs a bit 'non-U'?

[moto748]

I had a bit of a 'duh' moment a while back. I guess this is something I simply hadn't considered. I have often mentioned here that I always pour from bottles into a jug, rather than into a glass. I fact, when I've sent posters here beers, either in swaps or in comps or in the Secret Santa, I may well have added a note suggesting the same. Now what others do with their brews in the privacy of their own homes is obviously up to them. But I kinda twigged when I read mentioning a 'slow pour' and a 'faster pour', that judges in comps, or even in the Secret Santa, would never pour into a jug, because surely that itself is part of the criteria for a bottle-conditioned beer: that it should pour properly into a glass, with a correct level of carbonation for its style, and have no more than a dusting of sediment?

Amirite, or am I over-thinking this?

 

[DavidDetroit]

Amirite, or am I over-thinking this?

Lot of things get overthought here.
As long as it arrives in the vessel you're going to drink out of or pour from the way you want is what's important.
I have gone 100% to drinking a bottle of beer poured into a glass since I think drinking from the bottle or can stifles the effect the beer's supposed to create.

 

[Eskimo John]

Surely a beer go through an airation process when it is poured from bottle and can. My understanding is this releases the flavour and therefore if you drink from can or bottle you aren't getting the best from your beer.

 

[MickDundee]

I have gone 100% to drinking a bottle of beer poured into a glass since I think drinking from the bottle or can stifles the effect the beer's supposed to create.

It can also give you rhino farts, if you’re talking about bottle conditioned home brew.

 

[Eskimo John]

I have just re-read your post. When you said jugs do you mean good old fashioned dimpled British pint glassware with a handle as opposed to the pint straight glass more prevent now?
If the above is what you meant then I have always preferred jugs. They're easier hold after the fifth pint, harder to damage also feel better in your hand.
So I am definitely a jugs man. (Ooh-err can I say that here?)

 

[moto748]

In a word, John, no!

I think every poster is misunderstanding me!

When I say jug, I mean a measuring jug, like this:



And I wasn't talking about drinking direct from a bottle or can either. If a beer should be particularly 'lively' obviously pouring into a 2 litre polypropylene jug is going to save all its contents, whereas if you are pouring into a glass you risk losing half your beer.

 

[Eskimo John]

So is the purpose of decanting into a jug just to remove some of the carbonation?
I am a draft beer man in preference so I can appreciate that some bottled beers can be too fizzy.

 

[moto748]

So is the purpose of decanting into a jug just to remove some of the carbonation?

Well, not necessarily. If it's not your beer, say, but one sent to you, you don't know until you open it how carbonated it's going to be. So if you pour it into a jug, you are on 'the safe side'. Say you pour it straight into a pint glass, and get half a point of beer and half a pint of foam: if you stop pouring, the remaining beer in the bottle may mix with any sediment and that last bit will be cloudy. Pouring into a jug avoids that. And the further point, in my view, is that it's easier and more convenient to stop pouring prior to any sediment reaching the glass if you pour into a jug first.

But then the caveats in my first post apply.

 

[VW911]

I like jugs...

 

[Cwrw666]

Surely a beer go through an airation process when it is poured from bottle and can. My understanding is this releases the flavour and therefore if you drink from can or bottle you aren't getting the best from your beer.

And this is presumably why I quite like Mann's brown ale drunk from the bottle but from a glass it's not very nice at all. Same could be said of all these low alcohol beers I've been having recently.

 

[Eskimo John]

A beer that's best from the bottle....is probably best left there.

 

[Victor Churchill]

I have quite often had the same issue of a frothy bottle giving more than a glassful of beer + foam. Sometimes I have the forethought to have a second glass to hand. Sometimes I have the forethought to use a jug, but there isn't usually a jug of suitable size around. Sometimes I pour it into a bigger glass. And sometimes I pour i very very slowly, and when the froth reaches the top of the glass hold the bottle prefectly still while raising the glass to mouth and slurping a mouthful of bubbles. Not something to try in public nor after a glass or two.

 

[hughjamton]

I had a bit of a 'duh' moment a while back. I guess this is something I simply hadn't considered. I have often mentioned here that I always pour from bottles into a jug, rather than into a glass. I fact, when I've sent posters here beers, either in swaps or in comps or in the Secret Santa, I may well have added a note suggesting the same. Now what others do with their brews in the privacy of their own homes is obviously up to them. But I kinda twigged when I read mentioning a 'slow pour' and a 'faster pour', that judges in comps, or even in the Secret Santa, would never pour into a jug, because surely that itself is part of the criteria for a bottle-conditioned beer: that it should pour properly into a glass, with a correct level of carbonation for its style, and have no more than a dusting of sediment?

Amirite, or am I over-thinking this?

I often do this, particularly with porters and the like.

 

[moto748]

I'm glad it's not just me! One other advantage to pouring into a jug is if you are using larger bottles, like say those 750 ml swing-tops. No prob then to pour it all out, and refill your glass at your leisure.

 

[Kit-brewer]

I often resort to the hold the bottle steady whislt slurping the froth of my glass.
As for jug, I hate with a passion the dimpled old fashioned ones from pubs. But I do like my leather jug from Barnard Castle.

 

[Tanglefoot]

I can remember when you went to the bar and were asked 'straight or handle ?' - don't seem to see the dimpled pint pots any more

 

[CD]

I found the really large Glass Jug, in the background, in Tavistock Pannier Market several years ago, and always pour bottled beers into it first to reduce the carbonisation level to my preference. (With bottled conditioned beers like St Austell’s ‘Proper Job’ and Wadsworth’s ‘Old Timer’, I pour these carefully into a glass, then tip that into the jug).

 

[moto748]

I was kinda hoping for a comment from someone who has done some judging, either in a HBF comp or otherwise, regarding that aspect of it.

I know that market in Tavistock, very nice! Many's the time I've stopped there after riding the bike across Dartmoor.