Poor head retention

[marmite]

I entered a bitter at the SpringThing which received excellent marks except that it was marked down for poor head retention.I rescued the bottles including the judging bottle which stayed in my van from saturday afternoon until late afternoon today thus being subject to various temperature changes. I was pleased with this beer and knew it had good head retention so I reopened the judging bottle which was 3/4 full.It opened with a soft plop and had a very nice head. Although it was difficult I made this beer last an hour after which it still had 1/4 inch head.Any comments please?

 

[Mark1964]

was it chilled when it was jugded as we run our bitter through a chiller and it loses its head probably due to being chilled. The same beer in bottles stored at room temp has a great head

 

[marmite]

It had been cool conditioned at 12c in my fridge for about 4 weeks then transported to Church End on the friday (less than 20mins from my house) where it was stored with the rest of the beers. All my other beers ( I entered 6 in total))were treated exactly the same and only one other had a similar comment, the rest receiving good comments with regard to the head