Proper Draught Systems, Pours, and Cleaning

We've all seen it. The bartender pours tons of foam or opens the tap with no glass underneath... pouring till the foam stops. And once they start filling they fill your glass to the brim leaving no head and additionally they submerge their faucet into the glass. Worse yet, they serve it in a frozen glass covered in ice (and wonder why its foaming so much).

This is all kinds of wrong... but the fact is that for years there has never been an agreed upon method of how to build and maintain a draught system (yes it's spelled "draught" not "draft") and how to properly pour to prevent beer waste and in the process money.

We now have the official guideline... The Draught Beer Quality Manual


Warning: reading this will inevitably make you critical of your favorite local bars! Read with caution.

There are also some videos out there provided by some of macros (AB, SAB/Miller)... but because they are outdated they do use some old terminology and some of the methods featured are not recommended. They are, however, worth a look until you have time to read the manual.