'Like frosting on a cake': American breweries embrace Czech-style foamy beer pour

American media outlet The New York Times (NYT) has featured a Czech way of pouring beer, citing that the method has become more mainstream in the U.S as more American breweries are adopting the Czech way of pouring pints.

The NYT focuses on a small brewery in Brooklyn, New York, that pours Czech-style mlíkos, which are brimming with foam rather than liquid. The NYT writes that this is “a traditional Czech beer pour that’s finding a growing audience in the U.S.”

The mlíko, meaning “milk” in Czech, is one of several beer pouring styles originating from the Czech Republic. Unlike conventional American pours that minimize foam, Czech lagers are often served with a thick, fragrant head, sometimes filling the entire glass.

“It adds a different layer of texture that most Americans aren’t used to in beer,” said Jonathan Ifergan, co-owner of Niteglow, the Brooklyn brewery.

The NYT writes that, in the U.S. beer foam has long been seen as undesirable, often associated with improperly poured pints. However, that perception is shifting as more American brewers embrace Czech brewing traditions and specialized taps that make such different pours possible.

“People are legitimately scared of foam,” Eric Larkin, owner of Cohesion Brewing Company in Denver, told the NYT. “We’re taught that foam is bad," he added.

Larkin discovered the appeal of Czech lagers during his honeymoon in Prague and has since introduced them to his customers. His brewery offers three traditional Czech pours: hladinka, the standard pour with three fingers of foam; šnyt, a mix of two-thirds foam and one-third beer; and mlíko, a full glass of foam meant to be consumed quickly while the texture remains creamy.

“The mousse-like, fragrant foam on a Czech lager is sort of like frosting on a cake,” said Evan Rail, a Prague-based beer writer.

The recent surge in foam-heavy beer pours can be attributed in part to Lukr, a faucet manufacturer from Pilsen.These faucets allow bartenders to control beer flow like a dimmer switch, creating a denser foam than traditional American taps.

Some brewers, like Brienne Allan and Michael Fava of Sacred Profane in Maine, use the taps to maintain traditional Czech pouring methods. Others, like Jake Atkinson of Human Robot in Philadelphia, have embraced them for more playful applications, including USD 3  “milk tubes” of foam—a gimmick so popular that Atkinson trademarked the name in 2021.

Still, not all brewers stick strictly to Czech lagers. At Niteglow, Ifergan experiments with different styles, running imperial stouts and fruit sours through his Czech taps. “We hypothesized that these faucets would amplify the flavor and aroma and sweetness of the beer,” he said.