How A Few Pinches Of Salt Can Seriously Elevate Your Beer

If you enjoy chomping down on salted pretzels or French fries while downing a cold pint, you have experienced the tempting flavors that this combination can provide. Yet as common as it might be to reach for salt-topped snacks and malt vinegar chips while enjoying a perfect pour, some drinkers take this flavorful punch a step further by sprinkling salt directly into their glasses of beer. If the move sounds like a monstrosity, revelers around the world have been doing so for centuries. 

The salt-in-your-glass approach has been passed down from one generation to the next, so if you see a drinker in a pub adding a bit of salt to a pint, do not be alarmed. The simple inclusion can smooth out some of the jolty bitterness found in pints of IPA and Gose beers, and the easy inclusion can bring out sour flavors of many Mexican and craft beers. Not only can salt impact the taste of your poured drink, but it can also impact the overall drinking experience. 

A pinch of salt can be a deliberate decision depending on how you would like your night to end. Extra salt added to your beer can help flatten the drink so you can put back more of it in a drinking session. Just consider yourself warned: Immediately upon adding salt to a pint, you'll notice a fizzy foam that emerges quickly on the surface of your glass. If your beer has been perfectly poured to the top of your pint, you may want to first drown enough space and gulp down a few sips so that the introduction of salt to your drink won't result in a messy beverage overflow. 

For those who enjoy sipping beers that have been served with thick, foamy heads, sprinkling salt into pint glasses must be added to your beer-enjoying arsenal. The easy addition can result in a cocktail-like beverage that doesn't require you to shake or mix any ingredients tableside and offers a more flavorful-tasting brew with little effort on your part.