Beer scientist reveals one trick to making your pint better

Whether you’re drinking at home or in the pub, many people will be enjoying a few beers, especially in the warmer weather that summer brings.

Everyone will have their favourites, but can you improve the taste of any beer you’re drinking?

Various food and drinks experts have suggested you can, if you do one thing.

How can you make your beer taste better?

Beer scientists have shared that salty, savoury and crunchy tastes can help elevate the taste of a beer.

Therefore, eating snacks like nuts, crisps or pork scratchings when drinking can see some benefit to the taste.

Chris Reid, the Head Brewer at Damm UK, producer of Estrella Damm lager, shared: “Salt reduces the bitterness in beer, making it taste smoother and bringing out more of its natural malty sweetness.

“It also makes your mouth water, which helps carry the flavour to your taste buds more effectively.

“Crunchy foods wake up the nerves in your mouth and face, making your senses feel sharper so every sip tastes more vivid and enjoyable.

Crunchy foods can help “wake up the nerves in your mouth” making your senses feel sharper (Image: Getty Images)

“Meanwhile, the fat and starch in food coat your tongue between sips.

“This clears away any leftover bitterness, so your palate resets and the next sip tastes fresh and clean again.”

The broadcaster and brewer Jaega Wise, who is a spokesperson for the Mr Porky brand, also concurred with this, saying: “A lot of it comes down to contrast.

“Beer can bring bitterness, carbonation and that uncanny ability to quench one’s thirst, while pork scratchings are salty, rich and intensely crunchy.

“Put them together and each one lifts the other making both the beer and scratchings extra moreish!”

Finally, Jorge Thomas, founder of Swaledale Butchers, said: “One of the best things you can have with a pint is freshly cooked pork scratchings.

“There’s a reason they’ve been a pub staple for years.

“The salt lifts the flavour of the beer, whilst the fat and crunch make the next sip even more enjoyable.

Recommended reading:

“It’s not that different to salted nuts, just much more interesting.

“People sometimes dismiss pork scratchings as old-fashioned pub food, but there’s a good reason they work.

“Salt, fat, crunch and beer have always been a very happy combination.

“Sometimes the old combinations survive because they work.”

Do you agree that eating salty foods helps improve the taste of beer? Let us know in the comments.