The appearance of a beer is pretty self explanatory however there are a few things that you have to keep in mind. I usually state the appearance of beer in accordance to three things, the colour of the beer, the clarity of the beer, and head retention. Most beers are going to be golden to amber in colour, perfectly clear, with the retention of some of the head. That being said beer comes in all colours and all different forms. Even the way the beer is packaged can affect the beer.
Beer ranges in colour from the very pale to pitch black. Most beers are somewhere in between. Some brewers go to great lengths to calculate exactly how much light passes through the beer and measurements to correctly categorize and label beers. Most of us don't use, or understand, however they're measured by professional brewers in what's called the Lovibond scale. The Lovibond scale goes from 0 - 20. 0 being clear and colourless to 20 being pitch black.
| Representation of the Lovibond Scale |
What you really need to know is that beer ranges in colours. I will never use Lovibond units in a review. I will usually make a reference to the colour by describing it as a very pale golden colour, or a very rich red colour. The colours are purely superficial and only affect the appearance however the colours are the result of whichever malts where used in creating the beer, so sometimes the colour of the beer can give you an estimate of what the beer will taste like.
Another way to describe the appearance of beer is by its clarity. Most beers are perfectly clear. There are some beers that appear to be cloudy and can have some sediment at the bottom of the beer. The cloudiness of the beer isn't there because the beer has gone bad. More times that not a beer that is cloudy is brewed that way. It may because of small yeast particles and sometimes it's proteins that are in the beer, however it's completely harmless. Some beers are what you call opaque, meaning that you cannot see through them at all. This is usually your darker beers like stouts and porters.
The last thing that affects the appearance of a beer is its ability to retain its head, or the bubbles that form at the top of glass. The head of a beer can be white, grey, or brown and the bubbles can range in size. Most beers have a head when they are first poured however the head can quickly dissipate. How fast the head dissipates usually has to do with the the body of the beer. A heavier bodied beer will retain its head much better because the molecules that create the structure around the bubble are stronger in a heavier bodied beer. Before you point out the heads on the newest light beer commercial, an advertisers job is to make a product look as appealing as possible. Advertisers always add soap to the beer. The head can also change depending on if it comes from can, bottle, or from a keg. Some kegs, and bottles with widgets, contain nitrogen, which causes a creamier head. The soap increases the amount of head retention to the beer.The head does contain some taste but like everything else in this category it's merely aesthetics and doesn't really effect the taste of the beer.
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