Beer Makes You Bloated? You're Probably Just Pouring It Wrong

When your bartender pours your beer, take a closer look — are they letting it foam, or are they trying for the "perfect" foam-free pour? If so, they're not doing you any favors. When the beer doesn't foam in the glass, it's probably foaming in your stomach and causing a nasty case of (you guessed it) bloating.

As "beer sommelier" Max Bakker explains in this nifty video, people have been pouring beer all wrong. Any real beer pro knows you're supposed to tilt your glass at the start of a good pour. But many pourers will keep the glass tilted until the beer runs out. No foam, no mess. Right?

Wrong. When you don't let any foam loose during your pour, the CO2 stays dissolved in the beer itself. Then, once you drink the beer and proceed to eat something — say, a nacho or a chicken wing — the foam explodes into a barrage of bubbles in your stomach. That's what causes bloat.

To correctly pour your beer, begin with a slight tilt in your glass. Then, once the beer begins to settle at the bottom, return the glass to its upright position and allow the top to foam. The CO2 will all release in a bubbly, airy mess that settles with time — outside the walls of your stomach.

This is the same reason beer is so much better sipped from a glass than a bottle or can. Without first being poured, all those bubbles are just waiting to unleash an explosion of foam after you drink it.

Just because it makes you bloat doesn't mean beer is completely bad for you. No one's saying it's a health food, but here are 10 totally legit medical reasons you should drink more beer.