To test this beer myth, that “Draught beer gives me a headache,” first we must understand how draught beer differs from canned or bottled beer. Most canned and bottled beers are heat-tunnel pasteurized before shipping. This kills off any small amount of bacteria or yeast that still may remain in the beer even after it has been filtered. (The exception to this is bottle-conditioned beer which is packaged with yeast.) It is extra important that these type of beers be stored cold at all times. We all have been witness to our favorite beer sitting at room temperature in some unknowing or uncaring retail store. If the room temperature beer has not been pasteurized, there is a good chance that re-fermentation could occur in the bottle or can resulting in an abundance of Co2 gas, possibly leading to explosive results.

Pasteurization, if overdone (and it usually is), robs the beer of some of its fresh taste, explaining why many craft brewers forgo the practice. Domestically kegged beer is not normally pasteurized. Kegs are supposedly stored cold from brewery to bar and are usually sold very quickly, eliminating the need for pasteurization. Even if a keg was mishandled and started to re-ferment, it would not explode due to its sheer strength (but you may get a nice smelly shower when tapping it). The problem lies in the fact that even though draught beer should theoretically taste better, it may have been stored incorrectly, encouraging bacterial fermentation. The other factor is that draught beer must travel through draught lines before it reaches your glass. If the draught lines are not chilled properly, bacteria are sure to make a home in them. This is why it is so important for barkeeps to clean the beer lines regularly. The resulting off-flavors are sometimes very subtle.

The main headache-causing culprit (besides over-indulgence) is too much of a chemical called Tyramine, which is produced by lactic bacteria when fermenting or from spent brewers yeast trapped in dirty beer lines. Tyramine occurs naturally in many foods, especially those that have been fermented such as wine, cheese, sauerkraut and beer. I guess if you eat too much sauerkraut in one sitting you may feel like the day after “Buck Night” at the ball park. Add that to the gassy torture your friends and family would endure and you have the makings for a bad day! Many believe that it’s over-carbonation that causes the headache. If this were the case, every soda pop you drink would leave you in misery since the typical soda contains more Co2 than even the frothiest of beers.

It’s important to note that imported keg beers are pasteurized just like their canned and bottled counterparts, but they still need to run through clean beer lines to taste their best! There are many new methods of flash pasteurization that are proving to be more economical and have zero flavor impact on the beer. We can only hope that today’s successful craft breweries use some of their newly found profits to invest in systems that will help them to deliver the best tasting beer to the consumer.

This Beer Myth is plausible. But It’s where you drink, how much you drink and not what you drink that gives you a headache and gives draught beer a bad rap!

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