On Sparklers

A sparkler is a small plastic nozzle attached to the end of the dispense pipe of a beer engine (hand pull) with a number of small holes in it. Dispensing the beer through a sparkler agitates the beer which has the effect of producing a creamy thick head on the beer. Lovers of sparklers would argue that the resulting pint has improved mouth feel, and a more consistent head which lasts to the bottom of the pint. Everyone else thinks that sparklers change the flavour of the beer by forcing bitterness and aroma from the body of the beer into the head of the pint.

Living in West Yorkshire, I've been brought up on beer served through sparklers. My opinion has until recently always been that sparklers are completely necessary for a pint of real ale; this opinion was largely formed by the fact that every single local pub I drink in uses them in the dispense of their beer.

A sparkler dispensed pint was to me what real ale was all about, I loved the creamy thick body and mouth feel of a well pulled pint and associated sparklers with good beer. Whenever I left the area or went to beer festivals where the beer was served without sparklers (or even worse gravity dispensed straight from the barrel), I was always disappointed. I felt the beer was 'thin', lacking in mouth feel and was particularly put off by the beers appearance which lacking a nice tight head looked flat and watery.

Recently though I've more or less done a complete U turn. In years gone by I would have defended the use of sparklers to the death, (and have openly argued the point with people in pubs) but I've come to realise that what sparklers actually do is disguise and remove subtle flavours from the beer, sacrafice flavour in exchange for texture and make it very hard to judge what the intended natural carbonation level of the beer was ever supposed to be. In this way sparklers 'average out' beers so they all have a similar mouth feel.

I've also come to realise that the use of sparklers in some instances is disguising the quality of bad beer by giving it a head it would never have usually had. I now know that great beer, kept well and pulled through a sparkler-less handpull will still be agitated sufficiently to create a decent foamy head which lasts to the bottom of the glass; and not at the expense of losing too much flavour.

I think one of the reasons I've come to this conclusion is because of the amount of bottle drinking I've been doing where I've been able to concentrate on the flavour of the beer, and forget about how its been served. The use of sparklers is so ingrained in the real ale culture in this area that many people are not keen on drinking bottled ale at all, as they consider it to be an entirely different drink to what they are drinking in the pub which to be fair in terms of texture it is.

Changing my mind on the use of sparklers has not been easy, the issue is a very divisive one, and when not understood properly its easy to see why. Dispensing with a sparkler does create a thicker creamier quite different drink which while loved and defended by those familiar with it, is equally loathed and derided by those to whom beer served this way is completely alien.

In recent weeks I've been in the very confused position when I drink in local pubs of enjoying the thick mouth feel of a sparkler dispensed pint while lamenting the loss of flavour from the body. I've seen both sides of the argument and have decided that flavour is the most important thing and reluctantly I'd now say that a normal hand pulled pint without sparkler should be the order of the day.

To all the people who I've argued this point with over the years I'd like to apologise, you were right and I was wrong. I would quite happily have drunk and defended sparkler dispensed beer for the rest of my days, but the pursuit of good beer has changed my opinion. I would still respect anyones decision to want sparkler pulled beers as I think it does to some degree create a different drink, with a very different texture and the creamy but bitter flavoured mouth feel is very pleasant when its what you're used to.

I will most likely continue to drink beers in the area the way the landlord/lady decides, be that with or without (usually with) sparklers. At least one local pub we drink in serves some beers with sparkler and some without, so perhaps other people round here are changing their minds too?

I haven't asked for a sparkler to be removed yet, but I think it might be only a matter of time....