Charles Bamforth, the Anheuser-Busch endowed professor of malting and brewing science, serves up pilsners of beer at UC Davis' small pilot brewery along with some interesting facts about how beer drinkers are choosy about appearances.

Getting the foam right is an important selling point for brewers, Bamforth says, noting: "There's no question foam is important to consumers, but what are the attributes that make it important?" Results of a recent survey he conducted have been published in the Journal of the Institute of Brewing. Bamforth showed more than 300 beer drinkers in the United States, Germany, England and Japan photos of glasses of beer poured with different heads of foam.

Most interviewees expected that beer with good foam would "taste better" than a flat-looking beer. Some thought that the beer with good foam actually looked colder, too.

Bamforth was formerly head of research and later deputy director-general of Brewing Research International in England. His interests are beer quality, particularly appearance, flavor stability and freshness, and the biochemistry of malting. UC Davis offers undergraduate and graduate training in malting and brewing and is the only top-rated university in the country with a full teaching program in brewing science.