Quality control, the power of beer brands

Article and photos by Jun Kyoung-woo
Translated by Yun Suh-young

Rinsing is the first stage of Heineken's Star Serve

Pilsner Urquell's Milko

Beer is like perfume. The image of it wholly depends on the shape of the bottle.

Consumers' selection heavily relies on the label of the brand, but this only applies to bottled beer.

When it comes to draft beer, which is considered higher in value, the technique of filling the glass plays a big role.

Draft beer is a breathing entity. It reacts sensitively to the surrounding environment and alters its taste and fragrance in reaction to the shape, thickness and temperature of the glass.

Draft beer is capricious, but this characteristic is also what gives global beer brands their leverage. Even with a great brand, the brand image can plunge if there's a problem in the serving procedure. In order to prevent this, global brands operate a quality control program.

Heineken's five-stage Star Serve program is one of them.

The first stage is rinsing. The glass is rinsed in cold water not only to cleanse it but to maximize the taste of the beer in cold temperature.

President Kim Yong-oh of The Cask in Hongdae, northwestern Seoul, retains the taste of the beer through rinsing the glass in icy water then showering it upside down again in cold water.

Beer is poured in 45 degrees with the glass

The second stage is pouring. This is the stage where bartenders open the draft beer tap in quick speed and pour the beer in 45 degrees with the glass.

The third stage, and the most important stage of the Star Serve procedure, is skimming. With a wet "skimmer," the bartenders skim off the foam on top of the beer glass to remove the bitter taste of the hops and indurate the foam. The thin layer of water which is formed on top of the foam prevents oxygen from entering into the beer and acts as a cover to prevent the carbonic acid of the beer from escaping.

Shim Yeon-jeong, manager of J Lounge in Gyeongnidan-gil in Itaewon, Seoul, demonstrated how the procedure makes the foam last in the beer. "We take particular care in skimming because customers visit our bar knowing that this procedure makes the difference," she said.

The fourth stage is checking. This step is where bartenders check whether they have perfectly poured the beer into the glass. The most ideally poured version is when the foam reaches the top one third portion of the red star of Heineken's exclusive glass.

The fifth stage is serving. The beer glass is served on a coaster because the glass is wet.

Having tasted the beer made through this five-stage procedure, I could see that there was definitely a difference in taste. From a customer's point of view, being served in such a way gives satisfaction of being treated well with premium beer despite the high cost.

For a pub owner or bartender, the above procedure can seem cumbersome and wasteful.

A perfectly prepared Heineken ready to be served

To offset this, Heineken offers a "carrot" by holding the best draft beer bartender competition by region. The national finalists compete in the global bartender competition held in the Netherlands. Those picked as the winners of this competition gain both money and recognition.

Ireland's Guinness also manages its quality to retain its brand value and sales.

Through "Perfect Pint," a type of pop-up store, it offers customers the experience of pouring Guinness perfectly and the "Make Your Own Pint" promotion was a big success. The brand's history of quality control dates back to 1889 when it started dispatching "world travelers," who were beer experts, overseas. These world travelers were given the privilege of bringing their entire family with them while working overseas.

Czech's Pilsner Urquell propagates "how to pour beer properly" through its pop-up stores. At these stores, customers can taste the "Milko," a 100 percent foam-filled beer, great for exploring the real taste of Pilsner Urquell.

Japanese beer companies also heighten their brand value through pop-up stores.

Asahi opened a pop-up store in Gangnam's Boutique Monaco which will open through September. At the store called "Asahi Super Dry Extra Cold Bar" customers can try premium beer of minus 2 degrees Celsius. Whereas the usual draft beer dispensers are set to five to six degrees, the special dispenser here extracts beer in temperatures between 0 and minus 2 degrees Celsius, offering high density beer.

Kirin Ichiban Garden, which opened in Novel Cafe on the Garosu-gil in Sinsa-dong, is famous for the Kirin Ichiban Frozen Nama which has slush-like foam formed in minus 5 degrees Celsius topped onto the beer.

Suntory The Premium Malt's promotes its brand by opening seminars for consumers on how to enjoy beer to the maximum.

Contrary to the global brands, local draft beer brands are less active in promoting their brand value.

Most Korean beer houses used to serve beer in 500cc glasses until local brand Max introduced cream draft beer and distributed exclusive glasses for its beer. In 2012, Max adopted a draft beer management system which controlled the foam, hygiene and temperature. Yet it still lags behind global brands in terms of management standards.

Kloud, a local brand which has established a prominent status recently, tries to differentiate by only distributing their beer to select stores. Kloud also started operating a master class much like the foreign brands and is slowly catching up with global brands in terms of quality management.