"Branded Pours" - Gimmick or Product Enhancement?

Most beer drinkers are familiar with the Guinness pour - The two parts, the lore around how long you wait between sections, etc. But I learned yesterday that Stella Artois also has a very specific pour that is to be followed whenever the beer is served. InBev even hosts competitions among its staff to determine who can most closely follow its rigorous procedure. An internal marketing video detailing the Stella pour can be found here.

There is a lot of great material in this video. The drawn out steps and care that the bartender pays to the beer enhance the image of Stella Artois as a "rich man's beer" (indeed, one of Stella's marketing messages used to be that the beer is "reassuringly expensive" - they were so bold as to explicitly declare that you know it's good because it's expensive).

The 45 degree angle of the glass and finishing upright without the tap touching the inside of the glass should be standard practice in serving all beers to release the carbonation and aromas to the drinker's nose. The extensive cleaning procedure seems to be overkill, but I suppose it wouldn't be harmful to clean the glass immediately before serving the beer.

Where the video loses me is at the discussion of carbonation and the head. "The froth head naturally forms a protective cap on the beer. This keeps the carbonation in the beer and helps maintain its taste and character." This has to be an outright lie. I can't imagine that the head creates enough pressure to prevent the dissolved CO2 from coming out of solution. From a marketing perspective, they would be better off noting that pouring a beer with a healthy and appropriately sized head enhances the drinkers physical and psychological enjoyment of the beer. I don't see the connection between the bar tender, the beer or the customer with the protective head claim, other than it is aligned with the beer's elite image ("so delicate it must be protected").

On the knife cutting - I've seen bartenders do it, and it's exciting and it makes them seem like they know what they're doing - no problem here. There might even be some science behind the claim that the larger bubbles break down the head. But the video ends on a winner with the chalice glass - there's no question that this is a marketing tactic and an effective and appropriate one at that. Visiting Belgium and having all beers served to you in the brewery's own branded glassware no matter where you go is a special experience and something that is hard to replicate in the US. More on this later.

On the Stella Pour, I'll give it a 7 out of 10 - there's nothing really specific to Stella in the pour but it fits with their brand image and I applaud them for their attention to detail and attempt to control their brand image all the way to the customers lips.