But then be ready to defend your behavior …

Then afterwards, be ready with some fast facts to back up your outlandish statement — because no one in the service industry is paid enough to be spoken to like that in a serious manner. It's all about 'beer head,' and it's more important than you think.

More than 30 years ago, at the beginning of his career as a beerologist, Dr. Charles Bramforth noticed “the majority of the beer-drinking public … judge beer by eye as much as by palate, and good head probably establishes the beer in the mind of the customer as being fresh, refreshing and interesting.”

Going beyond decoration, that cherry on top of your brew also helps settle the oscillating liquid after you clumsily stumble back to your table, or toast the glass against others. It literally protects your beer.

Like any foam, beer head is a colloid, formed by the even distribution of gas bubbles through a liquid — in this case, carbon dioxide from fermentation or nitrogen from the keg pump collects along the surface of the beer. Against the sides of the glass, this foam becomes a buffer, creating pressure gradients that drastically slow down the sloshing liquid.

A recent study, published in the Physics of Fluids, indicates that further understanding of how foams stabilize liquids can be applied to transporting oil or designing better tanks for rocket fuel. Yet beer connoisseurs remain concerned that a quality collar simply amplifies aroma.

“Each one of those little bubbles is carrying a puff of aroma,” explains Kitchn editor Emma Christensen. “Breathe deep as your beer settles and you'll be treated to a sensory pre-show of what you're about to taste. Aroma also plays a huge role in our perception of flavor, maybe even more than the taste itself.”

The drive to capture the perfect pint perfume has lead Spanish researchers to the discovery of CFG1, a fermentation gene in yeast linked to stronger froth. Cornell University’s Brewing Program has also honed in on LTP1, or barely malt lipid transfer protein No. 1, as a key foam stabilizer.

More and more, brewers are turning towards science to engineer better yeast for better foam. A few years back, Japanese beer company Kirin even came up with a simpler, though no less ridiculous, solution: the frozen beer maker. Compact enough to squeeze between the grilled cheese press and egg boiler on your kitchen counter, this useful appliance freezes beer into perfect anime-style dollops of foam. Kanpai!

More than an artful afterthought, decades of studies from researchers around the globe have gone into understanding and perfecting the stiff stuff that sits at the top of the glass. So next time your out, asking for 'extra head' to enjoy your beer more thoroughly shouldn't be looked upon as a party foul, more so just a way to breathe in generations of attention to ale's details.