The release of bubbles in a glass of beer as it stands is generally held to be a desirable feature, both for its inherent attractiveness and because there is a replenishment of the foam head. Beers differ in their tendency to display beading under constant dispense and glass conditions. A standardized method has been developed for quantifying beading and, in turn, this has been related to the pattern and rate of release of carbon dioxide from different beers. The former method depends on the use of a sintered bead and the photographic monitoring of bubble release. The latter involves determination of weight loss. There are two phases of carbon dioxide loss. The first relates to the beading per se, whereas the latter is a progressive diffusive loss of gas which is not associated with bubble formation. The factors determining differences in beadability are suspected to be physical and parameters investigated have been surface tension and the distribution of small particles in the beers.