Beer culture: objects, words and where they came from

Every object on a bar shelf carries a story, and a fair proportion of those stories are not true. That does not make them worthless. A legend that has been retold in beer halls for a century is a real part of an object, and knowing that it is a legend rather than a record is what lets you enjoy it properly and repeat it honestly.

This section separates the two. What is documented about a shape, what is a tale that travels with it, and what is simply physics that nobody bothered to explain. It also covers the things that look like folklore and turn out to be chemistry, of which the behaviour of a beer head is the best example on the whole shelf.