Glossary
Nitro
Dispensing beer with a nitrogen and carbon dioxide blend through a restrictor plate, producing a dense creamy head and a soft, low-carbonation texture.
Also called nitrogenated, nitrogen, nitro pour, creamflow.
The full record
Nitro has its own catalogue entry with the detail this page summarises — causes, thresholds, related styles and evidence.
Nitrogen dispense — Dispense with a nitrogen-CO₂ blend through a restrictor plate, giving a dense creamy head and a notably softer palate.
Nitrogen is far less soluble in beer than carbon dioxide, so most of it comes out of solution immediately as tiny bubbles rather than staying dissolved. That is what produces the cascading surge and the tight, long-lasting head.
The texture change is substantial: nitro beer tastes fuller, softer and less bitter than the same beer on CO₂, because carbonic acid contributes perceived sharpness and there is much less of it. It flatters roasted and malty beers and tends to mute hop aroma.
Related
- Nitrogen dispense — The dispense record.
- Volumes of CO₂ — Why the carbonation reads so low.
More vocabulary
Beer-clean glass · Brewer’s barrel · Cask · Cellar conditioning · Crowler · Draught · Firkin · Growler · Imperial pint · Keg
See every term on the glossary index.
Last reviewed 2026-08-16.
Evidence
What BeerHQ knows about this, and how. Every statement carries the state of the evidence behind it rather than being presented flatly as fact.
Nitro beer tastes softer than the same beer on CO₂ because there is less carbonic acid in it, not because nitrogen tastes of anything. The sharpness carbon dioxide contributes comes from its enzymatic conversion to carbonic acid in the mouth, and nitrogen does not do that.
Checked against the source
Source: Wise et al., "The Influence of Bubbles on the Perception of Carbonation Bite" (2013), abstract and introduction (PLoS ONE 8(8):e71488)