Two fingers of dense white head isn't waste. In Bohemia it's the point, and pouring to avoid it ruins the beer.
There's a habit, common everywhere outside central Europe, of tilting the glass to forty-five degrees and easing the beer down the side to keep the foam off. It produces a full glass of flat beer. Stop doing it.
Czech brewers treat foam as part of the serve. It traps aroma, it protects the beer underneath from oxidising while you drink, and it changes the texture of the first mouthful. A properly poured Jedenáctka should carry two fingers of head so dense you could rest a coin on it.
To get there: rinse the glass with cold water first — a dry glass kills foam, and so does any trace of detergent. Hold it upright. Pour straight down the middle from a hand's height and let the beer crash. Stop when the foam reaches the rim, wait fifteen seconds for it to settle, then top up.
Temperature matters as much as technique. Serve pale lagers at 6–8 °C. Colder and you numb the hop aroma you paid for; warmer and the beer goes flabby. The dark lager and the 13° specials are better at 8–10 °C, where the caramel malt opens up.
One more thing: drink it. Czech lager isn't brewed to reward twenty minutes of contemplation. It's brewed to be fresh, cold and moving.
