I have spoken with some of the people involved with this research previously. Beer foams aren’t really the focus here, more that it’s a complex system useful for developing the technique. Interfacial rheology and film drainage have a lot of applications. For example, this research could assist in the development of vaccine delivery methods (what should you coat the inside of your syringes with or what surfactants should you add to the vaccine to make it flow in a way that doesn’t damage the proteins or form bubbles). However, a lot of these vaccines may be difficult or expensive to prepare while beer is (relatively) cheap and readily available. Also, since the specific system doesn’t matter, why not have a little fun and use beer.

Soaps, detergents, firefighting foams, and paints might also benefit from this research.