Does glassware matter?

No. The perfect glass has beer in it

 

Yep. Try drinking a Hopslam in a Burgundy glass and it will blow your mind away. Likewise, actual beer glasses (not Shakers) really do add something to the beer and were designed to aid in beer enjoyment.

 

If I were to do a blind tasting of the same beer from two different glasses, one being a shaker pint, and the other being whatever the appropriate style deemed appropriate, I probably couldn't tell the difference (assuming someone else held the glasses). However, I enjoy looking at my beer. I like holding different types of glassware. It's part of the experience for me, and yes, it matters.

 

Yes the glassware matters. Much more than some people seem to think and much less than others think.

Basically a large part of the flavors you experience are contributed by your sense of smell. The sense of taste doesn't do it all. And while you can pick up aromas from the inside of the mouth while the beer is in your mouth, those aromas differ from the ones that come through your nose. Basically each gives you a somewhat different experience because the nose is much more sensitive to some aromas than you can pick up from just having the liquid in your mouth.

This is why things loose a lot of their flavors when you have a cold or stopped up nose.

So glass ware that helps concentrate the aromas going into the nose will give you a more full, rich flavor experience that drinking out of the bottle or can.

Some aspects of glassware are there to help with appearance of the liquid, some with temperature control of the liquid while handling the glass and some are there to help the nose pick up the full range of aromatics.

 

Fairly easy test to do. Give it a shot and find out for sure.

 

Perhaps I will. My wife is going to look at me cross-eyed when I ask her to partake in this experiment.

 

:-)

Especially if she has to hold the glasses so you can't tell by feel of the shape when you sip from them!

 

Yes it matters, but not to the extent that I need 14 different kinds of glasses for my beer. Pretty much any beer that is aromatic will do well in a nice balloon snifter (which is all I use, these http://www.riedelusa.net/cognac-brandy-glass.html) otherwise, if you are drinking lagers, "light" stouts, and stuff that doesn't need to incorporate your sense of smell as much, use a pint glass like you get at the bar.

 

I agree, it matters but any beer can be poured in a wide top glass. I drink mine with one type of glass, it´s like a chalice where i can fit my nose when I take a sip, it works great.

 

I, and my cabinet full of glassware, sure hope so.

 

This is exactly why it matters...

 

I certainly feel glassware can make a huge difference but not NEARLY as much as proper serving temperature.

 

Agree with the tempature comment. Temp has way more to do with it than glassware. If im at a bar I personally love pint glasses. If only because i want a pint damnit. At home I have a little more varienty but dont give it much consideration. 12oz goes into my hopslam snifter or perennial societe du chene (i think its a teku). 22oz bottles go into a 24oz pilsner glass.

 

Ditto...

 

Nucleated tulip for IPAs and DIPAs, snifter for nearly everything else.

 

I think it matters, but not a whole lot. Much like beer itself it's also subjective. I recently got some of the Spiegelau Dogfish IPA glasses and didn't like it at all. Don't like the thin, brittle feel to them and didn't like how the beer poured out once you get near the bottom. I like my glasses to have some meat to them. I'm not talking mug thickness, but at least something that doesn't feel like it will shatter if I sneeze on it.

Does anyone have any experience with the Stone IPA Specialty glass? http://goo.gl/PvN1cU

 

I would have to say, if you are asking if it really matters, the answer would be "No". Yes, you may have a preference, yes some glasses may enhance the aroma, look, head, etc. At the end of the day though, if you like a certain beer, it shouldn't matter what glass it comes in. If you need a certain type of glass to enjoy a specific beer, then I would question how much you really enjoy that beer.

 

Personally, if I'm drinking a beer that I've never had before, I like to drink it out of the style of glass that it was intended. I'll double check here, and then depending on how much I like it I will use JLaw55's approach and just roll with it, without being too picky.
I do agree that shaker pint glasses are the worst of the worst.

 

Yes it does. Because it is, and a lot of thinking has been done about this stuff.
No it does not,
Re: Red Plastic Cup.

 

I was a skeptic about glassware making an impact on a beer until I had an IPA in a Spieglau IPA glass.

I don't think that a certain glass for a particular style is really necessary but a quality glass (like a Spieglau IPA/Stout Glass) can really help improve the enjoyability of a beer by concentrating aromas and presenting it in a visually appealing manner.

If you have a good snifter glass, that will do for any style.