Does Your Beer Glass Really Matter? We Consulted a Beer Expert to Find Out

I have about 60+ brewery issued glasses, to my wife's chagrin. I rarely use many of them. The large Tripel Karmeleit chalice is beautiful.

 

Agreed! And great for holiday season drinking:




Santé!

 

the only way to drink a hazy ipa is from a glass fish bowl. the only way to drink a big imperial stout is from a glencairn whiskey glass (gotta watch those calories - dump the rest of the bottle no matter what size it is), all other beers go in a glass (doesn’t matter size or shape) with drawings of your favorite tv or movie characters on them.

this article ignores a lot of stuff.

 

And the bigger the better:

 

that’s a full pour!!

 

Has he swallowed the drunken goldfish yet!?!

Cheers!

 

Here's a photo of my new favorite little glass.

 

I will use that glass, but it makes me nervous as a cat. As they say way out in the country; Purty ain't it?

 

Key word being stemless. Yes a short fat stemless wine glass is probably the least likely to break. Stemmed glasses of any kind are most likely to get broken. Well a thick glassed mug is probably safer than a stemless wine glass but I don’t have any glass mugs anymore.

 

When did we start doing what we are supposed to do?

Oh! We used shaker pints and mugs at the fire house MUCH earlier than 81. And at 25 cents a pour we wore them out. (Editors note: It was birch beer for me.) I even remember the time they taped the good stuff Michalob. Caused a row that shook the foundations of liberty herself.

 

YES! did it with an IPA and I recall differences in smell and to a lesser degree (if any) taste when I used extremely different shapes: a tulip v. a chalice v. a nonic pint. I liked the tulip best, but the perceived differences in smell (for me) were small compared to the to the different appearances among those 3 shapes. Ya, I know a chalice would not be a typical IPA glass but it was grossly different in shape from the tulip and I wanted to test the extremes. I am the first to admit that my sense of smell is not great, thus my tendency to put emphasis on appearance.

 

Speak for yourself!

Rule #1: Never get caught.

If caught, apply Rules #2, #3, & #4 -- deny, deny, deny.

 

I think glasses create a perception and basis. When I drink a higher end beer or served one they tend to come in a non shaker pint glass. It influences my perception and how to drink it.

 

I did that once, but the fish kept getting stuck in my teeth and it really annoyed the party host.

 

I own so many different styles of beer glasses, from many breweries, but most times, especially when drinking my own beer, it's served up in a 16oz shaker type pint with various Brewery logos that I liberated from somewhere with a beer koozie around it so that my brew stays cold so I can milk it without it warming too fast.
Only exceptions would be good Belgians, as well as sometimes my own Belgian style ales I usually drink out of a Bud Light goblet that is quite hefty and not afraid of breaking.
I just love the aromas you get from that glass.
I've got the frosty mugs in the freezer, only really use them in the summer with "cheap" beer.
Other than that I use my 20oz Nonic European pint glass for the more aromatic brews or a 12oz swirled Guinness glass that I got a case of.
Benefits of working at an Irish Pub, lots of free glassware.

 

Glass collection was getting out of control some years back, had 400+ in box after box down in my man cave. I've pared it down to a reasonable 50 or so...but I'm a sucker for flea market/second hand finds to this day. So is glassware important to me? Absolutely it is!

 

Sounds like somebody besides me first learned to drink at the Brat Stop in Kenosha! I trust you weren't one of those guys I would see, pulled over onto the shoulder of southbound I-94, taking a beer whiz at 2AM.

 

Nah -- was never a big fan of the Brat. I had towny friends in Kenosha (home-brew club) who introduced me to a lot of the "better" dives (in town, away from the state police).

I was also a regular at Brewmasters for a very long time -- even helped brew now and again.

 

Note that a "full glass" according to Narragansett would have been 8 ounces... Most of the glasses shown in the AB chart max out at 12 ounces, with only 4 making it to 16 (except for the paper carton), Many are in the 7-10 ounce range, My take on this is that beer servings, like McDonald's cuisine, have been "supersized" in recent years--nowadays it seems that the standard serving in a craft beer bar is 16 ounces, with the 12 being small.

 

For me the appeal of glasses is more visual than olfactory or gustatory. My sense of taste/smell is just not developed enough (or is no longer developed enough) to detect all the subtle aromas and flavors many drinkers seem to note in wines and beers. That said, one of my favorite glasses was the Spiegelau IPA glass, which in sunlight showed a darker beer (like a red ale) in all its beautiful hues. The only drawback is that this glass was extremely fragile, and soon brake, even though I was being extra careful...

 

Maybe we're just catching up to Euro servings.

I can still remember the stink-eyes I'd get in London for ordering a half pint.

 

Yup, folks want moar these days.

I was told that one of the benefits of serving draft beer in the smaller glasses (e.g., a sham Pilsner glass) was that the beer was still cold on you last sip. As long as you got prompt, regular service this would indeed have been a benefit.

How they handle this aspect in Cologne (Köln), Germany:



Prost!

 

I used to have an area in the house with cabinets that have glass doors to showcase my glasses, but once I passed 100 glasses "we" decided they would be better off in a cabinet in the garage.

 

Banished!

 

Personally I find that using "proper" glassware helps to add to my appreciation of the beer. We're supposed to respect beer, right? That being said, I'm not a stickler about it, especially if I have some glasses that are dirty and just want a beer

 

The first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem.

 

As a "glass whore" with over 1200 pieces of glassware in my collection (yes, I am a bachelor!), of course I feel "proper glassware" matters! I take great enjoyment in serving the proper glass for the style and brand of beer if possible.....now, if I could just get a GPS tracker on each glass that was linked to my glassware spreadsheet - so I could find that one I was looking for.....all would be great! Haha!

 

Are there even 1,200 styles or does the beer need to be served in a brewery specific glass and you’ve just covered your bases?

 

There's so much emphasis about the "right" glass wherever you look, while people are still not cleaning their glasses at all or properly. Doesn't matter what shape the glass is it if you can't bother to clean it.

 

Respect. Would you like to tell how you store them?

 

All over the place! Haha! I have many wood racks with glasses - most are in my dining room (10 racks there), some in the kitchen, living room etc
A nice retirement project I have not started yet, will be to organize them better - by country, brewery, style or ?

Depends on my mood - I usually try to use a brewery specific glass for the beer I am drinking, but not always.....I sometimes say - "f___ it" and just grab the nearest shaker pint!

It's funny, when I really started collecting glasses in earnest a number of years back, it seemed like I could find lots of them at thrift stores like Goodwill, Salvation Army etc - had friends who would text me when they saw something at a store ("glass alert!")....now, not so much.... not sure if these places are selling them in a different way now (online?) or what the story is - I rarely buy glasses from a brewery these days - but I have before (probably less than 5% of my collection)....
Cheers to beer + proper glassware!

 

There's no such thing as an out of control beer glass collection

 

Said no wife ever

 

I just gotta tell a story!

A few years ago my wife and I were on vacation in Cape Breton (Nova Scotia) and we visited the craft brewery Big Spruce. The first words out of her mouth as we entered was "You are not buying any glasses!". I was OK with this since I had no intention of buying a beer glass(es). As we settled up the bill my wife asked (in a non-sheepish voice): "Buy me a glass". So, we did indeed purchase a glass and this 'gift' brings be great joy in that every time I see her drinking a beer from it I say "Do you remember when you told me not to buy that glass?"

Below is a photo of that glass:



Cheers!

 

If I'm drinking Kasteel, I won't touch it unless it's in the branded chalice. I carry it with me everywhere I go



https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/212/567904/

 

no, "we" "mutually" decided to move them to the garage!!

 

You could also do a longitudinal and latitudinal geographic analysis as relates to each type of glass and its origins. The further north one goes the glass gets finer more refined. The further south and east one goes the more rustic and durable. I like Imperial English pints, Belgian chalice-style vessels and beautiful glazed clay mugs from the days before modern maps down along the Rhine and westward.

 

I like where you are going with this, but do not think my little Boathaus is big enough to accomodate such a storage modality! i am just happy most of these suckers are on shelves most of the time! Haha!

 

I like the sham pilsener glass that was ubiquitous at Portland, OR, taverns in the late 60s when I had just turned 21 and started going out with friends looking for "dime beer" nights.
sort of like https://www.simonpearce.com/ascutne...93_CLv6q-aFEI2TGeLVmcQbua5gVq3eBoCkRgQAvD_BwE