Is glassware important?

As someone with a large glassware collection I definitely think it's important... to me! I think every beer drinker should have at least a pilsner glass, a pint glass, a snifter, and a tulip. Other fancy glasses such as IPA glasses, teku's, that fancy Kwak glass etc. are overkill and unnecessary for most drinkers.

While ultimately the beer itself makes the experience, there is something to be said for proper presentation. Part of the experience is visual and the glass you use is an important part of that.

 

While I don't think that "proper" glassware is the most significant thing, I'll still more or less match for what I am drinking. I have dozens of glasses from all different styles, but my go-tos are an Imperial pint, one of a couple curved pint - I still don't know the exact name for them offhand, and a couple tulips and snifters. I also have some steins that |I pull out now and then.
|GEnerally, though, depending on the circumstance, I pull out whatever's handy.

 

I notice it way more in spirits than beer.

 

Can you describe your experiences with spirits?

 

When whiskey tasting if I use a rocks glass and not a Glencairn or tulip glass the nose is just a ghost of itself. For me this translates to the taste, and maybe that’s a mental thing.

For beer, I can always get a pretty decent nose even if the style isn’t poured into the ideal glassware.

Just one man talk’n.

 

I prefer at least a handful of glassware styles to choose from. IPA always goes in an IPA glass. Weizen always goes in a Weizen glass. Beyond that it is Tulip for Belgian and Big beers, Tulip Pint for most any standard gravity ale (that isn't a Weizen or IPA - see above). I also have Pilsner glasses for light continental beers. Mugs for Oktoberfests. Sometimes it is for the flavor, and sometimes it is for the presentation. I can drink an Oktoberfest from a Tulip Pint, or a Tulip for that matter, but why would I when I can drink 3 cans in a 1L dimpled mug from a German brewery? I can drink an Orval from an Orval goblet, but I honestly find it tastes better in a Tulip. But that is the fun of it all. If it is a pricey and hard to get beer, I stick to Tulip, beyond that, I can play around.