(Estimated reading time 8 Minutes or 0.5 beers 🍻 )
Many brewers invest much time, effort and money into how closely a packaged beer tastes in comparison to when it has just been poured on draught. A good brewery knows that beer glass types can also enhance the experience and sometimes the taste. All in all, the hope of a beer brewery is that the beer is presented in a way that the brewer imagined it should be.
But which beer glass types suit which type of beer?
Beer glass types
In just the right beer glass, a beer’s flavour can be deeper and its subtle characteristics may become more clear. In fact in Germany, almost every beer appears to have its own glass. Some bars will even refuse to serve a particular beer if they don’t have the appropriate glass for it.
Maybe you've heard of the Willi Becher glass, Beer flute glasses, classic German beer steins, Tulip Glasses and the Pokal? But what beer is best suited in what glass?
Let's take a stemmed glass for example, the Pokal beer glass. This longer, stemmed beer glass has long straight edges so it's strikingly different from the bowl shaped tulip glasses. The idea behind this design is to show off the beer's colour and encourages a long pour. This allows a pleasant head on to the top of the beer and is now more popular for a Pilsner.
Beer goblets, beer chalices and schooners, are ideal glasses for wheat beers. One idea behind this glass type is that the temperature of the beer naturally rises slowly in thin glass. The stem aspect is clever because holding this part ensures that your hand won't warm up the beer.
For a light more aromatic beer, the glass shape needs something that gently funnels the delicate aromas into your nose allowing the floral elements not to be missed but to be savoured.
For a hoppy beer selection, a glass that enhances the aroma is essential. The sensory experience is largely about indulging the sensual hop scents from a wider funneled beer glass.
Whether they are designed to make the beer's appearance more distinguished or otherwise enhance the aromatic compounds that are intrinsic to different kinds of beer, there's many different types of beer glasses to suit.
When a beer glass is not just a ‘beer glass’
When it comes to the presentation of a beer glass, one may think of a double-walled construction and carefully curved lips, improving the presentation and drinking experience of your favourite ale. But imagine a glass that could continually release bubbles helping maintain the head of your beer, maximize flavors and enhance the overall beer drinking enjoyment! This is where proven science evolved into beer drinking perfection.
The Nucleation beer glass
Well, with this idea in mind, some brewers took that idea to heart by putting a bit of scientific research into their glass design. One such devoted brewery is yours truly- ABK beer. Besides ABK Beer spending over 700 years crafting great tasting Bavarian beer, we wanted your beer to taste and be just like when it was poured from the tap! ABK Brewery now sells beer glasses that do indeed make the beer bubblier or fizzier. By laser etching little grooves or patterns on to the inside the base of a glass, these grooves or nucleation points do their clever job of disturbing the beer when the amber liquid touches them. This gives the dissolved carbon dioxide in the beer something to latch on to and forms more bubbles, producing a consistent stream of the bubbles as they rise from the base.
What are some of the main benefits of using a nucleated glass?
In a nutshell.. You´ll enjoy a more crisp, refreshing beer with an enhanced aroma and an will enjoy an all-round, better-tasting experience.
For beers that need more head retention, ABK´s range of nucleated glasses help a lot with the carbonation of your favourite beer. They can maintain that ‘freshly, just poured beer’ effect for longer
True it may appear to be just a simple pattern on a pint glass to the eye. However a beer glass with an etched nucleation point is one incredible glass. One that any craft beer drinker will be pleased they tried out.