Does beer need a special glass?

All work and no play makes Jim a dull boy. I took a break from my Oracle musings and had some fun drinking beer at the grocery store and ended up buying crystal.

Most of us know that certain alcoholic beverages should be served in certain shaped glasses. Everyone has heard of fluted glasses for champagne, brandy snifters, and glasses for red wine and others for white wine.

OK,  does it reaallly matter? Yes, I think so, but does it reaaallly matter for beer? I have to say I was skeptical. I've had wine in the right glass and I wasn't overly impressed. But then again I'm not a wine connoisseur, and more importantly there wasn't a 'control' to compare it to at the restaurant. Can you imagine pulling out your own glass and instructing the waiter to fill it so you can compare it to the wine poured in their glass!

Enter Hy-Vee, yes, Hy-Vee the grocery store. In my new neighborhood they have a Hy-Vee Club where you can register for cooking classes and this week beer tasting. Of course it is all about sales actually, but I did learn some things. The two sponsors were the local beer distributor and Spiegelau glass a German glass and crystal manufacturer.

So now the stage is set I'm thinking. Tell me how my beer will taste better in your glass and why I should be buying more different kinds of beer to go with these different glasses.

It was all pretty simple. They gave us the set of glass (in the picture above) and we tried multiple beer styles that are supposedly better in one or the other glass. I won't go into foamy details, but in fact the four beer styles did actually smell, look and taste better in the special glasses as compared to a standard Libby bar glass.

I'm a beer guy from way back. In fact, a running joke is that on the second or third date with my wife I said to the waiter "I'll want a pitcher of beer and give her whatever she wants". That's sooo sad, but so true in my college days. I have to say though, I was never really happy with the "king of beers" or any other beer typically found in bars back then.

Today we are living in an age of a beer renaissance. The brewing game and the players have  undergone a complete makeover. There is probably more varieties of beer in existence now than ever before in the history of ale brewing apes.

So, is it time for beer drinkers to rise to the level of wine devotees, and have our own specialty glasses?

After my Hy-Vee experience I have to weigh in on the side that it is worth a look if you think you have a somewhat trained beer palette. Don't get me wrong. If you don't like beer a fancy glass isn't going to win you over. But if you know one IPA from another or an oatmeal stout from an imperial stout, then maybe a change of hardware will tantalize your taste buds.

I'm not convinced yet that the shape of the glass matters for beer. It might. I just haven't done a 'controlled' taste test yet. What we did during the beer tasting event was to compare various crystal glasses to the standard Libby bar glass and I have to say, yes, there is a significant difference. Oh, boy... that's all I need is more reasons to drink beer!

So, how is that explained? The sales person said it was in the glass chemistry. He showed us a 20,000 power electron microscope slides of the Libby glass and the Spiegelau crystal. The crystal was completely smooth even at that ridiculous level of magnification, and the regular glass was a pitted and cratered landscape like the surface of the moon.

So what? Well, with all of those crevices over the complete surface of the glass two things occur. All the crevices hold things like soap, dirt and hard water calcium.  Additionally, they somehow 'steal' the carbonation from the liquid. We didn't get into the exact chemistry exchange of the glass-gunk-CO2 reaction, and I'm still a bit skeptical on that, but the proof is in the taste. The beer in crystal consistency looked, smelled and tasted better. The opinion of the 50 or so in the class was pretty much unanimous. Without any prompting or hard sell many of them left the class and went right on down to buy their glass.... opps I mean crystal.

As an aside, this CO2 issue is a beer thing regarding the importance of the proper release of carbonation. It does not play a part in wine, unless it is a carbonated wine. Regular wine glasses are more about shape only.

I was sold that the crystal was better just by pouring a pilsner (a generally mild and unimpressive beer in my book) and smelling it in both glasses. As you may know, the majority of our sense of taste comes from smell, and the beer in the crystal alway smelled fruitier, spicier, or just plain more aromatic. The beer in the Libby glass smelled like Budweiser in a plastic solo cup... or worse. Someone in the class mentioned something about kitty litter. No kidding. Beer in the Libby glass smelled like everything I don't like about beer.

How can that be?

Not sure, but if you are a beer type of person you should try it out. These glasses are not cheap. You can find them for around $10 each. Sam's Club has them as well as Overstock.com and other places. Shop around.  Ask your local Hy-Vee to hold a class. I got my set of 4 for $30 as a class special, and you get to try some great beer during the class as well as great hors d'oeuvres prepared by the Hy-Vee chef. I don't know what Hy-Vee's regular price is for the crystal, but I'm sure it is reasonable and they have a great selection of beer too.

Cheers!

I'll be posting phase one of my Oracle Enterprise Manager 12 Cloud Control project in the near future. Stayed tune... and have a beer in the right glass!