Glassology

Choosing the proper glassware actually makes a difference! Just like choosing the right wine glass for the type of wine, choosing beer glassware can enhance your beer drinking experience. It affects every aspect of your whole experience, from your first sip to your last! Beer glasses are designed to maintain a certain level of head, carbonation, temperature, and enhance the aromas of your beer. Each glass has its unique features that enhance specific beers and their flavors, aromas, and mouthfeel.

Another important factor that goes into your taste experience is the psychology behind it all. Anticipation and perception play a huge role in how you’ll experience and enjoy the beer. A beer presented in glassware can change the way you perceive the beer because you can see the carbonation, the head, and the color. Just like when we get excited about a beautifully presented dish at a restaurant, pouring beer into a glass gives us the same excited anticipation and expectation of a great tasting beer.

Chalice

Chalice glasses are similar to goblet glasses but are thicker and heavier. A chalice will always have good weight, a thick wall, a hefty base, and a wide bowl that is sometimes etched to nucleate a stream of carbonation to aid in head presence and maintenance.

Used For: Belgian Dubbels, Belgian Tripels, Belgian Quadrupels, Berliner Weissbier, Big Belgian Ales (high ABV), German Bocks, German Maibocks, Imperial IPA, Imperial Stouts, and most other big beers styles (high ABV)

Flute

Often confused with a champagne glass, a flute beer glass is designed to retain some of the same properties found in fine champagne. These include active carbonation and intense aroma and a visually appealing presentation. A flute beer glass is typically tall, long-stemmed, slender, and made with thin-walled glass. The long stem allows you to enjoy the beer without your hand coming in contact with the bowl and warming the beer. The narrow bowl creates a thick head and good head retention.

Used For: Biere de Champagne or Biere Brut, Eisbock, Fruit Beers, Gueuze, Krieks, Lambics, Pilsners, Red Ales and Schwarzbier

Goblet

The goblet glass is similar to a chalice but has thinner walls, can be more ornate, and are more readily available. Many breweries in Belgium use this glass style to serve their beers making the goblet one of the more popular and iconic beer glasses.

Used For: Belgian Dubbels, Belgian Tripels, Belgian Quadrupels, Berliner Weissbier, Big Belgian Ales (high ABV), German Bocks, German Maibocks, Imperial IPA, Imperial Stouts, and most other big beers styles (high ABV)

Mug

A beer mug is a go-to vessel to serve most lagers and ales and the style of mug serves several functions. Such as: Size: The handle on a beer mug allow for a bigger vessel that is easier to handle. Thickness: The thickness of the glass typically found on a beer mug serves to keep the beer colder while it is being enjoyed. Beer mugs and steins are remarkably versatile, accommodating anything from American lagers to English stouts and porters or Irish red ales. However, because they handle so many beers well, mugs aren’t always a beer aficionado’s first choice for a specific beer or ale.

Used For: Pilsners, American Lagers, Irish Red Ales, English Stouts, Porters, and Schwarzbier

Pilsner

A pilsner glass is a beer glass is used to serve many types of light beers, but is intended for its namesake, the pilsner. Pilsner glasses can be smaller then a pint glass, usually in 25cl or 33cl sizes. They are tall and slender and tapered. Weizen glasses are often mistakenly referred to as Pilsner glasses, but a true Pilsner glass has an even taper without curvature. Pilsner glasses are made to showcase the color, effervescence and clarity of the Pilsner style, as well as maintain a nice head.

Used For: Pilsners, Lagers and Schwarzbier

Pint, American or Shaker

The American pint or shaker is the most commonly used beer glass by most bars across America. It holds 16 US fluid ounces (473 ml) however with the foam, the actual beer fill is approximately 14 oz. The shaker glass gained its name from its original use for shaking cocktails before bar owners began to use it as a glass.

Used For: American Ales, American Lagers, Black and Tans, English Ales, English Lagers, IPAs, Irish Stouts, German Lagers, Oatmeal Stouts, Porters, Stouts

Pint, Nonic

A nonic glass was developed by the glassware industry to be easily stacked and heat-treated so as not to chip the rim when pulling away from the beer tap; “not to nick” or “no nick”. Nonic glasses are a traditional English-style pint glass that typically holds an imperial pint or 20oz but smaller glasses are also widely available. This glass is typically used to serve English ales and English lagers but can be used to most lagers and ales.

Used For: American Ales, American Lagers, Black and Tans, English Ales, English Lagers, IPAs, Irish Stouts, German Lagers, Oatmeal Stouts, Porters, Stouts

Pint, Tulip

The tulip pint glass, also known as imperial, Irish glass or Guinness glass, was designed specifically for enjoying Irish Stouts. This style of glass is one of the most popular styles of beer glassware due its flexibility as it can also be used to serve most ales and some lagers. The imperial pint (568ml or 19.2 oz) sized glasses are used in pubs throughout the UK, and has the Crown pint mark signifying that it is an Imperial pint glass.

Used For: American Ales, American Lagers, Black and Tans, English Ales, English Lagers, IPAs, Irish Stouts, German Lagers, Oatmeal Stouts, Porters, Stouts

Pokal

The perfect pokal is stemmed with a slender and narrow base and an overall conical shape. The slim shape shows off a lighter beer’s beautiful color while protecting its delicate head from dissipating too quickly. Because the head of a lighter beer holds many of its most appealing aromas, keeping the head intact also keeps the flavor of the beer at its best. Pokal glasses are the perfect companions for pilsners, lagers, Japanese rice lagers, light amber ales and some red ales. Most summer beers are good pairings with this glassware.

Used For: American Ales, American Lagers, Black and Tans, English Ales, English Lagers, IPAs, Irish Stouts, German Lagers, Oatmeal Stouts, Porters, Stout

Snifter

Snifters are designed for drinking beer with a higher than average alcohol content. Beer snifters are used for what are called “big beers” with an alcohol content about 7%. Big beers are typically served at room temperature and not ice cold. The warmer temperature help unlock the flavors that the higher alcohol content bring to the table. The shape of the snifter helps keep the beer warm. The short stem of the snifter is too short for holding. This forces the beer drinker to slip the stem between their fingers and cup the bowl of the snifter in their palm. This allows for amble heat transfer from the palm into the beer glass and then into the beer.

Used For: Barleywine, Belgian Triples, Belgian Quads, Bocks, Double Bocks, Imperial Ales, Imperial Stouts, Strong Ales, Scotch Ales, Most beers with over 7% abv.

Spiegelau IPA

This glass has been developed in collaboration with two of the leading IPA brewers in the United States, Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head and Ken Grossman of Sierra Nevada. Achieved through a series of design and tasting workshops in which hundreds of possible designs were considered, the brewers ultimately and unanimously chose, by secret vote, one glass – “number 6“ – from a final lineup of eight custom-made prototypes. Designed to showcase the complex and alluring aromatic profiles of American “hop-forward” IPA beers, preserve a frothy head, enhance taste and mouth-feel, and present a comfortably wide opening for the drinker to savor each beer, Spiegelau’s latest design is the go-to vessel for enjoying IPA.

Used For: IPAs

Stange

The stange beer glass or pole glass is a simple cylinder shaped glass typically used for German Kolsch, Gose and Alt beers. The name derives from the German word for stick or rod. Stange glasses are typically made to hold smaller volume of beer (200 ml or 6.5 ounces). In Germany, its not uncommon for waiters to carry our a special tray to hold stange glasses called a Kranz. Larger stange glasses are now becoming more and more common to cut down legwork for servers.

Used For: Altbier, Bocks, Czech Pilsners, Faro, Gose, Gueuze, Klsch, Lambics, Rauchbier and Rye Beer

Stein

A stein (Steinzeugkrug) is an earthenware mug made from pewter, wood, ceramics, crystal, porcelain, silver, or glass, traditionally featuring a handle and a hinged lid. The distinction between a mug and a stein is the hinged lid. This lid was originally conceived entirely as a sanitary measure. During the summers of the late 1400s, hoards of little flies frequently invaded Central Europe. By the early 1500s, several principalities in what is now Germany had passed laws requiring that all food and beverage containers be covered to protect consumers against these dirty insects.

Used For: Pilsners, American Lagers, Irish Red Ales, English Stouts, Porters, and Schwarzbier

Thistle

Thistle This thistle glass is a modified version of the tulip beer glass and it’s specially designed for enjoying delicious Scotch Ale. This thistle glass is the only glass to use to enjoy a scotch ale. The glass is shaped like a thistle flower (hence the name) which is the national flower of Scotland. Great for anyone that loves Scotch ales. as it captures and enhances volatiles while supporting large, foamy heads perfectly.

Used For: Scotch—Wee Heavy Ales

Tulip

Like goblets, tulip glasses have stems. That’s about the only similarity between the two styles, because tulip-shaped glassware pinches in where goblets are straight-sided or belled. The curved waist of a tulip glass gives a head a firm foundation; its rounded lower portion concentrates aromas as you drink the beer inside. Tulip glasses are an excellent option for any big, powerful beer or ale you’d like to savor. They tend to be smaller than other styles, so they’re great for strong barley wines and smoked beers.

Used For: Biere de Garde, IPAs, Belgian Ales, Imperial Ales, Imperial Stouts, Saisons,Scotch Ales,Strong Ales and other big beers

Weizen

A Weizen or wheat beer glass resembles a pilsner glass in their height and dimensions. Like the pilsner, this type of glassware is narrow and flute-like at its base and wider at its top, but it’s typically a bit smaller than a traditional pilsner glass. Most weizen glasses have more of a tulip shape compared to the pilsner’s more conical sides; this curvaceous shape highlights a wheat beer’s magnificent color and concentrates the aromas found in its head. In countries such as Belgium, the glass may be 0.25, 0.33l or 0.5 liters.

Used For: All Wheat Beers, Dunkelweizen, Hefeweizen, Kristalweizen, Weizenbock

Willybecher

Willybecher also called Willibecher is a standard German pub glass. The cylindrical, stemless glass is narrow at the bottom, somewhat more potbellied in the middle and tapers again towards the top. There are different sizes with 0.2, 0.25, 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5 litres. It owes its name to its inventor, Willy Steinmeier, then sales manager at Glaswerke Ruhrglas AG.

Used For: Most german style ales and lagers so long as the ABV remains in the sub 6% region, Märzens and Rauchbiers.

Wine Glass, Oversized

Similar to a goblet, a large wine glass can be used to serve some craft beer styles. The style is popular with some high-end beer bar and breweries have also started to use this glass style for their beers. The oversized wine glass is just that a huge wine glass. The stemmed glass has a bowl that can typically accommodate over 20 ounces of beer.

Used For: Ales, German Lagers, Helles, Helles Bock, IPAs, Maibock, Marzen, Oktoberfestbier, Pils or Pilsener, Rauchbier, Schwarzbier

Boot

The German custom of drinking from a boot shaped drinking vessel supposedly started as a German army tradition during World War I. Soldiers would pass around a leather boot of bier prior to engaging the enemy. It was considered good luck to flick the beer boot before and after drinking from it.

Used For: German Ales & Lagers

Craft Beer Glasses

Craft beer glasses are ideal for any delicate beer, the tall cylindrical profile accentuates the crisp flavors of malty beers including Pilsners, Rye, Kölsch, and Bock beers.

Used For: Pilsners, Rye, Kölsch, and Bock beers

Flight Glasses

Beer tasting or sampling glasses range in size from 2 to 6 ounces but typically designed to hold 1/3 or 1/4 (3 or 4oz) of a pour to beer. They are popular at bars and brewpub to allow customers to sample multiple beers in one serving. These glasses are usually mini versions of regular mugs, snifters, and pilsner glasses.

Used For: Tasters for all beer, Cider & Mead styles

Hoegaarden (Tumbler)

Hoegaarden glasses designed to serve Belgian white beer (witbier). This hexagonal tumbler is made from thick pressed glass, designed to keep the beer cold while its being enjoyed and also makes the set very durable. The tumbler glass is the traditional style of beer glass used to serve witbier in Belgium.

Used For: Belgian white beer—witbier (Hoegaarden )

Horn

References to drinking horns found in various early literary works of the Classical Age including the writings of Julius Caesar, original were made from the horns of sheep, goats, and other bovids, and tended to lack ornate or metal decorations. Throughout the medieval period, drinking horns became more ornate, were made from glass, ceramics, or metal, and used by those of high status for ceremonial purposes, feasts, and celebrations. Drinking horns remain an important accessory in the culture of ritual toasting in Georgia in particular, where they are known by the local name of kantsi.

Used For: Various ales and Mead

Kwak

This combination of glass and stand is called a coachman’s beer glass. The wooden stand allowed coachman in a horse and buggy to be handed a beer to enjoy in their travels. The wooden handle and stand also allows for both a good grip and a way stand to rest the glass – reducing the chances of the beer spilling.

Used For: Pauwel Kwak (Pauwel Kwak), Belgian Pale Ales

Our Gallery

Contact Info