Glass Envy

It was my fault for not ordering it in something else, but I was sat in the pub the other afternoon with a certain amount of jealousy directed towards my two mates' tall, elegant Pilsner Urquell glasses. Nothing wrong with the beer, although it was nothing spectacular, but served as it was it just looked... dull.

Suitability aside -it just looks thirst-inducingly great!

I'm hoping that the message gets through to pubs that good beer deserves good presentation, and a glass-washer-scratched nonic simply doesn't do any beer justice. I'm not saying that every brewery should go so far as Sam Adams did with their 'scientifically developed' glassware, especially since the bit about tasting sweetness at the front of your tongue is not so much a disproved theory as a never was theory. It'd be impractical for every beer in a pub to be served in its own glass, and I'd rather a pub rotated beers for interest than kept the same lines for presentation's sake, but decent glassware is important. I'd be interested to hear people's preferences.

Personal favourites for draught beer by the pint? Just on aesthetics rather than bringing flavours out I liked to use tall, straight sided glasses like the Senator when I was a bar manager, but I also have a fondness for handled mugs like this Haworth, and I'd be happy to be offered the choice of one of those two in a pub.


Ben McFarland wrote an interesting piece on the Guardian: Calling Time on the Pint Glass, and even calling time on the measure, back in January if you missed it.