Re: Beer you're enjoying
Posted: Thu Oct 24, 2013 8:47 am
Well, I learnt something pretty amazing on Tuesday night. I went along to the Young Henrys / Spiegelau beer glass tasting event (part of Craft Beer Week), which "looks specifically at the role that glassware plays in your enjoyment of beer."
The setup was you sat at long tables with 4 Spiegelau beer glasses in front of you, plus two standard middie glasses. The deal was you drank the beer and kept the glasses. Neat I thought - 4 glasses and a bunch of beer, worth it!
Anyway what I learnt was that the shape and nature of the beer glass makes a huge difference to the beer you drink! For each beer (and as you can see in the image, the beer glasses had quite different designs with each intended fro a style of beer - left to right is IPA, Pilsner, Wheat Beer, Lager) you poured a portion into the Spiegelau glass and a portion into the standard beer glass and compared things like bouquet, head retention, temperature and taste. The differences were remarkable. In the middy glass the heads would deteriorate quickly (and the head is important in beer because it concentrates and delivers the smells that are an essential part of taste), the beer would taste thinner and flatter compared to the same one from the Spiegelau glass, the beer would get warmer in the middy, and even the shape of the glass's rim was important, with the rounded rim of the middy glass delivering the beer to the back of your tongue, while the thinner edges of the Spiegelau glasses put the beer towards the front.
Sounds a bit like bullshit, but the difference was real! Take the IPA glass for instance - its the one with the sort of ridged stem. Apparently it was designed with the assistance of two IPA brewers in the US and the ridges act to re-aerate the beer as you tilt the glasses while drinking, and this recharges the head. IPA styles are all about lots of hops and the delicious Young Henrys Hop Ale from the Spiegelau glass was much nicer than from the middy glass and the ridges worked.
Anyway, I'm a convert. Never more beer from the bottle and I will now think more about the shape of glass I drink my beer from. Interestingly, the Spiegelau folk didn't do the hard sell - they put on a show, supplied the glasses but then left without spruiking where to get the glasses from, or even trying to sell more there. If they had them for sale, I would have bought a bunch that night!
Anyone else got contributions in this vein? And PS - Craft Beer Week is on in Sydney, there's some great events, get out there! I'll be with the family at the Peakhurst Inn on Saturday - 70 beers, plus burgers and ribs in the car park!
smith
The setup was you sat at long tables with 4 Spiegelau beer glasses in front of you, plus two standard middie glasses. The deal was you drank the beer and kept the glasses. Neat I thought - 4 glasses and a bunch of beer, worth it!
Anyway what I learnt was that the shape and nature of the beer glass makes a huge difference to the beer you drink! For each beer (and as you can see in the image, the beer glasses had quite different designs with each intended fro a style of beer - left to right is IPA, Pilsner, Wheat Beer, Lager) you poured a portion into the Spiegelau glass and a portion into the standard beer glass and compared things like bouquet, head retention, temperature and taste. The differences were remarkable. In the middy glass the heads would deteriorate quickly (and the head is important in beer because it concentrates and delivers the smells that are an essential part of taste), the beer would taste thinner and flatter compared to the same one from the Spiegelau glass, the beer would get warmer in the middy, and even the shape of the glass's rim was important, with the rounded rim of the middy glass delivering the beer to the back of your tongue, while the thinner edges of the Spiegelau glasses put the beer towards the front.
Sounds a bit like bullshit, but the difference was real! Take the IPA glass for instance - its the one with the sort of ridged stem. Apparently it was designed with the assistance of two IPA brewers in the US and the ridges act to re-aerate the beer as you tilt the glasses while drinking, and this recharges the head. IPA styles are all about lots of hops and the delicious Young Henrys Hop Ale from the Spiegelau glass was much nicer than from the middy glass and the ridges worked.
Anyway, I'm a convert. Never more beer from the bottle and I will now think more about the shape of glass I drink my beer from. Interestingly, the Spiegelau folk didn't do the hard sell - they put on a show, supplied the glasses but then left without spruiking where to get the glasses from, or even trying to sell more there. If they had them for sale, I would have bought a bunch that night!
Anyone else got contributions in this vein? And PS - Craft Beer Week is on in Sydney, there's some great events, get out there! I'll be with the family at the Peakhurst Inn on Saturday - 70 beers, plus burgers and ribs in the car park!
smith
