MdV: Merchant du Vin beer e-newsletter – Wednesday April 20, 2005:  Beer Glassware

 

Ayinger Brau-Weisse, the world benchmark for Bavarian wheat beer, is now pouring on draft in the Eastern US, and appearing soon in the rest of the country:

http://www.merchantduvin.com/pages/1_about/ay_brau_w_draft_3_15_2005.pdf

If you live near New York or Philadelphia, check our events page for special Ayinger nights in these cities . . .

 

Look for news about a new addition to the Merchant du Vin portfolio next month.  With only six Trappist breweries in the world, what could it be?

 

Beer in the press; events, tastings, and beer dinners all across the US; even a “kilt or miniskirt only” event in Seattle. . . Full national news & event listing at:

http://www.merchantduvin.com/pages/1_about/news.html

 

 

 

Beer Chat from the Beer Court Jester: Beer Glassware

 

Last month, we discussed “pairing beer with food” - check the archive if you missed it:

http://www.merchantduvin.com/pages/1_about/enews_archive.html   

 

Whether matching good beer with a meal, or enjoying a beer alone here’s one simple, undeniable way to get more out of your beer:

 

Use an appropriate beer glass. 

 

In fact, the right beer glass is a key part of the enjoyment of a fine beer: designers of beer bottles and kegs (and cans) over the years had storage and transport in mind more than serving utility.  

 

So instead of drinking from the bottle, grab a clean clear glass and get:

 

-The Sparkle. When a tap or bottle is opened, beer goes from an environment of fairly high carbon dioxide (CO2) pressure to relatively low – actually negligent – atmospheric pressure.  That causes the dissolved CO2 to turn back into a gas, and to leave the beer.  That is exactly what a carbonated beverage is: we enjoy them during the time period the CO2 is in the process of leaving the beer for the atmosphere.  The action of pouring, and the wide-open surface of the beer once in the glass means the CO2 is active, sending up a proud head and a lively soft hiss.

 

-The Visual: Beer - with varied color, clarity, and depth, and in a shiny, curving glass vessel - catches light well.  The rising, hypnotic bubbles need to be viewed; the soft texture and rocky heights of the head make great highlights. Beer in a glass is a pleasure even before the first sip.

 

-The Mouthfeel:  From a glass, the beer drinker can draw the right sized sip, and allow the bouquet to take its place as a key part of the experience. 

 

-The Practical:  Well, with a keg a glass is pretty much a requirement, even if it is humorous to see someone drink right out of the tap for the first time or so.  Bottle-conditioned beers have a layer of yeast in the bottle’s bottom.  While tasty and full of B-vitamins, it is best to leave the yeast behind in the bottle and allow the drinker the option of drinking it or leaving it.

 

-The Traditional:  Most European beer styles have a classic glass or a traditional shape to the glass.  This style usually helps show the beer well – Bavarian hefe-weizen in a tall, narrow waisted glass with room to hold the huge head; Belgian ales in wide, stemmed goblets or chunky tumblers that help to broadcast their aromatics; British Pale Ale or Porter, with their softer carbonation and larger pours in a “nonik,” (so-called because the wide bulge that runs around the glass below the rim is what the other nonik glasses bump into on the shelf, not the rims.  So, no nicks.)   American craft beer, served in the 16 oz. sleeve or “shaker,” seems to follow a new world tradition: everybody uses the same glass, but each brewery – no matter how small – prints logo glasses as a very early marketing expense.

 

Suggestions:

  1. Don’t chill your glasses – beer from an American fridge is *always* cold enough.  You can settle any debate about beer serving temperature by pouring it right out of the fridge, cold, and evaluating the temperature change over the course of the glass as it warms.  In the UK, serving temperature is “cellar temp” –  somewhere around the mid-fifities, Farenheit; in Germany and Belgium serving temperature is a bit lower, into the high-forties, F.  Ice-cold beer reveals less flavor and aroma.
  2. There really is no more perfect way to drink a beer than out of the traditional glass.  A logo means that the brewery approves of a glass, so that’s a good guarantee of appropriateness.
  3. An oversized wineglass is excellent for big beers like Belgian triples, barleywines and doppelbocks – the glass concentrates the aroma, and the pour is smaller for big beers.
  4. An English tulip or German willibecker is an excellent all-around glass for beers of regular gravity.  These larger glasses allow the head to develop, and the inward-curving rim helps concentrate the bouquet.
  5. A mug is OK, although it should be glass to enjoy the view . . . and even glass mugs are heavy.
  6. Purists want their glassware “beer clean,” meaning an automatic dishwasher that uses no surfactants (rinse aids that help prevent spotting, but leave traces behind); or, handwash, hot water rinse, and air dry.

 

Prove it for yourself, and have a completely radical beer tasting: serve only one beer, but serve it in different ways:  ice-cold, right from a bottle; cold from a Belgian Ale chalice; warmer from the same chalice; from a shaker pint; from a Bavarian hefe-weizen glass; then from a ceramic mug.  You’ll get to know that beer better, and you’ll enhance your enjoyment of other beers as well.

 

 

Merchant du Vin, America’s Premier Specialty Beer Importer Since 1978

www.merchantduvin.com