Boston Brewing Co. spent a year designing a new pint glass, but is it really that unique?
Well, it certainly looks different, and it's very visually appealing - all sorts of lovely rounded curves and flares. It's a far cry from the usual straight-walled pint glass.
All those changes are there for a reason. Samuel Adams spent a year working with sensory experts as well as glass craftsman to find the perfect combination of shape, thickness, curves, height, and even the kind of glass. That's a lot of thought and effort to pour the perfect beer, and it doesn't appear that they missed any detail from top to bottom.
According to the brewery, the outward flare of the lip helps ensure that the beer will land on the front of your tongue, so you get the most of the sweet malt flavor. The slight narrowing below that flare enhances the hop aroma and helps concentrate and retain the head.
Both the rounded shape and the narrow grip at the bottom are designed with temperature in mind. Narrowing the grip decreases the glass surface exposed to the heat of your hand, and they say the round shape maintains temperature longer. Boston Brewing also points out that the rounded shape does a better job of collecting the aromas.
Not even the bottom of the glass was neglected. Referred to as a nucleation site, it includes laser etchings to create a constant flow of bubbles through the beer, increasing the release of the hop aroma and sustaining just the right level of carbonation.
Beer enthusiasts I've talked to have been uniformly pleased with the glass. I haven't been able to get my hands on one of these glasses yet to try it for myself, but I'm anxious to see if it lives up to the hype!
Because I have to admit, my first thought on reading about this innovation was that some people have entirely too much time on their hands, but the more I thought about it, the more logical it sounds. Vinophiles have always insisted on the proper stemware to properly showcase the best attributes of different wines, so why shouldn't a good beer get the same treatment?
To quote Stephen King, "You can drink Dom Perignon from leaded crystal or you can drink it from a Flintstones Jelly Glass. It's still Dom Perignon, but there IS a difference."
Maybe this glass is finally beer's leaded crystal.
