Finding the right beer glass
Steven Frank and Arnold Meltzer test various shaped beer glasses to see which best flatters their beer. The experimented drinking two beers, Pilsner Urquell and Dominion Millennium barleywine (from Old Dominion in Virginia), in four different glasses: flute, snifter, tulip shape and bar shaker:
The flute glass truly showed the pilsner color, provided a long-lasting column of tiny bubbles and created and maintained a large foamy head. It also channeled the malt and hop aroma throughout the quaffing. The shaker glass provided a weaker nose and less hop and malt taste. The snifter darkened the color a tad, minimized the bubbles and tasted slightly shallower than from the flute. The tulip glass produced results similar to the snifter, but with even less nose and taste.
For the barleywine, the snifter concentrated the deep malt, fruit and wine-like aromas. It displayed many tiny bubbles and a deep copper color while allowing all the flavors, including the well-integrated alcohol, to come through. The flute forced the few bubbles into a stream, but displayed less wine and malty aroma. The taste was similar to that from the snifter, although the alcohol was more pronounced and strident. The shaker showed fewer bubbles, a slightly darker color, a lighter aroma and a taste somewhere between the flute and the snifter glasses. The tulip was similar to the snifter in taste, but with fewer aromatics.
