A glass is a glass; or is it?
Beer has a lot to offer: aroma, appearance, flavor. All these factors are influenced by the glass it is poured into.
I think it is a curiosity that Europeans understand this. Yet Americans de-grace their beer by pouring anything the order in to a pint glass. Or horrors, drink it out of the bottle. Is tap synonymous with pint?
Consider the elegant German Pilsner. Everything about this beer calls for refinement. The water, the malted barley, the noble hops. All these characteristics lend itself to show all its' attributed best in a long narrow stemmed bowl much like a champagne flute.
A rich malty beer such as a maibock would best be enjoyed more in a glass similar to Riedel's Ouverture.
An old ale, barleywine, or the increasingly popular wood-aged beers , because of the intense dark fruit aromas and high alcohol ,would be best served in something similar to a cognac glass.
In Germany, it is traditional to serve Kolsch in a 200ml cylindrical glass called a stange.
In Belgium, many of the beers produced have their own glass. There are many different shaped glasses for these beers. Perhaps the most popular is the tulip-shaped glass.
Many times, when I go to a restaurant and decide to have a nice beer, I will ask the server to use my water glass for the beer. It is often an appropriate goblet shape which is far more attractive than a pint glass.
In any case, a beer is more appreciated and is able to deliver all its' attributed far more easily than it would in a pint glass or a bottle.
