1. Make the Most of Your Beer
Proper Glassware
Make the Most of Your Beer

2. Proper Glassware
There is a wide variety of beer glassware available for you to choose from, and they each have their own unique characteristics. Different styles of glassware exist for a number of reasons: they may reflect national traditions; legislation regarding serving measures; practicalities of stacking, washing and avoiding breakage, promotion of commercial breweries; folk art and complementing different styles of beer.
In fact, some glassware is designed specifically to help preserve the foam head of your beer, while others are designed to help enhance the colors of your brew. It’s important to remember that it’s more than just a glass that holds your beer; it’s a delivery mechanism that brings out the unique flavors, colors and aroma of your favorite beer. The type of glass you use has the ability to make or break your overall experience.

3. Proper Glassware
The most popular beer glass in America today is the pint glass, but there are many types of beer glasses besides the pint. And even then, there are a couple different styles of pint glasses.
In Europe, especially Belgium, each brand of beer will often have its own glass.
In fact, some breweries have been known to engineer the glass before the beer, and many bars will stock unique glassware for every brand of beer they serve.

4. American Pint Glass
The American pint glass is the most common beer glass in the USA. It is cone-shaped and typically holds 16oz to 20oz of beer. The simple design and ease of stacking and durability make this style so popular. Also known as a Shaker glass.
The cone shape is simple but the wide rim does allow for good aroma release making the glass perfect for serving a wide-variety of beer styles.
American Ales
American Lagers
American IPAs
American Pilsners
Light Lagers

5. Nonic or English Pint Glass
A nonic glass is an English style pint glass that has a curved lip about two inches from the top of the glass.
A nonic typically holds an imperial pint or 20oz.
This glass is typically used to serve English style ales and English style lagers.
Black, Blonde and Brown Ales
California Common or Steam Beer
Cream Ales
English Bitter and ESB
Stouts
Old Ales
Pale Ales (APA)
Porters
Red Ales
Rye Beers
Winter Warmers
Pumpkin Ales

6. Beer Mug
This classic glassware type evolved from the German beer stein.
The design serves 2 purposes; durability and insulation. They are typically made with thick glass with a sturdy handle.
The thickness of the glass helps keeps the beer cold and the handle allows for a firm grip and to prevent heat transfer from your hand to the beer.
The wide mouth of the mug allows for plenty of aroma to be released.
American Ales
American Lagers
English Ales
German Lagers
Pilsners (substitution for pilsner glass or pokal glass)

7. Beer Stein
The beer stein is very similar to the mug. And while they have the same shape, steins come equipped with a hinged lid and a lever for your thumb to open said lid easily. Additionally, steins are traditionally made out of a wider variety of materials, including porcelain, stoneware, pewter, silver and wood.
’Stein’ is an abbreviated form of Steinzeugkrug, the German word for stoneware jug or tankard. Historically, steins were preferred because it was widely believed the lids were more sanitary and would ultimately prevent the bubonic plague. In fact, in the early 16th century many communities throughout Europe had passed laws requiring food and beverage containers have lids.
American Ales and Lagers
German Ales and Lagers
English Ales and Lagers

8. Chalices and Goblets
Chalices and goblets are used mostly for Belgian style beers.
Goblets can be described as having a long thick stem, with a bowl sitting on top. Chalices are another common name for goblets, as they have the same shape. Chalices usually have thicker glass walls and may be heavier.
The clear glass shows off the carbonation and color of the beer and the shape brings out the flavors and aromas of Belgian style beers. The wide opening assists a beer drinker in analyzing the overall flavor profile and aromas. These are great for heavy, malty beers.
Belgian Dubbels
Lambics
Belgian Ales
German Bocks

9. Pilsner Glass
Pilsner glasses are generally smaller than a pint glass. They are tall, slender and tapered, with little-to-no curvature as it goes up. The slender glass reveals the color and carbonation of the beer and the broad top helps maintain a beer head to bring out the true flavor profile and aromas.
Pale Lager
Pilsners

10. Weizen Glass
Weizen glasses are often confused with pilsner glasses, due to their similar shape and size. The main difference between these two styles, is the Weizen glasses have more curvature to them, especially at the top of the glass.
Starting with a strong, narrow base, the glass has a distinctive curve to it as it goes up. It is much taller than a pint glass and holds at least a ½ liter of beer.
Weizen glasses are designed for and primarily used for wheat beers (Weizenbier).
The curved lip at the top of the glass helps trap and encourage a thick foam head, allowing for you to appreciate the full aroma and flavor that comes with wheat beers.

11. Snifters
You may have already heard of the snifter glass, as it is usually used for tasting cognac and brandy, but many people don’t realize that it’s also great at enriching the aromatics of beer. The unique shape of the glass allows you to swirl your beer around, stirring up the volatiles which helps bring out the full aroma of your brew.
This type of glass looks kind of like the offspring of a wine glass and a goblet. It’s small with a thin stem and footer, but the large bowl on top holds plenty of liquid. Despite how much it can hold, with this type of glass you probably don’t want to fill it all the way up to the rim, as it’s typically reserved for beers with strong flavors and aromas. If you fill it up to the rim it may prohibit you from enjoying the full experience.
Double IPAs
Imperial IPAs
Belgian IPAs

12. Tulip & Thistle Glasses
Designed to trap and maintain the foam head, the tulip glass helps enhance the flavor and aromatics of hoppy and malty brews. Much like the goblets and snifters, these types of beer glasses have a small stem and footer with a unique, tulip-like bowl on top. The top rim curves outward, forming a lip that helps ensnare the foam head.
The thistle glass resembles a stretched-out version of the tulip. It has the same stumpy stem, with a bulb-like bowl, but it’s slightly taller and has less curves around the lip.
The bulb-like bowl allows you to generously swirl around your beer, releasing the full aromas. This is another type of beer glass that is a popular amongst beer geeks.
Scottish Ales
Barleywines
Double IPAs
Belgian Ales

13. Stange Glasses
The stange glass (or stangen glass) is also commonly referred to as a strange glass, stick glass, pole glass or rod glass. This type of beer glass is named this not because it’s a weird looking glass, but because “stange” is the German word for rod… and that’s exactly what it resembles. The stange glass is tall and slender, much like a “Tom Collins” glass. It’s easily the most boring looking beer glass on this list, but its use can be traced back for decades.
This glassware is typically reserved for delicate beers to help intensify the flavors and aromas. The main benefit of this type of beer glass is that it has a firmer concentration of the important volatiles within the beer, allowing you to get a real sense of its flavor.
German Kolsch

14. Spiegelau IPA Glass
The glass has been developed in collaboration with two of the leading IPA brewers in the United States, Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head and Ken Grossman of Sierra Nevada. Achieved through a series of design and tasting workshops in which hundreds of possible designs were considered, the brewers ultimately and unanimously chose, by secret vote, one glass – “number 6“ – from a final lineup of eight custom-made prototypes.
Designed to showcase the complex and alluring aromatic profiles of American “hop- forward” IPA beers, preserve a frothy head, enhance taste and mouth feel, and present a comfortably wide opening for the drinker to savor each beer.
IPAs

15. The Importance of a Clean Glass
A “beer clean” glass is a glass that is clean enough not to diminish the beer drinking experience. It does not take much residue to cause head retention and aroma problems in a beer. A small amount of sanitizer, detergent, or oil can make a significant difference in the perception of the beer being poured in it.
The main issues you will encounter with a glass that is not beer-clean is residue inside the glass. Typically, residual oils and sugars, such as from milk or soda, can cause head retention problems while residual detergents or dust can create unwanted nucleation sites and similarly cause head retention problems.
A glass that is not beer clean will seem to have a sudden loss of head after pouring and will not experience proper lacing down the side of the glass. Lacing is the effect you get as you drink a beer where the residual bubbles stick to the inside of the glass. The effect is the appearance of lace, hence the name.

16. How do you make sure your glass is “beer clean”?
Dedicate glasses for beer and stick to it. The oils and sugars from other beverages will remain behind even after the glass appears clean.
Use a good glassware detergent. You can use baking soda or salt or Barkeeper’s Friend.
Rinse thoroughly to get all the detergent off the glass.
Rinse the glass with clean, cold water and drain right before pouring. This will rinse out any residual detergent but it will also eliminate any dust that may have landed in the glass since it was washed.