Glassware

For your customers to fully appreciate the flavour, aroma and appearance of your beer, you need the right glass or glasses.  There are many things to consider when choosing the most appropriate glass for a draught beer brand.  These include;

Beer type

Lagers and pilseners are traditionally served in tall narrow glasses that taper from the mouth to the base.  These help form and keep a good head, and showcase the beer’s brilliant gold colour.

Ales are better served in wide-mouthed glasses, as the head on ale doesn’t need a narrow glass for support.  The glass lets you get your nose in and enjoy the beautiful aromas.

Wheat beers use a tall glass that is bowed out at the top.  This glass style releases some of the CO₂ from these highly carbonated beers, and highlights their typically magnificent head.

For the hard-core beer lover, stemmed glassware is ideal, particularly with meals as you can control the temperature of your beer.  Hold them by the stem to keep delicate lagers and pilseners cold.  For ales and aromatic beers, cup the glass with your hands to warm the beer up and release more flavours.

Head Retention

You can choose from a range of ‘standard’ beer glassware or from a range that maintains the head on the beer longer.  This is done in one of three ways; sandblasting the internal base of the glass; laser etching the base of the glass; or manufacturing the glass with raised ‘nodules’ on the internal surface of the base.

Stability

It is important to choose a glass that is stable on serving trays and also stable on glass racks and in the glass washing machine.  Unstable glasses lead to breakages (cost) and spills.

Cleanability

Glassware needs to be easily cleaned.  If the glass narrows to a taper or is a weird shape (e.g. like a boot), it can’t be cleaned properly and bubbles will adhere to the side of the glass when it is filled with beer, indicating the glass is not ‘beer clean’.

Durability

The glass wants to be elegant but strong enough to withstand general handling in a pub.  Glasses get knocked against the dispense tap and against each other in the glass racks. 

Shape

The shape of the glass has to suit the style of beer produced but also be pleasing to the customer.  It also needs to be able to be filled from a tap as well as a bottle; narrow based glasses form too much head when filled from a tap and lead to beer wastage.

Size

The glass size chosen will depend on a number of factors, including the region you are in (the hotter the climate, the smaller the glass), the type of beer (an 8% Alc beer would not be served in a pint glass) and your personal preference.

Branding

If you are going to purchase good glassware, the additional cost of branding the glasses with your company logo is well worth it. European market surveys have shown:
 

• Customers like to make a statement about what they drink
• 25% surveyed felt they received better quality when their beer was served in a branded glass
• 33% were willing to pay more for the special glass as part of the price of the product
• Serving beer in a branded glass meant the perception of venue quality increased for 25% of those surveyed

Brewtique has extensive experience with glassware and can provide you with advice and quotations to suit your requirements.