With that being said, the proper glassware for beer is not as important as proper serving temperature, but it can help accentuate the aromatic aspects (good or bad) of the beer you are tasting or just "show-off" the beer's color or clarity. Sometimes it's just for tradition or for marketing (See the Kwak coachman's glass http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pauwel_Kwak)
Here is my Beer Snob Rant:
The only beer that I will drink out of a bottle or a can is the typical American Macro Brew due to the lack of any aromatic features. If I am drinking the stuff, you know I am somewhere being held against my will or there is a complete lack of beer options. I cringe when I see people drinking a well-crafted beer like a Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald Porter right out of the 38 degree bottle (an all too common occurrence at the Vandalia Lounge). Please Get a Glass! They don't charge anything extra for them! Any respectable beer establishment will serve the beer in a clean, non-frosted glass.
Frosted Mugs are for Amateurs! ( I stole that from a beer bar in Raleigh, NC)
No matter what glass you use to serve the beer, MAKE SURE IT IS BEER CLEAN!
A Beer Clean glass is one that is squeaky clean with no residue of soap or oils. If you wash your glassware in the dishwasher, make sure you do not use a drying agent on your beer ware. I find that hand washing with a tiny bit of Dawn does a great job when thoroughly rinsed.
If your beer looks flat or has a quickly dissipating head, it's most likely due to a poorly cleaned glass. (Or you might just be drinking Bud!)
A good test to see if you are getting "Beer Clean" glasses is to wet the glass with water and then sprinkle salt on the inside. If the salt sticks everywhere, you are good to go. Another way is to simply view the glass full of beer to see if bubbles are clinging to the glass; if so, then those are unclean areas of the glass.
The boys over at http://www.beeradvocate.com/ do a great job with "Beer 101" subjects and are obviously skilled at website construction. I met the Alstom brothers of BA while at the GABF in Denver. We did a pubcrawl together and had a blast.
Here is the BA guide to glassware: http://beeradvocate.com/beer/101/glassware.php
No matter what glass you use to serve the beer, MAKE SURE IT IS BEER CLEAN!
A Beer Clean glass is one that is squeaky clean with no residue of soap or oils. If you wash your glassware in the dishwasher, make sure you do not use a drying agent on your beer ware. I find that hand washing with a tiny bit of Dawn does a great job when thoroughly rinsed.
If your beer looks flat or has a quickly dissipating head, it's most likely due to a poorly cleaned glass. (Or you might just be drinking Bud!)
A good test to see if you are getting "Beer Clean" glasses is to wet the glass with water and then sprinkle salt on the inside. If the salt sticks everywhere, you are good to go. Another way is to simply view the glass full of beer to see if bubbles are clinging to the glass; if so, then those are unclean areas of the glass.
The boys over at http://www.beeradvocate.com/ do a great job with "Beer 101" subjects and are obviously skilled at website construction. I met the Alstom brothers of BA while at the GABF in Denver. We did a pubcrawl together and had a blast.
Here is the BA guide to glassware: http://beeradvocate.com/beer/101/glassware.php
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