There are many different kinds of beer, but many people—even self-proclaimed beer lovers—don’t realize that there are particular glasses that are much better suited for a given beer.
To help you maximize your beer enjoyment—or that of a friend, family member, or significant other—we’ve created this handy guide to help you understand the right glass for the right beer, including links so you can have your glasses delivered to you in no time.
The Right Glass for the Right Beer
There’s a glass for almost every style of beer out there, so it makes sense for a beer connoisseur to accumulate a collection. Selecting the right glass will help bring the best out of each brew, so it’s important to understand which glasses you need for which beers.
Unfortunately, common, mass-produced beer glasses—like the ubiquitous shaker pint glass found in homes and pubs everywhere—detract from the full possibilities of the tasting experience. They trap some of the more delicate aromas and often lead to a boring, unfulfilling taste.
Indeed, many people find that most beers taste the same, but this may simply be a result of drinking out of the same, poorly designed glass every time. Some of these mass-produced glasses also ruin the light, refreshing character of the beer, allowing the head to collapse right away rather than maintaining it.
So, here are ten unique craft beer glasses so you can up your—or someone else’s—beer game.
10 Unique Craft Beer Glasses
Rastal Teku Stemmed Beer Glass
This beautiful glass works well for almost any beer. With an almost surprising capacity of 14.2 ounces, this German-made glass features an angular shape that helps contain aromas so that they barrel forth with each sip. They also feature a brilliant lip with an outward curve, allowing the beer to roll right to the perfect areas of your tongue for maximum taste.
LAV Brandy Snifters
Wait, brandy? Yes, you read that correctly. Snifters are excellent for boozier beers, such as barleywines and barrel-aged stouts. Their rounded shape serves to concentrate aromas, and the smaller size works well for these stronger beers.
Stölzle Tulip Glasses
These are in the same spirit as the snifters but feature a less globular shape. True to their name, tulip glasses have distinct curves that provide a certain elegance. Designed to enhance Belgian ales, they work well for a variety of beers, including wild ales, barrel-aged beers, and sours.
Personalised Pint Glass
A personalised version of the classic pint glass with a smaller base that gently curves up to a wider lip. These glasses are excellent for dry stouts—chances are you’ve seen a frothy Guinness in one of these.
Spiegelau Pilsner Beer Glasses
These pilsner glasses work perfectly for showcasing the light but powerful flavor profiles of pilsners, but also kolsches, lagers, bocks, hefeweizens, and witbiers (wheat beers).
Crosno Wheat Beer Glasses
Although the pilsner glasses above work well for wheat beers, you can further enhance your appreciation of these tasty brews with the Libbey Wheat Beer Glasses. They have a distinctive shape, featuring a narrow base that curves in and then dramatically back out to help boost the characteristic aromas of banana and clove.
Spiegelau Craft IPA Glasses
Easily one of the coolest, most unique-looking glasses on this list, the Spiegelau Craft IPA glass features distinctive ridges at the narrow base, helping to aerate your IPA of choice, while the larger bowl at the top works to bring out the aromatic hops.
Libbey Can-Shaped Beer Glass
These fun glasses imitate the classic soda-can shape and thus work well for soda and cocktails as well as beer. These are pint-sized (16 ounces) as opposed to the usual sized soda can (12 ounces).
Anchor Hocking Barbary 5-Ounce Beer Tasting Glass
While these might be more practical for pubs, beer-oriented restaurants and breweries, these small tasting glasses are also handy if you want to let your friends try a beer without fully committing to it. They feature a smaller base and wider mouth, which helps bring out aromas.
Samuel Adams’ Perfect Pint Glass
The founder of Sam Adams wanted a signature pint glass that would perfectly complement their signature beer. It features a laser-etched ring at the bottom to help create additional froth, plus an outward-turned lip for allowing beer to roll to the front of the tongue.
Spiegelau Tasting Kit Glasses
This set of glasses are perfect for those who just can’t choose a favorite craft beer and want to be able to get best out of them all. Featuring high quality glasses made for lager, pilsner, wheat beer and IPA, but also perfect for stouts, sours and a variety of other beer styles, a craft beer fan really can’t go wrong with this set.
Wrapping up
No matter what beer you prefer, there’s likely a glass out there that will bring out more flavor and aroma than your standard shaker pint. After all, they’re called shaker pints for a reason, as they were designed for making cocktails–not for serving beer.
With our handy guide, we hope you are well on your way to selecting the perfect glass (or glasses!) for yourself, your friends, your family, or your significant other.
Whoever you want these glasses for, we’re sure that they’ll be thrilled. Happy drinking!
