By now, I hope everyone realizes that there are more fitting options for your craft beer than the standard pint glass. While the pint glass certainly has its place amongst the repertoire of craft beer, certain styles are better suited for a different style of glass.

Any craft beer drinker has surely been exposed to different glassware for your beer. The words snifter, pilsner and tulip hopefully sound familiar. Being informed about why different beer belongs in different glasses is important, and I’m going to explore a few of the more common ones.

Snifter

The snifter glass is traditionally a glass used for brandy or cognac; however, its unique shape has left some noticeable advantages for certain beer styles. The glass is usually short-stemed with a wide bowl and a tapered mouth. Due to the shape, these glasses are perfect for capturing the aromas and volatiles for stronger ales. Of the more common styles, you’d use the snifter for: Barleywine, Imperial IPA, Tripel, Quadrupel and Strong Ales.

Pilsner

The pilsner glass comes in many different forms, but normally they’re made to hold 12 ounces. Commonly, they’re a tall and slender glass that is normally tapered (wider at the top, slimmer at the bottom). They can either be footed or non-footed. The unique tapered structure of these glasses allow for perfect showcasing of colors, clarity and also are good for head retention. Not only are these glasses used for Pilsner-style beers, they also are commonly used for: Bock, Lager and Witbiers.

Tulip

The tulip glass gets its name from the obvious shape of the glass: a tulip. Modeled after the plant, this glass is stemmed and has a bulb-like body with the top of the glass seeming a bit convex creating a lip. The style of glass is great for flavor retention in the body while also showcasing rich and frothy heads. The shape of this glass is perfect for capturing and enhancing flavors for Belgian-styled brews (i.e., IPA, Dark Ale, Pale Ale), Fruit/Lambic, Gueuze and Saisons.

Forgive me for not going in depth with the pint glass; however, it seems almost any beer drinker (new or seasoned) will have a pint glass. It can be the fallback glass for almost any style of beer. While it may seem you could pour any beer into a pint glass (and surely you could), there are better options out there. Most include, as listed above, enhancing certain volatiles in the beer, improved head retention and nose enhancements. But believe me, I’ve only skimmed the surface with the three most popular alternate glasses. Other varieties include the flute glass (champagne), goblet, [oversized] wine glass, Weizen glass and so on.

Conclusion and the Frosted Glass

Before I wrap it up, I just wanted to mention my dislike for frosted glasses, although I can see where they have their place. For beer that you don’t want to warm, they’re great. They keep it cold. Ok, great. But if you’ve learned anything about the wonderful world of craft beer, perhaps by reading my Top 3 Beer Myths article, you’ll know not all beer should be ice cold. In fact, warming of the beer enhances a lot of flavors that are either hidden or muted when served at extremely cold temperatures. So, if you’re drinking craft beer – don’t embarrass the beer by wrapping it in an even colder glass. Grab one at room temperature, pour your cold beer and enjoy slowly. Let it warm a bit and see how different it tastes.