There's only one wrong choice for glassware, and most bars are making it. You've seen it before, and you'll see it again—the shaker pint.
Shaker pints weren't originally made for beer (they were made to be strong and sturdy cocktail shakers), and their wide mouth lets precious beer aromas escape. “If you're drinking beer in a chilled shaker pint, you might as well be drinking water,” Matthew Cummings, owner of a beer glassware company, says.
Though it's true that we're not big fans of frosty pints, we wouldn't go quite as far as Mr. Cummings. But it's true that glassware is integral to the drinking experience. There are over 120 distinct styles of beer, and over 120 distinct styles of glassware that enhance each type.
But we know it's not realistic for your bar to stock 120 different types of glasses, which is why we created this guide. Here's how to maximize the drinking experience for your customers using minimal glassware.
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The 2 Easy Steps to Great Glassware
Having beer-specific glassware—rather than the catch-all shaker pint—shows that you care about the way you treat your beer. Customers are more likely to think that you treat it well behind the counter too, with proper storage and clean tap lines.
But having several of each glassware type gets expensive and becomes a storage headache. Then there's the inevitable fumbling around by the bartender, trying to remember whether the snifter goes with the stout or the saison, while the customer gets impatient.
To make it simpler for your bartenders and easier on your wallet, consider two factors when deciding on glassware:
- Size. Different beers should come in different pour sizes, and you should accommodate that with properly-fitting glassware.
- Shape. Different shapes release a beer's aroma better than others, and you should choose your glassware to enhance the beer's flavor.
Here's our two-step system for outfitting your bar with the best craft beer glassware.
Step 1: Size (Cater to Every Drinking Experience)
Not everyone at your bar wants the same drinking experience. Some folks want to explore new and different beers, while others want to sit back with a pint of their favorite and chat with a friend.
We recommend selling three pour sizes to cater to every drinking experience at your bar, and glassware to correspond with each pour size.
- Tasters, for people who want to try a bunch of different beers.
- Mid-Size, for offering “full” sizes of beers that are more expensive or have a higher alcohol content. These are also good for customers who want to have a middle ground between tasters and pints.
- Pints, for beers with a lower alcohol content.
Let's break down why you'd want to serve each of those categories.
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Tasters
Offering tasters for purchase allows drinkers—whether they're craft beer lovers or just dipping their toes in—to see if they like a new brew before committing to a full one. Even the best breweries in the world have a few clunkers, and drinkers don't always want to risk $9 to try out a new beer.
Offering these smaller sizes also lets customers go on a beer journey: rather than spending their full tolerance on just a pint or two, they're able to try a lot of different beers. Importantly, using taster-size glassware frees up the possibility for you to offer flights, which are of course extremely popular right now.
Tasters also help your pocketbook. If you designate 4 oz pours as tasters, customers will pay an appropriate amount (often higher per-ounce) for the sample size—instead of asking to taste different beers for free. Giving out free samples can mean losing at least a beer or two per keg, which can be a lot of money for more expensive beers. In this way, taster glasses are an investment.
Mid-Size
Mid-size pours can be anywhere from 8 to 12 oz. They make it easy for even casual beer drinkers to try out multiple beers per night without getting too full or too intoxicated—or carrying around a bunch of itty bitty tasters.
They also can be used to serve:
- Expensive beers
- High ABV beers
For expensive beers, having the half-pint option means that you can price beers profitably without asking customers to pay more for a single serving. For example, you can sell a beer that you'd price at $10/pint for $6 as a half-pint, a lot closer to a common beer price. Even though the customer is still paying a higher price per ounce, serving it as “a single beer” in a slightly smaller glass gives customers a similar experience at the same cost.
For beers over a certain ABV (some say 7%, some say 9%), giving a full pint is downright irresponsible—go for the half-pint instead. Bar-goers often think they're okay to drive home after one drink, but a pint of a 10% imperial stout is going to hit a lot harder than a 5% IPA. Smaller pour sizes for beer with higher alcohol content makes sure no one leaves the bar in an irresponsible state.
Pint
Full pints are great for your most-popular, low-alcohol content beers. The 16 oz draft is a standard size in America, what most beer drinkers expect when they order “a beer.” Unless it's a specialty beer, one that's high ABV, or you're in a fancy location, beer-drinkers expect to get a full pint for their money.
Using these three different sizes, you can cater to every drinking experience—from the customers who want to taste every IPA on the menu to the ones who want to sit back with a pint of lager and watch the football game.
Step 2: Shape (Maximize Flavor for Each Size)
If you're handling a beer properly (clean your draft lines!), taste is determined by the brewer. But aroma actually has a lot to do with the way you serve the beer. According to Ray Daniels, Cicerone program founder, taste and aroma work together to make up flavor.
For your bar to have beer with the best flavor, you need to get as much aroma as possible from inside the beer to inside the drinker's nose. Glassware that concentrates and releases the aroma is essential to enhancing the beer's flavor.
When a glass has a tapered neck (unlike the shaker pint), it helps concentrate the aroma. Here's a graph of our favorite glassware and their aroma retention, in comparison to the shaker pint.
Let's break down each of our choices—one for each pour size.
4 oz tasters: the snifter
The snifter, which has the highest aroma cultivation and retention, is best for taster pours. The small opening lets drinkers swirl the beeraround in the glass to release aroma. It's often tiny, and great for slow-sipping beers—which is why it's perfect for the 4 oz pours that lets drinkers decide if they like the beer before committing.
Half-pint sized pours: The Tulip
The tulip, which uses a beer's foam to enhance aroma and keep it bright, is best for mid-size pours. The tulip promotes a thick head, where the aroma gets caught—each bubble is a tiny pocket of it. While it doesn't retain aroma for quite as long as the snifter, that's made up for by the fact that it's a little easier to drink out of.
Pint sized pours: the Tulip Pint
The tulip pint, where some of the aroma integrity stays, is a good alternative to the shaker pint for full pours. It also signals to your customers that you care about the little things: you're putting beer in a glass designed for beer, not mixing cocktails.
This isn't remotely a comprehensive list of glass styles, but these are the ones we recommend for enhancing flavor in general. If you have the money, the resources, or the customer base to invest in a larger selection of glassware, go for it! We think it's cool too. Specialty glassware really can help enhance the flavors of specific beers, depending on a bunch of different factors—glass thickness, bottom shape, nucleation points.
But using the snifter, the tulip, and the tulip pint in conjunction is the lowest-budget, lowest-effort way to broadcast that you're seriously into beer, you cater to every drinking experience, and you're committed to enhancing flavor at the same time.
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