I had a beer in the DFW D Terminal Admirals Club Sunday while waiting out a delay caused by a canceled flight. And to my surprise and pleasure they served my Samuel Adams Boston Lager in one of the brewery's new glasses. It's common for European brewers (especially Belgians) to have custom glassware they've designed to maximize their beer's enjoyment but it's still a rare thing on this side of the pond.
I hadn't heard of any promotional efforts by Boston Beer Co. to get these used in airline clubs but I think their glass design does improve the beer experience over a beer of this style that's served in a standard Shaker pint so I was happy to see it.
By the way, you don't necessarily have to steal these glasses from an Admirals Club if you want some of your own. They're sold on the Sam Adams website.
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"The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page." -- St. Augustine
A friend of mine received a set of these glasses as a birthday present; they certainly make a world of difference when drinking from them. Included in the set is a detailed description of the "science" behind the making of the glass.
Actually, when Boston Beer Co. first came out with these glasses I and several other writers were invited to do a comparison tasting between the new glass and a standard shaker pint. We all agreed that you really can taste the difference the glass makes.
It's not a big surprise; think of the way you use different glasses for red or white wine. The design of a wine glass is intended to highlight certain characteristics of the wine, so why would the design of a beer glass be any different?
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"The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page." -- St. Augustine
We toured the Sam Adams brewery in Boston a little while back (great tour- I highly recommend it). Learned something interesting there. While some beer glass shapes are "tuned" to specific beer types, to enhance the qualities, a number of the shapes have absolutely nothing to do with the beer- they just look cool, and that's why they were made.
One of my favorite places to drink beer in NYC -- a place at which I often would meet, until I got a new girlfriend (sorry, friend!), a particular highly knowledgeable FTer who, despite his significant contributions to this board, no longer is welcome here -- is Markt, a Belgian restaurant with an all-Belgian beer list on 6th Avenue and 21st Street. They serve each beer in the specific glass chosen by the manufacturer to go with it. I agree that there is a lot of good science to this, but there's also a lot of equally good marketing.
Boston Beer Co currently uses contract brewing through SABMiller to brew and bottle most of their beers.
If you want to fully maximize the glass make sure you wash it correctly. Odds are when you soap it and put it in a dishwasher, you're going to corrupt the beer's taste. The soap will leave a finish on the glass - since where talking about Belgian beers here, notice how your glasses are cleaned if you get pints at a Belgian brewery!
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With all due respect to our Belgian friends, I don't believe the concept of dedicated glassware is at all peculiar to Belgium. For example, I've never had a beer served in anything but a dedicated glass in Germany or Poland (and I've had more than a few), and I seem to recall the same treatment in France and the Netherlands. (Britain does seem to use generic pints, though, don't they?)
All in all, an excellent practice, and kudos to Sam Adams.
Boston Beer Co currently uses contract brewing through SABMiller to brew and bottle most of their beers.
It is quite common for smaller brewers and microbrewers to contract out the brewing, bottling and distribution of their beers.
Quote:
Originally Posted by silam
If you want to fully maximize the glass make sure you wash it correctly. Odds are when you soap it and put it in a dishwasher, you're going to corrupt the beer's taste. The soap will leave a finish on the glass - since where talking about Belgian beers here, notice how your glasses are cleaned if you get pints at a Belgian brewery!
I believe that in the industry, it's referred to as a "beer clean" glass. A properly cleaned glass will maintain a head much better than one with soap or other residue on it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jpzeller
With all due respect to our Belgian friends, I don't believe the concept of dedicated glassware is at all peculiar to Belgium.
I didn't mean to suggest that it's unique to Belgium. I agree that it's a common practice throughout Europe.
With all due respect to our Belgian friends, I don't believe the concept of dedicated glassware is at all peculiar to Belgium. For example, I've never had a beer served in anything but a dedicated glass in Germany or Poland (and I've had more than a few), and I seem to recall the same treatment in France and the Netherlands. (Britain does seem to use generic pints, though, don't they?)
All in all, an excellent practice, and kudos to Sam Adams.
We (Britain) vary... more and more places serve beer in a glass with the beer name on it, but it's not uncommon to get a Stella in a Grolsch glass, or god forbid, a Peroni in a Fosters glass! Usually the more upmarket the venue the more likely you will get (the correct) branded glass. My OH works in marketing for (SAB) Miller Coors and is desperate the get branded glasses in the US, but apparently bars and restaurants are very reluctant even to give it a try. So she is just trying to promote the Grolsch swing top bottles as much as she can instead!
Boston Beer Co currently uses contract brewing through SABMiller to brew and bottle most of their beers.
If you want to fully maximize the glass make sure you wash it correctly. Odds are when you soap it and put it in a dishwasher, you're going to corrupt the beer's taste. The soap will leave a finish on the glass - since where talking about Belgian beers here, notice how your glasses are cleaned if you get pints at a Belgian brewery!
Actually, Boston Beer Co. has been steadily reducing its contract brewing, most recently by purchasing and renovating the old Rolling Rock brewery in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. Combined with expansions at their existing operation in Cincinnati, they now brew the majority of their own beer and are moving toward ending contract brewing altogether in the near term.
Being the Boston Beer Co. they do have a small brewery in Boston with the corporate offices, but it's primarily for R&D and the occasional small-batch specialty beer.
They'd looked at building a big brewery in Massachusetts but it proved most cost-effective to buy and modernize the brewery in Latrobe.
And that's very true about not letting soap near your beer glass. Use hot water and just hot water. I'm not a total purist about this; I've been known to take a soapy sponge to the outside bottom of a beer glass, but it gets nowhere near where any unspilled and drinkable beer would be.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by androobe
...or god forbid, a Peroni in a Fosters glass!
How to fix this:
1) Look at the glass, then the bartender
2) Slap the bartender and ask "Really?"
Sorry but I was fortunate enough to live abroad for a short while. I came back with a much higher respect for beer. What ever happened to bartenders taking pride in their job?
That being asked, thats why I'm not terribly surprised to see these glasses being used in Admirals Clubs. Ive never had anything but good service in there.
Actually, Boston Beer Co. has been steadily reducing its contract brewing, most recently by purchasing and renovating the old Rolling Rock brewery in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. Combined with expansions at their existing operation in Cincinnati, they now brew the majority of their own beer and are moving toward ending contract brewing altogether in the near term.
Being the Boston Beer Co. they do have a small brewery in Boston with the corporate offices, but it's primarily for R&D and the occasional small-batch specialty beer.
They'd looked at building a big brewery in Massachusetts but it proved most cost-effective to buy and modernize the brewery in Latrobe.
Not that I doubted you at all, but your credibility in the beer industry just went up with this post. Either that,or you recently took the tour as well,because this is dead-on accurate
Quote:
Originally Posted by greggwiggins
And that's very true about not letting soap near your beer glass. Use hot water and just hot water. I'm not a total purist about this; I've been known to take a soapy sponge to the outside bottom of a beer glass, but it gets nowhere near where any unspilled and drinkable beer would be.
The same is true of wine glasses. Hot water rinse and dry with a lint-free cloth.
