What do you get when two powerhouses of the craft beer world, Sierra Nevada & Dogfish Head, come together to design a glass to maximize the IPA drinking experience? You get a glass that kinda looks like something Uncharted’s Nathan Drake would be searching for in an ancient shipwreck off the coast of some exotic locale.
Fortunately for us the Spiegelau Craft IPA Glass (as it is known) isn’t some rare gem. Its chalice looking design optimizes the drinking experience of the beer world’s most aggressive brews. While there are subtleties within IPAs, there’s nothing really subtle about IPAs. Some are juicy, some are dry. Some have lactose, some have fruit. They all have hops. But some hops offer piney notes while others citrusy or stone fruit notes. Some offer herbal notes & others still offer floral notes. There are hops that will add a spicy character & hops that can give you wood or earthy notes. And the difference between these can be subtle.
But IPAs as a whole tend to be aggressive & hop forward.
And this glass was made to enhance all of that. Its base is designed with undulations that create “waves' introducing air into the beer when you sip. This encourages the production of aroma & flavor trapping froth. From the base, the bulb of the glass opens outward before narrowing near the top. This is for funneling those trapped aromas. The narrow shape at the top slows the dissipation of the froth by not allowing air to pour in as the glass sits preserving the head of the beer.
The base also reduces the amount of surface area with which to hold thereby limiting the amount of heat transferred from your hand to the glass.
Laser etchings at the bottom of the glass do more than look cool. They help create a constant stream of bubbles, a process called nucleation, that helps maintain the carbonation.
So, is it completely necessary to drink every IPA from one? No. Does it help to improve your tasting experience? It sure does. Is it worth paying for a whole set of new glasses? Yeah, idk. I won’t make fun of you for being an uncultured swine if you don’t drink from one, don’t worry.
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