If you like your women (or men) tall & slender & are looking for a beer glass to match, boy do I have one for you. Come on out, don’t be shy. I’d like you to meet the Pilsner glass. A slim, elegant-looking piece of drinkware that starts thin near the base before fanning out & widening at the top. It’s a simple looking glass absent any decorative features or interesting ridges or bulbs. But it is, quite possibly, one of the more important pieces of drinkware ever.
The beer making process back in the 19th century wasn’t what it is today. Unsurprisingly. The beers were most likely a dark brownish muddy color. They were probably a bit sludgy, thick & cloudy. Why? In large part because of something we take for granted these days. Filtration. Filters can be rough enough to capture yeast, hops, grains or any other solids to fine enough to actually change the body or color. The lack of filtration along with the traditional top fermenting brewing process & ingredients led to the production of heavy & sludgy beers. So it is no surprise that drinkware back then was made of pewter, tin, clay, or even wood. That sludgy & I imagine viscous alcohol probably wasn’t much to look at.
Enter Josef Groll. At the behest of local officials fed up with the quality of their local beer, Groll changed the game in 1842 when he invented the Pilsner in what is now modern day Czechia.
One of the key differences with how the Pilsner was brewed was the introduction of bottom fermenting in which the yeast sits at the bottom of the receptacle. This didn’t produce the crisp & clean look but it did create a more refreshing taste. So what did produce that trademark golden hue? It was Groll’s innovative use of pale malt. The pale malt was lighter in color than other malts & when used produced a clean golden color. Couple that with the soft local water & local Saaz hops & you got yourself a game changing beer.
With it you needed a game changing drinking vessel & thanks to the industrial revolution glass was more easily produced & widely available showcasing the beer that would take the world by storm.
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