Does the Type of Glass Make a Difference?
The glass you drink your beer from can greatly impact its taste, flavor, and mouthfeel. While the wrong glass won’t ruin a great beer, the right glass will allow you to experience it to its fullest.
The right glass will develop all of the aromas that your craft beer is known for, while muddling the beer’s harsher properties. It will give a balanced flavor and aroma, proper head retention, and present the color and carbonation of the brew to bring forward the different aspects that make each craft beer unique.
Below are some of the best craft beer glasses for some of the biggest craft beers on the market. So get yourself a glass that will allow you to properly enjoy your favorite craft beer.
OUR FAVORITE BEER GLASSES!
Best For Craft Beers
Our Favorite Beer Glass Overall is the Rastal Teku Stemmed Beer Glass. This glass may seem like more than a traditional beer drinker would need, and that’s because it is.
This glass is not built to hold Bud Light, it is a unique craft beer glass designed to bring forward the flavors and aromas of high-quality craft beers, and it is one of the best and most versatile glasses at doing just that.
Although you can niche down and specialize in having the perfect glass for every style of beer, if you want one glass that works universally well to increase the flavor and profile of every beer you pour into it, then you’re going to want to get the Teku beer glass.
The stem on this glass makes sure that your hands don’t warm the beer as you drink.
The bottom of the bowl is etched to create a beautiful bubble stream that preserves the head and enhances the flavor as these bubbles travel through the entire beer before blasting to the surface, releasing the full bouquet of the beer.
The wide bowl and narrow rim capture aromatics and give the glass its famous ability to properly display all types of craft beers.
Best For Wheat, Lagers, & Pilsners
This is the Spiegelau Classics Tall Pilsner Glass, a glass that may not resemble what people imagine when thinking of a classic pilsner, looking more like a Weizen glass, will soon become the glass that you reach for every time you pour a pilsner.
This tall thin glass holds 15 fl oz, they are made from lead-free crystal, and they are beautiful.
The glass perfectly displays the beautiful blonde color of a light lager and allows a lot of length for the bubbles to run through the beer and pull out all of the aromas. The slim shape also helps to pronounce hops aroma and bitterness with a refreshing finish.
The indentation in the bottom of the glass gives a unique style and gives you a sturdy grip when holding onto the glass.
Best For IPAs or Any Pale Ale
The Spiegelau IPA Glass is the only glass an IPA should ever be served in. Spiegelau, the master at creating craft beer glasses, hit the mark again with this IPA glass.
It was created in collaboration with Dogfish Head and Sierra Nevada Brewing companies, and the IPA glass was born.
The thin glass walls ensure that the glass doesn’t transfer heat to the beer, keeping it colder for longer.
The bottom is etched to present and preserve bubbles that run through the beer’s entirety, bringing up all of the flavors and aroma with them. The wave-like pattern on the bottom aerates and refreshes the beer every time you take a sip, as it rolls over the ridges.
The slender bowl shape applies the natural hop-forward aesthetic of a traditional IPA, while the wide mouth balances the brew for an even mouthfeel of sweetness and acidity.
Best For Stouts, Porters, & Dark Beers
The Spiegelau Stout Glass was created in conjunction with Left Hand Brewing Co. and Rogue Ales, two breweries known for producing great stouts, porters, and dark beers.
This beer glass is blown thin so that the glass doesn’t transfer heat to the stout. The thin base gives a firm hold on the glass, and the wide bowl and narrow rim are built to accentuate the roasted malt, rich coffee, and chocolate notes that define a stout beer. The rim is also built to preserve the creamy head and mouthfeel that stout connoisseurs love so much.
These glasses are one purchase you won’t regret. Truly changing the beer you think you know into something so much more and allowing the stout to express all of the hard work that was put into making it.
Best For Sour Beers & Gose
This is the Libbey Classic Belgian Beer Glass. Although this glass was designed with Belgian ales in mind, the tulip-shaped vessel is equally suited to handle any sour beer like an IPA or Gose.
The stem keeps your hand from warming the beer, allowing it to stay colder for longer. The large bulbous bottom and narrowed rim that flares enhance the volatiles while retaining proper head retention, capturing the aroma of more complex sour beers.
Best Premium Beer Glass
The Zalto Denk’Art Hand-Blown Crystal Beer Glass is a stunning beauty. It is built by Zalto and stands as one of the finest glasses ever created for beer.
Zalto has come to garner a cult-like following, and it is because, although expensive and high-end, they make some of the most well-refined glassware in the world.
This glass was built to be universal, but it does its best work with fine-hopped Pilsners and Märzen-Beers.
It delivers aromas, presents bubbles and color, and preserves the head like no other.
It’s not the traditionally shaped glass that you’d expect your beer to be in, but Zalto has become famous for doing things untraditionally and creating a superior result.
Best Set of Budget Beer Glasses
The Luminarc Willi Becher Tumbler is not a specialty glass will the precise curves or capacity for any specific beer.
What the Willi Becher Beer glass was made to do is hold every beer well and do so with a sense of style that you won’t get from your traditional bar glass.
These come from Arc International, one of the biggest glass producers in the world.
That kind of volume means that you’ll get a 12 pack of these for less than a single glass of some of the alternatives on this list—staying on budget while receiving a beautiful beer glass that will impress and meet restaurant requirements for durability.
What more could you ask for? It’s time to call some friends and get the party started!
Best Set of Tasting Glasses
Luminarc made it onto our list for the second time in this category, with their Variety Set of Assorted Craft Brew Beer Glasses. Coming it at another super affordable price with their fantastic restaurant quality and durability standards comes a set of 6 beer glasses that will ensure that you’re getting the full experience no matter what beer you are tasting.
This set contains the following glasses:
- 16 oz. Belgian Craft
- 16 oz. Evolution Pilsner
- 16 oz. Grand Pilsner
- 16 oz. Medford Pilsner
- 19 oz. Nonic Pint
- 20 oz. Willi Becher
Best Insulated Beer Glass
This is the Host Frozen Double-Walled Pint Glass. Some glasses use a stem to make sure that your hand doesn’t warm the glass. Others blow their glasses thin so that it doesn’t transfer heat as well.
But what if you want to go out in the back yard and need a sturdy glass that will keep your favorite beer colder for longer.
Well, that’s where the Host Freeze Pint Glass comes into play, and it might just become your new favorite glass.
The Host Frozen Pint Glass is a plastic double-walled glass filled with a freezer-safe gel that hardens and keeps your drink cool without ever worrying about watering it down.
These beer glasses go in the freezer for two hours, and when they come out, they will keep your beer at a consistent forty-three to fifty-three degrees Fahrenheit, even outside without a lid.
They also have a silicone handguard that makes sure your drink stays cold without you having to be subjected to the freezing gel.
These have become one of my favorite summer glasses and always surprise me with how long they stay cold.
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