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INVENTION LEAVING FROSTY MUG IN DUST Cheers to glass that elevates beer drinking

July 8, 2007 12:35 am

By MICHAEL ZITZ

Nearly $10 a glass?

Without beer in it?

Sounds like something a chardonnay-sipper would pay for, not a beer-drinker.

Historians at Mount Vernon have a "flip glass" from which George Washington used to drink a mixture of beer, spirits and sugar that was served heated.

But throughout history, the average American has been pretty minimalistic when it comes to downing a brew. We often drink beer out of cans and bottles. If we want to put on airs, we use a frosty mug.

That could be changing, though.

Wine consumption in the U.S. has closed the gap on beer consumption. And beer companies have to do more to appeal to an increasingly sophisticated consumer than air Swedish Bikini Team ads.

Samuel Adams recently introduced a line of special pint glasses that cost $30 for a set of four. The Boston company had nearly as many scientists working on those glasses as NASA does on the space shuttle.

Speaking of outer space, it looks like something "Star Trek's" Romulans would use to drink their ale.

It had to be just the right height, just the right shape, just the right thickness, with little bubble-making bumps in just the right places. Here's the weird thing about it: It works, enhancing the flavor of lager.

Jeff Fitzpatrick, proprietor of Blue & Gray Brewery in Spotsylvania County, says "some folks poo-poo this as just marketing."

But Fitzpatrick isn't a member of the poo-pooing group.

"There's a longstanding trend in Europe to craft a glass specifically for a given beer that's finally gaining some ground here in the States," he said. "With the rise of craft beer, there is increasing sophistication about how a glass matters as well. "

In a telephone interview with The Free Lance-Star, Boston Brewing Co. founder Jim Koch said Sam Adams worked with "sensory experts" and glass craftsmen to create a Boston Lager Pint Glass with powers anything but pint-sized.

Koch said that "historically, those shapes and sizes have been chosen for durability--you can almost bounce them before you break them."

TIAX, a Cambridge-based tech company that also works with the Department of Defense, helped Boston Brewing decide on goals for the pint glass. A number of glass manufacturers submitted prototypes, and ultimately German glassware manufacturer Rastal created the merger of style and function they were seeking.

A small ridge inside the top rim creates turbulence to increase carbonation and aroma release just as beer reaches the drinker's palate.

The outward-turned lip of the glass places the beer on the front of the tongue where sweetness is tasted instead of dumping it farther back in the mouth as most glasses tend to do.

Narrowing at the top of the glass concentrates the head and enhances aroma.

Thinner walls and a round shape provide a greater volume-to-surface ratio, maintaining cold temperature longer.

A narrow grip reduces exposure to heat from the hand.

A "nucleation site" increases hop-aroma release.

Koch called the glass's "turbulator" a "ski jump that creates turbulence and releases carbonation just as it hits the tip of the tongue."

The nucleation sites, he said, "release a column of bubbles all during the drinking experience."

Koch compared the large bowl shape of the glass to that of a wine glass.

He said Boston Brewing Co. spent a six-figure sum developing the glass.

"This is really the first time we or anybody else have done this based purely on focusing on enhancing the flavor experience," Koch said.

"The glass wasn't designed to be beautiful, it wasn't designed to create an image, it was designed for one purpose--to enhance the flavor of the beer."

Koch's contention that beer glasses have been designed to bounce on barroom floors in the past is only partly true.

Pint glasses, best for serving stouts, porters and English ales, generally come in flared-top, conical and jug shapes.

As Fitzpatrick points out, in Europe glasses intended for different types of beer have been shaped differently for hundreds of years,

Tall, slender pilsner glasses taper without curving.

Bavarian

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Both Pilsner and wheat-beer glasses are meant to provide room for thick heads to capture aroma and present an esthetically pleasing look.

According to "The Beer Stein Book: A 400 Year History," the lids on steins first appeared in the late 1400s, during the time of the Black Plague, when central Europe was inundated with flies. Because of the swarming insects, towns in what is now Germany passed laws saying food and drink containers must be covered to prevent the spread of disease. The hinged lid on steins kept them covered, but allowed the drinker to hoist and open them with one hand.

Flute glasses for lambics and fruit beers have a narrow shape to feature the aroma and keep contents from going flat.

Large, stemmed, bowl-shaped goblets and chalices are intended for heavy Belgian ales, German bocks and other big sipping beers.

"People have known for a long time that different wine glasses will enhance the flavors of different wines," Koch said.

Now Koch is putting that knowledge to use. And if it makes money for Sam Adams, we can expect to be drinking beer out of glasses of all shapes and sizes.