Spiegelau Beer Glass Tasting Kit Review

It is our belief that lovingly crafted, great tasting beer deserves to be treated with respect; simply cracking open a bottle or can and throwing it down your neck just doesn’t cut it! You need to get that beer into a glass, and preferably – the right glass.

The importance of glassware

I can’t underestimate the importance of great glassware for the enhanced enjoyment of any beer. Put simply, the right beer in the right glass can elevate your experience from mediocre to magnificent – so it pays to invest in a few options.

As explained in our free to download Beer Geek Toolkit, different glasses will complement different beer styles – helping to enhance and/or emphasize the unique qualities of each individual beer style.

It could be easy to get carried away and start buying every glass style under the sun, but in reality, this simply isn’t practical – or even necessary to be honest.

The amount of glass styles available for the consumption of beer are almost as diverse as beer styles themselves, and while it’s nice to have the choice of as many as possible – a more sensible approach is to start with a good quality set that gets the basics right. Put another way, a small selection of good quality glasses is better than a cupboard full of cheap alternatives.

What comes with the set?

The Spiegelau kit comes with four different glasses, covering a wide range of different beer styles as follows:

Pub style pint glass – (they’re calling it a lager glass, but it’ll work with anything from lager to session bitter)

Stemmed tulip glass – Recommended for heavier, darker ales styles. The tulip mouth with help enhance the aroma; therefore, you can use it to enhance the aroma of any style, to be honest. Very versatile.

Wheat beer glass – Emphasises the appearance and aroma of German Hefeweizen.

IPA Glass – As developed by Spiegelau in collaboration with US brewers Sierra Nevada and Dogfishhead. This glass is specifically designed to enhance the beautiful bouquet of hops found in modern IPA’s.

How are the glasses different?

Spiegelau rim vs Pub glass rim

Each glass is thin, laser-cut with a polished rim. They’re also made from lead-free crystal, which really helps to elevate the entire experience beyond your typical chunky, jam-jar like pub glass. If you’re looking for a more sophisticated craft beer experience – this is it.

A thin polished rim helps to give you more control over the flow of beer, which enhances the flavor and mouthfeel of every sip. The finish on a good quality wine or champagne glass is perhaps the closest comparison.

Inevitably, with precision cut sophistication comes increased delicacy. If you’re looking for a robust glass you can clash with your buddy when saying cheers – followed by a distinct slam on the table – you’re probably best sticking to a pub glass. Delicate, though, does not mean flimsy, and you can trust these glasses in a dishwasher according to Spiegelau. To be honest, I prefer to hand-wash them anyway, as dishwashers can leave a white, frosty residue on glasses over time – spoiling the clarity.

I won’t bore you with any more words, I think you get the point: these glasses help elevate your beer experience into the realm of wine world sophistication (where beer deserves to be in our books). I’ll leave you with Spiegelau description, and our video overview below.

Only so much space in the cabinet – I feel your pain. Do you have an IPA glass in your collection? If you only picked up one, I’d say that one was the one to own first. How many glasses do you own, approximately?

I have pretty close to 300…right now…including Growlers, Yard of Ale. Mainly Pints but I have some that are not photographed right now and posted…These are my Newest Additions. Several of our Tap Rooms host “Tap Takeover” and the Brewery Reps bring freebies..Buy a Beer keep the Glassware. Here is my GlasswareCollection minus a few I have not photographed yet. https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=oa.824106681012056&type=1