Two Glass Beer Kits 1: Sam Adams

One of my new favorite hobbies has been searching out ways to make a  two-glass complete beer set for those new craft beer enthusiasts on a tight budget, with limited space, or you just would like to make wise purchases on brewery tours. The first and most obvious warning about this is you'll end up drinking at least one variety of beer from inappropriate glassware. My first stop on this brewery tour is a brewery we're all too familiar with - Sam Adams (a.k.a the Boston Beer Company.) Their Porter Street brewery sells many varieties of different glassware ranging from the standard American Tumbler/Pint glasses to their limited edition Utopias glasses that are coupon redeemable if you purchase a bottle. However, there are two glasses that I think make the case for a complete set.

First, the Sam Adams "Perfect Pint" Glass. While there is a lot of advertising devoted to this glass, I'm pleased to say it's for a good reason. This glass is fantastic! We have two of these and they get used almost every time someone enjoys beer here. The mechanics of this beer glass are actually quite simple, what they've done is take the basic designs of a tulip glass (such as the bulbous body, curved outer lip, and stem-like base) and married it with a standard pint glass. They also added laser etching on the bottom to encourage the release of carbonation, making this a great choice for most lighter Lagers, regular Pale Ales and IPAs, and some porters and stouts. Generally, if your beer is regular strength and would benefit from some release of carbonation, this glass is the best you can do outside of the individually branded glass the brewery would use for this beer.

Second, the Sam Adams Balloon Glass. For this TGBK, the pivot point is obviously the tulip style glass, as the Balloon Glass is a hybrid of a tulip and a snifter. In this case, the glass is more snifter, sporting a spherical base wider than the lip. To properly use this glass, take anything that is higher than normal strength - Imperial Stouts/Porters/IPAs - and put them in this glass. This glass is also well suited to two types of beer due to the shape of their ideal glassware pairing - Belgian Pale Ales such as Duvel and Scotch Ales. Barleywines will also benefit nicely. All in all, while you could be pouring your Chimay or your Rochefort into a chalice, this glass will definitely concentrate the nose a little bit more.

What's Missing?: While it could be argued that the Perfect Pint glass would do a good job on Belgian Wits, it leaves a bit to be desired to lambics, rauchbiers, and bocks. Doppelbocks would be alright in the balloon, but regular bocks fall through the cracks quite easily. Again, this combination could be a little more strong for Trappist Ales/Quads, but it's quite reasonable for someone looking to get into craft beer with only two glasses.

Well, that sums up the first TGBK. It's likely I'll post another one relatively soon, as we'll likely be back to the Harpoon Brewery this coming weekend. As for now, I'm off to read my new copy of Brewmaster's Table by Garrett Oliver.

Cheers!