Glassware: Snifter (#7 in a Series)

*Special thanks to the wise men at Beer Advocate for the source material.

SNIFTER
Snifters are most closely identified with brandy or cognac, but these wide-bowled, stemmed glasses with tapered mouths are ideal for capturing aromas of strong ales—think barleywines, tripels, imperial IPAs. You will look awesome swirling your beer in a cool snifter; for added effect, inquire abour recent fluctuations in the yen, or ask loudly where you can find a gross of canvas bags with dollar signs printed on them. Everyone in the room will assume you're Scrooge McDuck's more successful, human cousin. In short: snifters capture and enhance volatiles and make you look like the guy from the Monopoly game board, so you should buy one.

Which beer styles are suited to this type of glassware?

• American Barleywine
• American Double / Imperial IPA
• American Double / Imperial Stout
• American Strong Ale
• Belgian Dark Ale
• Belgian Pale Ale
• Belgian Strong Dark Ale
• Belgian Strong Pale Ale
• Braggot
• Eisbock
• English Barleywine
• Flanders Oud Bruin
• Flanders Red Ale
• Foreign / Export Stout
• Gueuze
• Lambic - Fruit
• Old Ale
• Quadrupel (Quad)
• Russian Imperial Stout
• Scotch Ale / Wee Heavy
• Tripel
• Wheatwine

Where can I find one?

Pier 1 comes through again, by far the best price on these (which they call brandy snifters, but they should hold beer satisfactorily as well). The very idea of enjoying a Sierra Nevada Bigfoot in the appropriate glass should send you running for the nearest Pier 1 like Drew Carey at Cracker Barrel's Sunday brunch when they roll out the build-your-own Belgian waffle cart.

Next time: the stange. Never heard of it? Don't worry, that's what this blog is all about.

Quench your thirst for INFOGRAPHICS

For whatever reason, the office buzzword these days is "infographics"—you know, those neat graphics popularized by USA Today to give us new and interesting ways to display data in a pie chart (like, for instance, make the slices actual pie, etc.). Imagine my pleasure to receive this one, relating solely to strange and wonderful beers. Honestly, if you'd seen this as a bar graph, would you have given it a second look? I didn't think so. (Hat-tip: Dan Barker).

Pizza=Not Death

In these troubling days of obesity and persistent death and Michelle Obama mumbling through mouthfuls of chicken wings and fried ravioli that we're all too fat, here comes a story that restores my faith in human nature and God's good providence: this woman would have died had she not ordered a pizza every day of her life. I can only hope if a Friday evening arrives and the guy behind the liquor store hasn't seen my smiling face, he calls the EMTs to swing by my house.

Glassware: Flute Glass (#6 in a Series)

*Special thanks to the wise men at Beer Advocate for the source material.

FLUTE GLASS

Of course, Miller High Life is "The Champagne of Beers."* The good news is, there really IS beer worthy of drinking like a fine champagne; at those times, it's good to have a flute around. The narrow body preserves carbonation, enhances aroma and color and basically makes your beer look its best. It should be apparent when it's appropriate to drink your beer from a flute:

• When you're at the White House
• When you're holding a giant publisher's clearing house check with your name on it
• At the midpoint of "Minstrel in the Gallery" at a Jethro Tull concert
• When you have a beer ready to drink and hey, there's a flute
  

There are many beers with champagne-like attributes; they may be dry, or effervescent, or aromatic, whatever. Use your best judgment. If you have a New Glarus Raspberry Tart and you choose not to swig it directly from the bottle, a flute would be appropriate.

Which beer styles are suited to this type of glassware?

• American Wild Ale
• Bière de Champagne / Bière Brut
• Bock
• Czech Pilsener
• Dortmunder / Export Lager
• Eisbock
• Euro Strong Lager
• Faro
• Flanders Oud Bruin
• Flanders Red Ale
• German Pilsener
• Gueuze
• Lambic - Fruit
• Lambic - Unblended
• Maibock / Helles Bock
• Munich Dunkel Lager
• Munich Helles Lager
• Schwarzbier
• Vienna Lager
• Weizenbock

Where can I find one?

Amazon.com has these, which look like they'll do the job.

Next time: snifters! Grab a cigar and we'll do this thing.

*Ben will give me no end of grief for insulting his beloved High Life. He's from Nebraska, hence his love of beer that's chock full of corn (and yes, I'm from Iowa, but that's neither here nor there).

Glassware: Pint Glass (#5 in a Series)*

*Special thanks to the wise men at Beer Advocate for the source material.

PINT GLASS

There are two kinds of pint glass: the 20-oz. Imperial, or Nonic, which has a slight ridge toward the top; and the more common (in the U.S., anyway) 16-oz. Tumbler. As you'll see below, there is a long list of beers that it's appropriate to drink from a pint glass. They're easy to find, easy to store, and cheap. It's not difficult to find a wide selection of your favorite brewers' pint glasses reasonably priced online (Grandstands, for example, has a nice selection here, sorted geographically).

Pint glasses are ubiquitous; you probably have at least one at home right now. The point is, if you are drinking beer, use at least a pint glass—don't swill it out of the bottle like a troglodyte (unless, that is, it actually IS swill, in which case it doesn't matter).

Which beer styles are suited to this type of glassware?

• American Adjunct Lager
• American Amber / Red Ale
• American Amber / Red Lager
• American Barleywine
• American Black Ale
• American Blonde Ale
• American Brown Ale
• American Dark Wheat Ale
• American Double / Imperial Stout
• American IPA
• American Malt Liquor
• American Pale Ale (APA)
• American Pale Wheat Ale
• American Porter
• American Stout
• American Strong Ale
• Baltic Porter
• Berliner Weissbier
• Black & Tan
• California Common / Steam Beer
• Chile Beer
• Cream Ale
• English Barleywine
• English Bitter
• English Brown Ale
• English Dark Mild Ale
• English India Pale Ale (IPA)
• English Pale Ale
• English Pale Mild Ale
• English Porter
• English Stout
• English Strong Ale
• Euro Dark Lager
• Extra Special / Strong Bitter (ESB)
• Foreign / Export Stout
• Fruit / Vegetable Beer
• Happoshu
• Herbed / Spiced Beer
• Irish Dry Stout
• Irish Red Ale
• Low Alcohol Beer
• Milk / Sweet Stout
• Märzen / Oktoberfest
• Oatmeal Stout
• Old Ale
• Pumpkin Ale
• Russian Imperial Stout
• Rye Beer
• Sahti
• Saison / Farmhouse Ale
• Scotch Ale / Wee Heavy
• Scottish Ale
• Scottish Gruit / Ancient Herbed Ale
• Smoked Beer
• Winter Warmer
• Witbier

Where can I find one?

Geez, anywhere. If you have the time and are willing to risk potential disappointment, check out a TJ Maxx, Marshall's, Gordman's or other such store–they often carry drinkware sets at bargain prices. If you'd rather order online, you can get a nonic with the Stone logo here for $7.95 (plus shipping). So not only do you get a nice glass, you can send the message that you know good beer (regardless of whether it's available where you are). 16 oz. Tumblers can be found pretty much anywhere–your favorite brewery would be a good start. Otherwise, do a google search. Whatever you're into, there's likely a pint glass for it. Harry Potter fan? Check. Beanie Baby collector? Check. And so on.

Next time: flutes! Not just for champagne–there are beers that are ideal when drunk from a flute (while listening to Jethro Tull's Warchild, if possible).