Last Tuesday Dogfish Head announced the new Spiegelau IPA Glass, created in collaboration with Sierra Nevada, was finally available for purchase. Well, thank goodness for their online store, because I hopped right on and ordered a set. The craziest part? The glasses were delivered to my doorstep the next afternoon!
Unfortunately we had a crazy week getting ready for (sniff, sniff) the now-postponed Extreme Beer Fest, so we didn't get a chance to try it out until after the Fest, and our trip, were postponed. Before heading out with friends on Saturday night we decided it was the perfect time to crack open DFH and Sierra Nevada's latest collaboration, Rhizing Bines, and test out these glasses.
We opened up our cabinets and pulled down each type of Dogfish Head glassware we own. Here's what we were using:
The Pint Glass
The Dogfish Head Signature Glass
Dogfish Head Shaped Pint Glass
And the new Spiegelau IPA Glass
We evenly split the bottle of Rhizing Bines between the each of the four glasses. The first thing we wanted to test among each glass was the aroma. Our goal was to see if we noticed anything significantly different between each of the four glasses.
Using the pint glass, the large opening of the glass seemed to allow the aroma of hops dissipate especially in comparison to the shaped pint glass, and similarly to the DFH signature glass. In both the shaped pint glass and the signature glass the aroma of the hops seems to be heightened quite a bit. Comparing this to the new IPA glass, the aroma of the hops seems a little more subtle than we expected, but not as subtle as they were in the pint glass.
We then wanted to simply taste Rhizing Bines in each glass (cleansing our palette in between each taste). Again, the pint glass seemed to provide the least beneficial sip of this beer. It was good, don't get us wrong, but it wasn't nearly as flavorful as when tasting the beer in each of the other three glasses.
The hops were the first thing that hits your nose in both the shaped pint glass and the signature glass, and we definitely got a much hoppier taste when sipping Rhizing Bines out of each of these glasses. We realized how much more we enjoyed drinking Rhizing Bines out of both of these glasses over the traditional pint glass.
Then we drank out of the IPA glass. Oh, the IPA glass. The first thing we noticed about the IPA glass, in addition to the design being very simple and very clean, was the thinness of the glass. The other glasses we were using seemed very heavy and bulky now that we had the IPA glass in our hand. Another thing that was very noticeable was the heady foam in the IPA glass stayed behind as the others faded away. Interesting.
Now to sip. As we mentioned, the aroma of hops is more subtle in this glass, but it really seemed to encompass our nose as we started to drink. The drinking experience, as crazy as this might sound, was just easy with this glass. The beer nearly shot down our throats with barely an ounce of effort. It seemed to make the beer much smoother than when drinking from the other three glasses. It was a little hard to comprehend that something as simple as a glass could create such an effect. The taste of the beer was different, not a bad different, a very good, very clean different. It tasted a though we were getting to the root of the ingredients, really getting to experience what the beer was meant to taste like.
Something else we found rather interesting was the carbonation that was noted in the IPA glass. This picture is a little up close and personal action with the pint glass. Not super clear, but we think it's pretty noticeable the difference in the carbonation between this glass and...
...the new Spiegelau USA IPA Glass. Crazy.
Our overall verdict: this glass rocks. Neither of us read a thing about the glass before we used it to ensure that our opinion wasn't swayed or influenced in any way. As Eric quite simply put it, "I want to drink EVERYTHING out of this glass." He's wondering if we can take it with us to bars so that every IPA we drink is lucky enough to experience this phenomenal glass!
Unfortunately we had a crazy week getting ready for (sniff, sniff) the now-postponed Extreme Beer Fest, so we didn't get a chance to try it out until after the Fest, and our trip, were postponed. Before heading out with friends on Saturday night we decided it was the perfect time to crack open DFH and Sierra Nevada's latest collaboration, Rhizing Bines, and test out these glasses.
 |
| Let the "testing" begin! |
The Pint Glass
The Dogfish Head Signature Glass
Dogfish Head Shaped Pint Glass
And the new Spiegelau IPA Glass
We evenly split the bottle of Rhizing Bines between the each of the four glasses. The first thing we wanted to test among each glass was the aroma. Our goal was to see if we noticed anything significantly different between each of the four glasses.
Using the pint glass, the large opening of the glass seemed to allow the aroma of hops dissipate especially in comparison to the shaped pint glass, and similarly to the DFH signature glass. In both the shaped pint glass and the signature glass the aroma of the hops seems to be heightened quite a bit. Comparing this to the new IPA glass, the aroma of the hops seems a little more subtle than we expected, but not as subtle as they were in the pint glass.
We then wanted to simply taste Rhizing Bines in each glass (cleansing our palette in between each taste). Again, the pint glass seemed to provide the least beneficial sip of this beer. It was good, don't get us wrong, but it wasn't nearly as flavorful as when tasting the beer in each of the other three glasses.
The hops were the first thing that hits your nose in both the shaped pint glass and the signature glass, and we definitely got a much hoppier taste when sipping Rhizing Bines out of each of these glasses. We realized how much more we enjoyed drinking Rhizing Bines out of both of these glasses over the traditional pint glass.
Then we drank out of the IPA glass. Oh, the IPA glass. The first thing we noticed about the IPA glass, in addition to the design being very simple and very clean, was the thinness of the glass. The other glasses we were using seemed very heavy and bulky now that we had the IPA glass in our hand. Another thing that was very noticeable was the heady foam in the IPA glass stayed behind as the others faded away. Interesting.
Now to sip. As we mentioned, the aroma of hops is more subtle in this glass, but it really seemed to encompass our nose as we started to drink. The drinking experience, as crazy as this might sound, was just easy with this glass. The beer nearly shot down our throats with barely an ounce of effort. It seemed to make the beer much smoother than when drinking from the other three glasses. It was a little hard to comprehend that something as simple as a glass could create such an effect. The taste of the beer was different, not a bad different, a very good, very clean different. It tasted a though we were getting to the root of the ingredients, really getting to experience what the beer was meant to taste like.
Something else we found rather interesting was the carbonation that was noted in the IPA glass. This picture is a little up close and personal action with the pint glass. Not super clear, but we think it's pretty noticeable the difference in the carbonation between this glass and...
...the new Spiegelau USA IPA Glass. Crazy.
Our overall verdict: this glass rocks. Neither of us read a thing about the glass before we used it to ensure that our opinion wasn't swayed or influenced in any way. As Eric quite simply put it, "I want to drink EVERYTHING out of this glass." He's wondering if we can take it with us to bars so that every IPA we drink is lucky enough to experience this phenomenal glass!