Sunday 23 December 2012

The Ideal Glass?



On my visit to the Pilsner Urquell Brewery, back in September, I treated myself to a souvenir glass. Now I wouldn't normally indulge myself in this fashion as, according to my wife, we have more than enough beer glasses in the house - and I'm sure she's right! Consequently I rarely, if ever, hang on to glasses following beer festivals, returning said article at the end of each visit and claiming back my deposit.

What caught my eye in this case though was the size, and hence the usefulness, of the glass. The drinking vessel in question is a smooth, straight-sided cylindrical tankard, with a solid bottom and a sturdy handle. The glass is emblazoned with the legend "Pilsner Urquell" in a green-coloured script that slope upwards, above which is the seal of said company depicted  in red and gold. The great practical thing about this tankard is that it has an embossed line indicating 0.5l,  that is a full inch and a half below the rim of the glass.

It is obviously a glass designed for local consumption (we saw, and indeed drank from such vessels at the restaurant in the visitor's centre at the brewery). The Czechs like a decent sized head on their beer, hence glasses that allow sufficient space for this, AND for a full measure of beer!

For use back home it's ideal, especially for bottle-conditioned beers which have to be poured carefully and ideally in one go, so as to avoid disturbing the sediment at the bottom of the bottle. This is often less than easy, particularly with a lively beer. All too often one has to stop pouring, thereby risking disturbing the yeast, because the head has become too large and if one was to continue pouring the remainder of the beer would end up all over the floor. My new glass is therefore just the ticket. and I look forward to drinking a whole host of different beers from it over the course of the festive season.

1 comment:

Paul Bailey said...

Well my ideal glass didn't last long. This evening I went to use it and found the rim quite badly chipped. Next time I will wash it up myself, as I normally do, rather than entrusting the task to someone else!!