Beer Glassware Guide

Beer Mugs

Tankard

On to glasses with handles as opposed to stems. Tankards are the standard-bearers for the mug style of glassware. Larger and more brash than stemmed or pint glasses, tankards usually feature thicker glass and a sturdy handle for swift slugging purposes. Oftentimes the preferred drinking method of seasoned German Ale-swillers, there is no more effective method for delivering large quantities of German beer styles to your rumbling tum-tum.

Krug

This deeply German name describes the preferred glassware for lagers of all kind and is a shorter, squatter version of the tankard with a wider mouth and geometric indentions scattered across the body’s surface. A rather rare glass, be careful not to swig this one too heartily, as the supremely wide mouth will easily slake your thirst – but also might sate your parched starched shirt too!

Stein

Unlike any other glass on this list, the stein features a lid that keeps beer safe and sound from any outside stimuli. Simply push the lid near the handle, and it’s bottoms up! Perfect for Oktoberfest (both the legendary event and the seasonal style favorite), you’ll find steins to be both novel and filling, as they usually hold far more beer than your normal 12- or 16-oz. glasses.

Pilsner Beer Glasses

Weizen Glass

Nifty glasses for most lighter styles, Weizen glasses are used specifically for any and all wheat beers, be they of German, Belgian or American descent. The Weizen glass displays a full, slightly curved body that gets thinner as its get closer to the base before flaring out at the very bottom, giving wheat beers the same effect that IPAs receive in their own eponymous glasses. An elegant glass for a refreshing style. Other pilsner glasses are a bit more straight-edged with a wider base. 

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Stange

This perfectly upright Pilsner glass is as simple as they come. Straight up-and-down, with no baubles, trappings or finials, stange glasses are used specifically for two disparate German styles: the Schwarzbier and Kölsch. Talk about stange bedfellows.

As you can see, there are many options for beer glassware that extend far beyond the common fare of many restaurants. Don’t hesitate to take your own glassware survival kit – replete with tulips and snifters galore – next time you go to a rough-and-tumble diner that might not have the most fulfilling glassware selection. I’m sure you’ll be a hit with the wait staff.

Also, if someone brings you a frosted glass, don’t hesitate to lecture them on the merits of unfrosted glassware. Frozen glasses keep beers too cold and completely deaden the flavor – unless the flavor was dead already (a là light macro lagers) – in which case, chill away! No amount of heat or cold will affect their leaden and uninteresting taste.

Lastly, if anyone gives you flak for your glassware snobbery, simply pour an ample barleywine into a stylish, stemmed tulip, mockingly scoff at their plebeian shaker glass, and politely tell them to kiss your glass.

All Photos by Chris Guest