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On a trip around Vermont a couple of years ago for a travel piece (which you can read here), I visited a load of breweries and brewpubs, but ironically enough one of my most memorable beers was Boston Lager at the eponymous airport. And why was this? The glassware. I had a serving of Boston Lager in the Junoesque (Picasso inspired perhaps?) glass that Sam Adams launched to bring out the best in their beer — and it did, especially with the noble hop character. Then when I was airside I had a Boston Lager in a normal glass and it was nowhere as good. To be honest I’ve long been a convert to the right glass for the right beer, but the latest innovation I have come across in Beer Advocate (written by one of my favourite US beer writers Lisa Morrison) has messed with my drinking head. Have a look at the picture. It looks weird; for a start I would worry about spilling it down my front and initially I wasn’t sure which part to drink from (I’m not the most spatial minded of people). Yet the company that produces it (Offero) promises that it brings the ‘cupped hand’ experience to drinking beer. Given that we are supposedly led by our noses when drinking beer this glass therefore should lasso us into a greater craft beer experience. Without having drank a beer from this truncation of a glass I cannot say how good or bad it is but on the other hand I do think that this innovation should have a massive hand of applause — it might just be the future of craft beer glassware rather than just another gimmick on the way to nowheresville.



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