Thursday, January 17, 2008

Frosted Glass

Last night I overheard some guy asking for a frosted glass with his beer. When he was told we don't have frosted glasses, he seemed astonished. "But you're a beer bar!" he exclaimed. He was drinking Heineken Light, by the way.

I was tempted to approach the fellow and explain to him we don't have frosted glasses for a reason. The reason being that BECAUSE we are a beer bar. Drinking a beer that's overly chilled has multiple negative side affects. It numbs your palate, masks the flavor, interferes with the aromas, and alters the serving temperature. Pouring your brew into a frosted glass causes water condensation on the inside of the glass, diluting your beer. Condensation on the outside of the glass also occurs, leaving your beer lying in a soppy puddle.

Not everyone will understand or care that drinking beer from a frosted glass is improper. But even if we did want to suit those people, we don't have the space to chill our glasses. In addition to the 60 draft beers McNellies carries, we have another 297 in bottles. Storing 357 beers is no easy feat. Also, keep in mind, for each bottled variety, we stock at the very least 8. If you do the math, that's 2,376 cold bottles of beer we are storing in our coolers, plus 60 kegs, as well as back-up kegs. So, yeah, our coolers are pretty much full.

5 comments:

PremiumBitter said...

Not to mention a that a frosted glass will cause an alarming amount of foaming, resulting in a headless beer that more quickly goes flat.

Whenever I find myself at a formulaic "sports bar", a special request to get a non-frosted mug. They shoot me a look like I killed their first born.

Anonymous said...

If he's drinking Heinekin Light, you should have thrown him out of the bar.

Anonymous said...

So I learned something new from you...interesting!

p.s. do you ever check your hotmail accouny anymore?

Anonymous said...

OK so it makes perfect sense that beer shouldnt be served in a frosted glass. By the way does that apply to root beer also? Sometimes a really cold glass of beer tastes great, but if I do drink one in a frosted glass, I will from now on drink it really fast so it doesnt dilute the taste.

Anonymous said...

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Joan Stepsen
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