Cooking
Beer Glasses (Not Goggles), SF Chronicle
Delve into wine even a little bit, and you'll quickly discover the fetishistic appreciation of glassware. Crystal companies have made serious bank convincing the world that it needs a different wine glass for every style of wine, a marketing message that I find dubious at best, as it often reeks of pseudoscience.
But the wine world has nothing on the beer world, where it sometimes seems like every beer has a unique glass. I dug into that world a little bit for an article in today’s Chronicle. The subject is far richer than anyone can fit into 800 words, but I had a great time researching the history of beer glasses. (And related subjects: I found an interesting journal article arguing that George Ravenscroft at best funded lead crystal and didn’t develop it himself.)
For those who enjoy systems as much as I do, I found a couple of guides to beer glass shapes while working on this: one at beeradvocate.com and another at johnsgrocery.com, which is also a good retail source for esoteric glassware.
-
R.i.p. Michael Jackson
I just noticed a note on A Good Beer Blog that Michael Jackson, the great beer writer, has passed away. No one else has done as much to educate people about the fantastic traditional beers that exist around the world, and his wisdom will be sorely missed....
-
City Beer
Hey, San Franciscans. Like beer? Then head down to The City Beer Shop on Folsom. I had never heard of it, but I stopped by to buy some bottles for an upcoming Chronicle article.
The young and knowledgeable owner, Craig, has packed his small space with...
-
Which Glass Is Best For Kool-aid?
Last Friday, the San Francisco Chronicle ran a big ad for Riedel stemware, disguised as an article about the way that the shape of a glass affects the taste the wine. I love my Riedel glasses, but author Richard Hacker forgot to ask some interesting questions.
What...
-
Westvletern - Victim Of Its Own Success
The abbey of Saint Sixtus of Westvletern [thanks to max for the link] makes some of the last authentic Trappist ale. Most Trappist abbeys often lease their names to brewing companies have hired lay people to do the work, and there is a suspicion among...
-
The Riedel Taste Test
Wine brings out the snob in otherwise normal people. And few things evoke more snobbery in the world
of wine accessories than Riedel wine glasses. The whole
idea of Riedel crystal is that it is tailored for the particular grape, directing the flow of...
Cooking