Why Glass Size and Shape Influences The Taste of Various Alcoholic Drinks
admin | August 18, 2009
Not many people fully understand why you can buy so many different shaped glasses in the shops these days. To the uninitiated the variety may seem a little unnecessary, surely they can’t change the flavor of the liquid they hold can they? Interestingly they can, so lets take a look at some of the more common glass shapes and how they came to be this design.
Whisky Glasses. The reason that whisky is most often drunk from a wide tumbler is an interesting one. Because whisky is often consumed ‘straight’ and not diluted with a mixer (although it can be), the volume of a serving is often quite small. The result of this means that if whisky was served over ice in a narrow and tall glass, the area of the drink in contact with the ice would be quite small as the ice would be stacked up the glass. As ice is necessary to chill the whisky and release its deeper flavors, it’s best to serve the drink in a wide shallow glass where the ice can move around and have more contact area with the liquid, thus chilling the whisky more.
Champagne Glasses.Champagne is traditionally served in a tall, thin flute and there is an interesting reason as to why. The sparkling nature of champagne means that it gives off a gas when the bubbles reach the surface and burst. The sinuses are strongly effected by the gas and so the rim of the glass is kept narrow so that non of it enters the nose during the drinking process.
Red and White Wine Glasses. Red wine glasses are often large and bowl shaped. What this means is that you can swish as swirl the wine about in the glass, breaking up the flavours and releasing more of them into the body of the wine.Additionally, more air-born aromas can be inhaled as the drinker’s nose is able to fit into the glass’ bowl. Most people drink white wine out of a glass with smaller proportions and not so much of a bowl-shape. This prevents too much of its perfumes from escaping the glass and also means that the subtle notes stay concentrated in the glass.
