Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Sam's cup overdoith...

The Boston Beer Company, aka Sam Adams unveiled their newly designed "ultimate" beer glass. I like good glassware as much as any other beer geek. I have my Pavel Kwak rounded bottom glass, authentic glasses from most of the Trappist brewers, nonic British pints, etc. To put it simply, all beer should be served in the proper glass.

When I first read the title of the article, I thought it was some kind of joke, perhaps the brewery created a 20 foot giant glass for marketing purposes or something. However, as I read on, I came across this line of nonsense: "According to the company, the new Samuel Adams Boston Lager Pint Glass is the first glass specifically designed to showcase beer as brewers intended." What the hell does that mean--every other brewer who has designed a glass for their beer had no intention of showcasing the beer as the brewers intended. One visit to any reputable beer bar in Belgium will disprove this jackass statement.
I included the above image of a Westvleteren 12 in an authentic glass to prove my point.

Ok, maybe this is the first beer glass designed specifically for a Boston beer company named after a colonial patriot that is run by a brewer with the initials JK. I can accept that, and The Boston Beer company brews very good beer, but to say that Sam Adams has revolutionized the beer glassware industry is no more than a bunch of marketing horse pucky. Were they "world renowned sensory experts" or marketing/sales experts that designed the glass? Did I mention they are $30 per 4 plus shipping and handling? The glass is interesting, but I wouldn't call it ground breaking...perhaps wallet breaking.

http://www.boston.com/business/ticker/2007/02/sam_adams_unvei_1.html?p1=MEWell_Pos1

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