Have you ever gone into a bar or restaurant and been offered a frosted glass for your beer? While the establishment may think they’re doing you a favor, brewery experts think otherwise.
“Frosted pint glasses — this does nothing for your beer,” says Richard Easterby of Craft Conundrum in Charleston, South Carolina. “Actually it hurts your beer.” He continued to explain how the frost adversely affects a beer’s carbonation and flavor.
“Carbonation is the spark of beer,” he wrote in an article. A beer poured down the edge of a glass coated with ice will draw out more carbonation, which creates more foam and flattens the beer.
“We tend to think of beer as being basically hops on one hand and malt on the other hand. It is more complicated that than. Carbonation puts an acidic quality into beer,” agrees Randy Mosher, a Chicago-based author and beer consultant. “Beer is mildly acidic anyway, but carbonic acid adds more.”
If you enjoy your beer as cold as possible, a room temperature glass rinsed with ice water will provide the same effect as a frosted glass with a better flavor profile.
Watch Easterby’s video below to learn more about the effect of a frosted glass on a beer’s flavor.