Chalices & goblets

A chalice takes the opposite approach to a tulip. Where a tulip narrows to trap aroma, a chalice opens wide. You give up some aromatic concentration and gain something else: room. Belgian trappist and abbey ales are bottle-conditioned, generously carbonated and yeasty, and they throw an enormous rocky head. A broad opening gives that head a wide surface to stand on and lets the beer breathe as it warms, which suits a style built on dark fruit, spice and malt depth rather than volatile hop aroma.

Strictly, brewers distinguish a chalice, with thick walls and a heavy stem, from a lighter, thinner-walled goblet. In practice the words are used interchangeably and the difference rarely matters to a drinker. Many are nucleated at the base of the bowl, so a steady column of bubbles keeps the head alive for the whole twenty minutes you will spend on the glass.

Nearly every Belgian abbey and trappist brewery has its own, and they are cheap because they are made in volume for cafes rather than as collector pieces. Six or seven euros gets you a genuinely well-designed glass. The stem is not decoration: hold it there and let the beer come up to temperature on its own.

Pour slowly down the side of the bowl, straighten up for the last third, and stop before the yeast sediment leaves the bottle unless you want the haze.

Suits
– Trappist dubbel, tripel and quadrupel
– Belgian abbey ales
– Strong dark ales
– Brett-fermented beers like Orval