The pint glass is the workhorse of beer service, and it is not really a tasting glass at all. Its virtues are practical: it stacks, it survives a busy bar, it holds a satisfying volume, and everyone knows how to hold one. There is no aroma-concentrating geometry here, and that is fine. Not every beer is asking to be analysed.

Three shapes dominate. The nonic is the British pub standard, with a bulge a few centimetres below the rim. The name is a contraction of “no nick”: the bulge stops glasses wedging together and chipping when stacked, and it gives you a firmer grip on a full pint. The shaker is the straight-sided American tumbler, cheap and ubiquitous and the least interesting glass in beer. The tulip pint or Guinness-style glass adds a slight outward flare at the top, which does a little for head retention.

Volume is a genuine trap. A British imperial pint is 568ml and is a legally defined measure; an American pint is 473ml. A “pint glass” sold online may be either, and may also be brimful capacity rather than a lined measure, meaning a full pour reaches the very rim with no room for foam. Check whether the volume quoted is to the line or to the brim.

Some pint glasses are nucleated on the base, which keeps a bead of bubbles rising and holds the head far longer than a plain glass will.

Suits
– Lager
– Helles
– Pilsner
– Pale ale
– Bitter
– Mild
– Stout
– Most session beers