Weizen glasses

A weizen glass is tall and narrow at the base, then flares into a soft bulb near the rim. Every part of that outline is doing a job. Bavarian wheat beer is among the most carbonated styles brewed, and it throws a dense, meringue-like head that a straight-sided glass simply cannot hold. The bulb gives the foam somewhere to sit instead of over the edge of your glass, and because the aromatics of a Hefeweizen live in that head, keeping it intact is what keeps the banana and clove esters arriving at your nose sip after sip.

The narrow, tapered base is usually explained as a sediment trap, holding the yeast at the bottom rather than letting it slide into your mouth. Treat that as received wisdom rather than physics, but the tall column does have a real effect you can see: it shows off the haze and the rising bubbles, which is much of the pleasure of the style.

Half a litre is the standard, and it is not arbitrary. German wheat beer comes in 50cl bottles, and a weizen glass is sized so bottle plus foam fits in a single unhurried pour. Rinse the glass with cold water first so the foam has something to cling to, pour at a steep angle down the side, then straighten up and let the last third build the head. If the beer is bottle-conditioned, roll the bottle gently before opening to rouse the yeast.

Suits
– Hefeweizen
– Dunkelweizen
– Kristallweizen
– Weizenbock
– American wheat
– A Gose, at a push