How Glass Shape Affects The Flavor of Drink

Not many people fully understand why you can buy so many different shaped glasses in the shops these days. To the uninitiated the variety may seem a little unnecessary, surely they can’t change the flavor of the liquid they hold can they? Well you might be interested to learn that they definitely can, and here is an explanation why.

Whisky Glasses. The reason that whisky is most often drunk from a wide tumbler is an interesting one. Because whisky is often consumed ‘straight’ and not diluted with a mixer (although it can be), the volume of a serving is often quite small. The result of this means that if whisky was served over ice in a narrow and tall glass, the area of the drink in contact with the ice would be quite small as the ice would be stacked up the glass. As ice is necessary to chill the whisky and release its deeper flavors, it’s best to serve the drink in a wide shallow glass where the ice can move around and have more contact area with the liquid, thus chilling the whisky more.

Champagne Glasses.This type of wine is served in long thin glasses and again there is a good reason for it. The sparkling nature of champagne means that it gives off a gas when the bubbles reach the surface and burst. If the glass had a wide rim then your nose would be situated within the glass when drinking and the powerful gasses would effect flavour by numbing the sinuses.

White and Red Wine Glasses. You will find that red wine glasses tend to have a large, deep-bowled body. This allows the drink to be swirled around quite aggressively, liberating lots of hidden flavors that would otherwise not be released.Additionally, more air-born aromas can be inhaled as the drinker's nose is able to fit into the glass' bowl. A more conservative and tubular glass is used for consuming white wine. The reason for this is that white wine tastes better when the flavours are condensed in the glass and the aromas not absorbed so much via the nasal passage.