The Complete Handbook of Beer Glasses

I've been managing a taproom for five years and honestly thought I knew everything about glassware—this book proved me wrong. The specification breakdowns are extremely useful: I never realized the difference between 'crystal' and 'soda-lime' affected dishwashing cycles that much. We've already changed our washing schedule based on the maintenance chapter. I am glad we made that change, though I wish the authors had included more photos—it's very heavy on blocky tables and dense descriptions. A few diagrams of rim angles and bowl shapes would have made the classification chapter much easier to grasp. Still, it's the most practical reference on this topic I've seen, and it sits on my office shelf, not my bookshelf.

Good solid reference, though it can be a little dry in spots. The cost-per-pour calculations in Chapter 3 alone are worth the price if you're buying glassware for a venue—I ran the numbers for my own bar and realized we were over-specifying on heavy crystal for a high-volume joint. The chapter on suppliers and the business opportunities, such as private-labeling, was a nice bonus—not something you typically find in a glassware guide. The book would earn five stars if it cut down on the repetition in the first two chapters, where the same 'wall thickness controls temperature' point gets hammered multiple times. But I've put it to use more than any bartending manual I own.

I'm a homebrewer and bought this mostly out of curiosity—I just wanted to know if a specific glass really changes the flavor of a Flemish red versus a standard tulip. The book doesn't shy away from the science, but it also gives practical tests you can do at home, like comparing a wet and dry rim. I appreciated the neutral tone; it never tells you a glass is 'better' but shows the trade-offs. I wish the appendix/glossary were a bit larger, but comparing a few traditional weizen glasses side by side using the book's criteria was a great way to spend an afternoon. Glad I picked it up.

Not as flashy as the coffee-table beer books I have, but far more useful. The maintenance chapter literally changed the way our pub washes glasses—switching to a lower-alkali detergent stopped the cloudiness we'd been seeing on pint glasses. I also liked that the book lists real standards bodies and testing procedures in the resources chapter, rather than just linking to random blogs. The only reason I rate it four instead of five is there wasn't enough about glass etching and how it interacts with—or traps—odors from the washing machine. But if you need a seriously comprehensive and honest look at professional glassware, this is the book to get.

Finally, a reference that treats beer glasses as equipment, not décor. As someone who rents glassware for events, the chapters on specifications and business opportunities were directly useful—I used the procurement framework to write a cost/breakage analysis for a client. The section on breakage rates and 'spontaneous glass failure' (thermal shock and nickel sulfide inclusions) explains incidents we used to write off as staff carelessness. A few paragraphs about handling and pouring in high-volume situations could use more depth, but the book keeps its promise. It does not read like an ad. I'll recommend it to my regional association listserv.