Glassware
A glass.
Something many of us take for granted. If we are so fortunate to have glass at our disposal, we don’t often think twice if one chips or breaks and has to be discarded. But think about all the ways that it impacts our lives. And how, before its invention, we had to go around hunting for animal skins or foraging for intact seashells to bring light into our living quarters, or through tireless trial and error discover the correct proportions to dry clay in a kiln to make a food and drink vessel. Do you know how hard that is when you don’t live anywhere near a seashore? Or have a kiln? Talk about quiet quitting.
Glass is pretty amazing. And everyday, many people around the world, especially those of us lucky enough to sip a fine beverage out of one, take for granted how cool it is that we can lift a decent weighted, reusable vessel, see directly as to what colour our liquid is, and peek whether there are any extra special floaties hanging around in there (good or bad, TBD). That’s neat.
Floaties can indeed be good - they can be the yeasty dregs at the bottom of a beer, the fruit pulp that may not have sieved thoroughly before packaging but add an essence to a drink, or simply and purposefully be the lofty Guinness crown on a Crown Float. As much as we may not think about how unique and wonderful glass truly is, we may also take for granted that we simultaneously deserve a clean, sanitised, polished, unmarked glass. Free of nicks, scratches, and yesterday’s lipstick …ahem… “general soils” that will taint our drinks, flatten our beers, and make our natural wines a little less natural. Not to get too down and dirty (but we have to at least a little) - we’re talking about a filthy glass after all - but unkept glasses run rampant in many bars, restaurants, and other places where you should have standard and minimal expectations of a clean vessel to drink out of. This can come from a variety of culprits: improper or unmaintained equipment, unclean or unsanitary equipment, hard water, poor chemical or heat processing, lack of education or training for staff, lack of quality control when a glass is chipped or otherwise unsound, among many other factors. But the trick is that these variables are all solvable. Sure, they take time, effort, labour (mechanical or manual), and an investment in the commitment to providing a good product, up to and especially including the final pour into the glass. But if left unchecked, a farmer’s, brewer’s, and server’s hard work (let alone everyone in between) can all be undone by ignoring this basic foundation (not to mention your hard-earned, well-spent money has just been thrown asunder).
You know those tiny bubbles that cling to the side of your glass as you are served a perfect temperatured (temperature, something we’ll get into later) beer? Those aren’t what you should expect, despite what most service might have you believe. Those bubbles are carbon dioxide (CO2), one of a perfect pint’s bffs, clinging for dear life to soil particles that were not adequately removed. These bubbles shouldn’t be resting here, but instead should be mingling and enjoying the soirée with the liquid before they burst on your tastebuds, providing the appropriate mouthfeel* that was estimated during the beer recipe.
*a contentious word that not everyone likes, or alternatively thinks is pretentious, but we will be using because it honestly makes the most sense for what is being described as a sensory experience.
Because most of us in the Global North are so lucky to have glass, in a variety of shapes and sizes, with access to clean, potable water, cleaners and sanitizers in every strength and colour, and the fluffiest drying apparatuses (apparati?) you could think of, why aren’t we generally paying more attention to clean glassware?
So give your glass a once over the next time one is set in front of you. You and your tastebuds deserve the best.
