Why You Should Always Serve Double IPA Beer In A Tulip Glass
With its high alcohol content and complex, extra-hoppy notes, a double IPA is certainly an acquired taste. Its intense flavors and assertive aromas are not for every beer drinker, and not every drinking vessel is the right fit for such a unique style, either. You may not think much of the cup you sip your beer from, but the best type of glass for a lager wouldn't work well with a double IPA at all. Steins or traditional pint glasses are also bad choice, as their wide rims allow an IPA's layered aromas to escape into the air. That's why brew aficionados should seek out tulip glasses for these malty beverages.
Tulip glasses are becoming a staple in craft breweries, known for their versatility and ability to bring out a brew's aromas. The narrow opening of the glass helps to support a healthy head of foam, while the gently-sloped bottom holds in all of the complex aromatics and flavors of a beer. This piece of glassware is a great vessel for almost any brew, but double IPAs especially would benefit from one.
These glasses are designed to enhance the hidden flavors and fragrances of beer, and double IPAs have some of the most complex characteristics of all, so the choice just makes sense. In addition to opening up a beer's flavor profile, a tulip glass's unique shape offers a few other benefits.
Why a tulip glass is the best match for your double IPA
Compared to more mellow brews such as lagers, double IPAs — also known as Imperial IPAs — boast assertive flavors across the spectrum of bitter and sweet. These robust drinks often come with a thick, sticky foam head, and the narrow opening of a tulip glass helps retain this very important part of the beverage. A foamy head lifts the volatile flavors and aromas of the drink to your palate, while also keeping carbonation from escaping, which could leave a beer tasting lifeless.
The rim of a tulip glass is also slightly flared, which helps to waft hidden aromatics straight to your nose. Similarly, that wider opening sends the beer right onto the middle of your tongue when you take a sip, allowing you to taste its full potential. Meanwhile, the tiny stems of these cups keep your warm hands off the body of the glass, which helps an IPA retain its chilly temperature. We all know most beers taste better cold, but warming up a beer can also dissipate its foam, so this is another way in which tulip glasses preserve the quality of your IPA.
A small stem also makes it easy to swirl the glass before you take a sip, furthering releasing the scent of your beer before you take a sip. With the help of a tulip glass, even stronger IPAs will taste balanced and rich, rather than overly bitter.
More on what sets a double IPA apart
A double IPA's intense flavor makes it stand apart from lighter lagers or pilsners, but what sets the style apart from other IPAs? India Pale Ales are a wide category of beers that use more hops than other styles do during the brewing process. This makes for a "hoppier" flavor overall, which means more bitterness with floral or earthy aromatics, depending on the exact plants used for the hops.
A double or Imperial IPA is different from most other IPAs because of its higher alcohol content, which is the main source of its characteristic bitterness. For reference, an IPA with an ABV (alcohol by volume) between 7.5% to 10% is considered to be a double IPA. Any ale below that percentage will fall into another IPA style, like American or West Coast. A beverage with a higher percentage than the aforementioned range is considered to be a triple, or even a quad, IPA.
Triple and quad IPAs offer even more bitter flavors and create a certain dryness in the mouth. Because they're like double IPAs, but stronger, they would also do well in a tulip glass. Tulip glasses are widely available and usually quite affordable, so you should have no trouble finding one to add to your home bar. Who knows — with the help of the right glass, you might become a bigger fan of these beers than you expected.