Glass Experiment: Duchesse De Bourgogne

After the last disaster, I decided to go with something that I know is good, regardless of the glass: Duchesse de Bourgogne.

First, we had the schooner and the mug:
The schooner offered a nose of cherry and raisin but the mug, unsurprisingly had no nose, but left a bit more sparkle on the tongue and I noticed a hint of chocolate.

The girlfriend didn’t like the mug at all: no control over sips, you pretty much have to take a larger drink. She wasn’t too thrilled with the schooner either because it offered too much foam when tilted towards the mouth, but it was visually more attractive and had a nice balance, with flavors leaning  to the sweet side.

About 2/3 down I get more nose in the mug: more space for aromatics, the girlfriend confirms.

The mug has finer bubbles, it seems and she speculates that it’s because it keeps the cold in better. Apparently champagne is supposed to be served in chilled glasses for just this reason: tiny bubbles.

We move on to the snifter and the pint glass.

Pint offers a nice nose, but is foamy in a way I don’t notice that on the snifter.

The girlfriend declares: this is a beer I don’t want foam on top of.  She likes snifter best because it offers most control over the mechanics of drinking.

I like the pint because of the reverse: the snifter is a little narrow, but the nose lasts longer and with the Duchesse this is a plus. The greater spread of oxygen in the snifter does push the carbonation out fast.

Agreed that too much head on pint glass makes for a poor visual as it looks like custard and longer lasting fizz seems odd for this beer. But we could get some nose from the beer all the way down and it didn’t get overwhelming.

I think it goes pint, schooner-snifter, mug for me and snifter, pint, schooner, mug for her.