Hey, is this thing on? :)
Greetings friends of the vine.
Vine Pair gets it mostly right - a fresh rinse makes for a better beer.
Note - any water in your wine glass will dilute/detract from the flavor of
the wine. Rinse w/ wine if/when necessary (e.g. switch from red to white or
after an off (corked) sample.
WHY GOOD BARS SPRAY YOUR BEER GLASS WITH WATER
Aliza Kellerman <https://vinepair.com/author/alizak/> @aleezabeeza
<https://twitter.com/aleezabeeza>
[image: Why Good Bars Spray Your Beer Glass With Water]
If you’ve ever visited a nice beer bar
<https://vinepair.com/wine-blog/how-to-tell-the-craft-beer-bar-youre-in-isnt-really-a-craft-beer-bar/>,
you may have noticed a small sink your bartender uses to rinse your beer
glass before serving you. That sink looks like this:
[image: This is why beer glasses are rinsed]
It’s called a star sink, or a glass rinser. You press the glass rim down
into the glass rinser, which shoots a mist into it. It looks super cool and
it’s also an efficient way to prepare a beer serving glass. However, you
might be asking yourself, “Why doesn’t the bar just prepare clean glasses
beforehand? Why rinse them right before serving me my beer?” Well, the
glass cleanser (RINSER jle) doesn’t give your glass a thorough cleaning.
Rather, it’s used to blast away away lingering dish soap, or other crud
that accumulates when you’ve left a glass out for awhile.
But this sink (rinse) actually serves a greater purpose than just cleaning
your glass.
When you rinse a beer glass, it becomes more slippery, and there’s less
friction when beer fills it. This allows a more even, clean pour and a
substantial, fragrant head. As we’ve established before, beer foam
<https://vinepair.com/wine-blog/the-difference-between-beer-foam-champagne-bubbles/>
is actually a good thing
<https://vinepair.com/wine-blog/heres-why-you-should-actually-embrace-foamy-beer/>,
because it carries a great deal of your beer’s aromas, and smelling is half
the fun. The other benefit of rinsing a beer glass is that the spritz can
cool the glass down, because we know that pint glasses often have the
tendency to prematurely
<https://vinepair.com/wine-blog/why-you-actually-shouldnt-serve-your-beer-in-a-pint-glass/>
heat your beer up.
So, the next time you see your bartender rinsing your glass out, tip your
hat in appreciation of a better-smelling, cooler beer. Cheers!
Published: July 21, 2015
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James Ellingson cell 651 645 0753
Great Lakes Brewing News, 5219 Elliot Ave, Mpls, MN 55417
James(a)BrewingNews.com BeerGovernor(a)gmail.com