Yes, There's A Right Way To Hold Your Beer (And You're Probably Not Doing It)

If you've gone to a beer bar or one of the increasingly popular breweries you can find in every state, you might notice that different beers are served in different glasses. Rather than a normal pint glass, you might get your drink in glassware which looks vaguely like a wine glass, or even those giant handled mugs we call steins. Turns out, you may be holding them wrong (especially once you've had a few beers), which matters if you're worried about keeping the beer fresh — and not dropping the glass. To help, we spoke to Geoff Bragg, a beer educator and certified beer server, about the ideal way to hold the glass while you drink a beer.

How you hold a beer glass can change the beer's temperature, but different glasses have their own ideal way for keeping a strong grip. We started with those giant beer steins from Germany, which resemble big mugs and are typically associated with Oktoberfest and European lagers. "I'm of the school of putting your hand through the handle and cupping the glass itself instead of holding the handle," said Bragg. "These things are pretty heavy and holding it closer to the center of gravity is a little easier." He does warn that you'll need to watch your fingers if you hold it this way, and you'll risk warming up the beer inside. Big steins are often used for lagers, which benefit from colder temperatures because it makes them more refreshing. Bartenders almost never serve IPAs in steins.

You'll usually see IPAs and stronger ales in beer goblets (or tulip glasses); the short, chunky cousin of the more slender wine glass. "A bigger beer like a stout or barley wine many times comes out too cold to really smell and appreciate it," Bragg said. Although light lagers benefit from the cold, those same low temperatures make stronger ales harder to taste because they numb tastebuds, which is why you'll often want to put down beers served in chilled glasses. To help, Bragg says, "You'll find me wrapping both hands around the bulb to warm it up. After that I'll hold it a little above the stem."

You may not have thought too hard about how you're holding a standard pint glass, the most common and simplest of beer glasses. Still, we asked about them anyway. Bragg's tip for your standard pint glass is: "Put a pinky on the bottom. If you are holding a glass for a while in a humid environment it's going to build up some condensation." This condensation can make the glass slippery, and thus easier to drop.

But what about those enormous beer boots, the shoe-shaped glasses? "The best etiquette for drinking beer out of a boot is not to drink out of a boot," Bragg joked. The beer in three-liter boots will get warm and unpleasant quickly. Still, if you must, point the toe away from you to prevent air bubbles from forming.