Picture the scene. You have a lovely new bottle of Scotch Whisky. The label promises mouth-watering aromas like caramel and vanilla. You hold your glass to your nose in anticipation, then WHAM! You’re hit with the eye-watering burn of alcohol in your nostrils. Sound familiar? We’ve been there. Many times. That is, until we met the NEAT Glass.
We love everything about it; the way it completely changes your drinking experience, the Instagrammable aesthetic look, and its compelling backstory. Let’s start at the beginning, shall we?
The NEAT Glass was made by chance. A serendipitous mishap during a glass blowing lesson. The creator, George Manska, was attempting to make a tumbler when he accidentally flared the glass too far. He took it home with him, where it sat on a shelf, untouched for some time. One evening, having misplaced his usual whisky glass, George used his misshapen tumbler from which to enjoy a dram. This is when the magic happened. When he held the glass to his nose, the usual, initial alcohol burn from the ethanol wasn’t present. Instead, George could savour all of the aromas that you’d expect from a good Scotch whisky.
The experience blew him away and he wanted to discover why there was such a difference in aroma when nosing his Scotch from his tumbler than from a ‘traditional’ whisky glass. He spent some time conducting research, looking into engineering, chemistry and physics before discovering that the evaporation process and the shape of the glass made an impact on the spirit nosing experience.
Are you sitting comfortably? It’s time for the science bit…
The large, curved sides in the ‘bowl’ of the NEAT Glass allow room for the spirit to be swirled, opening the aromas and powering evaporation. The secret is all in the swirl. Fill your tipple of choice to the widest part of the glass, then swirl the liquid around before holding it level. The neck of the glass then separates the alcohol smell from the character aromas. The ethanol escapes over the rim of the glass, leaving behind the key aromas in the bowl for you to savour. Take the glass to your nose and enjoy the aromatic experience without the alcohol burn.
Georges’ glass blowing “accident” created the NEAT Glass, which is now used all over the world by judges in highly rated spirits competitions. The NEAT Glass has the same effect for all spirits, so if whisky isn’t your beverage of choice, you can give it a try with your preferred tipple.
We at Beaumont PPS HQ are whisky fans. Do we add a drop of water? Sometimes, yes, but we usually drink it NEAT.