THE SCIENCE OF SPIRITS

MYTHS OF NOSING SPIRITS 1

The Myth of Tulip Glasses

By George Manska, CSO, CR&D, Arsilica, Inc., sensory researcher, inventor, entrepreneur

Photo by Vinicius "amnx" Amano

STATE OF THE ART:

The spirits industry has long been plagued by misinformation, particularly when it comes to glassware. The widespread use of tulip-shaped glasses is a case in point. Here is a history of how it happened and a few alternatives to set the nose straight, improve and enhance everyday drinking enjoyment.

HISTORY OF THE TULIP:

In the late 1700s, the English began importing, bottling, and redistributing Spanish sherry worldwide, and it quickly became the accepted and almost ritual drink of the upper and middle classes. During dockside loading of sherry cargos (as well as wines), the seller commonly presented a tiny tulip-shaped tasting glass (copita) for the buyer or captain to tasteverify newly purchased goods. The “dock glass” became the favorite glass worldwide for drinking sherry, as it is small enough to hold only an ounce or two (just enough for a sweet dessert libation), has a stem (elegance so no fingerprints on the bowl), and is relatively easy to clean since it is about the depth of a towel-wrapped forefinger. Tulips present an agreeable nose to the drinker since sherry (a fortified wine) is about 22% alcohol by volume. The small tulip glass headspace indicates alcohol content stronger than wine, yet the increase in pungency is tolerable and therefore is considered acceptable.

As the spirits industry grew, Scottish distillers explored the globe for new customers. The same aristocratic markets that loved sherry added scotch to their drawing room beverage cabinets, and the sherry glass acquired a dual purpose. Why have a second set of glasses for whiskey when sherry tulips were already in place and deemed acceptable for an alcoholic beverage stronger than wine? Distillers and distributors fell into lockstep rather than search for a new glass, and the transition from sherry to spirits became rather obvious, although poorly planned from a sensory standpoint.

NEW PROBLEMS ARISE:

Scotch blenders quickly realized that placing a 40% plus ABV spirits in a tiny tulip designed for 22% sherry created a nose-bomb that severely limited blending sessions by quickly incapacitating sensitive noses required to blend the desired flavor profile. Rather than change the glass, blenders focused on reducing alcohol pungency by diluting samples with water to reduce the alcohol content by half, 20 to 23% ABV (1-ounce whisky to 1-ounce water). Who actually drinks whiskey diluted by nearly 50%? Obviously not a practical approach to solving an acknowledged problem, the practice was further complicated by science. Proven fact; dilution to 20% significantly alters flavor profile. A simpler, more effective solution would have implicated the true cause of the problem as the alcohol concentrating tulip glass. Yet, the industry opted to preserve tradition rather than face the resistance.

MANUFACTURERS DON’T ENGINEER DESIGNS:

In the span of over 100 years, the majority of spirits glass designs appear curiously similar: nearly the same bowl height, best pour 1½ to 2 ounces, similar bowl diameters, and tiny nose-bumping rims which force the head back in an awkward tilt while drinking. Any radical departure from the tulip design would most certainly have been rejected by the spirits industry, which was deeply rooted in the tulip as the spirits drinkers’ symbolic identity badge. Manufacturers, not wellversed in the physical science of gas behavior (aroma) or sensory practice, concentrated on minor style revisions with deliberate care to remain close to the basic tulip shape rather than displease the spirits industry.

AMERICAN SPIRITS MARKETERS SET THE STAGE:

Since the end of prohibition, American whiskey marketers were well into reviving spirits’ visibility (having gone underground during prohibition after peaking in the roaring twenties). This was accomplished by: • Targeting business executives, politicos, and high-viz persona, purchasing visibility in movie scenes, billboards, neon street signage, targeting business and finance magazine ads and stories.

• Glorifying the ritual deal-closing drink in the office environment as an obligatory final reward, salute, and handshake for a successfully completed task.

• Portraying the celebratory drink as the symbol of success and implying a personal membership in the great

“businessman’s brotherhood,” as well as a reward at the close of long after-hours work sessions.

American businessmen characteristically drank whiskey with water and ice (bourbon and branch) in a large mouth tumbler, and elaborate hand-cut crystal whiskey sets with decanters were commonplace in “C” level suites. Water and ice cubes in a large openrim glass manage alcohol pungency quite well. Of course, the tradition spread rapidly to the many who wished to emulate the trappings of successful businessmen and entrepreneurs. The below “C” levels quickly established the post close-of-business Friday afternoon “watering hole” tradition to wrap up every workweek (birth of Friday night “happy hour”). The public was now reentrenching spirits as a universal self-nod of approval and reward for jobs well done or simply for enduring the week’s drudge. It was business as usual in the late 1960s.

Scotch Brand Ambassadors, Distillers, Educators, Authors Unite to Carry the Tulip Torch: Scotch whiskey came to the United States in the 1960s, and scotch marketers soon realized American drinkers had no taste for straight, neat spirits, as they had been conditioned into the cocktail world by prohibition rotgut (and potentially deadly) spirits. As a matter of fact, drinking spirits straight and neat were considered socially unrefined (skid-row, cowboy, low-class). The American post-prohibition glorification of the deal-closer toast-clink was well underway, and bringing scotch into the business venue was relatively straightforward:

• Replace bourbons and American whiskeys by presenting scotch as the next higher step up the ladder of success symbols and exclusivity. • Teach tulip glass drinking methods to avoid olfactory alcohol pungency and ensure the tulip’s position as the universal iconic vessel and recognition badge of the scotch drinker.

Americans would do the rest. Much of the public was already attuned to adopting habits and quirks of successful businessmen, and the British aristocracy. Americans had long embraced a fierce love for everything British and Scottish, the transformation was set in motion. Eager to adopt the idiosyncratic trappings of the lairds; scotch whisky and glassware, tartans, kilts and sporrans, bagpipes, pipes and drums performances, tams and badges, long Scottish wool scarf sales, and fake Scottish accents enjoyed new life in American markets, along with the new “correct” method of drinking scotch from tulips.

SPIRITS TASTING METHODS FOR TULIPS:

Teaching a proper drinking technique was quickly undertaken by scotch sales executives, brand ambassadors, whiskey educators and authors, and beverage column gurus and began with the iconic tulip. New and experienced drinkers alike were instructed in the following tulip methodology in order to maximize one’s enjoyment of drinking scotch whisky.

RED EXPLAINS THE FALLACIES OF EACH METHOD:

• Inhale through mouth and nose simultaneously to lessen alcohol pungency. Lower intake airflow significantly diminishes nasal aromas, increasing difficulty in identifying character aromas.

• Add water. Increased surface tension shuts down all aroma evaporation. Often characterized as “opening up” the spirit, the illusion is due to reduced pungency; far less character aroma intensity is considered collateral damage. • Don’t swirl. The educators admit swirling releases more alcohol, and swirling tulips is not advisable due to alcohol’s volatility and concentration. It is the “engine” in wide rim glasses that creates aromas (just ask a wine lover). • Smell the aroma from about a foot away, then in 3 to 4 successively closer sniffs until the sample is right under the nose. This may reduce pungency but also gradually overwhelms receptors with mostly alcohol molecules, leaving fewer ORs (olfactory receptors) to detect character aromas. While reducing the initial shock of pungency, acclimation works against honest sensory diagnostics.

Remember that none of the above tulip sampling methods are effective with other spirits glasses, as all were specifically contrived to mask overabundant alcohol in tulips. Scotch whisky marketers were brilliant, and the arrival of the Glencairn glass in 2001, endorsed by several leading scotch experts, quickly propelled the tulip glass shape sales well past the hand-cut crystal “rocks” glasses in popularity.

TUMBLERS ARE SUPERIOR TO TULIPS:

Typical ethanol concentrations in a 4-inch diameter tumbler approximately 3½ inches tall are 85 to 90% when swirled prior to nosing, which is still significantly better than 95 to 98% tulips.

ENGINEERED SHAPES SUCCESSFULLY AVOID OLFACTORY ALCOHOL POLLUTION:

In 2002, Arsilica, Inc. discovered that a vessel engineered with a neck restriction and flared rim would control, dilute, and divert ethanol away from the nose far superior to the tulip.

• Zero concentrated alcohol • Enhanced character aromas • No pungency or sting • Separates all aromas for easy identification • No upper-rim nose-bumps

Two fallacious axioms are frequently used to reinforce the spirits industry’s tulip stance and reluctance to accept science. • There is a widespread belief that no one will ever separate ethanol molecules from other aromas. Graham’s Law describes the diffusion velocity of molecules passing through an orifice. In gas dynamics, lower masses (ethanol) travel at proportionally higher velocities resulting in separation. A restriction with a properly sized controlled rim flare separates alcohol and displays all aromas for easy identification (This method was employed in A-bomb production to separate U235 from

U238). • Tiny rims concentrate all aromas so none can escape the nose. Not true; they concentrate highly volatile, lower mass alcohol molecules, which rise to the rim opening first, masking character aromas.

MARKETING THE MEME:

That the establishment of tulips as an iconic symbol was ever a formal part of an organized plan is highly doubtful. Beyond question, industry marketing ensconced the tulip in its current position by rejecting or deriding alternatives. Today, the tulip is the official glass of most professional whisky clubs, groups, and societies. In the annals of marketing, one is hard-pressed to find a more perfect example of a self-manifesting meme without rational, scientific purpose. Memes establish new traditions.

THE NEW MEME:

In the long run, younger generations embrace functional, useful science. As always, with time, true science wins. Knowing exactly what you like, place science as primary in your personal product decisions.

George F Manska

Chief of Research and Development, Arsilica, Inc., engineer, inventor of the NEAT glass, and sensory science researcher.

Mission: Replace misinformation with scientific truth through consumer education.

Contact Information: Phone: 702.332.7305 Email: george@arsilica.com Business mailing address: 452 Silverado Ranch Blvd, Ste #222, Las Vegas, NV, 89183.