Special Report
Raise a Glass Tumblers, flutes, coupes and stems – glasses are functional objects with a fascinating history. Here are ten facts to liven up your next session at the pub. 1. Glass making dates back to the ancient civilizations of Syria, Egypt, and Mesopotamia. Glass wine vessels first appeared in Egypt sometime around 1500 BC, but it wasn’t until the Romans discovered the technique of glass blowing that glass became both functional and highly sought after. 2. In early seventeenth century England, the Royal Navy needed oak trees for shipbuilding, so glassmakers turned to using coal in their furnaces. This burned to much higher temperatures and produced stronger glass. This was also a major turning point for the champagne producers of France, as they now had a bottle much better suited to the high pressure of their brewing method. 3. According to a study published in the British Medical Journal, the size of the average wine glass increased by 700% between 1700 and 2017, with the greatest increase in size coming in the last few decades. 4. The stem on a wine glass has a practical purpose. By keeping your warm hand away from the bowl, wine maintains the correct temperature and
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furthermore ensures that you only smell the wine when drinking, not your skin. 5. Conversely, the short stem on a brandy bowl is designed to make it easy to hold the glass in the palm of your hand, so warming the spirit. 6. Sparkling wine doesn’t need the bowl-shaped glass used for still whites and reds, as the bubbles release the aroma without any swirling. 7. Glass is 100% recyclable and can be recycled again and again without losing any quality. But if it’s not recycled it can take up to a million years to decompose. 8. Drinking glasses containing crystal are stronger and therefore can be made thinner, making for an aesthetically more pleasing drinking experience. 9. The most popular type of glass in which beer is served in a pub is the straight glass, with a bulge about an inch from the top. The bulge is there to stop the glasses chipping near the rim when being washed together. 10. The custom of clinking glasses may have originated from fears of poisoning. If a host wanted to prove that the wine wasn’t poisoned, he would pour part of the guest’s wine into his glass and drink it first. If the guest trusted his host, he would just ‘clink’ when the host offered his glass for a sample.
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