Whiskey Glasses: Exposing the Traditional Tulip
George F Manska, CR&D Arsilica, Inc.
Arsilica, Inc. is dedicated to sensory science research for all alcoholic beverages, spirits, wine, and beer. Since 2002, our mission is to empower spirits lovers with a science-based understanding of spirits evaluation to improve appreciation and enjoyment. As Chief of R&D at Arsilica, sensory research is my life’s passion, supported by a BSME, 60 years of product design experience including 20 years of sensory research, four sensory patents, and author of a published, cited, peer-reviewed beverage open access journal research paper on sensory diagnostics. We take issue when uneducated critics claim tulip glass design is based on science.
Applied scientific principles demonstrate that the drinker who uses tulip-style glasses is his own worst enemy when evaluating spirits. In our history of over 20 years of research, we have searched long and hard for any redeeming evidence that the tulip glass contributes any measurable benefit to the spirits drinker and challenge anyone to submit any shred of scientific evidence that conclusively verifies that the aromas are better detected, identified, and discriminated and analyzed from a tulip-shaped glass. Opinions are unacceptable for reasons which will become obvious as you continue to read.
Tulip History and Myth: 1700-1800s, a tiny copita (little cup) designed for 22% ABV fortified wines validated cargo in the sherry trade and was nicknamed “dock glass.” Carried back to the UK, eventually copitas (also called tulips) appeared in every household that drank sherry, port, or wine. In the late 1900s scotch sales boomed. Since tulips hold a convenient amount of spirit for a single serving, a different, costly glass which would be time-consuming to develop and gain wide acceptance was quickly deemed unnecessary, and wine tulips were enlisted to perform double duty for spirits. The ethanol “nose-cannon” is born, 40% ABV in a 22% ABV designed glass, and the tool is put in place to support expanding scotch popularity. Science is conspicuously absent.
Early 1980s, greedy glass manufacturers twist the International Standards Organization’s official wine-tasting ISO-3591 standard, a near exact copy of the copita, renaming it “ISO whisky glass” to sell more glassware. There is no ISO whiskey glass standard. Glencairn introduces a tulip derivative which captures industry and consumer, fueled by spirits marketers, and “nose-cannons” become the norm. Rum and other spirits drinkers borrow them from scotch, and tulip popularity expands. No science here.
To the untrained, these “fixes” became “science” only because expert marketers, critics, and bloggers have repeatedly said so over the decades. Perhaps science was too busy to analyze how glass shape can control aroma profile until we (Arsilica, Inc. came along). However, when true scientific principles are applied: (1) simultaneous mouth and nose inhaling reduces the olfactory aroma sample, (2) no swirl = few aromas, (3) wafting acclimates pungency, but can’t prevent ethanol numbing, (4) adding water raises surface tension, shuts down ALL aroma evaporation, not just ethanol. Tiny rims mask aromas that hide behind concentrated, pungent ethanol. All the “fixes” fail to handle ethanol, the enemy of accurate evaluation.
A different glass would have avoided the hoopla. As opposed to “twisted-marketing science,” “blogger-opinion science,” and “fill-in-the-blank science, true, professional science disciplines (sensory, chemistry, physics, behavioral) dispel myth, disseminate usable knowledge, and reduce the revered critics to just another opinion. We are reminded of a saying attributed to the stoic philosopher Marcus Aurelius, “The opinion of 10,000 men is of no value if none of them knows anything about the subject,”
The Ethanol Problem: Highly volatile ethanol is medically classified as an anesthetic because it numbs sensory receptor neurons. Drinkers are unaware since numbness occurs painlessly, aided by faulty thinking, “If you can’t see or feel it, it’s not there.” A tulip of 1 ½ oz of 40% ABV rum contains 65% anesthetic ethanol in the headspace The rest is air, water, and 2-4% character aromas. Ethanol raises detection, identification, discrimination thresholds, slows response time, blocks signals to olfactory receptor neurons, and ruins accurate evaluation with distracting pungency. That’s science. Our studies show that after 4 sniffs of a neutral spirit from a tulip, most aromas become undetected or unidentifiable, and many of those detected cannot be discriminated (e.g. peach from apricot, anise from fennel, etc.).
State-of-the-Art: For reasons unknown, a scientific approach to glass design was non-existent until 2002 when Arsilica began to research. Decades of marketing have ensconced tulips as the popular glass shape for industry and consumer, subconsciously training multiple generations to rely on the presence of pungent, anesthetic ethanol at first sniff to validate a spirit. This sets the stage for high ABV levels (cask strength anyone?) to numb the senses, and hands over purchasing decisions to subliminal, suggestive marketers and vicariously-influential videos. Ethanol’s mental fog is the perfect screen for opportunistic, prurient marketing and bogus product claims. Craving and seeking out ethanol when tasting spirits has taken priority over distillers’ craft and art. Tulips have created drinkers, not evaluators. Marketing-stoked popularity may be fun, but it’s not science.
Conclusion: The facts: short, fat, wide-rim glasses and swirling provide more aromas to sniff and can mitigate ethanol for better evaluation, providing a pathway to enjoy aromas for longer than the quickly fading first-sniff memory. A decade of research by Arsilica led to the introduction of the sensory-engineered NEAT glass in 2012. Other glasses such as wide-mouth tumblers provide some olfactory ethanol relief as well. To set the record straight, we love ethanol too, but we don’t want it in the way when we are evaluating spirits. Some will argue “It’s part of the spirit,” and rightly so, as are the many subtle aromas you can’t smell through the overpowering, nose-numbing ethanol.
Tulips may have topped the marketing game, yet scientifically, they fail miserably, working against accurate spirits evaluation. Drinkers encounter a major crossroads on their spiritual journey; (1) stick with the traditional, iconic, unscientific, dysfunctional tulip, or (2) embark on a new experience with a state-of-the-art diagnostic tool. Simply put, you can follow the ethanol-ruled-good-times-party, or discover the spirit. Your glass, your choice.
Bio: George F Manska, CR&D, Arsilica, Inc.
Qualifications: Published sensory science researcher, and entrepreneur. BSME, NEAT glass co-inventor
Mission: Replace myth and misinformation with scientific truth through consumer education.
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