Of course Todd, happy to provide more insight!
Form:
Glencairn…
-
Machine-made. The lip is thicker and not finely polished.
-
Basic crystal. I don’t know their composition (what different elements make their crystal), but it has a grayish tint and is prone to chipping.
-
Small glasses with a little nubby base which means that you’re holding the glass by the bowl and smudging it with fingerprints. More critically to nosing, you’re potentially impacting the aromas with scents from your hand (food, soap, perfume, etc).
Bennuaine…
-
Hand-blown. Very fine walls with a polished lip.
-
Titanium crystal. There’s basically no gray tint to my glass, it’s pretty stunning how it refracts light and shows the true color of the liquid inside. The titanium greatly helps with durability. No one has ever reported my glasses chipping.
-
Has a stem. (Cue screams!) This is the element which I find a lot folks like you “can’t get your head around.” I don’t blame you. But… Can I get nerdy and share my marketing education? Whisk(e)y has been heavily advertised since the 1900’s as a “men’s drink”. It was made by men for men, drank with cigars, in those dusty wood and leather rooms. Spirits were poured and showcased in heavily blocky tumblers because they were perceived as more manly than dainty stemware. Now, times have changed, look at how premium stemware for wine is made to be as lightweight and finely crafted as possible. I don’t think many people see someone drinking wine from a Zaltos/Grassl/Gabriel Glas and think “what a weak pitiful human being”.
For enjoying the quality of whatever liquid, stems are objectively better because you can hold the glass while also clearly observing the color of the liquid inside, they prevent the bowl from getting dirty, and provide hand-to-nose distance so you’re not affected by other aromas. The downside to stems, as everyone in the Berserker world who has a snapped a wine glass knows, is durability.
With all that in mind, the stem of the Bennuaine is reinforced with titanium and fairly compact – about three fingers in height, significantly shorter than wine stems. The shorter nature of the stem means it’s less prone to being knocked over, has stronger torsional rigidity (meaning if you do unfortunately twist the glass while cleaning it won’t snap as easily), and also fits in every single top dishwasher rack. Essentially my design is meant to provide the benefits of stems while heavily mitigating its traditional compromises with better materials and design.
Function:
Glencairn…
- It’s a small and compact shape. It’s better than a tumbler for the most part, I will admit that much. But what this compact nature means is that for powerful drinks like whiskey with high ABVs, you’re constricting the delicate more enjoyable elements and focusing the unpleasant ethanol.
- When you nose from a Glencairn, you lose a lot of the more complex and softer notes because your poor nose is getting blown out by compacted ethanol.
- For tasting, whisky like a lot of wine, benefits from oxygen. There’s not much surface area to the glass, so you really need to swirl the spirit to have it engage with air. This effects both aroma and taste.
Tumblers…
- Massive surface area and no taper. You lose pretty much all the detail in nose and a lot in taste from the start. Then it oxidizes too quickly and it all gets worse.
Bennuaine…
- Has wider form (about +10% surface area at maximum diameter) with a stronger taper (about 17% narrower at the opening) so that there’s a balance between strength and detail.
- When nosing from Bennuaine, the width provides aeration, but the heavy taper helps retain aroma. The flare at the top of the glass also provides distance for your nose, so you can get really get intimate with the glass without torching the nose hairs. If you have patience, the glass really rewards pouring and coming back after 15 minutes.
- When tasting, you also get some softer notes from the increased aeration. Not as pronounced as the difference in the aromas, but there is a difference. Additionally, the flare at the top also helps but spreading the spirit across a larger surface when it hits your palate. This motion happens quick, but first impressions on the tongue are real.
At some point I will also start selling glass caps, so you let the aromas really build up before you start enjoying.
This is pretty lengthy response, so my apologies on that, but hope it adds some insight into the intention and design. Happy to field any more questions!