{"id":6104,"date":"2020-10-23T09:23:57","date_gmt":"2020-10-23T09:23:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/budweiserbudvar.com\/uk\/?post_type=story&p=6104"},"modified":"2020-11-10T12:16:23","modified_gmt":"2020-11-10T12:16:23","slug":"the-budvar-glass","status":"publish","type":"story","link":"https:\/\/budweiserbudvar.com\/uk\/blog\/story\/the-budvar-glass\/","title":{"rendered":"THE BUDVAR GLASS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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BRINGING THE ARTS OF BREWING AND GLASSMAKING TOGETHER.<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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T<\/span>he humble glass. It\u2019s not really something we think about too much when ordering a beer. For all the time we might spend choosing what style of beer we fancy \u2013 the flavour, the hop level, the bitterness or the sweetness we\u2019re after \u2013 not even the most serious of beer lovers props up the bar deliberating and discussing what glass they want that drink served in.<\/p>\n

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But it\u2019s definitely time we did. Because when you\u2019re talking quality beer, it turns out that what the beer goes in can have almost as much influence on the taste, texture and the drinking experience as what goes into the beer.<\/p>\n

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I\u2019m sitting in a bar with beer writer and author of A Brief History of Lager<\/em>, Mark Dredge; a man who knows only too well the importance glass can have on the subtleties of taste and flavour. \u201cEvery beer is different.\u201d He says, over a pint. \u201cEvery beer wants to be presented differently, and different glasses can really help with that. They can enhance certain characteristics or dull certain characteristics.\u201d<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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\u201cThe obvious comparison is wine. In the same way we wouldn\u2019t accept red wine served in a Champagne glass because it would dull those essential aromas, notes and flavours, we shouldn\u2019t expect a beer to taste the same in any glass either.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Behind him, neatly lined up on shelves above the bar, is a veritable cross-section of glass varieties, showing the sheer range of shapes and sizes on offer to drinkers. As he explains, he gestures to a line of taller, thinner shaped pint glasses:<\/p>\n

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\u201cWhen you have a German-style lager you kind of want it in a glass like that. The bubbles are going to come up, stream up to a nice head of foam on top and it\u2019s going to enhance the bitterness of it. But that\u2019s not really what you want with a Czech-style beer. With a great Czech lager like Budweiser Budvar, you want a big round-bellied glass where you can swirl the beer around, where it\u2019s going to hold onto the thick foam, and enhance that subtle sweet-softness of the malt character.\u201d<\/p>\n

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He turns, then picks up the glass on the table between us. \u201cYou want something like this<\/em>.\u201d<\/span><\/h3>\n

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T<\/span>his<\/em> is the reason we\u2019re here: a look at the brand-new Budweiser Budvar glass. A work of art if ever there was one, and the first glassware to be introduced to bars and pubs across the world by the iconic South Bohemian brewery in years.<\/p>\n

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Wide, weighty, pleasingly tailored to fit the hand and with a rounded and fluted cut-glass detail to its lower half \u2013 as soon as it\u2019s in your hands, you start to appreciate the time, detail and craft that has gone into its creation. It\u2019s truly a thing to behold, and every bit worthy of holding the slow-matured and traditionally brewed lager that it\u2019s been designed for: a beer that has only ever been made in the same place, in the same way, with the same four quality ingredients, for over 125 years.<\/p>\n

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So why does this new mug-style glass work so well for Budvar? \u201cWell part of it is the tradition,\u201d Mark says. \u201cIf you look at the old brewery photos, this is what they drank from. And that old, time-honoured design exists for a reason. It\u2019s got thick glass to keep the lager colder for longer which is really important. The foam can grow up the sides of this glass when it\u2019s poured, but then also cling to it on the way back down again. You see that foam throughout the drinking process and that\u2019s a really big part of Czech drinking culture. The foam in the glass is seen as a mark of quality.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cYou\u2019ve also got the handle which also means you don\u2019t have to hold the glass, you don\u2019t need to warm up the glass with your hands. This is practical for the server too. If you\u2019re at a table with some friends, the handle lets the server bring over a few glasses at the same time and put them down. Again, it\u2019s that practical element, but this design is also great for the drinker because it enhances the flavour and the character of the beer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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“With Budweiser Budvar, you want a big round-bellied glass where you can swirl the beer around, where it\u2019s going to hold onto the thick foam, and enhance that subtle sweet-softness of the malt.”<\/span><\/h3>\n

MARK DREDGE, <\/span>BEER WRITER.<\/span><\/h3>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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I hold the Budvar glass up to compare it to the shelves of glassware behind the bar. There are plenty of designs on display, but a few are clearly more concerned about a colourful brand logo in the drinker\u2019s hand rather than enhancing their experience of the beer.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThat\u2019s probably true,\u201d says Mark. \u201cLook, beer glasses have a functional purpose. That\u2019s really important. They have to be practical, but they can also be beautiful. Some are just more beautiful than others.\u201d And then he laughs. \u201cNot all beer glasses are created equal.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\nBut to really understand why that\u2019s so true with the new Budweiser Budvar glass, I need to head to the brewery\u2019s homeland.<\/span><\/h3>\n

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H<\/span><\/em> ow long do you need to sit here for?<\/em>\u00a0I ask after ten minutes, backing away from a porthole of intense, heart-of-the-sun heat. Martin Janeck\u00fd lays down a surgical looking metal implement and wipes sweat from his forehead with the back of his arm. \u201cIt\u2019s been three hours today already, but sometimes it can be all day.\u201d<\/p>\n

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We\u2019re in a studio in downtown Prague, a vast vaulted space housed inside an old cloister, in front of the white-hot roar of an open glass furnace. Martin is one of the world\u2019s most celebrated glass blowers; an artist who is both keeping this traditional art-form alive and propelling it forwards in to the future with his mixture of classic and modern pieces.<\/p>\n

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Since leaning his skills from his father, he has spent the best part of three decades perfecting his craft and exhibiting across the world. These days he specialises in sculptural and figurative work, but his studio houses a collection of pieces from across his career: a shelf of bespoke wine glasses here; a Day of the Dead<\/em> glass skeleton there.<\/p>\n

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As I watch, Martin and his assistant pull a ball of molten glass in and out of the heat, shaping it quickly with a blow torch and tools until it begins to form an uncannily real-looking human hand. The combination of air, heat and speed make this a craft almost unlike any other.<\/p>\n

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Behind brewing, the art of glassmaking is perhaps the Czech Republic\u2019s most famous export. Both enjoy a rich history and tradition here; both have been perfected over centuries and involve skills passed down through generations. While Czech glass-blowing is known through the work of artists like Martin, it is the production of Czech \u2018crystal\u2019 and highly decorative cut-glass for which the country is truly renowned around the globe.<\/p>\n

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For hundreds of years, the kingdom of Bohemia was the seat of Emperors, royalty and the nobility. During the Renaissance, it was discovered that the countryside\u2019s raw materials yielded glass finer and more stable than that found around Venice, Italy \u2013 the big rival glassmaking region of the time. In the seventeenth century, Caspar Lehmann, gem cutter to Emperor Rudolf II, developed a method of engraving this Czech glass with copper and bronze wheels, birthing the decorative cut glass style that remains prized all over the world.<\/p>\n

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As the national brewery of the Czech Republic, proudly owned by the Czech people, the Budweiser Budvar glass needed to respect and celebrate this history too. The beer glass not only needed to be practical and beautiful, but it had to embody and tell the story of a nation. And when it came to finding the right person to tell that story, there was one obvious choice.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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A MASTERCLASS IN GLASS: MEET RONY PLESL<\/span><\/h3>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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I<\/span> head across Prague to the new studio of Rony Plesl, artist, sculptor, designer, and one of the world\u2019s foremost names in the art of glass. Inside its great front doors, Rony\u2019s beautiful and newly remodeled space is buzzing with artists, collectors and luminaries, all gathered to celebrate the studio\u2019s opening. Positioned around me, his work speaks for itself. I wander between geometric installation pieces resembling great cut and coloured crystals, and down dazzlingly beautiful rows of intricately cut vases, bowls and glasses. In one corner are what look like branches chopped from trees, except these are stunning, neon-coloured pieces glowing an otherworldly green; part of his recent exhibition at the V&A in London.<\/p>\n

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\u201cGlass is a magic material.\u201d Rony explains when I catch up with him. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t have a fixed crystal structure. It is still in motion.\u201d This is part of his forty-year fascination with it, and explains the sheer range in his work. For as well as an international reputation as an artist of monumental sculptures, Rony\u2019s glassware and product design is equally visionary and award-winning. It meant he was the perfect partner to entrust with creating the new Budvar glass.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI like working with companies with long histories.\u201d He says. \u201cAnd Budvar is one of them. Designing a glass for a historic brewery like Budvar is not only about the personality of the artist, but about capturing the history and story of the brewery too. That\u2019s important to me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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“I like working with companies with long histories. And Budvar is one of them.”<\/span><\/h3>\n

Rony Plesl.<\/span><\/h3>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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