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Item Notes: A Wheat Beer Glass is a glass used to serve wheat beer, known also as Weizenbier or Weißbier. The German glass generally holds 500millilitres with room for foam or "head". It is much taller than a pint glass. It is very narrow at the bottom and slightly wider at the top.
In other countries such as Belgium, the glass may be 250ml or 330ml. The tall glass provides room for the often thick, fluffy heads produced by the style, which traps aromas and is visually pleasing.
Because of its unique shape, extra care must be taken when pouring a beer into a wheat beer glass to produce the desired head volume. The traditional method of pouring Weißbier is to first rinse the glass with cold water, then, without drying the glass, hold the bottle and glass almost horizontally while slowly pouring the beer. When the level of the beer touches the lip of the bottle, slowly begin to bring the glass upright. When there is less than one inch (or a few centimeters) of beer left in the bottle, swirl the bottle vigorously to pick up the sediment and create foam, which is poured on top. If done correctly, the foam should just crest the lip of the glass without pouring over.
Another method is to open the bottle and put the glass over it. Then turn both. Take the bottle out of the glass slowly while the beer moves from the bottle to the glass. This must be done very slowly, without fast movements.
Due to the top-heavy weight distribution and relatively thin glass, care must also be taken when touching glasses while toasting; one should touch the thicker bases of the glasses instead. Most wheat beer glasses have a relatively large surface area in proportion to their volume, which causes them to warm quicker than steins or pilsner glasses.
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