Take a break from the summer heat of July, with a wonderful chilled cocktail in the Woodbury Bourbon glass. We recently extended the infamous Woodbury collection with this smaller cousin of the Woodbury Double Old Fashioned. The barware design characteristics are distinctly different from most other lines with the hallmark chilled textures, round to square detail and the heavy base. This bourbon glass is the perfect size for sipping bourbon, enjoying a mixed cocktail or simply as a juice glass. It was originally drawn up while traveling in Paris where Simon and Jay Benson started brainstormed new ideas for drinking glasses.
The Blackberry Bourbon Sour; featured at our restaurant, and you can try it at home with this recipe:
We take crafting glasses seriously at Simon Pearce; and our focus is matched with all the great crafted breweries in the state of Vermont.
Each year we design new concepts that we add to our line of barware, to keep up with the evolution of beer making and tasting. Our silhouettes are carefully formed with the finesse of our glassblowers.
In addition to many iconic beer glasses, some of our stemmed lines that are geared towards wine actually make great beer glasses.
Mick Maguire, our head of technology at Simon Pearce has lent his expertise in brews and tested many of our glasses to find some perfect pairings. He has experimented with prototypes of our new Vintner pulled-stem line, and discovered that they lend themselves perfectly to particular types of beer.
“The form of any vessel effects the drinking experience, not just in a tactile manner. An angular body where the base is wider than the neck will have the effect of concentrating the aroma of the beer helping your nose appreciate the full spectrum of the flavor and will also help preserve the head. This is particularly pronounced with ‘bigger’ beers like bourbon barrel aged stouts and double IPA where it will really bring out the white oak of one and citrus of the other. This means that our Vintner line has ideal candidates for truly appreciating the flavor and nuance of complex craft brews. The Snifter will easily hold a full pour and sits very pleasingly in the hand.”
“For a lighter beer such as a Kolsh or Pilsner, the flute shape of the Ascutney Pint, or the Norwich tall beaker, lend a traditional German feel which brings out the brightness of these nicely.”
“But my go to everyday summer beer glass is the Woodstock Balloon, perfect for sitting round a campfire, it’s robust design makes it very durable and pleasantly weighty, while at the same time it’s oversized bowl allows the nose to enter the glass as you drink, giving a truly full sensory experience.”
“The bottom line is any beverage that has care put into its creation, will taste better in one of our handcrafted glasses, I’d encourage everybody to experiment to see the differences brought about by form, regardless of how a glass is labelled.” -M. Maguire
You can try our glasses out with great beer served at our bar in the Mill. Visit us and experience the difference handcrafted glass makes.
As the weather turns warmer, and we look for ways to stay cool, sipping chilled drinks can do the trick. Ice is the usual cooling element, but if you don’t want to water down your drink we propose using frozen soapstone, paired with our handcrafted glass as an optimal way for tasting drinks, particularly bourbon.
With the popularity of our Ludlow collection, we thought the soapstone could take the place of the wood, and once we tested some samples of this new combination we were delighted to find the stone truly chilled the glass. Take it from the freezer, and it can cool your drink in about 8-10 minutes, and conversely, can be used for warming drinks as well.
Throughout New England, soapstone is a common material found on kitchen counter-tops, which are known for their durability, smooth touch, and low porosity. This ancient natural stone, is the result of volcanic geological formations from long ago. It’s most notable properties are that it can stay cold or hot for a long time. The material is very unique for its workable characteristics, and can be sculpted as the Inuit would, and also made it into a variety of functional designs. We named it Alpine after the northern ridges we have here in Vermont and New England.
Experience how this unique stone can chill your drink as it cradles the glass.
In a shaker with ice:
1 ¾ oz Bulleit Bourbon
2 oz Chai Cider
½ oz Maple syrup
Juice of 1 lemon wedge
Shake, pour into Ascutney Whiskey.
Garnish with dried apple slice.
—
Chai Cider (yields one gallon)
16 cups cider
16 cinnamon sticks
2 Tbl green cardamom pods
6 tsp whole cloves
1 tsp whole black peppercorns
8” piece of ginger root sliced
Combine all ingredients, cover, bring to a boil.
Reduce heat to medium, simmer for 10 minutes.
Remove from heat, steep for up to 6 hours but not less than 4 hours.
Strain, refrigerate. Use Ascutney Glass Pitcher to serve.
