Mike Sardina: “Glassware is primarily situational. It depends on where I'm drinking a beer, and with whom. If I'm just having a beer by myself at home, after work, 99% of the time I'm drinking from stemware (specifically, a Durabor Charente) that allows me to put a whole can of beer into it at once. That glass is shaped to provide the aromatics, it sits well on the mouth, and I can hold the stem so the beer doesn't get warm, or I can hold the bowl and warm the beer up.

If I'm drinking with friends and entertaining, I might break out smaller glassware, or I might choose glasses that are properly branded for the beer(s) that we are sharing to build on the experience.

If I'm out at a bar or taproom, generally I'm deferential to how the beer is served in that particular space. If I'm at a brewery, especially one that I respect enough to visit, I sure as hell am not going to question the way that the beer is presented to me, and that includes the glassware. Sure, I have preferences, but again, so long as the glass is clean, I'm generally just fine with it.

As for the shaker pint, I honestly sometimes appreciate the heft and weight of it. Some of my favorite bars and breweries use shaker pints, and I frankly wouldn't want it any other way. Toronado in San Diego is a great example. When I'd go there and get a beer, it felt like you were drinking a ‘beer’ beer. Setting that shaker pint back onto the bar, maybe a bit too hard, took all the pretentiousness out of it—it simply felt like you were drinking a beer. Plus, the shape of the glass isn't truly all that bad for hoppy beers, again, so long as the glass is clean and the beer is poured properly with a head on it.”