There's nothing "new" about these glasses either. These are a rehash of Riedel wine glasses with good marketing behind it.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001UE7HYC/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
The sales pitches are solid, and the marketing is old fashioned boots on the ground. The sales reps seem to find their way into about every BJCP comp dinner, homebrew club, and craft beer meeting ever and hold "information session" about the importance of glassware. Imagine that ... a manufacturer of glasses telling you how important glasses are.
It's not the cheapest way to sell goods, but the people who buy them then in turn become big advocates for it because how else do you rationalize spending $20 on a glass that is basically just a holder as good as a $3 glass?
I think they have a well made glass, though. Just not my cup of tea. Here's a set of glasses you can find very cheaply all over. I love these. The tulip and the tall one filled with an amber beer in the picture are my favorite. I love that one with the amber beer. Perfect glass.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006PKHD9U/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
I have these same glasses and while I do enjoy drinking out of this glass, imho it doesn't make a huge difference in the taste/aroma of the beer over a regular pint glass.
Anything to do with senses is going to vary from one person to another, so no one can say that it does make a difference or doesn't. To some it may, to others it may not.
My own personal experience, and I have bad sinus issues, is there is a noticeable difference between serving my IPA in these glasses versus serving it in a standard pint glass. One is visible, in that there is more head produced in these glasses, another is that the initial aroma generally lasts a bit longer, and lastly, due to the stem, the beer stays colder a bit longer versus a pint glass warmed by the thermal transfer from your hand on the glass.
I have several of the dogfishhead etched ones. I enjoy drinking out of them. It seems there definitely an increase of aroma, that's about it. I also enjoy drinking beer out of a wide mouth pint Mason jar.
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