Libbey is a pretty familiar name in glassware. Their products are seen just about anywhere that you can purchase home goods. Around the holidays I see these beer glass gift boxes pop up everywhere. BJ’s, Wegman’s, and even local liquor stores stock them because they can be great gifts for all levels of beer enthusiasts. They make great starter sets and can also be used to fill out home bars with some excellent utility glasses.
Today we’ll be looking at the “Libbey Craft Brews Assorted Beer Glasses, Set of 6” specifically. This set costs $45 and is available on Amazon. At that price point, is it worth picking up?
About this Beer Glass Set
With regard to selection, this is a decent starter set. There are a few general utility glasses as well as a some beer specific utility glasses. It’s something you’ll definitely get plenty of use out of it.
This set contains one of each of the following:
- Classic Pilsner glass (15.25 oz/451 mL): They’re calling this a “Classic Pilstner” but it’s really more of a modern take. We’ve talked about these glasses before and generally I’m a fan. They’re sleek, modern, and generally a great glass for enjoying anything in the pilsner style. Amazon has them for about $4 each.
- English Pub glass (20 oz/591 mL): This is what we call the nonic pint glass. It’s large for an imperial pint (568 mL) but that’s just nit-picking. Nonic pints are great utility glasses filling major roles like serving beer, soda, and other mixed drinks. These can be found for around $7 a piece. This brings our running total to $11.
- Belgian Ale glass (16.6 oz/490 mL): A tall version of the tulip beer glass, this will fill a few rolls for you. This glass is great for lighter beers, especially highly carbonated ones which have brighter fruity aromas and flavors. It can also be used for pilsners or darker ales that you might otherwise put in a snifter. You can get these glasses for about $4 a piece. We’re up to $15 so far with half the set to go.
- Craft Pub glass (20 oz/591 mL): This is basically a large Willi Becher Tumbler. To be honest, I don’t use this often for beer. It tends to be more of a water glass or iced-tea glass around our house. If you wanted to buy these on their own they average about $4 a piece. That brings us to $19 worth of glasses.
- Porter/Stout glass (14.75 oz/436 mL): While they’re billing this as a “Porter / Stout” glass I’ve always thought of the tulip pokal as kind of beer utility glass. Porters, stouts, pilsners or lagers, you’ll enjoy them all out of a glass like this. You can get 4-packs of Porter Glasses for $5 a glass. So far we’ve hit $24 in total value.
- Wheat Beer glass (23 oz/680 mL): A pretty hefty wheat beer glass. Not much more to say about this one. Amazon has 4-packs of Wheat beer glasses that average $5 a glass. That lands us at $29 if you were to go out and find these glasses individually.
Final Thoughts and Notes
Again, this is a great starter set. The “English Pub” glass and the Wheat Beer glass will turn up in other collections (and are easy to come by) while the other glasses are a bit less common and worth picking up. Based on the included glasses, other sets I’ve seen, and the quality of the glassware I’d recommend looking for it in the $25- $30 price range. At $45, though, this isn’t the glass set you’re looking for.
If you’re looking to give something like this as a gift I’d recommend looking at your local liquor store or department store. You’ll likely find the same, or similar for around $30.
