There are over 40,000 different bottles of beer available in the world today. How do we know which we should be enjoying straight from the bottle, and which deserve to be poured into a glass?
Based on these 3 different types of beers you’ll know what to do next time you crack open a bottle of cold, bubbly goodness.

Bottle Conditioned Beer (Must Pour)

Before these craft beers are bottled, the brewer adds a bit of sugar (called priming sugar) to the beer, and sometimes a touch of extra yeast. This will be mixed in, and then the beer will be bottled without the use of carbon dioxide. Unlike most beers, these bottle conditioned beers are not filtered, pasteurized, and are left with the full gamut of their flavors intact. These beers absolutely must be poured into a glass to fully appreciate all the character that they will possess. They will have a rounder and more natural mouthfeel, a smoother and bigger flavor, and are at the forefront of the craft beer world today.

Craft Beer (Pour)

Brewers of craft beer, or real beer, design their many brews to have unique, distinct, and delicious flavors. They design beers with rich characters that astonish and excite people. They brew it is because they love it and are whole-heartedly passionate about real beer.
One brewer says to the next brewer, “Let’s make a beer with chocolate, raspberries and oatmeal!” The other brewer exclaims “awesome!” This is how real beer is created. Because these beers are designed to enthrall you with lush aromas and rich flavors they should be poured into a glass so you can fully enjoy all that the beer has to offer. However, if you have no glass available, you will not be ruining your beer by enjoying it straight from the bottle.

Commodity-Grade Beer (Don’t Pour)

These are the beers that we’re most familiar with. They invade all of our sporting events, TV commercials, and print ads. They have been created to be accessible, inexpensive, last for a long time on the shelf, and are the lowest common denominator of the beer world. The brewers of these beers understand that unique flavors potentially eliminate consumers who don’t like that flavor.
Pouring a mass-market beer into a glass is really just going to expose its weakness – a lack of actual flavor. So if you must drink one of these beers, you’re better off chugging it back, straight from the bottle, with hoards of scantily clad women around.