The right glass...

In Belgium, having the right glass is seen as utterly essential. First of all, many of the beers in Belgium do not fit neatly into a common "style"  the way that German and English brews do. So whereas in Germany or England the same glass is often quite suitable for most every beer in the pub, in Belgium that is not the case. So the Belgians developed the habit of serving each beer in its own glass.

What are the advantages of doing this? To start, each glass can be specifically tailored to the characteristics of the individual beer. Duvel, for example, has a round bottom and fluted top that first restrains the formation of excessive foam, and then corrals the generous head that does arise. Pouring this beer into an English pint glass will generally result in excessive foam that makes it difficult to actually drink the beer. So in this way, a glass can accentuate the sensory focus that the brewer seeks - sometimes this is the aroma, other times the appearance (the grooves on the Paulaner wheat glass, for example, highlight the cloudiness of the Hefeweizen), and other times the taste (traditional gueuze glasses do little for the eye, but rather remind the drinker that this is a session product, and you're supposed to just dive right in).

After a while, most beer lovers will find they prefer the aesthetics of certain types of glasses with certain types of beers. This is when your glass collection starts to really grow. At first, it seems a little silly that anybody might need more than three or four different beer glasses, but the more you get into beer, the fussier you become about the glass. Certain glasses just "feel right", while others do not. In a nutshell, although there might be specific tangible reasons for serving a beer from its proper glass, it is more intangible than anything else. At first it doesn't seem important to have the right glass, but after a while you'll find that there is an intangible beauty to serving a beer from its proper glass.

//Josh Oakes,  www.ratebeer.com