Commercial brewers invest a great deal of time into the experiences their consumers receive when enjoying their ice-cold alcoholic beverages. From the product packaging to the shape of a beer glass, brewers have found that nucleated beer glasses improve perceived taste, aroma, and overall experience by producing a thicker head of foam.

What is a Nucleated Beer Glass?

A nucleated beer glass has a textured pattern on the interior surface, creating a collection point for the dissolved carbon dioxide gas. As the gas is disturbed by these textures, it forms a stream of bubbles that float to the top. These streams of bubbles increase the head of foam which affects the aroma of the beverage by releasing more of the flavor profile. The steady stream of bubbles also enhances the appearance of the beverage. The only downside to this effect is that the beer will go flat faster than a regular glass. So, if you are known to take your time with a beer, a nucleated glass may not be right for you.

As can be seen from the video above, the extra fizziness of the beer provides a frothy head of foam like a draft beer but from a can or bottle. Beverages that are highly carbonated or have a high ABV (Alcohol by Volume) are not ideal for nucleated glasses.

How Nucleated Glasses Are Created

Laser systems are used in the creation of nucleated glasses through an etching process. This process has been around for a few years already and UV Laser has helped numerous clients research which patterns work best and have built systems for etching the bottom and side walls of glasses. Our systems can etch logos and a variety of dot patterns along the insides of glass using CO2 lasers.

UV Laser Etching the Internal Walls of Beer Glasses

It’s easy to laser etch the bottoms of beer glasses, but can your laser system etch the walls? Our engineers developed a solution a few years ago that can create these nucleation points on the sides of a glass. With this system, clients can laser etch dot patterns and logos on the interior walls of glass cups. However, due to confidentiality reasons, we cannot disclose the design of the systems we’ve built. If you don’t see a particular process on our website, send us a message because chances are, we’ve done it before.

About UV laser information: https://www.rfhtech.com/s9-series-3w-5w-10w-uv-laser_p9.html