New UV pint glasses hope to put an end to “skunky” beer

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On a Sunny evening like Friday night, if you’re enjoying a glass of beer on the patio it could be sub-par but theres a solution. Sean Leathong spoke to a company that’s making pint glasses designed to save us from “Skunky beer.”

It’s the glass that aims to keep you on the patio.

“We’re gonna make patio’s paradise for beer drinkers” says Bru-V co-founder Ian Ritchie. Paradise, because he says their company’s new product protects your beer from sunlight. “And actually filters out light, ultra violet rays, and keeps your beer fresh and how the brew master intended it.”

According to Ritchie, direct sunlight starts a chemical reaction with the hops similar to the chemical that skunks use to protect themselves. “Hence the term skunky beer.”

And he says their glass, the Bru-V pint glass, will stop it. “Any brewmaser you talk with knows this science.”

So we went to Niagara College where John Downing is the brewmaster of the brewing program. He says that it’s true. “It doesn’t take long for that flavour to become apparent.”

Within a few minutes in fact. As for the glass, what does he think? “I think it’s kind of a cool idea, great for fathers day obviously, I think dad will be happy to have this especially if he’s out on his barbeque.”

The glass is a lot like a brown beer bottle. But surprisingly, no one else is making glasses like this.

We talked to a number of people on the patio of the Old York Tavern in Toronto, and patrons there said they could tell the difference.

Bru-v started just this past winter, and since then Ian and his two co-founders have been working their way through patio’s and festivals in the hopes of finding new customers, one pint at a time.