Shape of the Beer Glass Dictates How Much One Drinks

Beer is considered as the third most popular drink and the worlds widely consumed alcohol. This beverage has been a topic of interest for the researchers from the University of Bristol. They carried out an interesting study published in PLoS ONE that claims the rate at which beer is consumed is influenced to a great extent by the shape of the glass it is consumed from. 

Dr Angela Attwood and colleagues from Bristol's School of Experimental Psychology had nearly 60 social drinkers aged 18-40. These subjects had no history to alcoholism and were asked to attend two sessions. One session required them to drink either large or non alcoholic soft drink either from a straight glass or a curved glass 'beer flute'.

"People often talk of 'pacing themselves' when drinking alcohol as a means of controlling levels of drunkenness, and I think the important point to take from our research is that the ability to pace effectively may be compromised when drinking from certain types of glasses," Attwood, a research assistant at the School of Experimental Psychology at the University of Bristol in Bristol, England, was quoted in CBS News.

The researchers noticed that the participants consuming beer from the straight glass were twice as slow in drinking alcohol when compared to the participants with the curved glass. But they noticed no difference in the drinking rate when the drink was non alcoholic.

The researchers deducted this difference exists because when a person consumes alcohol in a shaped glass it is difficult to accurately judge the halfway point of the glass. Due to which the drinkers are not able to gauge how much they have consumed.

In order to test this hypothesis, the researchers made the subjects to attend another session in which they completed a computer task that presented numerous pictures of the two glasses containing varying volumes of liquid. The subjects were asked on respond whether the glass was more or less than half full. Based on the responses of the subjects the researchers presented that there was greater error in accurately judging the halfway point of the curved glass. And this error is greatly linked to speed drinking.

The rate at which alcohol is consumed greatly influences the level of intoxication along with the amount of alcohol consumed in a single session. 

"Due to the personal and societal harms associated with heavy bouts of drinking, there has been a lot of recent interest in alcohol control strategies. While many people drink alcohol responsibly, it is not difficult to have 'one too many' and become intoxicated. Because of the negative effects alcohol has on decision making and control of behaviour, this opens us up to a number of risks," said Attwood.

"People often talk of 'pacing themselves' when drinking alcohol as a means of controlling levels of drunkenness, and I think the important point to take from our research is that the ability to pace effectively may be compromised when drinking from certain types of glasses."

According to the researchers, this could be a target to help control the problematic levels of drunkenness that are becoming increasingly common in our society.