Pretentious beer glasses designed to enhance the drinking experience

"I don't entertain really large orders because we are making them all by hand. We would rather specialize in high quality, low volume. We are creative people." — Matthew Cummings, owner of Pretentious Glass and Beer Co.

Large industrial fans cool a 2,000-square-foot area where Matthew Cummings and Sam Meketon work their magic. Tiny pieces of glass pop and crackle near the furnace and reheating chambers as the men use blow tubes, blocks and paddles to transform molten glass into specialized beer glasses.

It's a career that Cummings began while living in Louisville, Ky., in 2012. His business moved to Knoxville's Old City in 2014, with the adjacent Pretentious Beer Co. opening in October 2016.

Cummings is an artist whose passion for glass blowing and beer brewing melded into hand-crafted beer glasses designed exclusively by him.

"When I decided I wanted to do this as a business I took about six months to research craft beer and devoured any book I could get my hands on. All of them recommended trying to home brew. When doing that you get to smell what malt is like by itself and afterward you can laser pinpoint that aroma. It's the same with hops and the yeast," he said.

With those aromas in mind, Cummings' mission is to design beer glasses that enhance a drinker's experience. He's created hundreds of designs but has between 30 and 40 available for purchase by special order via the Pretentious Glass website or through Etsy.

His glasses are designed to "affect certain elements (of a beer) by either enhancing or dulling a specific flavor profile."

Here’s what Cummings says about six of his glass creations and what beers are best suited for them:

Sauvin: This Double IPA glass is named after one of Cummings' favorite boutique hops grown in Australia. It's a snifter-tulip hybrid glass with a surface area exposure of a snifter but the aroma concentration of a tulip top. It has a hollow foot for holding to keep the beer cool or can be held like a snifter to warm a higher gravity beer such as a 12 percent triple IPA.

Malty: Designed to highlight roasty, toasty flavors that come from stouts and porters, the 3-spheres "feel amazing in your hand, and if you pour a nitro stout in it it will make a triple head that will capture the slow-rising nitrogen bubbles."

Subtle: This tall conical glass will enhance the flavor profiles of lagers, pilsners and kolschs. The undulation of the glass is ergonomically friendly and "makes you want to constantly explore it."

Aromatic: Great for Belgian and other dry hop beers, this glass shaped like one used for red wine features a mountain within its interior surface whose function is to create friction and turbulence to keep the head going. "When the head is there you have CO2 molecules bursting and releasing aromatic molecules that enhance the flavor of the beer."

Duel glass: This half and half glass lets the drinker mix beers that have similar specific gravities. At Pretentious they often use this glass to mix a chocolate stout with a cherry ale. "Because they are side by side you get the aroma of both beers at the same time," Cummings said.

Hoppy glass: This container enhances the hoppy aromas in a beer. The exterior has the etching of a handprint. The artist is currently exploring ways to create individual handprints on the glass.