Holmegaard Beer Glasses by Style: Mikkeller, Perfection, Cabernet

Holmegaard makes five beer glasses worth weighing up: three from its collaboration with the Copenhagen brewery Mikkeller, and two from the longer-running Perfection and Cabernet families. This guide matches each glass to the beers it was drawn for, compares the numbers side by side, and covers the practical question nobody checks until the box is open: will a 20.5 cm glass fit in your cupboard?

Start with the beer, then the glass

A beer glass does two jobs. It holds a given volume with room for a head of foam, and its profile decides how the beer sits in your hand and how it pours. Pale lagers and pilsners are usually served in generous quantities and drunk at a steady pace, so a stable, open glass makes sense. Hop-led beers such as IPA tend to come in larger cans and bottles, and suit a taller glass that holds the whole serving. Strong, vinous beers with a high alcohol content are sipped slowly, and a wide bowl gives them space.

Volume matters as much as shape. A glass that is too small for the bottle means a second pour; one that is far too large leaves a shallow layer of beer at the bottom. Read the centilitre figure on each glass below against the bottles and cans you actually buy.

The Mikkeller series: IPA, Pint and Universal

Mikkeller was founded in Copenhagen in 2006 by Mikkel Borg Bjergsø and became known for experimental, small-batch brewing. Holmegaard, the Danish glassworks founded in 1825, brings two centuries of glassmaking to the partnership. The result is a compact series of machine blown glasses, each named for a style rather than a size.

IPA, 50 cl

The Mikkeller IPA Beer Glas 50 cl clear 2 pcs. is the tallest of the three at 18 cm, with a diameter of 8.5 cm. It narrows slightly towards the top and has a pinched waist low down, which sets the beer moving as it is poured and as you tilt the glass to drink. Holmegaard designed it for IPA and other hop-forward beers, and the 50 cl capacity is sized for a full large serving. The pair weighs 0.55 kg, so each glass has a reassuring heft without being clumsy.

Pint, 40 cl

The Mikkeller Pint Beer Glass 40 cl clear 2 pcs. is the low, wide member of the family: 12 cm high and Ø9.5 cm. It is a classic pub shape, slightly open and cylindrical, made for lager and pilsner with plenty of space for a proper head. Like a real pub glass it stacks, which is the main reason to choose it if storage is tight. At 12 cm it is also the glass most likely to fit on any shelf you already have.

Universal, 40 cl

Between the two sits the Mikkeller Universal 40 cl, 15 cm high with the same Ø9.5 cm as the Pint. As the name suggests, it is the one to pick if you drink a mix of styles and want a single glass for all of them. It sits 3 cm taller than the Pint and 3 cm shorter than the IPA.

Perfection and Cabernet: the all-rounders

The other two glasses come from Holmegaard's stemware families rather than from a brewery partnership, and both are made of fine glass, lighter and thinner in the hand than the Mikkeller pieces.

The Perfection Beer Glass 44 cl clear 6 pcs. is part of Tom Nybroe's Perfection range. It stands 17 cm tall with a diameter of 9.2 cm. Every glass in the range carries a defining line, and on the beer glass it is drawn so that a 44 cl bottle fills it precisely to its widest point. That makes it a sensible everyday glass for anyone who buys beer in standard bottles: pour the whole bottle and the glass looks full, not half empty. Note that the stated volume changed from 33 cl to 44 cl, so older references may list the smaller figure.

The Cabernet Beer Glass 64 cl clear 6 pcs. belongs to Peter Svarrer's Cabernet range, which also includes glasses for several wines, aquavit and water, plus a carafe. It is the largest glass here: 20.5 cm tall, Ø10 cm and 64 cl (previously listed as 55 cl). The wide bowl gives a large surface, and Holmegaard positions it for both a cold lager and a strong, vinous beer with a high alcohol content that benefits from more room. If you already own Cabernet wine glasses, this is the beer glass that will look at home beside them on the table. Our comparison of Perfection vs Cabernet wine glasses covers the rest of both families.

Five glasses side by side

The two Mikkeller sets come as pairs, while Perfection and Cabernet come in boxes of six. All five glasses are dishwasher safe at a maximum of 55°C on a glass programme.

Will a 20.5 cm glass fit your cupboard?

Height is where these glasses part company. The Pint at 12 cm will slide onto almost any shelf. The Cabernet at 20.5 cm will not, and it is worth measuring before it arrives rather than after.

• Measure the clear gap, not the shelf spacing. Take the distance from the top of the lower shelf to the underside of the shelf above, and remember any lip or frame edge at the front, which is often lower than the shelf itself.
• Leave room to lift. A glass that fits with a few millimetres to spare is awkward to take out without tilting it against the shelf edge. Allow a couple of centimetres above the rim so you can lift each glass straight up.
• Store tall glasses upright. Standing a glass on its rim puts pressure on the thinnest part of the glass, which matters most for fine glass such as Perfection and Cabernet.
• Use the top shelf or an adjustable one. If your wall units have shelf pins, raising one shelf by a single position is usually enough. Otherwise, the top shelf of a wall cabinet, a sideboard or an open shelf often has the height a lower shelf lacks.
• Mix heights by shelf. Keep the IPA and Cabernet glasses together where the gap is tallest, and put stacked Pint glasses or the Universal on the shorter shelves.

The Perfection at 17 cm and the IPA at 18 cm sit in the middle: they fit most standard kitchen cupboards, but check before assuming, especially in older kitchens or in units with a fixed middle shelf.

Which one to choose

If you drink mostly lager and pilsner and are short of space, the stackable Mikkeller Pint is the obvious pick. If your fridge is full of IPA, the Mikkeller IPA gives each serving its full 50 cl. If you want one glass for whatever is open, choose the Mikkeller Universal or, for a lighter fine-glass feel and a fill line tuned to a standard bottle, the Perfection. And if you drink stronger, slower beers or want a glass that matches Cabernet stemware, the Cabernet is the most generous of the five, provided your cupboard can take its 20.5 cm.

For wine, water and shot glasses to sit beside them, see the full Glassware collection.