GLASSWARE
GLASSWARE
There are two main categories when it comes to glassware:
cocktails that are served up (no ice) & cocktails that are served with ice.
While there are many different types of glassware, we have compiled a list of glassware every beginner should know.
UP (NO ICE) GLASSWARE
This was the original Champagne glass! Famously believed to be modeled after a French Queen’s body part, it was actually introduced a century before her time - in 1663! It lost popularity as a vessel for sparkling wines because the bubbles dissipated too quickly into the nose. The flute soon became the preferred glass for that purpose. However, the coupe got a big boost in popularity from the post-prohibited United States in the 1930s as the original cocktail glass. [See the famous picture of President Franklin D. Roosevelt toasting the end of Prohibition with a Martini!]
The coupe is used for any drink that is served “up,” such as the Martini, Manhattan, Sidecar, and Whiskey Sour. There’s never any ice in this glass, and every cocktail poured out of a tin and into a coupe should be double-strained.
TIP:
Generally, it’s a good indication of the quality of cocktail you might expect from an establishment if you see coupe glasses lined up at the bar. First, you’ll see that people are drinking cocktails (not just beer), but second, you’ll know that the bar takes its glassware seriously. The ‘Martini’ glass with the wide, sharp, cone-like shape gained popularity in the 1980s as bartenders added more ingredients, cocktails like the Cosmopolitan came around, and everything was about being bigger and better and wackier than ever. The ‘Martini’ glass proved to be more fun than functional, as it turns out, and it was a fad that led to a lot of spilled drinks and broken glass! For years, bars would stock up on Martini glasses that measured anywhere from 5 to 10 liquid ounces at the top - imagine what a proper Gimlet (2oz Gin, ½ oz lime juice, ½ oz simple syrup, shaken with ice) would look like in a glass that big!
If you want to be ahead of the curve in terms of bartending trends, get to know the Nick and Nora glass. They’re starting to become as common in craft cocktail bars as coupes. Nick and Noras are the more bell-shaped, in between a coupe glass and a very small wine glass. Nick and Nora glasses for stirred up drinks and coupe glasses for shaken up drinks because the smaller Nick and Nora glasses fit three to four ounces of liquid perfectly. Though if you are looking to keep your glassware to a minimum, there’s nothing you would serve in a Nick and Nora glass that you couldn’t also serve in a nice coupe.
ON THE ROCKS (WITH ICE) GLASSWARE
Rocks (or ‘Old Fashioned’ glass)
The name says it all! This glass will typically be used for ‘Old-Fashioned’-style cocktails, which go heavy on the booze (2oz), and most commonly have ice covering the liquid.
There are, however, many ways this glass is utilized. Here are some other common examples:
a. ‘Neat’ - meaning 2oz of booze, no ice.
b. When Spirit (1.5oz) + Juice combine, such as in a Margarita ‘on the rocks’, fill the glass with ice to the rim
c. We’ll learn about rare cases like the Sazerac later...
Collins (or ‘Highball’)
Every once in a while, you might order a ‘Mojito’ that comes in a pint glass. That’s 16oz! It would seem this is your lucky day unless the bartender made it with the standard rum portion (1½ oz), and it’s just a lot of soda to make up the difference… Generally, the ‘Mojito’ - as with all of its great ‘Fizz’ model cocktail counterparts such as the Paloma, the Tom Collins, etc. - will be made in a Collins glass. That’s the fun part - you typically get to build the cocktail in the glass rather than in a tin or mixing glass. Here are other things to keep in mind with respect to this glass:
It will be used for nearly any cocktail with soda
Always fill ice to the rim
Always served with a *hopefully compostable, steel, or glass* straw