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RAISE YOUR GLASS
Selecting the perfect vessel for your vino, cocktails or beer

Back in your younger days, you didn’t spend much time considering what to serve drinks in at your next party—merely serving drinks was all that was required. A plastic cup with its owner’s name scribbled in marker was the order of the day for most social functions.

But now you’ve “grown up.” Real silverware and breakable dishes have replaced their plastic and paper counterparts at your soirees these days…at least sometimes. Why not give your liquid refreshments the same red-carpet treatment by serving them in the perfectly paired glass?

There are really only a few major types of cocktail glasses to get acquainted with—each with many decorative styles. You certainly don’t need them all, but if you like serving specific types of drinks, teaming them with the right glass makes you look like you know your stuff. Here are some options to ponder.

• The Old-fashioned/Lowball
• The Highball
• The Collins
• The Cordial
• The Shot
• The Shooter
• The Hurricane
• The Brandy / Snifter
• The Margarita
• The Martini

The Old-fashioned/Lowball. Named after the Old Fashioned cocktail traditionally served in it, the old fashioned or lowball is a squat tumbler three to four inches tall that holds between five and 10 ounces. Generally, it’s slightly wider than its highball cousin and is often used for short mixed drinks and anything on the rocks (it’s also frequently referred to as a “rocks” glass). Serve accordingly—Black and White Russians, Whiskey Sours and Gin Slings to name a few.

The Highball. About six inches tall with vertical sides, the highball typically holds between eight and 12 ounces. Its beverage namesake called for one or two ounces of whiskey served in a tall glass with ice and topped with a mixer (water, soda water, ginger ale, etc.). Today, the glass is the perfect complement for mixed drinks with a high proportion of mixer to liquor—from scotch and soda to bourbon and water—or to serve long drinks such as Tequila Sunrises, Bloody Marys, Zombies and Long Island Iced Teas.

The Collins. Similar to the highball, a Collins glass is slightly taller with a greater capacity. The narrow, cylindrical glass has a capacity of around 12 to 14 ounces. According to lore, the glass was named after a drink from the 1800s—and the drink was named after a London waiter. The glass was used to serve a family of popular cocktails, with the "John Collins" originally using Dutch jenever (forefather of gin), while the "Tom Collins" used "Old Tom Gin.” The Collins is now used for a variety of drinks, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic. These include soft drinks as well as mixed drinks using sour mix or the fruit juice Mai Tai.

The Cordial. With its thick stem, heavy foot and small bowl, the cordial glass is a smaller version of a wine glass which holds around two to three ounces. In the 17th century it was used to serve small portions of strong ‘sipping’ drinks like fruit liquors and schnapps. Its name comes from the Latin cordialis; many of the drinks served in it contained steeped herbs, spices or other ingredients thought to be beneficial to the heart. Of course, back then many of these concoctions were also thought to be aphrodisiac. Today, this theory has evolved to a more apropos term: beer goggles.

The Shot. The shot glass is one of the best known glasses in any bar. Traditionally, it’s small, with a thick base and is designed to measure one ounce of liquor to be either drunk straight, or poured into a mixed drink. The thickness of the base is meant to absorb the shock of being slammed on a table or bar, something that often happens after its contents are downed.

There are a few different shot glass sizes, including:
→ The Pony shot -- 1.0 fluid ounces (30 mL)
→ The Single shot -- 1.5 fluid ounces (44 mL)
→ The Double shot -- 3.0 fluid ounces (89 mL)

The shot glass is sometimes referred to as a “jigger,” the term used to describe the quantity of liquid such a measure holds, as in "a jigger of whiskey." The glass holds the dubious honor of having become a favorite memorabilia and collectible item for tourists, and is often the Glass of Choice for drinking games like quarters.

The Shooter. A variation of the shot glass, the shooter is taller with slightly more capacity. Shooters are generally used to serve shot drinks that have a mixer added; for example, a Woo Woo or a Lemon Drop.

The Hurricane. The hurricane is a tall, elegantly cut glass named after its hurricane-lamp shape. It is frequently selected for exotic/tropical frozen and blended drinks such as Piña Coladas and Daiquiris. Typical capacity is 10-15 oz.
The Hurricane drink was invented during the World War II at Pat O'Brien’s bar in New Orleans. The bar is still open today in New Orleans' famous French Quarter and sells their original Hurricane cocktail mix.

Brandy/Snifter Glass. The brandy glass or snifter is a short-stemmed, with a wide bottom that narrows at the top. As the name suggests, it’s a popular for serving brand as its large surface area helps evaporate the brandy into aroma, while the narrow opening helps to trap the aroma of the drink at the top of the glass so it can be enjoyed. The glass is usually able to hold between eight and 14 ounces, but should only contain two to three ounces at a time. The short stem also allows your hands to warm the brandy while drinking, thus encouraging its aromas.

Margarita Glass. This is truly the best way to serve a margarita. The wide bowl of the glass (usually five inches in diameter) makes salting the rim as easy as uno-dos-tres. While typical glasses hold between 12 and 20 ounces, the Super Margarita Glass will hold up to 60 ounces for the ultimate Margarita experience.

Martini Glass. The martini glass is actually a generic cocktail glass. Its shallow inverted cone and long stem have historically held a wide range of “straight-up” (no ice) cocktails including martinis, Manhattans, metropolitans, and gimlets. The long stem prevents the drink from being warmed by the hand, something particularily desirable for Martinis, which, like revenge, are best served cold.

The cocktail glass has become better known as the martini glass due to the martini’s popularity. Passions wage however, in the grand debate over what should and should not be called a martini. Many martini purists argue that only gin & vermouth variations should be called martinis, and that everything else, including the Absolut-created vodka martini—and ESPECIALLY the modern popular cocktails such as appletinis, cosmos and lemon drops—should NEVER be branded as martinis.

Champagne glasses are often used to serve cocktails, but we’ll discuss them over in our wine glass section.