Shopping: The Complete Cocktail Glass Buyer’s Guide
There’s a reason so many different types of cocktail glasses exist. Martini glasses, rocks glasses, shot glasses—they all serve a specific purpose. Factors such as height, width, shape, and material will change your drinking experience, and they can enhance or detract a cocktail’s flavors, aromas, and textures. “The glassware your drink is served in will affect at least four of your five senses,” says Tim Sweeney, Bon Appétit contributor and head bartender at Pebble Bar in New York. “It’s going to affect your taste, it’s going to affect your smell, it’s going to affect touch, and, obviously, the visual aspect is important.”
In this dispatch of Cocktail Hour, Sweeney breaks down some of the most popular cocktail glasses around and discusses the details that make for better cosmopolitans, margaritas, daiquiris, and more. You’ll find that some of the glasses have stems so your hand won’t warm up the drink, some have narrow brims to preserve the drink’s carbonation, and some have bulbous bowls that help aerate and open up the drink. Below, we dive into all the details. This cocktail glass guide highlights all the drinkware home bar needs—like the coupe, the highball, the double rocks glass—as well as other glasses for most specific drinks.
Stemmed cocktail glasses
Martini Glass
The martini glass is one of the most recognizable types of cocktail glasses there is thanks to its iconic shape. “It was invented in the late 1800s, but it found its heyday during the Prohibition era, where it was the be-all, end-all glass,” says Sweeney. It has a long stem and distinct conical shape with a wide rim and tiny base. The stem prevents your hand from warming the drink, the wide rim allows you to take in the aromas, and the angled sides prevent the drink’s ingredients from separating. “The base goes down into a point, so there's less of a bottom for ingredients to sink to,” Sweeney explains. The glass is named after the drink it’s most commonly used for, but you can use it to serve other drinks, like a cosmopolitan, Manhattan, or lemon drop.
Coupe
According to Sweeney, the coupe—previously known as the Champagne saucer—is sort of like a more modern martini glass. While it was originally used for serving Champagne, it became more receptive to craft cocktails over time. Like the martini glass, this one has a long stem to help keep your drink cold, so its most basic function is the same. That said, there are many cocktails Sweeney would serve in a coupe that he wouldn’t serve in a martini glass, because he feels it’s less dainty and less likely to spill: “A daiquiri might be one, an Aviation would be one, and an egg white cocktail that is served up would look beautiful in a coupe glass,” he says. (Note: Served “up” refers to a cocktail that is shaken or stirred with ice, then strained into a stemmed glass without the ice.)
The rim isn’t as wide as a martini glass, but the bowl allows the cocktail to become more aromatic thanks to the surface area, which makes your cocktail taste better, Sweeney explains. Because the coupe’s rim isn’t as wide, it’s also much easier to garnish than a martini glass, which inevitably gives you more drink options. Sweeney says: “If you're talking about just three glasses that can make a bar function, this is one of those three for me.”
Nick and Nora
This glass was named by Dale DeGroff, father of the modern cocktail movement, after the fictional detectives Nick and Nora Charles from the 1930s film The Thin Man. Sweeney explains that this glass is best known for serving dark and boozy cocktails less than five ounces in volume. With a long stem and an egg-shaped bowl, it resembles a mini wine glass, and it’s a surefire way to elevate the appearance and elegance of your drink.
While you can drink a variety of cocktails that are served “up” in this glass, it’s superior for stronger, smaller drinks like Vespers and Sazeracs. “If you serve a drink that’s less than five ounces in a typical martini glass, it will look like you’re only getting part of a drink,” says Sweeney. For these cases, there’s the Nick and Nora glass. However, if you want to make a full martini and serve it in this glass, you definitely can: Keep the rest of the cocktail in a mini carafe that sits on ice on the side (as see here)—you’ll often see drinks served this way in bars.
Tumblers
Highball
The basic definition of a tumbler is a glass that’s flat to the surface you’re resting it on—which is ironic, because these glasses are among the least likely to tumble. The highball glass, also known as the collins glass, is the first tumbler on this list. “Technically, a collins is thinner and taller and would have a little bit more volume than a highball, but we use them interchangeably,” says Sweeney. If you ask for your drink in a tall glass at the bar, this is one you’ll receive.
Most notably, a highball glass is used for any cocktail that has a “mixer” added to it, like club soda, tonic, ginger ale, or ginger beer. This glass has a narrower brim than other glassware, which prevents the drink from losing carbonation. Additionally, most highballs are usually served on ice. Sweeney explains that the more ice you put in it, the slower it will dilute. The less ice, the quicker it’s gonna dilute, adding: “If you come to the bar and you ask for this with very little ice, you’re not going to get a stronger drink, just a more diluted one.”
Your hand will also cause the ice to melt at a quicker rate, since this glass doesn’t have a stem—but that's not a bad thing. This will allow the flavours to meld together and “open up” nicely, Sweeney explains. This isn’t his favourite tumbler, but he considers it a must-have: “If I were to run a bar and only had three cocktail glasses that I could use, this would be a necessity.”
Lowball
The next tumbler is the lowball, also known as the rocks glass or old-fashioned glass. It is wider than the highball and it’s the shortest of all the tumblers—and its shape serves a significant purpose. Drinks that are served in the lowball glass don’t typically include much carbonation, so you don’t have to worry about that aspect of the drink. “The wide brim is better for opening up the drink and making it more aromatic,” says Sweeney.
This glass doesn’t have as much volume as the highball glass or collins glass, because it’s often used for higher-proof drinks, and you don’t need as much volume for those. This is Sweeney’s favourite tumbler, and he loves that it can be used for serving neat spirits, as well as the booziest cocktails on ice. “I like the shape, because I can wrap my hand around it, and pretty much have full control; I can’t knock it over,” he says.
Double Rocks glass
If you’re wondering if a double rocks glass is all that different from a rocks glass, Sweeney promises it 100% is different. “Any cocktail that I’m shaking and not adding any kind of mixer to—I’m putting in this glass,” Sweeney says. “That’s because I don’t think there’s enough volume in the rocks glass for a lot of cocktails.” Some drinks you can serve in the double rocks glass include a big margarita, a penicillin, or a gimlet on the rocks. While it’s called a “double” rocks glass, it only holds two ounces more than a rocks glass, so the name is a bit of a misnomer. Still, Sweeney considers this one of the three glasses you need in your bar.
Specialty glasses
A copper Moscow mule mug
According to Sweeney, the story behind the “Moscow mule copper mug” is that three people were trying to shill their wares: one was Smirnoff vodka, one was ginger beer, and one was someone with the copper mugs. They came together and learned that Smirnoff, ginger beer, and this mug all worked in synergy, the Moscow mule was born, and the Russian vodka industry took off. “A Moscow mule basically is vodka with ginger beer, though I like to use ginger syrup and lime juice,” says Sweeney. “There are those who believe that the copper will mix with the acid of the lime and ginger, and enhance the drink’s flavor.” This mug is very beloved, and Sweeney says bargoers often specifically ask for this mug whenever ordering a Moscow mule.
The Tiki Mug
“No genre of cocktails has as much personality as Tiki cocktails,” says Sweeney. “They really are the baseball card, stamp collecting, action figure, and Pog collectibles of the cocktail world.” According to him, Tiki was originally inspired by the Polynesian Islands, and the idea led to a whole culture of mostly rum-based cocktails. Tiki is exciting because there aren’t a lot of rules: “Tiki drinkware can be whatever theme you want to be—it’s about the vibe, it’s about the music.”
And while Tiki cocktails taste amazing, many of them don’t look amazing. “They have a brown, murky color, so one benefit of a ceramic Tiki mug is that you’re not actually going to see the drink,” says Sweeney. “All you'll see is the personality they want the drink to have.” Tiki cocktails work great with pebble ice, and the ceramic mug will keep the drink insulated and cold (without freezing your hands on the outside of it).
Irish Coffee glasses
Irish coffee is made up of Irish whiskey, dark sugar, coffee, cream, and nutmeg—and it’s Sweeney’s favorite drink to wake up to. There are two types of Irish coffee glasses: the Georgian tulip, and the mug (commonly called a toddy glass). “Irish coffees are traditionally served with that layer of cream at the top, so it’s really beneficial that it’s glass so you can see that beautiful transition from the dark to the light colors,” says Sweeney. These glasses have a stem and/or handle, so you don’t burn your hand as you drink.
The Georgian tulip can also be used to serve wine, cordials, or brandy. And the mug can be used as a toddy glass. If Sweeney were to serve a perfectly layered Irish coffee at the bar, he’d use the Georgian tulip, but if he’s drinking one at home on a Saturday, he’d go with the mug.
Neat Pour glasses
The Snifter
Snifter glasses are known for serving neat spirits (spirits that are poured from the bottle and served without ice or other ingredients). These glasses range from six to eight ounces, and they’re most commonly used for dark spirits and digestifs, and the bigger ones can be used for high ABV beer, which is usually served in smaller volumes.
Serving something like whiskey in this glass allows the drink to warm up in your hand, which opens up the drink and releases the aromas. “If you’re drinking a very expensive spirit neat, you’re gonna wanna smell it,” Sweeney says. “You're going to want all of your senses to be enticed by it, and this glass is perfect for that.” He explains that the bulbous bowl aerates the drink and then it traps the aroma with the smaller rim at the top. According to him, the aesthetic is another benefit: “How much cooler does it feel to actually just be holding a glass like this?”
Shot glass
Sweeney calls the shot glass the give-it-to-me-fast glass: “It’s one and a half ounces of liquor sitting in front of you waiting to be taken back easily.” While every other glass on this list is meant to enrich your cocktail experience, this one doesn’t serve that purpose. When you drink from this glass, you’re not trying to admire the drink’s texture or taste all of its flavor notes. “It’s essentially a more classy version of picking up the bottle and pouring it into your mouth,” says Sweeney. “And it will give you the ugliest face after you drink from it.” It can also double as a measuring tool if you’re in a pinch.