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The Top Things to Know about Glassware
Before humans had glassware, they drank from whatever they could get their hands on: pottery, wood, leather, metal, coconut shells, gourds, and animal horns.
Basically, the first rule of drinking was:
Does it leak? No? Pour.
Natural glass, such as volcanic obsidian, was known in ancient times, while manufactured glass developed in Mesopotamia and Egypt thousands of years ago. One of the great breakthroughs came around the first century BCE, when glassblowing emerged in the eastern Mediterranean. A glob of molten glass could be attached to a hollow tube, blown, shaped, and transformed into a drinking vessel.
By the Renaissance, European glassmaking had become increasingly sophisticated, and by the 1600s and 1700s, beautiful drinking glasses were appearing on more tables and behind more bars.
In the early 1800s, a barkeep might have worked with only a handful of basic drinking vessels. By the end of the century, first-rate bars could stock twenty or more different styles, with specialized glasses for individual drinks. Apparently, bartenders eventually decided that every cocktail needed its own apartment.
Basic Cocktail Glassware
The glass is usually the first thing a bartender reaches for when making a drink, and choosing the right one matters. Glassware affects portion size, temperature, aroma, presentation, and—perhaps most importantly behind a busy bar—whether the drink looks like you know what you're doing.
Commercial bar glassware is generally thicker and sturdier than residential glassware because it must survive constant handling, stacking, clinking, washing, and the occasional bartender having one of those shifts.
At home, you can get away with delicate vintage glassware. Behind a commercial bar, durability wins.
Of course, you can serve a Mai Tai in a recycled pickle jar.
But we have evolved.
Sturdy Glassware
Highball
Traditionally, a Highball glass is relatively narrow and straight-sided and is used for simple spirit-and-mixer drinks. Vintage films from the 1930s through the 1950s are great places to see classic smaller Highball glasses in action.
Modern bars often use larger multipurpose glasses instead.
Rocks
Usually around 5–8 ounces, the Rocks glass is a small, sturdy tumbler used for spirits and short cocktails served over ice.
A smaller Rocks glass is also handy for shooters, which contain mixers and therefore need more room than a straight shot.
A shot gets swallowed. A shooter gets a recipe.
Old-Fashioned
A short, stocky glass generally holding around 8–12 ounces. It's designed for drinks served over ice, including its namesake, the Old-Fashioned. It's also commonly called a lowball glass.
Double Old-Fashioned
Usually around 10–14 ounces, the Double Old-Fashioned is essentially the roomier cousin of the Old-Fashioned glass. It's also sometimes called a bucket.
Great for people who want more room for ice without carrying around a tall glass they can knock over with their elbow.
Collins
A tall, narrow, straight-sided glass generally holding around 10–14 ounces. Traditionally associated with the Tom Collins and other tall mixed drinks.
It's sometimes called a chimney glass, for reasons that become obvious when you look at one.
Shot
A small glass generally holding around 1–2 ounces, depending on the style and establishment.
Its purpose requires very little explanation.
Pour. Toast. Question your decisions tomorrow.
Stemmed & Specialty Glassware
Absinthe
Traditional absinthe glasses may feature a reservoir near the bottom that helps measure the absinthe before water is added. The famous Pontarlier-style glass is a classic example.
For home use, however, almost any beautiful little stemmed glass can do the job.
Absinthe already comes with spoons, fountains, sugar cubes, and rituals.
The glass might as well dress for the occasion.
Beer Glasses
Beer wins the award for “Why Do We Need This Many Glasses?”
There's the pint, mug, stein, pilsner, Weizen, boot, yard, tulip, goblet, tankard, snifter, IPA glass, stout glass, and more.
Most everyday bars simplify matters with a few multipurpose styles.
Brandy Snifter
Snifters come in numerous sizes and feature a wide bowl that narrows toward the top. They're traditionally associated with brandy and Cognac, but can also be used for other aromatic spirits.
And despite what old movies may suggest, you are not required to sit beside a fireplace smoking a cigar plotting a hostile takeover while holding one.
Champagne Flute
A tall, narrow glass commonly used for Champagne and sparkling wine. The narrow shape helps showcase the bubbles and slows their escape.
Champagne Coupe / Saucer
A shallow, broad-bowled stemmed glass that became one of the great symbols of vintage cocktail glamour.
It's beautiful.
It's elegant.
And if you walk too quickly with one, half your Champagne gets there before you do.
Champagne Trumpet
A variation of the flute with a taller, more dramatically flared shape.
Champagne Tulip
A curved sparkling-wine glass with a bowl that widens before narrowing toward the rim, helping retain aromas while still showcasing the bubbles.
Cocktail Coupe
Generally around 5–12 ounces, although vintage examples tend to be considerably smaller. The coupe has become a favorite of modern craft bars because it's elegant, practical, and useful for countless cocktails served without ice.
Conical Cocktail / Martini Glass
The famous V-shaped cocktail glass is commonly called a Martini glass, although the Martini is simply one cocktail served in it.
Sizes range enormously. Smaller glasses work beautifully for spirit-forward cocktails, while oversized versions became especially popular during the flavored-Martini era.
Some 1990s Martini glasses could have doubled as satellite dishes.
Cordial
A tiny stemmed glass traditionally used for cordials and liqueurs, generally holding around 1–2 ounces. Small cordial glasses are sometimes called pony glasses.
Hurricane
A curvy, hurricane-lamp-shaped glass usually holding around 12–22 ounces, famous for tropical cocktails—especially its namesake, the Hurricane.
Irish Coffee
Traditional Irish Coffee glasses are relatively small, heat-resistant glasses, often stemmed or handled.
The legendary Buena Vista Café in San Francisco famously serves Irish Coffees in small stemmed glasses and produces them in astonishing quantities. I went there! Click here to view the YouTube video.
Julep Cup
A metal tumbler traditionally made from silver, pewter, or stainless steel and famously associated with the Mint Julep. Packed with crushed ice, the metal becomes beautifully frosted on the outside.
It's one of the few times condensation is considered part of the decorating.
Margarita
The familiar Margarita glass has a distinctive stepped, sombrero-like bowl and commonly ranges from around 12–16 ounces.
You'll also find cactus stems, hand-blown Mexican glass, and countless variations. Many bars skip the specialty glass altogether and use Rocks, Double Old-Fashioned, or other multipurpose glasses.
Because sometimes the Margarita just wants to be taken seriously.
Mule Mug
The Moscow Mule is traditionally served in its instantly recognizable copper mug. Modern versions may be lined with stainless steel or another food-safe material.
The copper mug became so closely associated with the drink that ordering a Moscow Mule in an ordinary glass somehow feels like getting a Christmas present in a grocery bag.
Nick & Nora
Named after cocktail-loving married detectives Nick and Nora Charles of The Thin Man, the Nick & Nora is a small stemmed cocktail glass, usually around 5–6 ounces, with a gently rounded bowl. It sits somewhere between the broad Coupe and V-shaped Martini glass and was enthusiastically revived during the modern cocktail renaissance.
Elegant, practical, and much harder to slosh onto your shoes than a Martini glass.
Poco Grande
A short, curvaceous tropical glass resembling a smaller Hurricane glass. Some bars use it as an all-purpose vessel for tropical cocktails and Margaritas.
Punch Cup
Traditionally around 4–8 ounces and designed for serving punch in smaller portions.
There's a good historical reason punch cups aren't 20 ounces.
Punch has been ruining people's ability to estimate its strength for centuries.
Sherry
A small stemmed glass, commonly around 4–5 ounces, used for Sherry, Port, and other fortified wines. The actual serving is smaller than the capacity of the glass.
Wine
Wine glasses range dramatically in size and shape. Many everyday restaurants use one multipurpose glass, while wine-focused establishments may have separate glasses for reds, whites, sparkling wines, and even individual grape varieties.
No matter how enormous the bowl becomes, it is not a challenge to see how close you can fill it to the top because it's still a 6-ounce pour.
Vintage & Mismatched Glassware
The craft-cocktail renaissance brought back something wonderful: mismatched vintage glassware. Many bartenders and bar owners began scouring thrift stores, antique shops, flea markets, and estate sales for forgotten coupes, cordials, Collins glasses, punch cups, and other treasures. The result is inexpensive, distinctive glassware that gives each cocktail personality.
And just like that...the barback breaks one.
Novelty Glassware
Bowls
Punch bowls, Scorpion bowls, tiki volcano bowls, and other communal vessels can be made from glass, ceramic, or other food-safe materials.
Some are designed for two people.
Some are designed for six.
And some are ordered by two people who believe they are six.
Coconut
A hollowed coconut makes wonderful tropical vessels. If you're using a real coconut, check YouTube videos to help you decide the best approach. Many will require a band saw.
Pineapple
Cut off the top, hollow out the fruit, and you've got an instant tropical vessel. A pineapple corer makes the job considerably easier.
Bonus: you now have pineapple for the drink.
Tiki
Tiki mugs come in an enormous variety of shapes, characters, materials, and sizes—from relatively restrained ceramic mugs to elaborate vessels holding enough liquid to require their own weather system.
And that brings us to the final category:
Anything Else You Can Think Of
Cocktails have been served in boots, pineapples, coconuts, ceramic skulls, treasure chests, miniature bathtubs, lightbulbs, laboratory beakers, fishbowls, and countless other vessels.
As long as it's food-safe, practical, and appropriate for the drink, glassware is limited only by your imagination.
Because after several thousand years of drinking-vessel evolution, we've apparently arrived right back at:
“Will it hold liquid? Great. Pour.”
Fun Glassware Facts
In 1884, the G. Winter Brewing Company of New York published a bartender's guide listing more than twenty-five types of glassware that a first-rate saloon should stock. Apparently, “Just put it in a pint glass” wasn't going to cut it at the fancy places.
The famous story that the Champagne coupe was modeled after Marie Antoinette's bosom is a myth. Coupe-style glasses existed long before Marie Antoinette was born in 1755, and there's no evidence that her anatomy had anything to do with their design.
Great story. Terrible timeline.
However, some modern Champagne glasses really HAVE been modeled after famous breasts. Claudia Schiffer participated in a breast-inspired Dom Pérignon vessel designed by Karl Lagerfeld, and Kate Moss later had a coupe created from a mold of her breast.
So the legend was false...and then somebody apparently said, “We can fix that.”
The V-shaped Martini glass is much older than the 1990s. The angular glass debuted at the 1925 Paris International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts, reflecting the geometric Art Deco style. Early versions were even used for Champagne.
But the giant Martini glass really did become a star during the flavored-Martini craze of the late 1990s-early 2000s. Cosmos, Appletinis, Chocolate Martinis, Birthday Cake Martini, and every imaginable Flavor-tini needed more room for mixers and elaborate garnishes, so oversized glasses became common. Eventually you needed two hands and a spotter to get one back to the table.
There's actually a practical reason stemmed cocktail glasses have stems. Holding the stem keeps your warm hand away from the bowl, helping a cocktail served without ice stay colder longer.
The stem isn't just there to make you look sophisticated while telling a story with your other hand.
The Nick & Nora glass gets its name from fictional married detectives Nick and Nora Charles, the cocktail-loving couple made famous by the 1934 movie The Thin Man. They solved murders while drinking Martinis.
Nothing pairs with homicide quite like gin and vermouth.
The pint glass may be the workhorse of the American bar. It can hold beer, water, lemonade, soda, Bloody Marys and tall cocktails, and it's commonly paired with a metal shaker tin as part of a Boston shaker.
One glass, eight jobs.
Basically the barback of glassware. Plus, it's stackable!
Cocktail glasses used to be much smaller. Vintage cocktail and Nick & Nora glasses commonly hold only around 4–6 ounces, a fraction of some enormous Martini glasses that became fashionable later.
Our grandparents didn't necessarily drink less.
They just went back for another one.
The shape of a glass can affect your drinking experience. A wide opening exposes more of a drink to your nose, while a narrower opening can concentrate aromas. Thickness, size, temperature, and whether you hold the bowl or stem can also affect how you experience the drink.
Which means all those oddly shaped glasses aren't entirely bartenders showing off.
Only partially.
Bartenders commonly abbreviate a Double Old-Fashioned glass as “DOF.” It's simply a larger Old-Fashioned glass and is especially useful for drinks that require lots of ice, including some tiki cocktails.
Bartenders love abbreviations.
Mostly because we're busy.
Tiki mugs became collectible objects in their own right. Many were created specifically for individual bars, restaurants, drinks, or characters, and vintage examples are now collected as pieces of mid-century drinking culture.
Some people steal them from bars.
Those people are known professionally as customers we remember.
There are actually two categories:
Customers we remember fondly.
And customers whose face we could pick out of a police lineup.
The world's largest cocktail wasn't served in a glass—it was made in a gigantic cocktail shaker. In Sacramento in 2012, Nick Nicora created a record-setting 10,499-gallon Margarita.
Salt the rim on that.
In 2021, Dubai took Champagne towers to an entirely different level. Atlantis, The Palm, Moët & Chandon, and Luuk Broos Events constructed a pyramid from 54,740 drinking glasses. It stood more than 26 feet tall and took 55 hours over five days to build.
The previous record was 50,116 glasses.
Because apparently 50,116 just wasn't festive enough.
After thousands of years of developing specialized glassware for wine, beer, Champagne, spirits, and cocktails, modern craft bartenders started buying mismatched glasses at thrift stores again.
Thousands of years of glassmaking innovation...
and we're back at Goodwill looking for Grandma's coupes.