The BetterButter Guide to Basic Cocktail Glasses for the Summer

By Ayushi Prakash

Making a cocktail is pretty much an art nowadays. But it’s serving it up in fashionable glasses that seems to be the trend. Yet, there’s a method to the madness (and no they are not all in mason jars). Getting hold of the right cocktail glass not only showcases a talent but also helps make a better impressions.

What do you use when you serve a Long Island Iced Tea versus a Margarita? This piece will guide you through the most commonly used cocktail glasses.

A cocktail glass comes with a long stem attached to an upside conical bowl. It is basically used to serve cocktails in a bar, restaurants or family gatherings. The stem like base of the glass assists you to hold the glass without disturbing the temperature of the cocktail as they are predominantly served chilled and the wide bowl of the glass retains the balmy element of the drink.
Serve: Manhattan, Appletini, Margarita, Black Russian

The martini glasses were referred to as cocktail glasses in the beginning,  but with the passage of time and new innovations, there emerged various new shapes and sizes to entice the cocktail lovers. The chic range of glasses can confuse the biggest of the boozers. A standard drink contains 13 centilitres but there are certain oversize and puny glasses as well.
Serve: Cosmopolitan, Gimlet, French 75, Aviation

Stemmed or up glasses are the most iconic of them all which are used to serve shaken or stirred chilled drink without ice.  The drink in such glasses is prepared and decorated for cocktails such as a fruity drink such as a daiquiri. The only drawback is that it can easily spill over and that is where its lesser used variant comes in: the coupe glass.
Serve: Daiquiri, Singapore Sling, Pina Colada

Old fashioned or the rock glasses are famous for serving the traditional cocktail which was prepared in the glass itself and no shaker or mixer was utilized to build the cocktail. It means you are serving and docking the cocktail in the same glass directly mixing ice with whisky, vodka with other required bells and whistles like syrups, bitter and still water. These glasses come in two sizes with a capacity of 6 to 8 ounces and 12 to 14 ounces.
Serve: Mint Julep, Negroni, Whisky Sour, Greyhound

The highball glasses or chimney glasses have various shapes and capacity while confining to the same basic structure. They are easily available and used to sip cocktails with lots of ice and drinking with the help of a straw. The glass is used to present nerve chilling cocktails like gimlet, gin fizz and gin tonic. Your talent as a bartender along with your amorous collection of glasses is a big plus in impressing the ladies and scoring a point over your friends.
Serve: Screwdriver, Long Island Iced Tea, Tom Collins.

For more drink recipes, click here.

Team BetterButter