Champagne doesn't belong in a Copper mug.

While you are drinking your draught beer from a red solo cup, please understand what you might be doing to harm the psyche of a tender. 

And that-is the subject of this post. 

You:
"I have all of the ingredients to make a fine martini, yet...all I have is a ceramic coffee mug with my 6 year olds little league picture on the side to drink from."

Me:
"I. Will. Cut. You."

While the stance may be that you believe drinking a cocktail from the correct receptacle is pretentious-trust me when I tell you-

Bartenders don't care what you think. 

We are the chefs of the cocktail world. We seriously do not care if you think we are being bougie purists-we ARE. 

And we're okay with it. 

Right is right. 

It might be pretentious, but it is also the right thing to do. 

Here's why:

Drinking a cocktail out of the glass it was designed for-is that way for a reason. The tenders who designed the aforementioned mother cocktails put them into a specific chalice because the recipe was designed to enhance the flavor profile from that specific receptacle. Trust me when I tell you that a proper Manhattan will not taste the same if you drink it from a highball, or a wine glass. The specifics are vague-but it has a great deal to do with the volume of the glass, the correct percentages of the pour in relation to the size and shape of that specific glass. It's not a fallacy, nor is it made-up, shenanigans.

A second reason is appearance. Not how you appear drinking it from the correct glass, but the appearance of the cocktail in and of itself.  
A chef takes a great deal of time in his craft learning how to plate an entree' and learning how appearance is, really, 60% of the overall experience of dining. They go as far as to use tweezers for the placement of a microgreen garnish on a bukkake style plate. It's literally food art. 
The very same can be said for a bartender with attention to detail being the star of the show. We take pride in that drink as it goes out, looking-so purdy. We took time to make it that way, the same as a beautifully plated entree'.
Additionally-if the cocktail looks good, it tastes better-most of the time. (Exceptions are prevalent, we're aware. Dirty stemware, not well rinsed stemware with detergent residue or film, a broken cocktail, or just a bad concentration-or maker error. These things happen occasionally.)
But for the most part, if you are a martini or manhattan drinker, the overall experience is made a great deal more pleasurable by the aesthetic of the entire thing, and not just the booze itself. 

It's a real thing, trust me. You legitimately taste with your eyes. Science has experimented with this very hypothesis and found that it's true. It could be construed as a trick of the mind, and it most assuredly is-just that. The taste buds on your tongue detect flavors and help you identify the foods and drinks you consume. Other senses, however, also play a role in how you experience it. You probably know the aroma of certain drinks can have a strong effect on how they taste, but the appearance of drinks also changes how you experience it. Because you'd usually look at a cocktail before drinking it- the very first information your brain gets about any particular drink often comes from the eyes. 

The mind is a wonderful thing to taste... 😜 (Sorry, a bit of bartender dark humor for you. It's all part and parcel. )

Basically...it's important to drink it all in-the taste, the feeling, and the appearance-or you are selling yourself short. 

It's paramount- if you actually appreciate the spirit-of the spirit. 

So, let's talk about stemware and glassware for each cocktail-which we did touch on in my last post-but, today, we'll do a little detailing. Your appreciation level will thank you. 

Wine Stemware:

Wine has a great deal of shapes and sizes. The usual suspects are the white wine glass, the red wine glass, the champagne flute, the dessert wine/port/flight taster, and the multi-purpose wine goblet. 
Now, I could go into a 5 page explanation of each glass with each wine-but, we're covering the basics here, with a little detail, as needed.
Typically-most wine types have their own glass. The argument is the same I made above about the flavor profiles in a martini. Some believe they just taste better from a particularly-shaped glass. While this might be true, we truly don't have time for all of it. Maybe a future post will cover this topic singularly, who knows? For now, if you want to know more-I'd invite you to look it up. There is a world of wine info on these here interwebs. Wine has become a trendy drink, so you'll find no shortage of valuable data about the why's of it all.
For now, however-we'll just talk about the standards. 

Wine glasses have four basic components:

A. The base-aka the foot-The base of a wine glass lends to balance. 

B. The bowl-The size and shape of the bowl affects how aromas are released and collected. The greater the surface area that's exposed to air, the more undesirable compounds, such as ethanol and sulfites, evaporate, letting the good scents and flavors shine. 

C. The stem-The slender piece of glass that acts as a bridge between the bowl and the base. Holding a wine glass from the stem helps ensure your wine will taste how it's supposed to for a couple of reasons. First, it keeps your body heat away from the bowl, meaning you'll be able to drink the wine at its optimal temperature. Second, it puts distance between your hand and your nose as you sip, because scents heavily influence taste. 

D. The rim- The size and shape of the rim directs the wine to the ideal area of the palate. Narrow rims allow wine to flow to a specific part of the tongue to highlight or reduce specific notes. For instance, a small opening can enhance sweet flavors while balancing out acidity. For wines with more complexity and less acidity or fewer tannins, a broad opening is often used to spread the wine across your palate. Regardless of shape, the thinnest rims allow for the best tasting experience since the wine transitions seamlessly from the glass to your palate.

Basic red wine glasses come in three styles:

1. The cabernet style-large bowl and tall stem. 

2. The Burgundy style-large fishbowl and a smaller rim with a tall stem. 

3. The dessert wine/port glass-nothing more than a mini version of a Cabernet style glass. Meant for small sips-as a port or muscat has a larger ABV than that of a regular wine. These are also used for wine flights and wine tastings. 

Basic white wine glasses come in three styles:  

1. A basic white wine glass-taller stem, narrow bowl and narrow rim-meant to keep out the air which can compromise the lighter flavors in whites. 

2. The Rose' glass-taller stem, wide hips on the bowl, narrow rim. 

3. The champagne/sparking wine flute-narrow bowl and smaller mouth. The shape preserves the bubbles by limiting oxidation, while also keeping the sparkling wine cool.

Basically, if you want to be a seasoned wine drinker and drink wine at its optimal taste/temp-these are the correct glasses to drink from and look good doing it. But-for the love of God-please don't sniff the cork. (this is a fallacy) 

Cocktail Stemware:

1. The martini glass-The martini glass is called a martini glass for a reason. Because it was designed for this cocktail, specifically. Now, there is a rumor that you can drink a martini on the rocks out of a rocks glass-and that may be true. However, a martini was never designed to be a large gulp of booze. It's a sipping drink so there is never a reason to make it in a rocks glass if you ask me. Even IF you prefer it on the rocks, you could definitely drink it on the rocks from a triangle shaped piece of stemware also. 

Martini glasses enhance the flavor of the cocktail-especially if made more dry. You can control the amount of vermouth you use with a quick wash, or spritz. The vermouth sits on the slope of the glass perfectly-giving it the concentration it requires. 

Martini glasses have their conical shape, if you were wondering, initially so the traditional three olive garnish can stand up on the side of the glass on the swizzle-and not underwhelmingly sink to the bottom. The same can be said for the manhattan. These are also served in martini glasses, for the exact same reason-only for the sweet vermouth rather than the dry stuff. And the trademark three cherry swizzle on the side. It just looks-pretty-and again-makes it taste better. 

2. The Hurricane glass-Yes, the standard tall and short hurricane style glass. Used for tropical/frozen/blended/Dessert/multi-liquor drinks. The have a curved/Botticelliesque shape meant to show some layering or stacking. 

These are also bigger volume-as most of these drinks have lots of ice/ice cream/and whipped cream- so you'll need room for the hooch. 

3. The Margarita glass-The typical margarita glass has a hefty stem, and a wide sipping base. The rim is large-meant for a frosty carry-all. 

4. The snifter or cigar sipper-Called this specifically because sipping sweet after dinner shots go well with a fine, fat, Cohiba.
These can also be used for port wine if the place doesn't happen to have the minis.
You'll typically see these being swirled with brandy inside, or a sweet after dinner liqueur. The stem is very short, with a very wide and fat set of hips on the bowl, and a very narrow rim.

5. The coupe-These classy little ladies are a smaller champagne glass. Before flutes were all the rage, champagne was sipped from a coupe style glass. Nowadays, champagne is still involved-but the coupes are more about the champagne cocktails like a Kir Royale-for example. These glasses have a short stem, and a wide base made for small sips. The bowl is very short and chalice-like. These are dainty, and elegant. In certain bars, I have seen these used for manhattans-which looked nice, but, I'm nit sure the limited volume makes it the entirely correct glass for a manhattan or old fashioned, to be honest. It does look nice, but certainly doesn't add to the value.  

Cocktail glasses (non-stemmed): 

1. Lowball-these are a heavy based rocks-style glass. These little bludgers are short flat-bottomed, wide rim, cylinder shaped glasses. These glasses are sometimes called an "old fashioned" glass by more seasoned pros, but were found to work for many other cocktails and given a more universal name.
These are designed for sipping, or for a short cocktail with plenty of room for ice. These have a thicker build of glass or crystal to hold up to garnish as well. A full wheel of citrus, cinnamon, swizzle and cherries specifically. The large open mouth design lends to a neat shot of good booze, also. 

4. The Highball glass-AKA the Collins glass or chimney glass. These hold tall drinks, collins drinks, and sours. Long, tall cylindrical and sometimes frosted glass. They look beautiful with a perky garnish, and hold a tall drinking straw. 

5. The copper mug-Just as it implies, a copper mug. Short, squat, usually hand-pounded copper mug-with a smaller handle and a more narrow rim than the bowl. These are used predominately for Moscow Mules, Mint Juleps, and Sometimes-The Greyhound (a Vodka and grapefruit) The copper enhances the citrus flavor in these beverages-supposedly...(this one, this tender is not too sure about.)
However, they DO look pretty nice with a quaint little garnish on the rim, and they do keep the beverage very cold.
This tends to be the selling point for me. 

Beer glasses: 

Beer glasses are pretty basic, but have evolved over time. There are many to choose from since the rage of craft style-small batch breweries started popping up everywhere. 
Traditionalists like myself prefer a the old standards, which are-

1. The pint glass. This slightly conical shaped glass has a smaller base than the body, but balances well and holds a good solid glass of beer. The standard beer glass. 

2. Pilsner. A curvy shaped glass with a narrow but thicker-glass base and a wide rim. These can be VERY large to VERY small. Weizen glasses are the large variety of these, and can hold two full standard bottles of beer. 

3. Goblet/Schooner-A thick stemmed large chalice or grail style cup. 

4. Stein-A large, hefty, heavy basic beer mug-style glass with a lot of volume and a thick handle. Can be ceramic, or glass. 

5. Beer Mug-A mug. For beer. Pretty self-explanatory, and additionally-as basic a cocktail glass as they come. 

These are the basic cocktail glasses-there are so many more to show, but very little that aren't just a variation of what you see here-as to shape. The sizes and volumes won't change much. 

But, now that you know the basics, you can pay close attention when you order-to what your tender is using and even request the correct glass if they are being creative-AKA WRONG, and serving you a Tom Collins in a beer mug.

(Told you, I'd cut a bitch.)

 
Trust me, it's done-often when the tender is being a slacker-or if the bar you patronize just doesn't have the correct glasses. This is considered a "cost effective" shortcut on the part of ownership, typically. The odd thing about that is, most of these basics are the least expensive glassware you can find for your bar.
Honestly, there's no legit excuse for this- especially when it's very easy to find used wholesale out there in the world.
***And most savvy restauranteurs would know this-so, I call bullshit. 

My suggestion-pay attention and ask. Don't be shy. It's your cocktail. The one that you plan to pay for and most importantly, enjoy.
So, do yourself a favor and get the correct glass for the correct drink. It really DOES matter.

And if you happen to be an actual fledgling bartender-mix your drinks properly in the glass intended.
You now have no excuse. Consider yourself-edumacated. 

Enjoy your Tom Collins-in a HIGHBALL glass. 

Go forth, shake until cold, and conquer. 

Much love with a twist of lime. 

XOXO, 

T