Liqueur enthusiasts that want to feel a tad posh this evening might want to try drinking from a brandy snifter. This glass, shaped like a balloon with a large bottom tapering to a narrow top, has long been regarded as a symbol for luxury and indulgence. The brandy snifter made many appearances in old movies, where they were often held by rich guests at cocktail parties or well-heeled gentlemen in drawing rooms.

In fact, the brandy snifter is a piece of glassware that was crafted for perfect functionality. Its short, thin stem and wide bottom are comfortably held. A hand cupping the bottom of the glass warms the liqueur to optimum temperature, while the small opening holds the heady aroma. In addition to warming the brandy by hand, brandy in a snifter can be placed on a warmer. The glass sits at an angle in a specially crafted metal stand. A tea-light candle is placed below, and the flame is lit to release the fragrance and taste. Some brandy aficionados assert that brandy should be warmed only by hand, but a brandy warmer is certainly an option.

The brandy snifter was probably first made in the 16th century when glassware became more popular and available to a wider populace. Though normal sizes range from 6- to 18-ounce sizes, with even smaller and larger sizes available, only 2 to 3 ounces of liqueur are recommended. To properly enjoy brandy, raise the snifter to your nose for a few shallow breaths, then sip a small amount and hold on the tongue. The smell and taste of brandy encompass spices such as vanilla, cloves, and ginger, fruits of apricot, cherry, peach, or orange, and woods of cedar, oak, or pine. Brandy is traditionally enjoyed after a meal and accompanied by no foods, with the possible exception of nuts.

Brandy and cognac are the most common drinks used with a brandy snifter, but snifters are also recommended for other liqueurs and mixtures. An Amaretto or Brandy Alexander, Hot Toddy, Paris Burning, a Zombie, and a Full Moon all suggest the use of a brandy snifter. The Backdraft is a fun cocktail that makes perfect use of the snifter’s design to trap aroma in the glass. For this drink, an ounce of Drambuie and an ounce of Grand Marnier are mixed in the snifter, set aflame, and extinguished by covering the glass with a hand. The drink should be quickly downed and glass recovered with hand. After five seconds, the snifter is brought to the nose to inhale deeply. Enjoy!

The distinctive shape and style of the Weizenbier make it easy to distinguish from other types of glassware. Also known as a wheat beer glass, the design allows a full head to form at the top of the glass and the color of the beer to be shown. A wide rim and tapered bottom characterize this glass used to serve varieties of beer with a wheat base. Typically used in Germany for serving wheat beer, the same style of glassware is also carried over into other parts of the world.

History of the Weizenbier

Making wheat beer dates back as far as the 11th century and gained popularity throughout Europe during the 12th century. In the early days, metal or pottery steins were used to serve the beverage that was poured from jugs. Wheat beer lost appeal for many years because of its tendency to appear cloudy in the glass. In the last fifty years, the beverage regained popularity and now is synonymous with Bavarian culture. A true wheat beer must contain at least 60% wheat which is processed in a similar way as malted barley.

What sets the Weizenbier Apart

The main reason a specific glass is used for wheat beer is to ensure a full head at the top of the glass. The hourglass shape and thick rim of the weizenbier allows the beverage to aerate after being poured from a bottle and exposes the aroma of the brew. Typically the glass holds .5 liters although in some countries such as Belgium (also known for quality wheat beer) they may be .25 or .3 liters. The slender shape of the bottom of the glass allows the drinker to gently grip the base and not disturb the foam and also helps keep the beer from being warmed when holding onto the glass.

Traditional Drinks in a Wheat Beer Glass

The name wheat beer glass describes the traditional drink served in this style of glassware. Beer that is processed from a wheat derivative is the standard drink to be poured into this type of glass. Although many beer glasses are often used for pilsner or ale, a bartender with access to the proper glassware will always pour a wheat beer into a weizenbier glass. The best way to pour a wheat beer and maintain the desirable thick head is to invert the glass over the bottle and carefully allow the beer to flow. Another method involves tipping the glass and bottle together and slowly pouring making sure that a thick head forms at the top.

A beer pilsner is glass that is used mainly to serve pilsner beer but there are times it can be used to serve other light beers. They are generally smaller than other beer glasses such as the pint glass and are narrow at the bottom and balloon out a bit at top. A beer pilsner normally holds about 8.4 ounces of light beer, perfect for a night out with friends or having a beer with your lunch. This is also the style that are served at several sporting events, meant to serve a delicious beer without having too much of an alcoholic impact.

There are several different styles of beer pilsners available to choose from.
Typically at restaurants and bars you will find them plain, and made of a heavy glass. You can also find these styles available for purchase at home. There are special beer pilsners made to complement your dinnerware by using different colors at the top of the glass such as blue or red.
Some people choose to collect beer pilsners and there are many types with special designs on them. You will find there are a variety of beer pilsners with your favorite beer logos. There are people who choose to collect beer pilsners, and in this case, you can get them a special one that is engraved or personalized with their name, their favorite saying or an image of a hobby they may have such as sail boating. Other personalization includes titles such as “#1 Dad”, “Coach” or “World’s Best Mom”. Other trendy choices include having a favorite sporting team put on the beer pilsner. You will be able to find these beer pilsners for sale at specialty stores that do personalization and engravings. Prices vary on the type of glass that is chosen, how many letters are used and what the store charges.

While a beer pilsner is good to drink any cold drink out of, it is typically used for what it is named after pilsner or “pils”. You can also use them for drinking light beers. Light beers do not contain as much alcohol as dark beers and are known for their sometimes floral taste. People usually drink light beers at social occasions, nights out on the town with friends, as a social drink at lunch time, or at home while watching some TV.

Steins are mugs or drinking vessels commonly used for drinking beer. Having originated in Germany in the 14th century, they consist of a handle and a hinged lid for the purpose of covering the vessel when it’s not in use. They are made from various materials, including pewter, silver, copper, glass, crystal, porcelain and earthenware. Other materials previously used to make steins include ivory, wood and coconut shells. Steins are also available in a number of different brands, styles, types and sizes. They range in cost from a few dollars to many thousands, depending on the age of the stein, the brand, the rarity, and the material in which it is constructed.

Steins came about as a result of German laws requiring that drinking vessels and food containers be covered to keep flying insects from invading the vessel. These insects, as well as fleas, were responsible for spreading the deadly bacterial infection, known as the bubonic plague, which killed millions and millions of Europeans during the 14th century. Also known as the “Black Death,” the bubonic plague was one of the worst pandemics ever recorded in history.

The production of steins continued throughout the centuries, transitioning from mere drinking vessels to some of the most sought after pieces of art work collected today. One of the most collectible and expensive steins include the Renaissance stein. The Renaissance stein came into existence during the Renaissance era in which famous artists, such as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, began creating extravagant paintings and pieces of art. Other types of collectible steins include American Belleek steins, Apostle steins, Matthias Girmscheid steins, Hunt steins, Mettlach steins, Royal Vienna steins, Meissen steins, Capo-di-monte steins as well as others. There are a number of manufacturers that still produce steins today. Such manufacturers include Thewalt, Zoller and Born, Merkelbach, SKS Pewter, Gerz, King-Werk and Von Poschinger.

Whether you are looking for a stein to drink your favorite beer from, one to use as a decorative piece to display in your home, or a collectible stein that you wish to invest in, the possibilities seem endless. With so many different brands, types, styles, sizes, colors and shapes of steins available today, you are sure to find that perfect piece that you will enjoy for many years to come.

Shot glasses first became widely used around one to two hundred years ago. The term “shot glass” first appeared in the English Oxford Dictionary in the 1940s. Shot glasses aren’t always made of glass, despite their name. Some are made of metal, plastic, or ceramic. However, a thick glass, especially at the base, is the most common material for a shot glass. This is due in part to the widespread practice of slamming the shot glass down on the table after drinking its contents. Thick glass is necessary to withstand such repeated slamming without breaking.

Shot glasses may appear to come in many different sizes,judging by their outward appearance.Some even have square or other decorative shapes. However, the inside portion of the shot glass that actually holds the liquid is designed so that each glass only holds one to two ounces of liquid. There is no industry standard for the exact measurement of a shot, but most fall within this range. Generally, Americans consider a shot to be one and a half ounces, unless it is described as a “short” or “pony” shot. Pony shots usually hold only one ounce of liquid. Another less common measurement is a “double” shot, which is actually only two ounces in volume, not three as its name would imply.

Shot glasses are typically used for drinking small quantities of straight liquor, like vodka, whiskey, or tequila. They may also be used as measuring glasses to make a number of mixed drinks that are often called “shooters”. Shooters often have interesting names like “Alabama Slammer”, “Grasshopper”, and “Polar Bear”.

Shot glasses have even gained popularity among nondrinkers as collectibles. Many vacation destinations sell various types of shot glasses with the name of the city or attraction on the glass. Major events such as the Olympics and the Kentucky Derby often also include commemorative shot glasses in their merchandise offerings.

The simple shot glass has become so commonplace that it’s sure to still be in use for many decades to come. Whether it is prized for its function or appearance, a shot glass is something you’ll find in many homes in America.

Pint glasses are primarily used to serve beer and come in two common sizes: 16 fluid ounces (an American pint) or 20 ounces (a British pint). The larger 20 ounce size is also convenient for serving beers that produce a large head of foam. The primary use of pint glasses is for serving beer, especially tap beers. The majority of beer styles can be appropriately served in a pint glass, although a special lager style glass is better suited for lager beers.

The most common design is conical, so the glasses can be stacked with about an inch of the rim sticking up from the glass below it to prevent sticking. Pint glasses occasionally have a line at the top to show where the actual liquid line should be, rather than just the foam measurement, although this is not common.

Conical pint glasses are the most common glass for beer in the U.K., and they are very common throughout the United States. A more traditional, but less common, shape is the handled pint mug, also called a jug or a dimple mug.

Pint glasses are traditionally made of glass, although they are available in plastic designs. Plastic designs have recently gained in popularity, although many patrons reject the feel and strongly prefer glass. The primary advantages to using plastic pints is that they are less expensive and cannot be used as a weapon in a bar fight. To counter this last argument, in the U.K., they are researching coatings that would ensure glasses do not break.

Although pint glasses are designed for beer, some mixed drink recipes work well, such as a Flaming Moe (or Flaming Homer), popularized by The Simpsons television show. This concoction mixes equal parts brandy, peppermint schnapps, sloe gin, blackberry liqueur, strawberry juice, and cough syrup. Ignite and drink if you dare!

Other uses for a pint glass include those where you are drop a shot glass into a glass of beer (such as a Car Bomb), then chug the entire contents. Customers can also use a pint glass to mix their own cocktails, if it is not available from the bartender. Finally, they can be used to create the complicated Backdraft, where Cointreau is ignited in the pint glass until warm, then poured into a snifter full of Sambuca, igniting it. Cinnamon is sprinkled on the flames, ignited, then the warm pint glass is used to cover the flames.

So as you see, there are other uses for a pint glass, but most people stick to beer.

The Old Fashioned Glass (aka lowball or rocks glass) came into vogue during the era of the Old Fashioned, a chilled whiskey, sugar, and bitters cocktail that was quite popular in previous decades. The drink was a favorite of the clubs of the time, and was so popular, that the tumblers that it was being served in quickly became associated with the drink, forever designating them as Old Fashioned Glasses. The Old Fashioned is making a comeback in the younger crowds frequenting bars now, and a number of hip establishments are even advertising their own bartender’s skill at making a classic, delicious Old Fashioned to entice customers.

The Old Fashioned Glass is a squat tumbler resembling the highball glass. It will usually have a decorative exterior that tapers slightly towards the bottom of the vessel. An Old Fashioned Glass will usually be made of thicker glass than other drinking glasses as well, because chilled cocktails are usually served in these tumblers, and the thick glass will prevent the drinker’s hands from becoming too cold and water from condensing on the outer edges of the glass itself. The bottom of the glass is almost an inch thick, adding to the sturdiness and insulation of the entire piece of glassware.

The design of the Old Fashioned Glass makes it perfect for chilled drinks, and its short nature makes it sturdy and rigid enough to stand up to the rigors of being handled in clubs, and its low center of gravity ensures that your high class cocktails will not be spilled or knocked over unintentionally. As a result of this, many of the classier cocktails that you will find in clubs and bars will be served in an Old Fashioned Glass. This includes drinks made with fresh fruit juices, such as the Apricot Lady, or simply straight liquor drinks, such as your favorite scotch “on the rocks”. Even the highest class cocktails are often served in an Old Fashioned Glass because a great deal of the glassware that they are traditionally served in is highly breakable. For example, at many clubs and bars with dance floors, it is not uncommon to order a Martini or a Manhattan and have the drink show up in a decorative Old Fashioned Glass rather than its traditional stemware glass.

The Old Fashioned Glass is versatile, elegant, and sturdy, making it popular with bartenders around America. These glasses are also home to one of the most iconic American cocktails, so any home or professional bar is simply is not complete without a set of Old Fashioned Glasses.

The highball glass takes its name from the highball, a classification of mixed drinks that are composed of a spirit and a larger amount of a nonalcoholic mixer. Highball glasses hold 8 to 12 ounces of liquid, and are taller than Old Fashioned, or lowball, glasses. They have straight sides, and are wider than Collins glasses. They may be made of glass or crystal, and are the perfect presentation for a highball or long drink, as their volume provides enough room for the spirit, mixer, ice, and stirrer. The increasing popularity of mixed drinks has made the highball glass the most-used in bars across the country.

The name “highball” probably dates back to around 1898, though the origins of the name are still debated. One theory is that the cocktail’s name derives from “ball,” which refers to a whiskey drink. The “high” portion of the name may come from the sun’s position in the sky during the afternoon, when the drink is intended to be enjoyed. It may also reference the tall glass in which it is served. Yet another theory suggests that the highball’s name may have come from a railroad conductor’s signal that means “clear track ahead.” Whatever the case, highballs have been incredibly popular since their integration into the bartender’s repertoire.

The first highball was most likely composed of Scotch whiskey and soda water, but today there are hundreds of variations to suit any palate. Some of the most popular display their ingredients right in their names, and include the bourbon and cola, gin and tonic, and rye and ginger. Others have slightly more creative names, such as the screwdriver, which is composed of vodka and orange juice. Adding Galliano to the screwdriver makes it a Harvey Wallbanger. The Slow Comfortable Screw adds sloe gin and Southern Comfort to the vodka and orange juice, and has been endlessly customized with other ingredients to allow for ever more intricate names. But perhaps the perfect expression of the highball is the Pimm’s Cup, which combines the gin-based Pimm’s No. 1 with ginger ale or soda. Designed to be enjoyed on warm afternoons, the Pimm’s Cup’s is a lovely shade of amber, and its cool smoothness is even more pleasant when sipped from a proper highball glass.

When you buy Collins glasses for your home bar, you’re not just buying glassware, but a little piece of history. Collins glasses are now used for all sorts of mixed drinks and cocktails, but they originated as glasses specifically for Tom Collins mixed drinks. And the history of the Tom Collins cocktail is a story worthy of a cocktail party in itself.

The Tom Collins cocktail is variously said to have originated in a hotel in England, a bar in Australia, and in several different places in the United States. But the most picturesque story involves the “Great Tom Collins Hoax” of 1874. In short, this hoax involved young men of drinking age being informed that “Tom Collins is just around the corner in the bar, making all sorts of slanderous remarks about you,” or words to that effect. The young man would rush into the bar, demanding to know where Tom Collins was, and would be served the drink of the same name. This hoax helped to ensure the popularity of the Tom Collins gin, whisky, and brandy cocktails.

The English claim that the drink originated at a London hotel, and was the work of a John Collins, who was the headwaiter at the time. According to this story, the drink was first called a John Collins, but changed because the brand of gin most widely used in the cocktail was Old Tom, making Tom Collins a natural choice for the drink’s name.

Another version has the drink being invented by an Irish immigrant in New York around the 1850s as a less alcoholic thirst quencher in the brutal New York summer heat. Made by adding lemon juice to a gin and tonic, it was a light lemonade cocktail for those long summer evenings.

Regardless of which of these picturesque tales you choose to believe, the first known recipe for Tom Collins cocktails was printed in “The Bartender’s Guide” by Jerry Thomas, published in 1876. The recipe does not specify any particular type of glass be used (stipulating a “small” bar-glass only), and calls for the juice of a small lemon, a large wineglass of gin, three cubes of ice, and five or six “dashes of gum syrup”. The use of traditional “Collins” glasses did not come into vogue until sometime later.

Collins glasses were at one time reserved strictly for drinks made with the Collins mix. Today, Collins glasses are used for soft drinks, juice and alcohol drinks, whiskey sours, Bloody Marys, and a variety of other drinks suitable for a 14-ounce glass. The best quality Collins glasses are of sturdy construction with a thicker glass bottom, and tapered to a thin rim at the top. Among the most versatile of cocktail glasses, they are a necessity for any well stocked home bar.

What we think of as a beer mug has had many different derivations over the last two to three hundred years. In the days when pirates sloshed their beer, the beer mug was more commonly referred to as a tankard and was probably made out of pewter, silver, or even pottery. An old myth says that a ship’s captain who wanted to be able to keep a constant eye on his crew made the first glass-bottomed mug. By cutting the bottom out of his pewter mug and replacing it with a piece of glass, he could drink his beer (or grog, or rum) without losing sight of the men around him.

The history of the beer mug, at least starting in the late 19th into the early 20th century, seems to be centered in Great Britain. The British have been drinking their lager from the handle-less slope-sided pint beer glass since the early 1900’s. But up until WWI the pint mug used in public bars was actually a china pot with a strap for a handle. Sometime in the late 1920’s the 10-sided heavy glass pint mug arrived, handle and all. About 1948 along came what is known as the “dimple” pint and it replaced the heavy fluted mug.

The slope-sided handle-less beer glasses were still in use and sometim in the 1960’s some variations on those started to come about. The first of these variations was making a bulge of about an inch or so from the rim down. The object was to keep them from rubbing together and chipping while being washed or stored. These were nicknamed the “Nonik”. The Nonik seems to be fading out of use and being replaced by very tall, narrow, barely tapered thin pint glasses.

If we step away from the British influence on our beer drinking mugs and glasses, we find the German beer stein with its characteristic hinged lid. Stein is short for Steinzeugkrug, which fittingly enough, means “stoneware jug”. The German beer stein dates as far back as the mid 1300’s. At this time, Germany passed a law stating that drinking vessels had to be covered. This was to stop diseased insects from spreading the plague.

Today, all variations of the glass beer mug or the slope-side handle-less pint glass are used. In an English pub, your lager and lime might come served in one of the newer, slightly tapered glass pints, while a pint of Guinness is likely to be served in one of the pint glasses with a slight bulge at the rim. In America, you will find anything from stouts, pilsners, and ales, not mention the occasional margarita or flavored daiquiri served in a beer mug.