One of the most common questions on our "How to drink whiskey like a boss" video is,
Which glass you should be drinking whiskey out of? One of the most common comments in fact is
also making fun of, or indeed being quite angry about, my own choice of glassware.
As with all glassware decisions, my advice is first and foremost to drink out of what you like,
or like I did, what you have to hand. Because I would never let not having the right glass
stand between me and a nip of whiskey. But of course certain glass shapes and how you take it,
so neat, or with ice etc, will have an impact on your experience of the whiskey or whatever
spirit you happen to be enjoying. So let's have a look how.
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Tulip or Copita glasses, so these kind of longer stemmed ones, they're often used by professionals
when actually assessing spirits and actually personally one of my favorites to drink out of.
They are based on a traditional sherry tasting glass, these kind of larger copitas are,
which may be why I like it. It's almost halfway between a wine glass and a spirit tasting glass.
The stem just keeps your hand away so you don't warm it up too much or bring in other smells.
Again more of an issue in a professional capacity but I just like that it feels elegant.
You also get smaller versions which are more for spirits specifically and even ones like
this which are almost halfway between this and a glencairn, the ball curves in so it does funnel
the aromas towards your nose and they're quite easy to swirl around.
The fact that the rim is really tight though does mean that it catches every aroma, including some
harsher ones, so you do want to be careful if you're not used to drinking spirits neat because
you might burn your little nose hairs off with the first sip depending on what you're drinking.
You've also got one like this which is a more traditional snifter. A slightly smaller stem
you can kind of hold it and warm it up in your hand as well and still has that nice
wide bowl, just kind of bringing it up towards your nose there and good advice is to keep your
mouth open when you inhale because it actually just makes inhaling all a little bit more gentle.
Then on to the glencairn. Obviously very popular whiskey glass. It is similar in shape to a tulip
glass but it has a shorter and sturdier base and that makes it a pretty good middle
ground between a tulip and a rocks glass. It still has the height and the narrow rim
that funnels aromas really effectively but it has that more kind of satisfying weight that
some people prefer over stem wear. They're also a little bit more durable than tulips
so are used in many bars and this is what we use at Bomba if someone wants a neat whiskey.
Then onto our old faithful, the tumbler or rocks glass. This is a classic wide-mouthed
short glass that pretty much everyone would have in their bar or kitchen and
so I see no problem in putting whiskey in it. It is large enough to contain aromas as opposed
to, for instance, a shot glass even if they may escape a little more quickly from something like
this than any of the other ones here. You can also get some really beautiful sort of smaller
rocks glasses which are designed to minimize that loss for people that just prefer to drink
out of something a little bit sturdier and still get as much of the delicious smell as possible.
And then they also come into their own for drinking on the rocks of course.
As with cocktails I would always advocate using a nice big block of ice as it melts more slowly,
so it will chill your spirit without diluting it too quickly and those blocks
just won't fit in a tulip or a glencairn glass. And then you even have glasses which really lean
into drinking on the rocks like this one from the Whiskey Stone Shop. It actually acts as an
ice mold as well, so half your glass in there will be a big chunk of frozen ice which might
even be enough to tempt me to drink whiskey on a hot summer's day in Australia because speaking
honestly I usually switch to gin. Here's one I prepared earlier.
Oh, so yeah, full big chunk of ice fill the other half up with nice light you know maybe
Irish whiskey or something and I reckon that looks like a pretty good time for a summer's day.
One other excellent comment on our whiskey video was in response to me saying that neat
on the rocks is not a thing and one clever viewer pointed out that that's exactly what
using whiskey stones is. These guys you just chuck in the freezer and then pop
them in your glass even using fancy little tongs if you have them and that just means
that you'll get all of the chill and none of the dilution.
There are of course many other brands and styles of glassware with a lot of science behind their
sometimes honestly rather odd shapes so things like Norlan, the Neat glass
or Denver and Liely is a local Melbourne one. Some people will absolutely swear by them and
some will always prefer more traditional ones. If you're planning on trying one out then just
have a think about what it is that you like about the glasses you usually drink out of. For
instance, Norlan is quite chunky so if you usually drink out of a more kind of delicate copita
then it might feel a little bit odd, whereas the Neat glass is more similar in shape to your sort
of traditional glencairn or copita so that might be an easier step for you to try something new.
At the end of the day the science of aroma and flavor is definitely important but so
is the ergonomics of drinking, so drink out of what feels right for you.
Whiskey and spirit glasses. So now you know.