Tips Guides

The best way to make an impact at your bar or home is to find glassware that looks great. There is no denying that the type of glass you drink out of dramatically changes the drinking experience you have. Finding the right glass for the drink is almost as important as finding the right drink. Red wine undoubtedly tastes better in a specially designed red wine glass. These glasses have a bulbous flute where the wine sits. This allows a greater amount of oxygen into the wine which improves its flavour. This is also why it is important to swill the wine around in the glass before you drink it. The type of glass is therefore extremely important in this case.

Glassware can technically refer to an enormous range of glass products. It can refer to a number of different tableware items made from glass. These may include dishes, cutlery, flatware and also drinking glasses. But the phrase can deal with anything that has been made out of glass. It is also the case that in some cases it can refer to plastic versions of items that are typically considered glassware. For example plastic cups could be referred to as glassware despite being made by polystyrene and polycarbonate. So glassware can refer to a wide variety of items and can be made from a large variety of materials.

There is a wide variety of glassware options in all of the core areas of glassware. Beer glassware can vary dramatically with different styles and designs of glass that are each suited to a style and taste of beer. Some of the most recognisable of these beer glasses are the pilsner glass which is used funnily enough for consuming pilsner, the classic pint glass - essential for the perfect beer, the pony glass - used widely in continental Europe and America for a short or small beer with a serving of 140ml and the wheat beer glass for serving wheat beers such as Weizenbier.

The Collins glass is a distinctive glass used for serving tall mixed drinks. It is a thin glass that was developed to make the most of the Tom Collins cocktail. The highball glass is also used for serving mixed drinks but it has a slightly larger capacity than the Collins. The Ice tea glass is similar to this but is predominantly used, as the name suggests, for iced tea.

The glass is slightly girthier than the Collins glass and as a result holds more ice - great for iced tea! The popularity of this type of glass is very regional. Many countries consume a great deal of iced tea whereas the UK does not drink much iced tea - strange considering tea is such an important part of British culture.

The shot glass is one of the most distinctive items of glassware. Designed specifically for drinking shorts of drink with high alcoholic content these types of glasses are mostly found in bars, pubs and clubs. The shot glass differs from a whisky glass in that whilst the whisky glass encourages the drinker to sip their drink whereas the shot glass encourages the drinker to consume the drink quickly and ‘knock it back’.

The section of glassware with a stem such as wine glasses or cocktail glasses is often referred to as stemware. These glasses are designed for both style and for improving the drink. When drinking white wine the long stem of the glass should be held. This prevents the glass becoming too warm and as a result the liquid is kept nice and cool this improves the taste of the wine.

Shaun Parker looks into the variety of glassware available that will help enhance your drinking experience.