GLASSWARE

Choose glasses depending on the type of drinks you plan to serve.  If you’re a wine drinker, you’ll need a selection of wine glasses. In general, two or three different types of glasses are enough to get you started.

Highball Glass:
A straight-sided glass.  Often an elegant way to serve many types of mixed drinks.  Typical size is 300 ml.

Red Wine Glass :
This has a round, wide bowl, which gives the wine a chance to breathe.  Since most reds are consumed at room temperature, the wider bowl also allows the wine to cool more quickly after hand contact has warmed it.

White Wine Glasses :
This is genearaly narrower, although not as narrow as champagne flutes, with somewhat straight or tulip-shaped sides.  The narrowness of the white wine glass allows the chilled wine to retain its temperature.  The smaller bowl of the glass means less contact between the hand and the glass, so body heat does not transfer as easily to the wine.

Old Fashioned Glass :
This is not very tall but it is a little wider than the highball, making it, suitable for cocktails that have fewer ingredients.  A drink using two or fewer ingredients is traditionally served in an old-fashioned glass, which has a capacity of 240-300 mls.

Cocktail Glass :
This is a stemmed glass with a wide, shallow, inverted bowl.  The stem allows the user to hold the glass without permitting the heat from their hand to affect the temperature of the drink.  This is particularly desirable for Martinis, which should remain cold whilst being drunk.  A cocktail glass is often called a “martini glass” due to the popularity of that drink!

Sourced from cooking & more jan-feb issue