Best Cocktail Glass Ideas

A big part of a home bar set up is the glassware. There is a vast selection of glasses for every type of drink. To have every type of glass in a home bar, will make for a very big bar. When it comes to cocktail glasses, it is just the same, the selection is vast. Instead of buying every cocktail glass out there, which would be expensive. I have put together the best cocktail glass ideas, which will serve a variety of drinks.

This will cut down on the amount of glasses you need to buy and store. A lot of glasses that have been designed for specific cocktails. Look at some of these glasses and you will find they are pretty similar. For instance the highball glass is very similar to the Collins glass. A cocktail glass is often mistaken for a martini glass because they look the same, with only subtle differences.

There is a reason why there are so many styles of cocktail glasses, but does it really matter?

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Does The Type Of Cocktail Glass Matter?

It is a yes and no answer, some say that a glass is designed to enhance the drink it was designed for. I get that, wine tastes better out of a wine glass as opposed to a whiskey glass. But it has got out of hand and too many glasses are too similar to force that debate.

It is fine for a cocktail bar to have a vast range of cocktail glasses. Although I find it hard to imagine any bar would have every type of cocktail glass. This is not practical for a home bar, apart from the cost, there is the storage too.

On top of there being so many similar cocktail glass designs, each glass manufacturer seems to put their own stamp on things. A white wine glass will be slightly different depending on who made it. And the designs are getting more and more unusual.

How Do You Choose A Cocktail Glass?

It doesn’t have to be complicated, cut it down into a number of categories and choose the glass you like. Take wine glasses as an example, a white wine glass is different to a red wine glass. A white wine glass has a smaller bowl than a red wine glass (mine doesn’t).

Is there a dedicated rose glass? Probably, but it will normally get served in a white wine glass. My point is, does a home bar need a white wine glass collection as well as a red wine one? Just one nice set of wine glasses will serve the three different drinks.

I do have two sets of wine glasses, but that is because my wife Louise prefers a different style glass to me. The difference is not based on the drink, but rather personal choice. This is how you should choose your cocktail glasses, by personal choice.

I am going to try and keep this to four categories of cocktail glasses. That means four types of glasses you can serve all your cocktails from, starting with the highball glass.

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Highball Style Glass

Your typical highball glass is tall and straight. The typical Collins glass is tall and straight. A Collins is slightly taller and narrower than the highball. Pretty much the same glass, go shorter and wider, or taller and thinner. The choice is yours, it all comes down to what we like individually.

What about the Zombie glass, a glass designed for the Zombie cocktail. Again same glass, but this one goes even taller and thinner. A large tumbler also strongly resembles this category of glasses. In fact when looking at some of the descriptions of glasses you can buy, they include all of the above. Or at least a combination of those already mentioned.

What Cocktails Are Highball Glasses For?

The one that springs immediately to mind is of course the Zombie. A Tom Collins, another obvious one, a Mojito, Tequila Sunrise, and a Dark N Stormy. These are just a few, but any long drink over ice will suit a tall glass of this style.

Paloma, American Light, Pimms, Sangria, Cuba Libre, Long Island Ice Tea, Blue Lagoon and all the Daiquiri’s. These are just a few more Cocktails to serve in this type of glass, and of course their o% cousins.

Take a look at these Highball style glasses and just pick a set you like, it’s that simple.

Lowball Style Glass

Even thought the term lowball is not as widely used as the term highball, it correlates to this style of glass. There are a few glasses that fit into this category. A whiskey glass, a single rocks glass, a double rocks glass and an old fashion glass, or a small tumbler.

All these glasses are a lowball style glass, all are a similar size and with the exception of the double rocks glass. This is normally a couple of ounces bigger than the single rocks glass, but look at between 6 – 8 ounces.

What Cocktails Are Lowball Glasses For?

The obvious one is the Old Fashion cocktail, which is for the old fashion glass. The rocks glasses are self explanatory, any spirit or small cocktail that is served on the rocks. A lowball glass will serve any short drink either on the rocks or neat.

Black Russian, Godfather, Rusty Nail, Mudslide, Negroni, Mai Tai, and any Margarita. Of course there is a neat whiskey, a whiskey and coke, a gin and tonic or a rum and coke. The last three could also be served in a highball glass, it just depends how much mixer and ice you want.

Here is a selection of lowball glasses, it’s about what you like.

Cocktail Glass

The traditional style cocktail glass can be mistaken for a martini glass, mainly because they look the same. The cocktail glass is smaller, rounder and with a narrower rim than the martini glass. The coupe glass can also sit along side these two, along with the margarita glass. A Nick and Nora glass although more of a wine glass shape is small so could fall here too.

What Drinks Are Cocktail Glasses For?

A martini would taste great coming from any of these glasses. But if you prefer the martini glass, then other cocktails would taste just as good in that too. Although the coupe glass was originally for Champagne, it serves many cocktails.

A few cocktails for these glasses are Cosmopolitan, Sidecar, frozen Strawberry Daiquiri, Cinn City and the Alexandra. Any drink that is shaken or stirred with crushed ice. These are not glasses to add ice to, as they are pretty small.

Take a look at these Martini and Coupe style glasses.

Champagne Glass

A Champagne glass is not just for Champagne, there are plenty of cocktails that are made using Champagne. There are also other drinks in the Champagne category, Prosecco and other sparkling wines can fit here too. This means there are several glasses that can accommodate a Champagne cocktail.

A coupe glass we already know can house the fizzy stuff, although not a modern day favorite. A wine glass plays a part in this category too, especially some of the slimmer style glasses. These are all sparkling wines after all, so a wine glass is acceptable. Of course we can’t forget the popular flute.

What Cocktails Will Go In A Champagne Glass?

A Simple Champagne cocktail, Black Forest, Mimosa, Bellini, Kir Royale and several versions of a 75 have the fizz. Any drink that involves sparkling wine, whether that is a Cava, Prosecco or Champagne are for these glasses.

Like the other styles of glasses mention, these now come in many designs. Whether that be wacky or traditional, they all do the same job. You should find what you are looking for among these Champagne selection.

Final Thoughts

There is a lot to think about when setting up a home bar, so we don’t want to be stressing about glassware. It seems to have gone crazy with the amount of different glasses there are. I hop from this article you can see that it doesn’t have to be that daunting.

Just a small selection of glasses can serve a lot of different style drinks. There is no need to get every variation of glasses. Apart from the cost, where are we supposed to store that many glasses. Keep it simple and keep it tidy. Share your thoughts below on the type of glasses you like and what you use them for.