Lesson 3: Setting Up and Stocking the Bar
Glasses
First, you don’t need a lot of different types of glasses. There are lots of great types to have, especially if you have the room to store and display them. But we’ll start with the essentials and move on to the optional:
Essential Glasses:
- Shot glass: A small glass used to drink liquor neat (i.e. without ice or mix). This glass can also be used for measuring.
- Wine Glasses: The red wine glass has a larger bowl so the vapors can be trapped. You can put white wine in a red wine glass.
- Highball/Collins Glasses: These are tall glasses, 8 – 12 ounces in size, which can hold all sorts of mixed drinks, or drinks over ice.
Optional Glasses:
- White Wine Glasses: These do not have the wide bowl of red wine glasses, since aroma is not as vital to the taste of white wine.
- Cocktail or Martini Glass: These are the classic glasses that you use after you’ve shaken your cocktails in ice, and strained them. They have a stem to hold so your hand doesn’t warm the bowl.
- Champagne Flutes: Do not put champagne in anything but a wine glass or tapered flute. The champagne glasses featured in movies with a wide surface dissipate the bubbles too fast.
- Old Fashioned Glasses: These are squat, 5 or 6 ounce glasses. When you just want liquor over ice, without soda or juice, use these glasses.
- Cordial Glasses: These look like miniature wine glasses. They hold sherry, cordials, port, etc.
- Brandy snifters: If you like brandy or armagnac these squat glasses with the wide bowls allow you to warm the brandy with your hands.
- Beer Mugs: Beer mugs come in many styles which are designed to hold 12 ounces of beer and keep it cold. One common style is the tankard, i.e. with handles:
and another is the tall pilsner, which is wider at the top:
- Margarita glasses: These are specialty cocktail type glasses with thick rims to hold onto the salt or lime wedge.
