Bormioli Rocco Barshine

Start with the drink. The 21 cl tumbler is the smallest and is meant for spirits neat or on the rocks, with a single large cube of ice. The 30.5 cl is the classic rocks size in which an Old Fashioned is built: wide enough to stir in, low enough to squeeze the zest over the rim.

The 39.5 cl is the largest tumbler and works for drinks with lots of ice and a splash of soda. The 38 cl long drink glass is narrower and taller; that shape holds on to the carbonation longer, which makes it the choice for mixed drinks with tonic or cola. Often it is enough to buy a set of the rocks size and the long drink glass and fill in the rest as you go.

Fill a tumbler with ice first and only then pour, so the drink chills on its way to the bottom. For an Old Fashioned you build in the glass itself: sugar, bitters, a dash of whisky and stir until the sugar has gone, then add ice and stir again.

Pour long drink glasses along the wall to spare the carbonation. Put the glass in the cold half an hour before service if you work with a lot of ice; a cold glass melts your first cubes far more slowly than a glass at room temperature.

Bormioli Rocco supplies Barshine in tempered glass, meaning a heat treatment that makes the rim and the base more resistant to knocks and to swings in temperature. For a bar where glasses go through the machine every shift, that is the difference between one season and a few years.

Wash the glasses before the sugar has dried on, because dried syrup leaves a dull haze that takes the shine away. Rinse in clean water and stand the glasses upright so they drip dry.

The full range from this manufacturer is with the Bormioli Rocco glasses, including the wine series and the table glassware. If you would rather search by shape than by series, look at the tumbler glasses, the long drink glasses or the heavier whisky glasses with a thicker base. For the drinks these sizes are made for, see the Old Fashioned and the Cuba Libre.