Old Fashioned glasses

Capacity decides how the glass feels in the hand. At around 20 cl you get a compact glass mainly meant for neat spirits or for a cocktail with smaller ice. Between 30 and 35 cl sits the classic size: room for a large ice cube of four by four centimetres plus six centilitres of drink, with enough rim above it to stir without spilling. Move towards 43 or even 50 cl and you are really buying a wide water glass that doubles as a cocktail glass.

Then look at the base. A thick, solid base adds weight and keeps the glass steady while you stir, and it insulates a little against the warmth of your hand. An even wall thickness stops the glass from cracking when you drop ice into it. If the glasses go into the dishwasher every day, choose a version with a tempered rim. Cutting on the outside is decoration: it breaks the light nicely, but it also makes the glass a little more work to polish.

Start with the ice, not with the drink. One large cube melts far more slowly than five small ones, because it has less surface area per amount of water, and that is exactly why you get so little dilution in this glass. If you do not have large cubes, fill the glass right up with regular ones instead of dropping in three. Half-filled glasses melt fastest.

For an old fashioned you stir bourbon or rye with sugar syrup and bitters in a mixing glass with ice until the outside frosts over, then strain it over fresh ice in the low glass. Twist a strip of orange peel above the surface so the oil lands on it and drop it in. A negroni works the same way, with equal parts gin, campari and red vermouth. If you are pouring whisky neat, leave the glass empty and at room temperature, because cold closes the aromas down.

Most glasses here are made of tempered soda-lime glass or of lead-free crystal glass. Tempered glass is thicker, more forgiving and the standard choice behind a busy bar. Lead-free crystal glass, as Schott Zwiesel makes it, is clearer and rings differently when you tap it, but the rim is thinner and therefore more vulnerable.

Both go in the dishwasher, as long as you run a short glassware programme and do not let the glasses touch. Most damage happens not while drinking but in the basket. A milky haze over time is limescale, not wear: rinse with a splash of vinegar in the water and polish dry with a lint-free cloth. Store the glasses upright, because an upturned glass rests on its rim and that is the weakest point.

If you are after glassware for whisky with a tulip shape that holds the aroma, have a look at the whiskey glasses. If you want the same low shape but for water and soft drinks, the tumbler glasses have their own page, and you will find the full overview of shapes among the cocktail glasses. The recipe itself is on the page for the old fashioned, with the proportions and the ice included, and the same goes for the negroni and the sazerac. If you are still missing the tools to stir and measure with, take a look at the bar spoons.