Choosing the Best Glass – History & Myths of Popular Glassware
Choosing the Best Glass – History & Myths of Popular Glassware
Choosing the Best Glass: How did the three most common glasses ever become popular? The story illustrates what happens when craft meets science. Industries unfamiliar with scientific methods struggle. They are not ready for a major, yet necessary, change.
Within the spirits industry, known olfactory science has never been a major consideration, and changes in preferred glassware and nosing techniques have been driven by internal motives and established tradition. Discussion on the evolution of nosing evaluation is necessary to understand why so many have relied so long on spirit glass shapes that are functionally inadequate to provide honest evaluation.
Silently Conditioning the Public not to Smell the Roses
There exists an attitudinal aspect to enhancing sensual enjoyment. Too often, we have other things to do and forsake the development of the senses to gain a little more time to watch sports, surf the internet, comment on social media, or play video games. We train ourselves to take the path of least resistance which often means less work, and often settle for mass-produced products (coffee pods, frozen dinners, or drive-through burgers) rather than seek self-discovery of the aromas, flavors, herbs, and spices that truly deliver personal olfactory and taste satisfaction and enjoyment.
Much like education, the true development of the senses is dependent on personal effort and not simply the thoughtless acceptance of what someone else relates. Finding the right sources and reading is key to education, and choosing the right glass (diagnostic tool) is important to developing a keener sense of smell and enjoyment of spirits. For decades choosing glassware has fallen into thoughtless acceptance, few ever perform side-by-side comparisons, and many believe that the glass is simply a vessel to transfer a beverage from container to mouth or an iconic fraternal membership badge that identifies them with the spirits they prefer to drink.
It is not all About the Ethanol
Those who do compare, generally miss the point and get caught up in styling and identification (gender, purpose) rather than function. The serious approach to spirits evaluation is about delivering true aroma and flavor from the spirit to the nose and tongue to evaluate. Association of a particular shape to a particular spirit, gender identification (that is a ladies’ glass, I need a man’s glass), or preference based on style or traditional acceptance are all diversions that avoid and obscure true function. When the function is secondary, evaluation and enjoyment both suffer. Choosing the best spirits glass enhances drinking enjoyment as well as the diagnostics of flavor.
Two erroneous assumptions have been around for centuries that govern glassware design, driving glass manufacturers to rely on selling visual style rather than solving the problem of nose-numbing ethanol.
- Erroneous Assumption: Small rim areas collect all the aromas at the nose, preventing any from escaping detection. Rebuttal: True, but small rims also concentrate and trap nose-numbing ethanol which dominates olfactory receptors and destroys smell-ability.
- The aroma molecules mix together in the aroma cloud, and we cannot separate them. So, implementing procedural devices is the only way to combat the effects of nose-numbing ethanol. Rebuttal: Aromas dissipate at different speeds controlled by their molecular structure (and weight). Careful vessel design can enhance separation. These procedural devices only work for the glass design for which they were implemented.
The Snifter: Promoter of Ethanol, not the Best Glass
The worst performer of the three common spirits glass, the Snifter, often called a balloon, was once the fashionable glass of 20th-century spirits drinkers in Europe and Russia. To our knowledge, no one lays claim to the invention of the snifter, yet there are some instances of use as early as the mid-1800s.
We credit Ravenscroft for the technology. Leaded crystal expanded shape possibilities by increasing work time and pliability of glass. This enabled the first manufacture of large and thin bowls that characterize the snifter.
Observers can easily identify Cognac and brandy drinkers by the glass’s unusually large bowl, short stem, and small opening that traps aromas. Many are designed to hold an ounce and a half or so when laid on their side on a level surface; a prophetic position relating to the highly concentrated ethanol captured and delivered to the drinker by the snifter.
How the Snifter Works
Designed for best swirling and high evaporation. A small opening traps the aromas. These nose bombs were created to get high quickly on ethanol, and nothing more. As previously discussed, the snifter concentrates ethanol and obscures character aromas with overpowering nose-numbing ethanol. Palm warming will release more aromas to the nose that would not normally be evident at room temperature. Some drinkers heat the snifter with a candle to scent more aromas. This sends vaporized ethanol to the nose and can burn the lower lip at the rim if heated too much. A few of the devices used to heat a brandy snifter:
Sniffing concentrated ethanol brings it into the pulmonary alveoli sacs. It is quickly picked up by tiny blood capillaries and carried to the brain for a much quicker high. This is faster than absorption through the intestinal tract. The respiratory path is the channel of choice for drug “snorters” and spray paint “huffers.” It works quickly.
Sage Advice on Snifters
Those who are interested in aromas and comparing spirits should stay away from snifters completely. Snifters are the “bong” of spirits, and Cognac, Armagnac, and brandy distillers know better. Snifters deliver a rank disservice to any and every spirit. They favor nose-numbing ethanol and quick intoxication over savoring character aromas and flavors.
The Tumbler: Also not the Best Glass
To prevent spills, the earliest tumblers had round bottoms that righted the glass when knocked over. The design also kept the drink from being left unfinished when set down. The name dates back to the mid-1600s. Earlier forms of the tumbler, with vertical sides and a thick flat bottom, predate the 1st century BC. Tumblers became the spirit glass of choice in early America because they were readily available. Whiskey lovers saw them grow popular as the preferred whiskey glass when Kentucky distillers commonly recommended them in the mid-1900s. They were large enough to hold ice cubes and branch water to ease nose-numbing and palate burn.
Researchers note that tumblers provide ethanol with a generous escape path. They also avoid the ethanol concentration found in tulip and snifter styles. Of the three common glassware styles, tumblers are by far the preferred spirits evaluation and nosing glasses
The Tulip or Chimney Nose Cannon is Definitely not the Best Glass
The copita shape is the original design of the widely used tulip glass derivatives and was introduced as a sherry glass by traders importing Spanish sherry to Great Britain. By borrowing the ‘dock’ glass’s shape and size, copita guided transfer acceptance of quality product at the loading dock. It offered the right sherry portion as an after-dinner drink. Sherry’s popularity among England’s landed gentry boosted interest in the glass in England and Scotland. It gained broader appeal among the general populace and became a major rebottled and branded export meeting world demand. How NEAT works.
Somewhat connected by the re-purposing of a huge inventory of imported, empty sherry barrels to age scotch, the copita seemed a logical choice for a spirits glass. Small, easy to hold, and suitable for the under-exaggerated “wee” dram, of around an ounce and a half (45ml), acceptance by whisky blenders was the key factor to entrenching the copita as the iconic glass of choice for scotch whisky.
Glass Makers’ Fear of Design Rejection Hinders Discovery of the Best Glass
The glass evolved into many different styles yet kept many similar key dimensions. Several shapes of the tulip/copita/chimney are shown (note that their rim height, volume capacity, tiny bowl diameters, tall rim heights, and mostly convergent sidewalls are similar and typical of most styles of common spirits glasses). Manufacturers concentrate on evolved style, not function.
What the Whisky Blender Should Consider
In whisky drinker logic, one should do what the experts do, and in this case, the experts are the blenders, those closest to the aromas and flavors of the whisky, and responsible for the final profile and product.
There is one small hitch to adopting this logic. Blenders have for decades understood their glass-shape choice. That choice concentrates ethanol and impairs blending due to ethanol anesthesia. So, they dilute to 20% ethanol with water; one ounce of water per ounce of 40% ABV spirit. Rather than changing the glass’s shape, this “fixed” the immediate ethanol problem. Changing to another shape would have absolutely addressed the issue. The original ethanol-concentrating design was the obvious detriment to olfactory sensitivity. Blenders bought another problem by going for the most obvious solution. Excess water dilution creates another diagnostic problem. Blenders still ignore it. A later presentation will discuss the effects of water added to spirits.
Who drinks spirits at 50% dilution (40% ABV down to 20% ABV)? Answer: no one but blenders, and then, only while they blend. In other words, the public, in their search for enjoyment and correctness, has hit a snag. They prefer the whisky industry’s established spirits drinkers’ icon and identification badge, the tulip glass. Using the blenders’ glass in the blenders’ way undermines the tool’s purpose. This approach prevents it from serving as a reliable diagnostic tool. This approach reduces clarity in evaluation. Check the independent research study of glass styles.
Coming to America
During the ’60s, the great Scotch invasion of America teetered on collapse until stakeholders found a solution. They realized the American palate was unaccustomed to straight whisky, a practice long established in Europe. Prohibition produced poor distillations by hobbyists who ignored head and tail cuts. They used fruit juice, herbs, soda, and flavorings to mask off aromas and flavors in the product. These mixtures originated from garage and basement distillations. As a result, the cocktail was born. After repeal, Americans continued to prefer mixed drinks over straight spirit consumption. Meanwhile, Europeans continued their long, uninterrupted tradition of enjoying straight, no ice, and unmixed spirits.
The Band-aid “Fix” Ignores the Cause of the Problem
To overcome the American reluctance to drink whisky straight, purveyors designed a formal drinking procedure. This aimed to draw well-to-do Americans into an attractive, elite club of successful businessmen with a rich international membership. A fraternal badge, the iconic copita glass, and later the Glencairn became the member recognition signal. These procedures made the glass more acceptable to many. They assumed the tulip glass was the only option, ignoring other alternatives. These procedures have become the ritualistic ceremony for drinking scotch whisky. They are easily recognizable traits of accomplished scotch drinkers, yet many are not effective (see italics):
The “Fix:” Non-functional Procedures Treat Only the Symptom
- Breathe through mouth and nose simultaneously to avoid inhaling nose-numbing ethanol. Alleviates initial olfactory pain but delivers smaller air-diluted samples, affecting aroma detection. Ethanol concentration remains high, occupying more olfactory receptors with each consecutive sniff.
- Do not swirl. Swirling is the “engine” that propels evaporation. No swirling yields much less evaporation and fewer aromas to evaluate. A prior presentation outlines swirling.
- Waft. Place the vessel 15–20 cm from the nose, slightly below the nostril level, and wave aromas over the top of the glass toward the nose to avoid pain and numbing. Wafting acclimates the olfactory receptors to prevent the initial pungency of concentrated ethanol, ethanol lockout continues during sniffing, as ethanol concentration does not change.
- “Shake hands”. Position the glass about one foot away from the nose while sniffing, subsequently repositioning successively closer while sniffing, until the rim is directly under the nostrils. Gradual acclimation avoids initial nose burn but does not avoid lockout when sampling from small-rim diameter vessels. Ethanol vapor concentration remains at the same high levels during sampling.
- Add water to open up the aroma. Water raises liquid surface tension shutting down evaporation of all aromas, including those important to identification and evaluation. “Opening up” is the perception of relief occurring due to less pungent ethanol on the olfactory receptors.
Other Industry Representatives Follow the Blenders’ Mistake
Distillers, spirits educators, and spirits ambassadors missed another opportunity, in hopes that concentrating on the retro-nasal experience as the primary diagnostic could ethanol effects. Instead, they champion the useless procedural devices/methods designed to reinforce ritual and validate the iconic, traditional glass that exacerbates nose-numbing and works against evaluation truth. This showcases the spirits industry’s perceived importance of maintaining the icon at any cost.
Conclusion: Use the Best Glass
If blenders dilute by 50% because they chose to maintain their inefficient diagnostic tool, and the educators continue to teach the procedural devices developed to make the tulip glass acceptable, when and where does science step in and replace nonsense with fact? Nosing and evaluation credibility and lower spirits quality levels acceptable to the general consumer will continue as long as industry brand ambassadors and representatives continue to endorse tulip/copita as the aroma detection tool, punctuated with the powers of suggestion while hiding the true flavor profile. The consumer will remain sufficiently fooled as they were with the tongue map, hopefully, short term. NEAT Science.
Summary
Sooner or later tradition gives way to science and function which can benefit a large number of people and improve quality if correctly applied. Stay on the leading edge, read, learn, and educate to get closer to the truth as it continues to evolve through discovery and application.
Choosing the best glass should be based on science and function, not legacy and fraternity. Referring back to our original “Bridge of Asses” as applied to spirits evaluation, perhaps the bridge is personified by glassware choice. We think so and have spent the last 18 years defining, designing, and marketing an alternative solution to the three commonly accepted glassware types for spirits drinkers. See the glass comparison by Sensation Research to make your choice of preferred glass style for spirits evaluation.
