At first look, there doesn’t appear to be a lot to the standard rocks glass (often known as an Outdated Long-established glass)—cylindrical, clear, larger than a shot glass, smaller than a Collins, not one of the elegant swoop of a traditional coupe or the instantly iconic V-shape of James Bond’s martini glass. It’s low and workmanlike, the pint glass of the mixology set. 

However contemplate for a second that the rocks glass, for all its seemingly pedestrian form, is among the many most used glasses on the bar. And now think about how a lot can go unsuitable in case your rocks glass is just too small (you’ll be sporting your margarita down your shirt entrance), too massive (your $12 pour of rye will look paltry), too slender (you’ll hit your nostril on the ice cubes), or badly formed (a part of your cocktail will get trapped underneath the ice on the backside of your glass). 

“Should you assume on mass scale—actually massive, much less the bespoke cocktail made by mixologists at a lovely bar and actually about what’s in common utilization—the rocks glass needs to be on the prime,” says Sean Josephs, cofounder and grasp blender of Pinhook Bourbon and rocks glass partisan. 

“By far the most well-liked Bourbon cocktail is an Outdated Long-established, and it is available in what looks like probably the most primary glass and that makes me respect the rocks glass for its simplicity.”

To drink our strategy to the underside of the rocks glass, we requested round to search out out what makes for a very good one, what to be careful for if you’re ingesting from every one the elements a famous glassware designer took under consideration when he designed his personal for Riedel. 

What Is a Rocks Glass?

A rocks glass is supposed to carry liquor or a cocktail with just a few elements, over ice. Although rocks glasses can fluctuate considerably in measurement, they hover round 10 ounces and may have the ability to maintain two-by-two-inch ice cubes.

You’ll usually hear the rocks glass known as the Outdated Long-established glass, because of the recognition of the traditional cocktail, or a lowball glass. They’re all basically the identical factor. As for the place the glass will get its title, that has to do with the “rocks” of ice that previous time barkeeps would chip off an ice block with a decide. 

Because the title suggests, it’s the ice that makes or breaks a rocks glass. At present, we contend primarily with cubes, however whether or not you’re coping with these massive spheres you get in a hip bar or no matter you pull out of your freezer, a rocks glass must be sufficiently big to comfortably maintain your whiskey smash and ice whereas permitting house for the ice to soften and the drink to dilute. 

Haven’t I Seen a Tiny Rocks Glass?

That’s most likely a neat glass, normally the identical form as a rocks glass, however designed not for the 2 or 2 ½ oz pours you get from both a Scotch on the rocks or a cocktail, however for a 1 ½ ounce neat pour. The glass is smaller in order that the smaller quantity of liquid nonetheless seems to be proportional and since there’s no must accommodate ice. 

A bit of little bit of cocktail trivia: the Sazerac is maybe the one neat cocktail usually served in a rocks glass. You may additionally discover the odd bartender who will serve it in a neat glass as effectively. 

What A few Double Rocks Glass?

Yup, that’s an even bigger rocks glass, although not, because the title suggests, twice the scale of a single rocks glass however twice the scale of a pour. A typical rocks glass tends to be about 10 ounces. A double rocks glass will vary from 12 to 14 ounces. You’re extra more likely to see tiki cocktails—with their plethora of elements, garnishes and pebbled ice—served in double rocks glasses than single. Similar goes for drinks with massive, hand-cut ice. 

What’s the Historical past? 

The rocks glass is a pitcher, one of many many flat-bottomed vessels that embody glasses just like the highball, the Collins, a juice glass, a shot glass and even a water glass. A distant ancestor of the rocks glass was the quaich (pronounced “quake”), a brief wood ingesting bowl with handles meant for ingesting alcohol and relationship again a minimum of 500 years to the British Isles. 

Although the rocks glass has morphed in form and supplies over the centuries, the elemental concept–a low, heavy-bottomed glass that gained’t readily tip over in a bumptious pub, stays the identical. 

What Ought to I Search for in a Rocks Glass?

To reply this query broadly, I turned to Josephs. After which to reply it particularly, I leaned on restaurant advisor, spirits knowledgeable and glassware designer Zane Harris, whose 2019 Drink Particular Glassware line for Riedel—which incorporates rocks glasses, double rocks glasses and highballs, amongst others—has been a convincing hit. 

Once I requested Josephs what he seems to be for in a rocks glass he instructed me, “the aesthetics are actually necessary, but it surely’s the load, I consider first. I’ve seen good gentle ones, however for me there’s one thing with Bourbon that wishes that heavy bottomed glass. It provides you a way of event.”

Harris will concede the load concern, however goes deeper on dimensions, significantly inside quantity. 

The rocks glass Harris designed for Riedel is exactly 9.82 complete ounces in quantity. How did he get to that exact sum? A recipe as traditional as a 2-1-1. The amount equals drink, plus dilution, plus displacement from the ice, plus house on the prime to not hit your nostril.

However in terms of that inside quantity, in addition to form, Harris sees too many glasses fairly actually chopping corners. 

“A number of glasses we use right now aren’t designed with bigger ice cubes in thoughts,” he says. “They are usually formed in another way on the within—not straight however they slope inward like a cone.”

He believes this has to do with manufacturing. “I get that production-wise, it’s simpler to get the mildew out of the within of the glass if it’s at an angle,” says Harris. “However it’s a trick. Not solely does this trick give the notion that the glass is larger–you see that with shot glasses that appear big however are literally smaller inside–however it’s important to have vertical sides to accommodate an enormous ice dice.” 

It looks like a small element, so why the subterfuge down on the speakeasy?

“The very last thing a bar desires is to place two fingers of booze in a rock glass and have it not look very full,” Harris says. “So if you happen to make a smaller glass with a slender diameter opening, it seems to be a lot fuller.”

Along with the optical phantasm being performed on drinkers the nation over, Harris additionally warns {that a} glass that’s too small may additionally damage your evening. 

“If the glass isn’t the suitable quantity if you go to cheers your buddy and also you spill half of it into the calamari, that actually ruins your expertise with the drink,” he says. “You’re not having fun with your self.”

Nothing worse than a night that washes up on the rocks. 

Extra Glassware Protection

Within the store

Riedel Drink Particular Glassware Rocks Set of two

In Inventory | $45

Printed: July 31, 2024