T&C Tried & True: These Are the Only Cocktail Glasses You Really Need
Here at T&C, we pride ourselves on our discerning eye for quality. With Tried & True, our editors will give you an inside look at the pieces they simply cannot live without.
Martini glasses are bad at their job. There, I said it; somebody had to.
Now I know what you're thinking: Martini glasses are classic! They're iconic! Even James Bond drinks out of them! And yes, you're right, but you know what else martini glasses are? Poorly balanced; fiddly; prone to tipping over, or sloshing their contents over the edge of their wide sloping rims. Of course, it doesn't help that since the 'tini boom of the '90s, bars have gotten into the habit of filling these triangular vessels right to the brim, leaving you with anywhere from 7-10 ounces of cocktail to try and carefully slug back before it goes from perfectly chilled to unappealingly warm, all while performing a delicate balancing act to avoid spilling on yourself. A losing proposition all around.
But there is a solution, and fortunately it happens to be one that's also classic, iconic, and while it might not be 007-approved, it's got some literary clout all its own. I'm referring, of course, to the Nick & Nora glass.
Named for the fast-talking detective couple Nick and Nora Charles from Dashiell Hamett’s 1934 novel The Thin Man (later to appear in a franchise of films, as well as a TV series, a stage play, and numerous other adaptations) who favored them, these stemmed glasses serve as something of a hybrid between a martini glass and coupe, with a smaller circumference and higher, rounded sides that make it steadier and more spill-proof than either of its predecessors. Not to get too "high school physics" on you, but that more petite profile means that the cocktail inside them has less surface area, and in turn, less heat transfer AKA your drink stays colder longer. Add to that the Nick & Nora typically clocks in at around 5 ounces (a boon, considering that the fictional Charleses were known to down half a dozen of them in a sitting) and you've got a recipe for a cocktail glass that actually makes your drink better, and for longer.
None of this is news to the pros, of course; high-end bars have favored the Art Deco-esque shape of the Nick & Nora for years precisely for these reasons. But you needn't relegate them solely to your home mixology experiments either—the shape has enough in common with a wine glass to make it a good option for serving liqueurs, fortified wines, and other tipples best enjoyed in small quantities (because, frankly, who owns sherry glasses anymore?) In fact, I'd go so far as to say that, alongside highball and rocks glasses, and a good set of universal wine glasses, Nick & Noras are the only other glasswear your bar cart really needs.
So if you're looking to take your home cocktail game to the next level, it's time to toss those tippy old martini glasses and invest in a sleekly understated set of Nick & Nora glasses instead. Trust me, your martinis (and manhattans, and penicillins, an practically everything else) will thank you.
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