Coupe vs V-Formed vs Nick & Nora Glasses

Most Martini conversations are centered across the liquid itself. Vodka or gin? Shaken or stirred? Do you prefer it icy, filthy, bone dry, or garnished with a twist? 

However one may argue that the vessel your drink results in is equally vital. In case your Martini is served within the incorrect glass, it’s more likely to diminish the ingesting expertise. 

Some drinkers choose the angular, V-shaped Martini glass, whereas others suppose its aesthetics are outdated and kitschy, harking back to unhealthy disco drinks. Some Martini followers choose the shallow, bowl-shaped coupe, whereas others discover the glass exaggerates the aromas and alcohol. Some love the Nick & Nora glass, whereas others suppose it’s simply too small for a Martini.

So, what are the important thing variations between these stemmed cocktail glasses? And which one is true in your subsequent 50/50, Reverse Martini, or Bijou? Right here’s all the pieces it’s worthwhile to know when evaluating the three.

The Coupe Glass

Whereas the coupe glass is arguably one of the vital in style and vital glasses within the cocktail world, the vessel first belonged to the wine crowd.

Information observe the coupe glass to the courtroom of King Louis the XIV, who sipped Champagne from a coupe at virtually each meal. In these days, Champagne wasn’t one thing to be savored. It was a drink to be sipped rapidly or slammed again like a shot. Social gathering-goers would down the drink in a single go and flip the glass to permit the sediment to empty earlier than they refilled their glass.

Coupe glasses had been notably in style throughout Prohibition. The design was stylish and the small capability made it simple to swiftly end one’s drink throughout a raid.

Within the Fifties, the flute was launched to wine lovers, who realized the tall, elongated form would dissipate bubbles much less rapidly. Coupes fell out of favor with wine drinkers, whereas Martinis had been rising in reputation. Bartenders began serving Flips, Martinis, and different shaken drinks within the glass.

Nowadays, coupe glasses are available in all types, however most types have a shallow, spherical formed bowl and sit on a protracted stem. Some are as small as 5 ounces whereas others are double that capability. The bigger capability makes the glass versatile sufficient to serve all kinds of drinks, from sours to 50/50 Martinis and another cocktail served up.

Older, vintage-style coupes typically have a shorter stem and detailing like lower crystal or engraving. These glasses are sturdy, chip-resistant, and stack simply—suppose Champagne (or Martini) towers. Trendy choices are inclined to make use of wine glassmaking methods—delicate crystal, hand-blown bowls, and skinny, statuesque stems.

Past Martinis, coupes are versatile vessels for any shaken or stirred drink served up. For drinks with egg white (or aquafaba), the form of the coupe showcases the fluffy layers of froth, and the broader bowl highlights extra nuanced aromas.

The V-Formed Martini Glass

The V-shaped Martini glass is most frequently acknowledged as a byproduct of the Eighties and ’90s, a well-liked vessel for shrimp cocktails, Cosmos, Lychee Martinis, Appletinis, and different neon-hued disco drinks. Nevertheless, the glass predates the ’Tini explosion by a long time. 

The V-shaped glass first debuted in Paris on the 1925 Worldwide Exhibition of Trendy Ornamental and Industrial Arts. The angular form nodded to Artwork Deco ideas. 

When the glass was first invented, folks tended to make use of it for Champagne reasonably than cocktails. However within the Sixties, James Bond sipped his Martini out of a V-shaped glass and launched an entire new look and elegance for the beloved cocktail.

V-shaped Martini glasses are inclined to have a bigger capability, permitting for colourful, shaken drinks to shine and extra actual property for garnish choices—go forward and stick three, 4, or 5 olives or pickled onions on that cocktail decide. 

The V-shaped glass is usually criticized as an inefficient vessel, because the frail, outward design causes liquid to slosh within the glass because it strikes, and makes it susceptible to spillage. Within the ’80s and ’90s, the glasses had been typically outsized and unruly, inflicting drinks to change into heat earlier than the drinker may get to the final sip. Over time, this type of glassware fell out of favor as coupes and Nick & Noras turned the norm.

Nowadays, V-shaped glasses are tiptoeing again into style. Martiny’s in New York Metropolis serves its Martinis in a small V-shaped glass, as does Ryan Chetiyawardana’s Silver Lyan. (Notably, these glasses are narrower than customary V-shaped glasses.) Extra petite V-shaped glasses are sometimes served with a sidecar-on-ice presentation.

 Nick & Nora Glass

The identify Nick & Nora is a nod to the fictional crime-fighting couple Nick and Nora Charles, who typically solved capers over glasses of icy Martinis within the 1934 flick The Skinny Man.

We are able to thank legendary bartender Dale DeGroff for the glass’s reputation. Within the late Eighties, when working at The Rainbow Room, he flipped by means of a catalog from an old-school glassware producer and ordered glasses that reminded him of the tiny coupes proven within the movie, nicknaming them Nick & Noras. 

The identify caught, and immediately the Nick & Nora glass is beloved for its timeless, elegant design. The arched, petite glass is right for serving stirred or shaken sours. Sometimes, these glasses are 5 ounces in quantity (splendid for three-ounce and four-ounce recipes) and are well designed to keep away from spillage. The bowl curves outwards then up, permitting you to stroll round with a glass in hand with out your drink sloshing over the rim. Bartenders additionally choose the glass as a result of it retains the drink cooler for longer—there’s much less floor space so much less of the drink is uncovered to air, maintaining it cool for longer.

These glasses pair properly with something within the Martini household such because the Vesper, Bamboo, or Alaska, or different stirred, spirit-forward drinks. The small capability completely matches a three-ounce Martini with a enough washline, and the thinner mouth permits for correct supply of alcohol to the mid-palate, serving to to construct aromas with out the alcohol content material being overwhelming. Alternatively, the scale of the glass makes them well-suited to sours or citrus-driven shaken cocktails, like Final Phrases or Corpse Revivers.