Martini Glass

What is a martini glass?

The martini glass is the silhouette everyone recognizes: a wide cone, a thin rim, a long stem, the movie star among glasses. Born for the martini, it became the symbol of cocktail culture as a whole, even though the drink was historically first served in a coupe, more on that in our coupe entry.

What makes a martini glass

• The wide rim: with the large opening the aromas rise immediately, the nose is part of the pleasure
• The stem: hands stay away from the drink, cold is half of what a martini needs, and the quiet discipline behind it is in our mixing glass entry
• The cone: the drink sits in the glass without ice, so it has to start ice-cold, the ice stays behind in the mixing glass
• The honest catch: the cone warms up faster than a narrow glass, martini portions are small, and that is exactly right

The story from Prohibition

A story told often says the wide cone was invented for the days of Prohibition: when the police arrived, the drink could be dumped quickly. It is a good story and probably exactly that, a story, it does not count as proof. What is well documented instead: the cone only arrived in the 20th century and then became the martini's calling card. For a while the glasses kept growing bigger, and the drink did not get any better from it.

Stirred, not shaken

The martini is a child of the mixing glass: stirred, it turns to silk, and why most professionals stir and what James Bond has to do with it, you can read in our mixing glass entry.

Distinction: martini glass and coupe

Cone against bowl: the martini glass is the stage, the coupe is the silver platter, both deserve an ice-cold drink.

Remember: the tumbler is made for the ice, the highball glass for the bubbles, the coupe for the history, the martini glass for the show.

At our lounge

When a drink gets a stage at our place, it is usually this cone. Feel free to order a martini, ask for stirred or shaken, and the glass will usually give you the answer before the first sip.