Martini Glasses – Form, Function, Fun!

Take a look at the origin of traditional martini glasses and get a taste of the ‘new classics’ that you see in today’s upscale restaurants and velvet-rope clubs. The next time you order a martini – and hopefully that will be soon – consider the glass in which it is presented.

Lovely to look at, the stylish martini glass is also a hard worker.Though you may not realize it, martini glasses have a big job to do! According to one San Francisco legend, it was 1862 when Jerry Thomas, a bartender at that city’s Occidental hotel, was challenged by a prospector to make a special drink. The prospector was making a trip to the gold strike in Martinez, another Bay area town. The inventive bartender created the martini recipe on the spot, so the ‘Martinez Special’ didn’t come in a special glass. Bartender Jerry combined an ounce of Old Tom gin, a dash of bitters, and 2 dashes of maraschino liquor and poured it all into a wine glass filled with vermouth. Or so the story goes...

So how did the distinctive cocktail recipe that is the martini find its way into v-shaped cones at the top of a glass stem? Martini glasses as we know them are a product of the 20th Century...

The Genus and Species of Martini Glasses

Martini glasses are part of a larger group of drink ware known as cocktail glasses. Cocktails were originally served with ice. So the shape of the cocktail glass is primarily functional. Cocktails glasses are stemware. Their stems allow you to hold the glass without warming its contents with your hands. It is universally agreed that the function of the stem is to keep the drink cold by keeping the martini lover’s warm hands away from his/her cold drink, just like a champagne flute. Highball glasses and lowball glasses – cocktail glasses that are also known as ‘rocks glasses’ – are for ice-loving cocktail drinkers.

Martini glasses are a sub-set of cocktail glasses. They are distinguished from other cocktail glasses by their sharply tapered bowl. The conical shape helps keep ingredients from separating, Some people say that the wide brim produces surface tension that helps bring out the gin's bouquet. Others believe it was developed to show off the olive or onion to best advantage. Conspiracy theorists suggest that necessity was the mother of invention when it came to wide brim cocktail glasses. During Prohibition, wide mouth of martini glasses made it quickly dispose illegal alcohol in the event that Elliot Ness and his G-men stormed into a speakeasy and staged a raid.

Martini Glass Madness

As martinis have grown in popularity, there has also been a creative boom in everything related to them. Martini madness has given birth to contemporary, new martini recipes and contemporary, new martini glasses. Color is now splashed across martini glasses, creating dramatic contrasts between the cocktail and the tumbler. Color can also be found on the stems of martini glasses which have been given a facelift as well. ‘Pillar stems,’ a stack of angular crystal gemstones, are gaining in popularity.

Some of the most artful stemware for martini glasses is hand-blown by talented artisans in the town of Vizovice, in the Czech Republic. Martini glasses are available in a wide range of styles, sizes, and decorative motifs, but take care! Not all martini glasses are really good for enjoying martinis - some glasses are purely for decoration. A Martini must be enjoyed fresh and cold, to retain its crisp, just-strained-through-the-ice character.

How much is too much when it comes to a martini?

Four-ounce martini glasses are considered ideal. Bartenders, however, often pour into six-ounce glasses to accommodate the size of contemporary martini recipes and their many ingredients. We tend to enjoy the 8 ounce variety ourselves. For Best Martini Glasses Designed By An American, The Winner Is... The Bombay Sapphire Designer Glass Competition, created by the world’s signature purveyor of fine gin, was created to encourage emerging artists to re-interpret the classic martini glass in their own distinctive style. Competitors use Bombay Sapphire, the company’s signature ‘blue’ spirit, as inspiration. Brooklyn artist Mia Ferrera Wiesenthal was named the U.S. winner of the 2008 competition. Her "On the Rocks" martini glasses beat out 40 other submissions from all over the country. “On the Rocks” may have been a hit with the judges, but the stem-less design has some enthusiasts wondering if these martini glasses have staying power.