Which Glass Is Best For Whisky?

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People drink whisky from all sorts of different glasses – some even swear that it tastes better from the bottle!

Until a few years ago, when the Glencairn glass hit the scene, there wasn’t really a standard whisky glass. The Glencairn glass has since become the unofficial standard for tasting whisky, but many people still wonder which is the best type of glass for them to use when they are enjoying a wee dram.

The Glencairn Whisky Glass

As mentioned earlier, the Glencairn glass has become pretty much the de facto standard for whisky aficionados worldwide these days.

The idea is that the tulip shape channels the aroma of the whisky towards the taster’s nose and that you can get a lot more of the notes in the bouquet.

I can certainly confirm that the aroma received using a Glencairn glass is much stronger than what you would expect from a straight sided tumbler.

The Glencairn glass is ideal for use whenever your sampling a whisky for the first time – or if you’re enjoying an especially fine whisky that you want to get all the nuances from. However, with its short stubby base and a reasonable angle of tilt, it is also a good glass to use for your every day enjoyment of whisky.

And if you prefer a flat based glass to the short base, the Glencairn Canadian whisky glass is a great choice for all round use.

The Neat Whisky Glass

As mentioned above, the tulip shape of the Glencairn glass delivers a lot more of the whisky’s aroma to your nose than a straight sided glass would. Some people find this to be just a little overpowering. Enter the Neat whisky glass.

The Neat glass also channels the aroma of the whisky toward the taster’s nose – but the wider rim is designed to let the very high alcohol fumes disperse so that you get only the subtler notes in the whisky. “Nose burn” can certainly be a problem when sampling high alcohol, cask strength, whiskies – and this glass certainly helps to reduce/avoid that.

Personally speaking, I like this glass for tasting new whiskies – but the angle of tilt required means that it’s less useful for casual enjoyment of whisky. It’s a great glass – but maybe not for everyday use. Nevertheless, it’s a glass that every whisky lover should have handy, for those special tasting occasions.

Straight Sided Whisky Glass

It’s very much a mater of personal taste of course, but when I’m drinking one of my favorite whiskies I quite like to use an old fashioned whisky tumbler.

I like one that has a bit of weight about it, so that it feels nice in your hand basically. I also like a little decoration on the glass, but not too much. I find it helps me to pour the right measure.

The Waldorf Bar glass is a very good example. It feels a nice weight in your hand, is a good size and has some rather nice, slightly retro, glass cut decor on the side. It looks great – especially when it has a nice measure of whisky in it.

Summary

Hopefully at least one of the glasses above would be suitable for you. However, you can enjoy your whisky whenever you like, wherever you like using whatever kind of glass you like.