Glassware

Currently I've been using Glencairn whisky glasses. Look great with whisky in then, perfectly Chanel the whisky to the nose.

Years ago I used the traditional Glencairn glass...Having a big face/noggin I've found the 'Canadian Glencairn' much more to my liking which is what I use everyday.

A few years ago I had received a pair of 'NEAT' glasses free...I never got to use them for I accidentally broke both while washing them in soapy hot water (1 of the glasses slipped from my hand, and landed directly atop of the other that was in the soapy water - both cracked/chipped, and unusable).

Again - it's the 'Canadian Glencairn' for me.

@Tom92, there are some other discussions on glassware on Connosr also.

I suggest you do a lot of experimentation with a wide variety of glasses. If you do, and your taste is keen, you will be utterly amazed at the amount of difference there is in nosing AND TASTING the same whisky across 5 or 6 or more different glass designs. There are flavours you will TASTE in some glasses and not in others.

On my whisky display table, for guests invited for tasting, I always keep Glencairns, Stranahan's Distillery Glasses (cute small baseless Glencairns), Riedel Spirits Glasses (similar to a stemless copita), and medium-sized Brandy Snifters.

What do I like? My observations:

1) Big bowl shaped glasses give maybe the best, most interesting results of all, but they are a nuisance to store, impractical to transport, and more difficult to clean. I use them at home only, sometimes.

2) my everyday whisky glasses are medium sized Brandy Snifters. I like the quality of the experience using them more than copitas and much more than Glencairns.

3) Glencairns are pretty to look at, and are always acceptable among whisky drinkers, though mediocre in the quality of the experience they give. I prefer the cute little Stranahan's Distillery Glencairn style glass for looks and compactness to the standard Glencairn.

4) Copitas, and Riedel Spirits glasses, are OK too, but I don't see any advantages to them, unless you like their looks.

5) the NEAT glass is a wild ride. Yes, it does reduce alcohol on the nose as advertised. It also reduces the other flavours of many whiskies, and very very oddly, seems to raise the pitch level on the PALATE for most whiskies. It is well worth buying a NEAT glass just for the experience in how very much glassware can affect your nosing and tasting experiences. (Thank you @CognacFan for giving us one.)

Most of the different effects of using different whisky glasses which I am reporting will be hard to believe until you actually have the experiences of using them yourself.

My preferred glass has to be the glencairn, it allows you to nose the whisky perfectly, it feels good in the hand.

I am a Glencairn fan. For Forty Creek whisky I once had the opportunity to taste it in a miniature version of the glencairn, and it was probably the best Confederation oak I have tasted. Sadly, I have been unable to buy one of these gems.

For Amrut whisky, the only whisky I have subjected to the "Ashok Manoeuvre", a glass that allows the concentration of aromas AND warming with the hand is probably best (ie something with a stem).

If you want a miniature glencairn glass I know aberfeldy distillery have them, otherwise I might have misunderstood your reply

They don't tip over. Canadian Glencairn glasses are sturdy and reliable like their namesake. The heavily weighted base delivers an instant pop-up maneuver if somehow the glass is upset. Rating: A+

Port Pipes offer an unequaled experience. They can be used two ways. 1) drinking from the bowl with the pipe as a vent...awkward, yet effective. 2) sip from the pipe using the top of the bowl as a vent. This second method is extremely dangerous when repeated. Rating: Mindbending.

@sorren I would love them, but would they ship them to Canada?

Last Christmas, or should I say 'Scotchmas' - may brother in law, and I always do our own thing later in the evening hours (as in enjoying a single malt, and a cigar).

Being the 'generous' guy that I am - I stopped off at the local Wal-Mart, and gifted him some inexpensive stemless wine glasses, and truth be told - they worked just fine.

@Nozinan By "port pipe", do you mean a glass like this:

wineenthusiast.com/port-sippers-(set-of-4…

@tfahey1298

No, I mean nothing of the sort, but perhaps @paddockjudge does

The nosing of a whisky provides much of the pleasure... and as noted by others the choice of glassware does impact to experience immensely.

My go-to glass is the classic Glencairn, for the various reasons noted by others, as the tulip shape holds and focuses the aromas of the dram.

In my whisky quest, I have acquired other types of glassware - the Glencairn Canadian (picked up a few sets of 6 when the LCBO was selling them at C$19.95/set a few years back). These work well for single malts, but not as well as the original Glencairn, IMHO. However, for Canadian whisky or bourbon, I prefer the Glencairn Canadian over the traditional.

Way back in 2011, Pierre Thiebaut posted a video on Connosr profiling the Villeroy & Boch whisky glasses. Just search Connosr for "villeroy" and you will find the video.

Based on that review, I went ahead and purchased some of each type (Islands, Highlands, Lowlands and stemmed nosing glasses). Using each glass for the particular whisky they were designed for, you do get significantly different nosing results than with the traditional Glencairn - not necessarily better, but certainly different. It depends on the whisky... (and the weather, my mood, the time of day... ;-> ).

I purchased my Villeroy and Boch glassware direct from their Canadian website: www.villeroy-boch.ca - just go there and search for "whisky".

I would like to try the NEAT Whisky glass - to compare results with my other glassware, but they are expensive to purchase... dropped hints to family members as a possible gift item for birthday or Christmas, but still waiting.

I have used the mini-Glencairn at a whisky gala dinner, but I found them sub-par as there is insufficient bowl to capture and hold then focus the aromas, so all whiskies seem flat compared to any other glass. I would compare the results of using the mini-Glencairn to that of a standard straight whisky tumbler.

Trying the different glassware with different whiskies is just part of my whisky journey.

Slàinte!

Being very sensitive to alcohol, I don't use Brandy sniffer, or lids, as I get noseburn and can smell anything except the alcohol with them. My daily glass is a regular Glencairn, but I play with my glasses. Here are some remarks.

The Canadian Glencairn is great for Canadian Rye as it brings more fruit and less maple. The flavors are weaker than with a regular Glencairn, but I find the Canadian Rye to be usually more balanced with this glass.

The regular Glencairn gives intense flavors, but the lower notes and malt are coming stronger than the higher and fruity notes.

I also use an Inao glass, wine tasting glass,. It is the opposite of the Glencairn as the higher notes and fruity flavors are shining with that kind of glass.

I don't own a Copita glass, but those that I tried gave me something in between the Glencairn and the Inao but closer to this one.

As the Neat glass, I agree with Victor, it is weird! It definitely raise the palate and dissipe alcohol. The nosing is not good unless you are really plunging your nose into the glass. The strangest part is the way your sip is coming large on your tongue. I have one but don't use it.

Conclusion, depending on the flavors I want to bring forward I will use the Glencairn or the Inao. Although a Copita is probably the glass that will give you the best balanced experience, it will not allow you to play with the balance of your whisky the way I am doing it with my glasses.

I use the glencairn and also one similarly shaped but on a foot.

I would like to try the neat glass but I don't see myself buying it because I don't like the looks of it. Sounds interesting though..

Glencairns are what I have for general purpose/everyday use but I do have a selection of other glasses for the occasional use: - Luigi Bormioli Vinoteque spirit snifters or Libbey tulip glasses if I fancy some stemware - Luigi Bormioli Vinoteque Pinot Noir glasses if serving with ice balls - Denver & Liely handmade glasses and SMWS handmade glasses for the special occasions

@tfahey1298, Yes, those are exactly what I was referring to. Port Pipes are a lot of fun with whisky.

@paddockjudge, cool looking glasses, those 'Port Sippers'. What a hoot! Do you have some of them? They look pretty fragile...like they would need extreme care in transit.

@Victor, they are robust, but not indestructible. There should be a warning placard attached: "prolonged use may result in whisky review writing."

@paddockjudge Do you know of any Canadian online sellers?

@Nozinan

I purchased some glassware from Wine and Tableware (located in Montreal). They have two "brandy pipe" glasses in their online catalogue, simliar to the ones linked above...

(thanks for the correction on my post above - clicked the wrong @reply...)

wineandtableware.com/uni-clear-brandy-pipe-…

wineandtableware.com/uni-clear-footed-brand…

@Victor I have so e Canadian Glencairn glasses on the way, so shall experiment with them. I also like the look of the Luigi Bormioli Spirits Snifter. The boss has some at work that we never use so may persuade him to borrow them for awhile. I've had some of the port pipes for awhile but have never used them for whisky, usually they have just been used for my water to add to my whisky. Looking forward to experimenting with different glasses but the neat glasses I'm not sure about

@Nozinan, I haven't purchased any glassware on-line. I have purchased all of my glassware at shops, and often at sale prices. The Canadian Glencairns were $4.95 ea or 6/$19.95 at the LCBO...where you can buy lead crystal glassware dirt cheap, but pay through the nose for a half-decent bottle of whisky.

@Victor I have so e Canadian Glencairn glasses on the way, so shall experiment with them. I also like the look of the Luigi Bormioli Spirits Snifter. The boss has some at work that we never use so may persuade him to borrow them for awhile. I've had some of the port pipes for awhile but have never used them for whisky, usually they have just been used for my water to add to my whisky. Looking forward to experimenting with different glasses but the neat glasses I'm not sure about

Wow, @tfahey1298 those are some funky looking glasses alright!

General consensus seems to be that the neat glass is not popular due to it's looks. Is it anyone's preferred glass?

@Alexsweden The Neat glass is not a good glass! Period! I don't mind the look. I do mind the fact that you get almost nothing nosing a whisky from it. Yes, the flavors seems very weak with this glass. I read that it was the official glass at San Francisco spirit competition , I can't remember the official name, It has to be for sponsorship! For me, It's only use is to tame the alcohol of an unbalanced whisky.

@Alexsweden, the NEAT glass is absolutely my # 1 favourite glass for demonstrating the HUGE range of different effects your choice of glassware has on experiencing both the nose and palate of whisky. It is fascinating to the point of awe-inspiring how much that design of glassware modifies your experiences with whiskies.

As for its desirability and utility, as @Robert99 says, there are undoubtedly some whiskies for which the NEAT glass would modify your experience in ways which you would consider an improvement. Experimentation and experience would tell you which whiskies those would be.

The NEAT glass is also weird as hell to drink from, because to pour anything out of it into your mouth almost requires your upper lip to be flat on its rim. For me this is unsettling and uncomfortable.

The NEAT glass does make a dandy little miniature chamber pot if you don't feel like moving from your chair while visiting with your friends. :-)

And is it mere coincidence that turning the NEAT glass upside down gives one of the pretty standard UFO geometric shapes? Probably not.

Is it no surprise no body has mentioned a straight tumbler glass?

@Tom92, no, it is not too surprising. It is almost impossible to get a nose on a whisky in a standard straight-edged tumbler.

@Victor My favorite whiskey drinking glass came with bottles of Woodford Reserve. It's like a wide mouth glencarian class or could be described as a narrow mouth high ball call. What I like about it, is the ease of drinking. Sometimes I just want to enjoy the whiskey and not sit there trying to analyze it.

I'll use a glencarian or Brandy glass if I'm trying to get into a whiskey, tequila, Brandy

@Tom92 I meant to post the last message to you as well.