For a restaurant that delights in giving memorable experiences to its customers, having the right glassware is as important as the menu itself. While substandard restaurant service does not pay much attention to the quality and type of glassware used, high-end restaurants take tremendous pains to source the right crockery, cutlery and stemware.
Ask any restaurant owner and they would agree that the right glass not only makes a drink look gorgeous, it alters the drinker’s entire experience. Discerning customers who value presentation as much as they value taste expect their favorite restaurant to know which glass goes with which drink. You may source the best red wine, but it needs the right glass to release its wonderful aromas. Similarly, that rare liquor deserves a glass designed to preserve its taste, aroma and temperature.
Whether you’re a restaurant owner or a bar manager, the following handy guide to commercial glassware is worth a read.
Wine Glasses
Red Wine: Stemware for red wines should ideally have a large, round bowl and a long stem. These two essentials help maintain the aroma and the temperature of the wine. The larger the bowl, the easier it is to swirl the drink, and the long stem helps keep the hand away from the wine, thus preserving its serving temperature.
White Wine: Glasses designed for white wine usually have a smaller mouth and a smaller bowl compared with those of red wine glasses. This is to protect the delicate white wines against oxidation.
Sparkling Wine: Champagne and other sparkling wines, as well as their cocktails, are best served in tall and slender stemware with a small mouth. This helps prevent the drink from going flat—the limited swirling space helps limit aeration, preserving the bubbles in sparkling wine. The flute glass is a universal choice for sparkling wines.
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Cocktail Glasses
Of course, the beautiful inverted-cone-shaped glass remains the most popular choice for serving a variety of cocktails in restaurants globally. This classic stemware is much loved for its shape, as the large mouth allows the drinker to take in the aromas of the cocktail before they start enjoying the drink. This glass can be used to serve cocktails with or without ice.
For mojitos and other cocktails that contain large amounts of nonalcoholic beverage along with the alcohol, use tall and slender glasses, often called highball glasses.
Beer Glasses
How can we end this blog post without talking about the beer glass! Beer is quite simple to serve and usually requires tall glasses that can hold a hearty quantity for the beer lover to enjoy. Cylindrical and wide-mouthed, pint glasses are ideal to serve pilsners, stouts, lagers and pales. For wheat beer, choose a glass specially designed to hold the frothy brew. Often called the wheat beer glass, this glassware has a beautiful curvy shape along with a wide mouth.
