Fashioned

In cocktail culture, every detail matters—from the way you measure your ingredients to the ice that chills the drink. But one often-overlooked element can elevate a cocktail from good to exceptional: the glassware. A well-chosen cocktail glass isn’t just functional—it enhances the drink’s aroma, texture, and overall presentation, elevating the ritual of enjoying a cocktail. At Death & Co, we treat the glass as seriously as what goes inside of it. 

Coupe: A Timeless Classic

The coupe glass is an icon, with origins dating back to the early 20th century. Though its bowl shape was once rumored to be modeled after Marie Antoinette’s breast (a myth we love to debunk), the coupe has cemented its role as a versatile vessel for shaken and stirred cocktails served up (that is, without ice). Drinks like the Daiquiri and Manhattan find a perfect home in the coupe because its wide surface area allows the drink’s aromatics to bloom, while the stem keeps the warmth of your hand away from the liquid. Our ideal coupe glass holds 5 to 7 ounces.

Martini Glass: A Bold Statement

The martini glass is as much a cultural symbol as it is a piece of glassware. With its iconic V-shaped bowl and long stem, it’s designed to hold “up” drinks that emphasize elegance. A good martini glass showcases a drink’s crystal clarity and refracts light beautifully, making it a showpiece as much as a vessel. While purists may limit its usage to the eponymous cocktail, the martini glass also suits spirituous classics like the Vesper or the Gibson. Martini glasses come in a wild range of sizes; we prefer ones on the smaller side, around 5 or 6 ounces.

Old-Fashioned Glass: The Workhorse

Also known as the rocks glass, the old-fashioned glass is a highly versatile vessel that can be used for both stirred and shaken drinks. Old-fashioned glasses come in two styles: the smaller single old-fashioned (or single rocks) holds around 10 ounces and is primarily used for stirred drinks served neat, such as the classic Sazerac. The larger double-old-fashioned (or double rocks) holds 13 to 15 ounces and is used for stirred drinks served on ice, such as its namesake cocktail and Negronis. You certainly don’t need to buy both sizes of old-fashioned glasses; if you have to pick one, opt for the larger double old-fashioned, which is large enough to also be used for shaken drinks served over ice.

Collins and Highball Glasses: Tall, Cool, and Refreshing

Tall, slender glasses like the highball and collins are essential for showcasing effervescent cocktails served over ice. While the shorter, narrower highball is designed for drinks that contain two ingredients (base spirit and bubbly mixer) such as gin and tonics, the collins glass is great for drinks that contain more than two ingredients, including the classic Tom Collins and its many variations. Highball glasses range in volume from 8 to 12 ounces and collins glasses typically hold 10 to 14 ounces; we split the difference and use a 12-ounce collins glass that can serve the full spectrum of tall drinks.

Nick & Nora: Understated Elegance

Named after the hard-drinking husband-and-wife sleuths in Dashiell Hammett’s “The Thin Man,” the tulip-shaped Nick & Nora is the more refined and modest counterpart to the angular, oversized martini glass. At our bars we use Nick & Noras for almost every stirred cocktail served up, including Manhattan-style drinks and most Martini variations. Until recently, Nick & Noras were hard to come by, but today you can find many versions that hold around 6 ounces.  


When choosing glassware for your home bar, you don’t need to purchase all of the vessels highlighted above. Follow your budget and drink preferences, which might lead you to more specialized vessels like the julep tin, the champagne flute, or the fizz glass. If you have limited space, you can get away with just three styles of cocktail glass—double old-fashioned, Collins, and Nick & Nora—in which you can serve almost any kind of drink.

No matter what glasses you use for serving cocktails at home, let us leave you with one more pro tip: The temperature of a glass is vitally important to the cocktail-drinking experience. Whenever possible, store glassware in a freezer until just before you serve a cocktail. In addition to keeping the drink cold longer than a room-temperature vessel, the tactile sensation of a cold stem between your fingers, the frosty patina that envelopes the glass, and the bracing jolt from its rim against your lip will elevate the experience and help you turn your home bar into a craft cocktail bar.