How to - Origami

Not many people fully understand why you can buy so many different shaped glasses in the shops these days. To the uninitiated the variety may seem a little unnecessary, surely they can’t change the flavor of the liquid they hold can they? Well actually they can, and here is a breakdown of some of the most common glass types and how they affect the drink.

Whisky Glasses. There is a very good reason why people consume whisky from large-diameter glasses rather than the tall thin variety. Because whisky is often consumed ‘straight’ and not diluted with a mixer (although it can be), the volume of a serving is often quite small. The result of this means that if whisky was served over ice in a narrow and tall glass, the area of the drink in contact with the ice would be quite small as the ice would be stacked up the glass. As ice is necessary to chill the whisky and release its deeper flavors, it’s best to serve the drink in a wide shallow glass where the ice can move around and have more contact area with the liquid, thus chilling the whisky more.

Champagne Flutes.This type of wine is served in long thin glasses and again there is a good reason for it. The sparkling nature of champagne means that it gives off a gas when the bubbles reach the surface and burst. If the glass was wider then your nose would enter the glass when drinking and the gas would enter the sinuses, having a negative effect on the flavor.

Red and White Wine Glassware. The shape of a red wine glass is more often than not large and round. This allows the drink to be swirled around quite aggressively, liberating lots of hidden flavors that would otherwise not be released.Further more, your nose can comfortably fit into the body of a wide glass, meaning you can breath in more of the wine’s aromatic offerings. A more conservative and tubular glass is used for consuming white wine. This is because you want to keep the flavors quite compacted in the glass and absorb more of the aroma of white wine through the mouth rather than the nose.

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