The best glass for whiskey is the glass already in your hand, but if you are serious about tasting and experiencing all of the subtlety which high-end whiskey offers, which is fine to be worth getting a fancy whiskey glass. When I started drinking the high-end whiskey, I chose Glencairn glass. I assumed it as one of the serious grown-ups drinkers were using it on reviews and I have seen well reviews on Amazon too. So, I decided to buy one pair for myself.
For most part, I liked them, but I have to admit, I wasn’t fully satisfied. The main problem with Glencairn glass is that whenever I poured my whiskey, the noise of that was overwhelmed by alcohol fume. That dissipates after 10 minutes, so obviously whenever I pour my whiskey I don’t want to be waiting around for 10 minutes. But there are plenty of online stores who sell good glasses matching your requirements. I also heard about blastedglasscompany which is one of the quite popular online store for glasses. Anyways, let me explain about some good glasses.
Red Wine Glass: Most of you have wine glasses in your house already, so you might not need to buy glassware. Now, a white wine glass probably in a better shape but, if you don’t have them and own only red wine glasses, which are quite large and better for containing massive and unreasonable pours of wine so that you can stay in your two-drink limit.
Tulip Beer Glass: If you’re beer geek, you might wanna buy one of these. This glass was preferred by one of my beer-geek friend who pointed out that this glass is right kind of shape to concentrate aromas with wider opening like a Glencairn whiskey glass.
Scotch: The First Impression: When first time pouring the scotch, the Glencairn glass was surprisingly smooth. No booze burnt in my nose and strong bouquet immediately. This one is difficult to beat. Where, the Glencairn whiskey glass had low concentration in the nose but it was kind of nice. The wine glass was weaker and some problems with burning alcohol fume.
Scotch: Summary: If you’re willing to wait for the fume to disappear, then my suggestion would be to go with the tulip glass. If not, Glencairn can be a second choice. Although, I was surprised that Glencairn didn’t make a nose burn with Balvenie. So, the bottom line is if you are at a party, plastic cup is fine, but if it’s an event, I would recommend wine glass for that.
Bourbon: Initial Impression: Moving to the subject of Bourbon, the beginning nosing of the Glencairn glass revealed the familiar nose burn. The alcohol fume was strong enough which picking other elements from the nose was hard, but it wasn’t uncomfortable though.
The Glencairn glass turn out to be better. No alcohol fume and nice bouquet. On the other hand, the wine glass was all booze burn. And similar to scotch, both party cup and rocks glass had almost no smell after pouring.
Bourbon: Summary: Well, the Glencairn glass and red wine glass are the winners here, but, both still need time to let the booze settle the fume down. The tulip glass is also fine, but needs long time to relax. But, if you prefer to drink right away, The Glencairn Whiskey is good compromise.
Final Thoughts: So, I guess all the experts were right. The Glencairn glass might be the best glass around all available out there. But, you have to be patient if your drink is producing alcohol fume. On the plus side, a shot looks just right where most other glasses looks pretty much meager. The wine glass totally surprised me by the way, it was not bad at all. And, if you don’t wish to buy new whiskey glasses, rounded wine glass would be fine. You won’t miss out too much and will save some extra money to buy extra booze.