What is a Martini Glass?
A martini glass is the quintessential item of the 1950s, where the stay at home wife would greet her weary husband at the door with a martini after a long day of work. Although we’re a little more evolved now and the classic martini isn’t as in vogue as it once was, many people still love enjoying a cocktail in a martini glass. So we’ve gone through and researched some of the best martini glasses on the market today.
Martini Glass vs. Cocktail Glass
The Martini Glass and the Cocktail Glass are often referred to interchangeably, but they are actually slightly different. A martini glass has an inverted conical bowl. The cocktail glass you’ll notice has a slightly rounded bowl, not a perfect cone, like the martini glass. A cocktail glass also usually has a slightly shorter stem and a narrower rim. Martini glasses often range anywhere from 3 to 10 FL oz, but larger bowls can be found if desired.
Because these glasses are so similar and frequently used interchangeably, for the rest of the article, we are going to simply refer to them as martini glasses. Some of them may technically be cocktail glasses, but to make things easy, we’re not going to split those hairs.
Important Features of a Good Martini Glass
The Bowl
The bowl of a martini or cocktail glass is an odd shape because it allows your drink to spill quite easily. There is an old tale that says that these glasses were used during prohibition. Used so that if a speakeasy ever got raided, your drink could be easily poured out. The reality, however, is that these glasses came into existence much earlier in the 19th century. The inverted cone shape of the bowl does two things. It ensures that mixed drinks have a hard time operating in the glass. And it gives a large surface area so that the martini, a drink made mostly on liquor, can quickly vent ethanol without overwhelming the drinker.
As ethanol evaporates, it releases aromas form the alcohol. The aromas are a good thing and allow the drinker to enjoy the diversity and nuanced complexities of different alcohols. The ethanol, however, serves only to stifle the drinker’s ability to smell those aromas. It overpowers and muddles these aromas and flavors. By giving the glass a shallow bowl with a wide surface area, you allow the ethanol to vent off of the top while putting the spirit right under the drinker’s nose so that they can truly experience and enjoy the drink.
The Stem
This day in age, stemless glassware has come into favor with a lot of people. But the reality is that the stem serves one purpose, and that is an important one. It keeps the drinker’s hand away from the bowl so that the natural heat from our bodies doesn’t warm the drink. This is especially important when it comes to a martini glass because these glasses never contain ice. If the cocktail needs to be cooled, then it is shaken or stirred with ice before being strained into the glass.
Since heat affects the aroma and taste of your liquor, you want to make sure that you keep heat away from the bowl so that the drink can remain at the perfect serving temperature for as long as possible.
The Foot
The foot of the glass is simply the solid base at the bottom. It doesn’t serve much purpose other than giving the drink a sturdy setting so that it is not easily tipped over. One thing that the foot of a glass can tell you is the overall quality. Above the foot where the setting meets the stem, you will notice one of two things. Either there will be a seam where the foot and the stem have been pushed together, or there will be one seamless joining of the two elements. If the junction is smooth, then you know that you probably have a higher quality glass.
Common Phrases Used When Ordering a Martini
Dry, Perfect or Wet Martini
The variation here has to do with the type of vermouth that is added (dry or sweet). It has to do with the amount that is added. The perfect martini is usually considered 4 parts gin and 1 part vermouth. Any less vermouth makes the martini “dry” and any more would make it “wet.”
Shaken or Stirred
Shaken means that your cocktail will be shaken with ice in a cocktail mixer before it is poured into your glass. This usually results in a super chilled beverage but can also leave small chunks of ice in your drink.
Stirred means that your cocktail will be stirred with ice in a cocktail mixer for 30 seconds before being poured into your glass. Your drink may not be as cold this way, but it also won’t have any small chunks of ice.
Olive or a Twist
An olive means that you will receive a drink with a skewered olive floating in it. A twist means that your glass will instead come garnished with a small twist of lemon peel on the rim.
Dirty, Gibson, or Vesper
Dirty refers to a martini where you receive both an olive in the glass and some of the juice poured into the glass to bolster the flavor. You can specify how dirty you would like your martini based on how much olive juice you would like to be added.
Gibson is what you order when instead of an olive or a lemon twist you want a pearl onion to be added to the glass.
Vesper refers to a drink that has no, olive, lemon twist, or pearl onion. Instead they add a dry wine to vodka and gin.
Drinks Frequently Enjoyed in a Martini Glass
Because of a martini glasses unique shape, all drinks served in a martini glass are straight. If a cocktail needs to be cooled, then it will be shaken or stirred with ice in a cocktail shaker before being poured into the martini glass and served.
Martini
Ingredients: 1/2 oz (1 part) Dry vermouth, 3 oz (6 parts) Gin
Straight: Pour all ingredients into mixing glass with ice cubes. Stir well. Strain in chilled martini cocktail glass. Squeeze oil from lemon peel onto the drink, or garnish with olive.
Manhattan
Ingredients: Maraschino cherry (Garnish), Dash Angostura bitters, 2 oz Rye or Canadian whiskey, 3/4 oz Sweet red vermouth
Preparation: Stirred over ice, strained into a chilled glass, garnished, and served straight up.
Brandy Alexander
Ingredients: 1 oz (1 part) Fresh cream, 1 oz (1 part) Cognac, 1 oz (1 part) Crème de cacao
Preparation: Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Sprinkle with fresh ground nutmeg.
Pisco Sour
Ingredients: 1 oz Lemon Juice, 1 Egg white, 1 1/2 oz Pisco, 3/4 oz Simple syrup
Preparation: Vigorously shake and strain contents in a cocktail shaker with ice cubes, then pour into a glass and garnish with bitters.
Negroni
Ingredients: 1 oz (1 part) Gin, 1 oz (1 part) Campari, 1 oz (1 part) Sweet red Vermouth
Preparation: Stir into glass over ice, garnish and serve.
Cosmopolitan
Ingredients: 1/2 oz Fresh lime juice, 1 oz Cranberry juice, 1/2 oz Cointreau, 1 1/2 oz Vodka Citron
Preparation: Add all ingredients into a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake well and double strain into a large cocktail glass. Garnish with a lime wheel.
Gimlet
Ingredients: One part sweetened Lime Juice, Four parts Gin
Preparation: Mix and serve. Garnish with a slice of lime.
Grasshopper
Ingredients: 1 oz (1 part) Fresh cream en, 1 oz (1 part) Crème de menthe (green), 1 oz (1 part) Crème de cacao (white)
Preparation: Pour ingredients into a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake briskly and then strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
Traditional (Stemmed) Martini Glasses
Best Overall
The Lenox Tuscany Classics Martini Glass made its way to the top of our list because it embodies everything we are looking for in a proper martini glass. This glassware is made with non-leaded crystal blown with a beautiful seamless design. The weight of the glass feels good in your hand, and the thin rim rests nicely on your lip. The thinness of the crystal makes sure that the glass itself isn’t interfering with your sense of the spirit. And with all of these incredible features, it is worth noting that these are coming in at an incredibly affordable price.
This glass set is backed by a lifetime replacement guarantee so that if you ever break one, they will send you a replacement. I’m not sure how they can afford to do that will crystal glassware but more power to the customer! We appreciate it.
Premium Pick
The Riedel Extreme Martini Glass is our premium pick for the best traditional martini glass. Riedel’s extreme collection gets its name from the extreme contours of the glass. These are the optimal angles to express the nuanced notes of the spirit used in any martini. These glasses are machine made with lead-free glass. They feature a seamless design from bowl to stem to foot. These martini glasses feature an extremely thin lip and bowl, but they still manage to be ultimately dishwasher safe.
Best Price
The Arc International Luminarc Cachet Martini Glass is the ultimate piece of glassware for everyday use. They are incredibly lovely glasses with good strength and a thin lip for sipping, but the glass is so inexpensive that if you accidentally drop one with frequent use or at a party, it won’t be the end of the world.
This martini set is made of lead-free glass in the USA and is 100% dishwasher safe. This is the ultimate affordable set of martini glasses.
Stemless Martini Glasses
Best Overall
The Viski Stemless Martini Glass is a modern take on the traditional martini. These are made from beautiful lead-free crystal. They have a thick solid base so that although they are not exceptionally sturdy, they do sit nicely on their own. The bowl features a medium thickness rim and a 7.5 fl oz capacity. Our only concern with these is that they are not specifically mentioned to be dishwasher safe. However, in our tests, they held up just fine.
Best Double Walled Design
This is a stemless martini glass that solves the problem of heat from your body, warming up the drink when it doesn’t have a stem. The Dragon Glassware Martini Glasses solve this problem and still maintain an exquisite and modern design. These glasses are handcrafted with crystal clear lead-free glass. The bowl also holds a respectable 7 oz so that these glasses can work with many different cocktails.
Best Price and Disposable
These JayJolt Stemless Martini Glasses are thick and durable, have a broad, sturdy base, and they are super affordable! Because of the thick base, these glasses are heavier than the others stemless martini glasses on this list. However, this base makes these glasses the sturdiest and most durable on the list as well. They have an 8 oz bowl that is big enough to hold any cocktail and is 100% dishwasher safe.
Plastic Martini Glasses
Best Overall
This is the K BASIX Unbreakable Martini Glasses. These glasses are made to look and feel like fine crystal but they are actually made with commercial-grade polycarbonate. That makes these glasses unbreakable and reusable. They are 100% dishwasher safe or easy cleanup. You never have to worry about broken glass again. These solve that problem and do so with the same elegance of a traditional martini glass. They also come with a 30-day money-back guarantee, so if you try them out and decide, plastic isn’t for you. Then they’ll send you a full refund, no questions asked.
Best Stemless
These could also be considered our premium pick because these glasses definitely aren’t plastic prices, but the abundant features make up for that. The Host Insulated Plastic Stemless Martini is made of double-walled plastic. Filling the inside is a proprietary cooling gel. You are meant to stick these glasses in the freezer so they gel turns to a solid where it will keep your drink at a perfect 43 to 53-degree temperature.
Give yourself perfectly chilled drinks till the very last drop! These stemless glasses also feature a rubber band around the base so that you can comfortably hold the glass without freezing your hand. These glasses are made with BPA free plastic and are completely dishwasher safe. They also feature a hefty 9 oz bowl.
Best Price
The Tableclothsfactory Disposable Plastic Martini Glasses are a fantastic option for when you have to use disposable plastic martini glasses. They have a 5 oz bowl with a rim that is wrapped in silver foil. The foil also covers the stem and foot and gives this glass a small but much-needed upgrade from the traditional clear plastic options. This also has a longer stem like a conventional glass. Something that you won’t find with a lot of other plastic options. But perhaps most importantly, when you are looking for something disposable. These are one of the best looking and the best-priced plastic martini glasses we could find.
Best Metal Martini Glasses
Premium Pick
The BrüMate MargTini Martini Tumbler is the ultimate outdoor martini glass. These tumblers are double-wall vacuum-sealed so that you never have to worry about your drink getting warm. They come with a spill-proof lid so that even if you’re out walking around or sitting in your pool, you won’t have to worry about losing your drink. The inside is coating with BruMate’s patented BevGuard technology so that your drink will never taste like metal, and it features a large capacity 10 oz bowl. And the outside coating is extremely durable so that it won’t chip, fade, or peel. The lid also features a hole that is big enough to accommodate a straw when needed.
Runner-Up
This glass is pretty straight forward. The Endurance Stemless Martini Glass is made from durable 18/8 stainless steel. The outside is brushed metal while the inside is highly polished, leaving a beautiful shine. The rim is thin but rounded, so it is not sharp. The bowl holds 8 ounces. These metal martini glasses were made of stainless steel so that they would be extremely durable and because stainless steel will keep your drink colder for longer than glass. This is an important note, especially for a drink like a martini, which won’t have ice in it. These glasses are dishwasher safe and are meant for everyday use.
Copper Martini Glass
These beautiful glasses come from the Mosscoff Copper Martini Glasses Set. The bowls are made from 99.98% pure copper. The stem and foot are made from brass so that they don’t transfer heat, but they are coated in pure copper to match the bowl. The whole glass is then covered with a lacquer to save the luster and prevent any tarnishing. Each bowl is hand-hammered by copper artisans so that no two will ever be exactly the same. These cups also each come with their own pure copper straw that brings the cold to your lips and works great as a stirrer.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Best Martini Glass?
The best martini glass is a cocktail glass. Something with a stem that keeps your hands away from the bowl so that your drink stays cold. With a wide rim that allows the strong ethanol vapors to escape so that they don’t overwhelm the drinker.
Why are Martini Glasses Shaped That Way?
Martini glasses have a stem so that your hand doesn’t warm the drink. A sharp in the bowl so that your cocktail doesn’t separate and a wide rim so that ethanol vapors can easily escape. This allows the drinker to smell the aroma without being overwhelmed.
What is the Difference Between a Cocktail Glass and a Martini Glass?
A martini glass has an inverted conical bowl. The cocktail glass you’ll notice has a slightly rounded bowl, not a perfect cone, like the martini glass. A cocktail glass also usually has a slightly shorter stem and a narrower rim.
What is Commonly Served in a Martini Glass?
The drink most commonly served in a martini glass is the martini. Usually consisting of 3 fl oz of gin and 1/2 fl oz of dry vermouth, with two skewered olives floating inside.
How Many Shots are in a Martini?
Your average martini will have three shots of vodka or gin.
What Can I Use Instead of a Martini Glass?
If you don’t have a martini glass, then your next best bet is the similar cocktail glass. If you don’t have a martini glass or a cocktail glass, then use whatever you would enjoy drinking out of most!
