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I continue to prepare for the celebration of March 8th. My wife is not very well versed in alcohol, but her favorite drink is Martini. At the same time, I tried to surprise her – I repeatedly bought her other brands of vermouth, but she always says that she loves Martini, and not some kind of vermouth. For her, this is a separate type of alcohol.
I don’t want to convince her anymore – it’s more expensive for myself. But on March 8, I decided to present her with glasses for her favorite drink, and therefore I was puzzled, and which ones to choose.
Suitable martini glass shape
Few people know, but there are not one, but two types of martini glasses. The first and world famous is the so-called “Martinka”. This is a glass with a bowl in the form of a wide cone on a long thin stem. Its volume varies between 90-240 ml:
- 90 ml glasses are the most requested standard;
- 120-160 ml – suitable for cocktails with a lot of ice;
- 180-240 ml – I even find it difficult to say why they are needed, I have never seen anyone use them.
In such glasses, cocktails are served exclusively chilled to about 10ºС. If you pour vermouth into them, be sure to at least dilute it with soda, juice, sprite. It is very convenient to decorate the edge of the glass with a sugar border, a slice of lime, a “bouquet” of mint, a skewer with pieces of fruit, olives fits well on it.
Important! In “martinkas” you can serve martini-based cocktails – Negroni, Americano, Bianco Sunrise and others.
For a pure martini, which is served exclusively with ice cubes, there are other glasses – thick-walled “faceted” glasses. The ice in them does not melt for a long time, and the hand does not feel discomfort from the cold. You can’t tell from the outside, but the volume of such glasses coincides with the “martins”.
Important! Serving drinks in martinkas with ice cubes, and not with crushed ice, is a gross violation of “alcohol etiquette”.
Why are special glasses needed at all?
The martini glass was created by the producers of this brand of vermouth. Through long trial and error, they found out that it is with this configuration that the drink retains its taste and aroma for the longest time, despite the fact that the bowl is very wide.
A long thin leg does not allow the martini to heat up from the heat of the hand. The non-standard glass, which was associated exclusively with the manufacturer, also played into the hands of the brand.
During the twentieth century, the drink somehow imperceptibly became almost “cult”. His image in the mass consciousness has firmly merged into a single whole with a glass. Therefore, now drinking a martini from something else is somehow even indecent.
Important! A nice bonus for ladies: the lips practically do not touch the glass, there are no traces of lipstick on it.
What can replace martini glasses
The shape of martini glasses is so unique that it has no analogues. Most of all, in terms of the configuration of its bowl, it resembles a Margarita cocktail glass, but even here the resemblance is very distant.
A pure martini can be served in whiskey glasses, vodka shots, even tequila if no appropriate glasses are available. But this is all “typically not that”.
Rules for choosing martini glasses
Graceful and elegant martini glasses are made of thin glass (rarely – of crystal). Pay special attention to its quality – the uniformity of thickness, the absence of cloudy areas, bubbles, foreign inclusions. Otherwise, when choosing, you can focus on your own taste – the design is very diverse (of course, it should not distort the authentic shape and volume):
- transparent glasses with black or colored legs (and vice versa – a colored bowl on a transparent leg);
- colored glass with overflows;
- engraving on the outside of the bowl;
- carved (six-, three- or four-sided) or curved leg.
Glasses for a pure martini are thick-walled, tetrahedral. This creates an unusual optical illusion, as if “crushing” ice cubes.
The shape of martini glasses is the result of many trials and errors by the specialists of the respective company. They vary widely in design, but the recognizable cone-shaped bowl and long, thin stem remain the same.
Excessive alcohol consumption is harmful to your health. Take care of yourself!
Do you love this drink? Do you have special martini glasses? Or do you think that the main thing is the content, and the shape of the glass is not so important?