Classy Glasses for a Home Bar

Hi, I'm Joe Campanale. You're watching eHow.com. Today, I'm going to show you all the glasses that you need for your perfect home bar. The first glass is called a highball glass. This is a glass for drinks that have a little bit more liquid in them, like a Bloody Mary, or a Pimm's Cup, which is my favorite. If you're wondering which cocktail to use in this, any time you have rocks, a decent amount of liquid, and maybe even some club soda, that would be a really good use of this glass. You can always use your highball glass for beer, or for water even. But, if you want to get a little bit fancier, what we use here at Anfora are these great beer glasses. They have this beautiful sort of curvature to them, and they really accentuate the flavor of the beer. And then, you might recognize this. This is called a martini glass. Martini is used for the Martini cocktail, or any cocktail that is served straight up, as we say in the bar, which means without any ice. This is called an old-fashioned glass, or rocks glass. Similar idea to the highball glass, except these are drinks that have a little bit less liquid to them, so usually nothing with any soda. So, it's a cocktail poured over ice, or spirits poured directly over ice, like a Mai Tai, or the Old-Fashioned cocktail. This is a really useful glass. It's called a neat glass. So, say you're having, you know, your boss over, or someone really special you want to impress, and you pull out that dusty but very special bottle of old cognac or single malt scotch, you pour just a little bit into the neat glass. It makes a really elegant presentation. This is really fun, it's called a cordial glass. It's used for digestives and high alcohol spirits that you don't want to be swirling around. If you swirl them around, then it really sort of increases the alcohol, and that could singe your nose if you put into it. The shape of this accentuates the flavors, and also makes sort of a really pretty presentation. Now, let's talk wine. There's no need to get a separate glass for Chardonnay and Pinot Grigio, and another one for Cabernet Sauvignon. If you get yourself a couple of really nice all-purpose glasses, that'll take care of everything. What's really important to note is that it has this nice long stem, so that you can hold the glass by the stem without warming up or smudging up the wine. And it's clear, so you can see your wine. And, the other thing is that it comes in sort of at the top. So, it's more narrow at the top than it is over here in the middle, and that's important because we really like to swirl the wine. And, the reason you want to swirl the wine is because it makes it more aromatic, and really brings out those flavors. And then, you have a champagne flute. Usually, you use champagne flute for sparkling wine, but it's not totally necessary. I also like to have sparkling wine in the all-purpose glass. It's also really great for any sort of champagne cocktail. The really wonderful thing about a champagne flute is that because of the shape, it captures the bubbles. It has a small surface area, and it looks really beautiful and elegant, but something that maybe is not totally necessary. And then, finally, if your friends like to have fun and take a couple of shots at the end of the night, you can always stock a few shot glasses. I think you know how to use these. Thanks again. I'm Joe Campanale. Next time you're in New York City, come have a drink with me at Anfora.