Intoxicating New Whiskey Glasses

By Richard Thomas

Norlan Whisky Glass
(Credit: Norlan)

Perhaps because I can date my first interest in good spirits back to a time when double and triple malts might have become a fad and Blanton’s was a new and novel product, I’m of two minds about whiskey glassware. Mindful that in the days of my youth, Kentucky’s master distillers would often call on each other in the summer to sample their wares out of dixie cups, my practical and easy-going nature says “to each his own and whatever works.”

That said, I understand that design can assist a great deal in certain aspects of whiskey-drinking, particularly nosing. I also appreciate that sometimes having some spiffy gear adds to the experience. It is that mind that wants to explore the latest in whiskey glassware. Some items are destined to become big hits, while others will likely fizzle the way the Ballantine’s Space Glass did.

The Next Hot Thing
The Norlan Whisky Glass is arguably the most anticipated article of whiskey glassware ever. It’s two month Kickstarter campaign raised over $800,000 from almost 11,000 backers, numbers that many an entrepreneur would envy. What the Norlan does is cross the nosing-friendly bowl-and-flute shape common to many whiskey glass designs, particularly the popular Glencairn, with the old fashioned and ever popular tumbler.

As this item is only available on pre-order at the time of publication, no one can objectively speak to its touted characteristics yet. However, the idea of taking the two most popular whiskey glass designs and creating a hybrid out of them is a winner in and of itself.

The NEAT Alternative
When the NEAT Whiskey Glass came out a few years back, it was the attractive upgrade to the classic Glencairn. Receiving far less attention, and therefore still new to most, was the Denver and Liely Whisky Glass. Like the Norlan, this hand-blown glass is a hybrid of the tumbler and the bowl-and-flute noser too. In place of the Scandanavian design sense of the Norlan, what Denver and Liely offer is some Australian practicality.

Whiskey Wood
A number of projects for wooden whiskey tumblers were floated last year, but the only product in this vein actually available for purchase come from Joe Laird’s woodworking shop in Ireland. Each of his Sessile Oak Whiskey Tumblers takes five weeks to produce, mimicking the appearance of a whiskey barrel.

The advantage of wood cups of this type is supposedly in the same vein as whiskey sticks, namely putting more wood flavors into spirit. The wrinkle that immediately comes to mind with that claim is that even the fastest whiskey sticks are advertised as requiring 24 hours, and few drinkers keep their whiskey in the glass for much more than an hour. What is more, if there is any transfer of wood flavors to the whiskey, the cup will eventually become exhausted.

Keeping those practical problems in mind, it’s best to ignore the flavoring claims and focus instead on the aesthetic aspects of drinking whiskey from a cask-like tumbler.

Whiskey In Rocks

More straight forward than the wood cup, perhaps, is plain rock. Another Kickstarter glassware project, this one a Kickstarter Staff Pick, is the Rock Solid Glass created by Rick Steinard.

No claims of enhancing flavor here! What these soapstone tumblers offer instead, besides being a very grounded idea, is a cross between the whiskey stone and a tumbler. Instead of putting the stones in the freezer or refrigerator, you put the whole cup in instead.