# Bar Glass Ware



## wpking (Jul 13, 2010)

I am looking for suggestions for bar glassware at home. 

Where should I be shopping for this, and what would everyone consider to be a basic set?


----------



## DoghouseReilly (Jul 25, 2010)

What kind of drinks are you going to be making and how big are they? The most important part of the glassware decision is size. If you are like me and serve 3 to 4 oz cocktails, 8 oz glasses are going to look way too big. A basic setup that suits my needs would be:

around 8 oz short glasses
around 4.5 oz cocktail glasses
around 14 oz collins glasses

This simple set would allow you to make a variety of cocktails and tall drinks, along with vessels suitable for sipping stuff neat or with a cube. Buy enough to entertain your normal number of guests, plus an additional number for washing, cooling in the fridge or freezer, and breaking. Throw in a few more specialized glasses as you see fit: brandy inhalers, wine glasses, pilsner glasses, and the like.

Where to get them is tricky. Restaurant supply stores have the best selection and the most reasonable prices per each, but they may only sell in cases of 36 or 24. If you can find a supply store nearby that sells individually, that would be optimal. Being in Chicago should make that task a bit easier. In a pinch, however, suitable short glasses and pint glasses in place of collins glasses can be had at Target or Walmart. Properly-sized cocktail glasses would still probably have to be procured online, however.


----------



## Bookman (May 19, 2010)

Doghouse did a great job; but, I think pint glasses, red wine glasses, white wine glasses, and flutes for beer/wine options are essential. Stemware/glassware is always on sale somewhere, so it really depends whether or not you wish to go very high end, or just decent/presentable. For high end, I am a huge fan of Simon Pierce...for presentable, grab several of Bed, Bath and Beyond's ubiquitous 20% off coupons and go to town....


----------



## DougNZ (Aug 31, 2005)

Red wine, white wine, champagne flutes, port, cocktail, highball, tumbler, beer. That will get you started and serve for drinks or formal dinner.


----------



## JerseyJohn (Oct 26, 2007)

Figure out what you plan to serve and how many people you would normally serve and plan accordingly. If you're going to serve wine, champagne or martinis, have the glasses specific for those purposes. Same if you're planning to serve beer (pilsner glasses). Bloody Marys, rum and coke or G&Ts can be served in the dinner glasses you normally use for water - we have a set of 8 tall and 8 short for our general use. Plan for your normal entertainment. If most of time it's just two of you or maybe another couple for sit-down dinners, you can go for a few pieces of the good stuff; but otherwise, get generic. With large groups, stuff gets broken, and you don't really want big crowds messing with your $40 Reidel wine stems unless you're made of $$$. Don't try to have enough for a big family picnic or dinner party - plastic works fine for big groups unless money is no object or you're doing this every few weeks - and even then, there are party rentals.


----------

