Bormioli Rocco Barglass

The 5 cl is the shot measure and also the size in which you serve a liqueur or aperitif. The 19.5 cl is the small tumbler for whisky neat or with a single ice cube, and for juice at the table. The 28 cl is the classic rocks size: large enough for a cocktail with plenty of ice, yet small enough to keep the drink concentrated. The 37.5 cl is the most spacious and the most useful for mixed drinks over ice. Anyone setting up a home bar will go a long way with six 28 cl glasses and six 37.5 cl glasses. Compare the shapes in the whiskey glasses and the old fashioned glasses.

For drinks served over ice, full of ice is better than half full. A 28 cl tumbler filled to the brim with ice cools faster and dilutes more slowly than the same tumbler with three cubes. Stir an old fashioned in the glass itself, with sugar, bitters, and whiskey, and add the ice only once the sugar has dissolved. A negroni is built the same way, with equal parts and an orange peel over it.

Bar glass from Bormioli Rocco is made thick-walled, with most of the mass in the base and the rim, exactly where the knocks land. The series can go in the dishwasher. Place the tumblers apart in the basket: glasses that end up wedged inside one another break when you pull them apart, and behind a bar that is the most common damage of all. Rinse with soft water to avoid limescale rings.

If you only need shot glass sizes, they are grouped together in the category shot glasses. You can find the full Italian range at Bormioli Rocco. For mixing itself, there are cocktail shakers and jiggers for precise measuring. If you mainly make long drinks with lots of ice, the largest size in this series falls short, and slender, tall glasses are a better addition to the cupboard.