1954 Practical Bar Management by Eddie Clarke

SEVEN

Glassware

May we breakfast with Health— dine with Friendship— crack a bottle with Mirth— and sup with the goddess of Contentment

IFONE were to ask a hundred different people the question as to how they liked their cup of tea, the majority would be almost unanimous in agreeing that it always tasted better if poured from an old-fashioned, rich brown teapot into a nice china cup. Which isjust by way ofan example to illustrate how much the eye has a direct bearing on governing the palate. So, then, carrying this established fact along with us in a search for a suitable drinking vessel from which to sup the many alcoholicjoys—and frowning disdainfully at the lack of good form shown by those who gulp-down straight from the bottle, but at the same time appreciating the taste of certain gentlemen who like to sip their champagne out of a silver slipper—let us put the question to the connoisseurs of wines and other spirituous beverages, as to what, in their opinion, is the best container to drink from. The answer again would be fairly unanimous, and we would be told that,"fine glasses are the only setting, and add to the enjoyment of fine wines". They would also add that the glasses must be clear, thereby allowing the wine to glow in all its splendour ; to use coloured glass is like masking a beautiful woman. Thick and ugly glasses border on sacrilege, would one drink nectar—the beverage of the gods—from a jam-jar, we are asked! Small glasses and glasses filled to the brim also come into the same category, for a small glass does not hold enough wine, therefore with such dwarfish treatment it cannot give to the full its unmistakable and individual bouquet; whilst glasses filled to the brim have an added disadvantage, because the drinker is more interested in raising it in a safe passage to the lips without either spilling it down his suit, or spoiling the carpet, than in trying to appreciate its bouquet. 64