It is not a neat and tidy study, given the range of factors. What follows is my un-scientific account of what glasses I find work well for what whiskeys. But in practice I’ve found certain trends fairly consistent.

Some American bourbons, for example, didn’t always show themselves as well in a Glencairn as they did in a small tumbler or brandy glass. Unsurprisingly, it seemed to work most consistently for scotch, the whisky made by the makers of the glass. Over time the Glencairn demonstrated itself to be not as universally effective as I’d assumed. But as my glass collection grew and my taste for whiskeys diversified, I started to notice the impact a given glass had on my whiskey tasting experience. It’s a clever marketing detail, if unnecessary, and despite Harrison Ford’s iconic Blade Runner glass looking nothing like the Norlan whatsoever:įor a time, I used the Glencairn unquestioningly for anything I tasted. It’s an intentional far cry from various common old-timey whiskey associations:Īnd, with the Rauk glass at least (the first Norlan I’ve tried), a not too subtle appeal to Blade Runner fans is made in the in-box brochure, identifying you the buyer as an “off-world galactic pilot.” The connection is merely in the “sci-fi” of “science,” specifically the now retro cool-factor of the 1982 film’s brooding space-age cop, Rick Deckard, perched on his dystopian 2019 Los Angeles balcony, sipping Johnny Walker Black Label. The customer they appear to be after is wealthy, fashion-conscious, and seemingly humorless. On their website they describe their glasses as a “meeting point of advanced digital design, inventive production techniques and the intimate whisky ritual.” The clear emphasis in their advertising is on the cool-eyed, modern design. Norlan now produces three glasses-their Norlan Whisky, Vawe Highball, and Rauk Heavy Tumbler: Norlan Whisky Vawe Highball Rauk Heavy TumblerĪccording to the folks at Norlan, each glass is the result of extensive scientific and experiential research into what provides the most pleasing drinking experience. The folks behind the high-end Norlan glasses, for example. Some have tried to nail this science down. These two factors alone inject a good amount of chaos theory into the science of glass selection. But there is also one’s personal mood on a given night, or the occasion at which one is drinking.

There is how the shape of a glass influences the taste of what’s in it. But people are so infinitely different from one another. The science of why one might prefer a given glass to another-if it can be called a “science”-is difficult to verify. But figuring that out can take some exploration. So in whatever time that is, we may enjoy our whiskey in whatever way-and whatever glass-we enjoy it most. Like whiskeys, there are more whiskey glasses than time to try them all.

Rolling whiskey glass