Server Education: Glassware

Getting away from the drab, getting a job talk for a moment, let's discuss something fun and productive! Alcohol and it's glassware!
One of the best ways (if not the best way) to increase sales is through server education. Servers are the sales team, the face of the company, and the ones that can upsell products. Naturally the more your servers know the more they can provide and ask. If your service staff only knows the name of the house vodka you will not get many people ordering Grey Goose or Ketel 1, but explain it and sales should sky rocket.
Today, I am discussing something that may seem like common sense but many don't know. I was once working in a country club as a manager and my story comes from those days. I was standing in the restaurant doing something when a memeber approached the bar, where two friendly servers greeted him. The man asked for a, "Dalwhinnie in a snifter." They looked at each other then handed him an empty footed mug. I knew we had to review...

The basics:

 L to R: Traditional shot glass, tall shot glass (shooter), smooth sided shot glass.

Shot glasses are small 1-2 oz glasses usually used for a single liquor, tequila shots in example, but sometimes mixed for different drinks, like the B-52. Some times shot glasses are used to drop into a beer like an Irish Car Bomb or Lunchbox. Occasionally a margarita is served with a side of lime juice in a shot glass to sweeten to your preference, some people refer to this as a sidecar, eg. Frozen Patron Margarita with a side car.

B-52

 L to R: Rocks glass, Old Fashioned glass, Double Rocks glass.

A rocks glass will usually be a single liquor served with ice (Jack Daniel's on the rocks), but it is perfectly acceptable to serve mixed drinks on the rocks in one. The old fashioned glass is used for the same thing, but has smooth sides, used to make the old fashioned cocktail. The double rocks is just a larger rocks glass, nothing else.

Old Fashioned

 Next we have the Highball, Pint (mixing glass), and a couple different styles of Pilsner glass.

The highball glass is used for mixed drinks in a tall glass or other cocktails. They are typically used for Collins drinks and Bloody Marys. The pint glass is for serving beer or to be used in a shaker to shake a cocktail. A traditional mixing glass is thicker and a little more heavy than a standard pint glass to put up with the constant abuse from ice shaking inside, but they both have the same appearance. The pilsners are used to serve beer in, again, traditionally pilsners.

 Cocktail (Martini), Snifter, Footed Mug (Irish Coffee Mug)

There is more than one way to skin a cat and more than one way to call different glasses. The cocktail glass called a martini glass will be used for martinis and other cocktails, such as the Sidecar. The snifter is used mostly for brandies and cognacs, but some drink scotch from a snifter. Lastly the footed mug or Irish coffee mug, used for hot drinks.

 Water glass, (red) wine glass, champaign flute.

Don't even get me started. Check out Riedel glassware for all the different kinds of wine glasses in exsistance, there's too many.

Specialty glasses that don't necessarily have names, but are marketed by companies, in this case Samuel Adams.