From using Glencairn glasses to try whiskey to pouring Champagne into flute glasses, your drinking glass matters. Though you might not think it can make or break a drinking experience, the shape of the glass you pour your beverage into can impact the way you experience a drink before you take your first sip. As fun and friendly as a margarita glass might appear, the goal of these glasses isn’t simply to announce that a party is arriving to your table.
The true history of the margarita glass is shrouded in various stories, such as one that involves an ambitious Californian bartender who made use of misshapen champagne glasses. Another story about French champagne glasses, which margarita glasses closely resemble, claims that Marie Antoinette wanted glassware that resembled a certain part of her anatomy. Regardless of how it was made, the margarita glass has become iconic.
Margs can be served in a variety of glassware, but the classic glass has the kind of surface area that allows for a bit more salt and enough of a bowl to hold a properly poured drink. Classic margarita glasses are easy to spot, as the rims are broad and the bowl shapes are wide. This larger bowl can keep the drink and ice so that the cocktail remains refreshingly cold until it is finished. Plus, as customary of most margarita recipes, a properly salted rim gives drinkers the ability to taste a bit of salt with every sip when it is served in this style of glassware.
Preparing an unforgettable drink
Like other glasses with wide openings, margarita glasses offer the served beverage enough room to breathe while simultaneously opening up the aromas found in the recipe as a drinker lifts the glass. If you don’t have traditional margarita glasses stocked behind your home bar, coupe glasses can also work. Though the bowls of these glasses tend to run a bit smaller, you can adjust your drink recipe so that your margarita doesn’t have quite as much ice included and offers a more elegant pour.
Regardless of the glass you choose to serve your margaritas in, chill each piece of glassware in the freezer before the intended serving hour. Once the drinks are made and ready to pour, line the rims of glasses with lime before dipping the edge of the lip into a shallow dish filled with salt. You may want to coat only a section of the glass with sugar or salt so that your friends can decide how much extra flavor their drink needs as they sip. And, of course, as with any drink, the right garnish can knock your margarita out of the park. Lime wheels, orange slices, or mint sprigs can take your homemade margarita out of the basic category and turn it into a cocktail that is only destined for greatness. After all, an iconic drink deserves some respect.
