Bormioli Rocco Barglass

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

With drinks over ice, full of ice beats half full. A 28 cl tumbler filled to the rim with ice chills faster and dilutes more slowly than the same tumbler with three cubes. Stir an old fashioned in the glass itself, with sugar, bitters and whisky, and only add the ice once the sugar has dissolved. A negroni is built the same way, with equal parts and a strip of orange peel over the top.

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 measures, they are gathered in the shot glasses category. The complete Italian range is with Bormioli Rocco. For the mixing itself there are the cocktail shakers and the jiggers for measuring accurately. If you mainly work with long drinks over lots of ice, the tallest size in this series falls short and slim, tall glasses are the better addition to the cabinet.