Glassware and You
What glassware do you really need, and what's the importance of it?
Let’s get the basics out of the way first. The glassware you need? Is a glass that isn’t chipped, cracked, broken, and is comfortable to drink out of. Sure, glassware can accentuate a cocktail, but I enjoyed the hell out of the Irish Coffee I had served in a styrofoam cup on St. Patrick’s Day.
Let’s start with the basics, the glasses you already likely have. Pint (aka shaker) and rocks glasses. Standard 16/8 ounce glasses, stackable, with a cylindrical shape. They’re low cost, durable, and are available in all sorts of branding. One thing I’d like to point out is that a 16 ounce glass is a terrible serving vessel for 16 ounces of beer. Glass capacity is measured by total volume, and I can’t think of a single drink that works better when filled to the lip of the glass. The gap between the level of liquid in the glass and the lip of the glass is referred to as the collar or headspace of the drink.
Moving on to fancier glasses, I’ll go to my favorite family of glasses:
Nick and Nora - A modern name for a classic style of glass. Small stemmed bowls, sized for a small cocktail pour
Coupe - A wide shallow bowl, usually stemmed. The wide glass and shallow bowl make this work well for both small and large cocktail pours as it looks good with both.
Cocktail glass (aka the V or “Martini” glass) - I have a rational dislike for these glasses. They’re awkward, take up a bunch of space, and the V shape means they only work well for very specific volume amounts.
In case my preference isn’t clear from that section, I would highly recommend a good set of coupe glasses, with Nick and Noras as well. All three of these glasses can generally be used interchangeably, as long as the volumes work for the glass you’re pouring into.
After that, you’ve got some specialty glasses:
Collins - Tall thin glass
Irish Coffee Mug - Footed glass mug with a small handle
Hurricane glass - Shaped glasses for frozen/Tiki drinks
Margarita glass - Shaped glass that have taken over Mexican restaurants the country over
Wine glasses - I prefer stemless here, but I’m far from a wine geek. Spritzes and the like are commonly served in wine glasses (I’m partial to using a Belgian tulip glass for them).
Champagne flute - If you want a flute, otherwise, you can go with the coupe here as well
Tiki mugs - Completely unnecessary, but fun.
Shot glasses - Not necessary, but nearly ubiquitous.
Beer Glasses that can work for cocktails 
From the left, a Tiki mug, a Collins glass, an Old Fashioned/Rocks glass, and in the front, barely visible, a small Guinness shot glass
As I stated at the beginning, none are necessary, but many can be a fun addition to a tasty drink. Go with the glassware you enjoy, fits your style, and looks good to you.
One thing to be aware of when figuring the glass you want to pour a glass into is that you cannot just add the volume of the ingredients up to get a total volume. In addition to the grade school experiment that shows 1 cup of water + 1 cup of alcohol does not equal 2 cups total, there’s ice melt. The amount of ice melt will depend on if it’s shaken or stirred, as well as the ice used. Smaller ice melts faster than larger ice (more surface area), warmer ice melts faster than cold, and cloudy ice melts faster than clear.
I hope to have opened your eyes to some of the different glassware out there. Any personal favorites or hated glasses out there?
I appreciate the opening paragraph. I love the idea of "the best X is the one you have" mentality. We recently inherited (read: guilt-tripped into taking) some crystalware. I didn't really want it, but now that I have it, I want to use it almost as often as I can. Why reserve the fancy stuff for important meals?
I almost always use double-walled glasses for cocktails. Bodum is the known brand, but my Bodum glasses all broke pretty easily; I’ve gone with Sun’s Tea brand since, which uses heavier glass. They insulate well and don’t sweat.