Tall glass

With soda at the ready we can venture into new territory: the cocktail category known as the long drink. Although it will typically contain a comparable amount of alcohol to a ‘normal’ cocktail, adding a lot of mixer will reduce the alcohol percentage of the drink. So long drinks will go down a lot easier… with eventually the same result. Drinker beware.

Larger quantities will need a larger glass, so this is where the tall glass comes in. There are quite some types of tall glasses: but they all have in common that they are tumbler glasses with a chimney shape.

Each type of tall glass has a connection to a specific type of cocktail.

A Delmonico glass traditionally holds fizzes and Rickeys. It was named after a New York restaurant and is a small type of tall glass.

A fizz is made with lemon juice and soda water, and isn’t served on the rocks. A Rickey is made with lime juice and soda water, served on the rocks.

A highball glass is used for highballs (well, there’s a surprise). Its volume lies somewhere between the Delmonico and the Collins glass.

A highball is a spirit that’s served on the rocks with some kind of soda or water.

A Collins glass is typical for the several Collins variants, like the Tom Collins and the John Collins. It’s narrower than the highball glass.

Apart from the particular glass, serving the drink on the rocks seems to be the defining difference between Collinses and fizzes.

A Zombie glass is even larger than the Collins glass and was named after the archetypal Tiki drink. Ironically, this cocktail isn’t a typical long drink, since there’s no mixer that’s being added at the end.

So now that we’ve straightened out the particulars concerning the different tall glasses, I’m sure you’ll agree that’s its best to ignore these specifics completely. Just use any tall glass that seems to fit the amount you’re aiming for, or adjust the amounts you use to your glass.