A shot glass is a small glass originally designed to hold or measure spirits or liquor, which is either imbibed straight from the glass ("a shot") or poured into a cocktail ("a drink"). An alcoholic beverage served in a shot glass and typically consumed quickly, in one gulp, may also be known as a "shooter".
Shot glasses decorated with a wide variety of toasts, advertisements, humorous pictures, or other decorations and words are popular souvenirs and collectibles, especially as merchandise of a brewery.
Video Shot glass
Name origin
The word "shot", meaning a drink of alcohol, has been used since at least the 17th century, while reference to a shot specifically as a small drink of spirits is known in the U.S. since at least the 1920s. The phrase "shot glass" has been in use since at least 1940.
Maps Shot glass
Earliest shot glasses
Some of the earliest small whiskey glasses in America from the late 1700s to early 1800s were called "whiskey tasters" or "whiskey tumblers" and were hand blown. They are thick, similar to today's shot glasses, but will show a pontil mark or scar on the bottom, or will show a cupped area on the bottom where the pontil mark was ground and polished off. Some of these glasses even have hand-applied handles and decorations hand cut by a grinding wheel.
In the early to mid-1800s, glass blowers began to use molds and several different patterns of "whiskey tasters" in several different colors were being made in molds. These glasses are also thick like today's shot glass but they will have rough pontiled bottoms from being hand blown into the mold. By the 1870s to 1890s as glass making technology improved, the rough pontiled bottoms largely disappeared from glasses and bottles.
Just before Prohibition in the U.S. in the late 1800s to early 1900s, thin-sided mass-produced whiskey glasses were common. Many of these glasses feature etched advertising on them. After Prohibition, these were replaced by shot glasses with a thick base and thick sides.
Sizes
Types of shot glasses
Cheater glass
These glasses are for those wary of heavy drinking, their bottoms are sturdy and thick they give the illusion of a plain shot glass when in reality they only hold half as much liquid.
Fluted glass
A basic shot glass with fluting featured on the base of the glass.
Pony glass
Pony glasses can only hold about an ounce of fluid each but are normally used while mixing drinks into a larger glass.
Tall shot glass
Tall shot glasses are taller, but also narrower. They only hold a standard 1.5 ounces of liquid.
Rounded glass
In a rounded shot glasses the walls of the glass curve down leaving a 10 centimeter difference between the lip of the glass and the bottom rim of the glass. They are popular in Europe.
Shot-measuring tools
Jigger
A jigger or measure is a bartending tool used to measure liquor, which is typically then poured into a glass or cocktail shaker.
The term jigger in the sense of a small cup or measure of spirits or wine originates in the U.S. in the early 19th century. It was slang for a small drink of about half a gill or so, or the special cup used for it. Many references from the 1800s describe the "jigger boss" providing jiggers of whiskey to Irish immigrant workers who were digging canals in the U.S. Northeast.
The style of double-ended jigger common today, made of stainless steel with two unequal sized opposing cones in an hourglass shape, was patented in 1893 by Cornelius Dungan of Chicago. Typically, one cone measures a regulation single shot, and the other some fraction or multiple--with the actual sizes depending on local laws and customs.
A contemporary jigger measure in the U.S. usually holds 1.5 US fluid ounces (44 ml), while the jiggers used in the U.K. are typically 25 ml or sometimes 35 ml. Jiggers may also hold other amounts and ratios, and can vary depending on the region and date of manufacture.
In the U.S. up until Prohibition, a jigger was commonly known to be about half a gill, or 2 US fluid ounces (59 ml), but starting in the latter part of the 20th century, it is typically interpreted to be 1.5 US fluid ounces (44 ml).
Measuring shot glass
A shot glass graduated in smaller units such as half-ounces, teaspoons, tablespoons, or millilitres. They are useful for precise measurement of cocktail ingredients, as well as in cooking recipes that call for multiples of a smaller unit (e.g. several teaspoons), allowing the dispensing of the amount in a single measure.
See also
- Alcoholic spirits measure
- Pony glass
- Alcohol measurements
References
External links
- The Shotglass collectors website
Source of article : Wikipedia
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