The Ultimate Eau de Vie Glasses Guide

When it comes to whiskey, you probably know that the best glass for enjoying your favourite malt looks very different from what is commonly perceived as a whiskey glass. However, when it comes to eau de vies things start to look grimmer. If you ask for an eau de vie in a regular dive-bar, you probably will be served a shot. Contrary to that, there are also glasses specifically designed for fruit spirits. To shed some light on which glass to use, I set out to find the best glass for different styles of eau de vies.

While I thought this endeavour would be fun, it turned out to be hard work. Of course this is entirely my own fault, because I chose twelve glasses and ten eau de vies for this tasting. All in all, I tried to get different styles of glasses, but also some typically used for eau de vies. I also wanted to cover a wide range of different eau de vies. This is why, besides different fruit varieties, I also added barrel aged eau de vies and an overproof spirit. It took me a while to get through it all, but after five months and 120 combinations the results are in.

A short disclaimer

First, while I tried to tackle this from a statistic standpoint the results are still my subjective impressions. Second, it is only logic, that the biggest part of an eau de vie’s taste is influenced by the spirit itself. If you have a high quality eau de vie it will taste better enjoyed from all glasses. Nevertheless, the tasting resulted in a few interesting things, some obvious and some surprising.

Bigger is better?

A rather obvious result is that you can better perceive the fruitiness and complexity of an eau de vie in bigger glasses. This is especially true for the aroma and less for the taste. I was able to experience this first hand with the Gugelhof Rote Williams eau de vie sampled below from the fairly big Spiegelau Willsberger Cognac glass. The vintage red Williams eau de vie makes exceptionally good use of the glass’s size. However, if you have a delicate eau de vie, the larger glass can also have a negative effect on the complexity of aroma and taste.

Does the glass even matter?

Of course, one go through all combinations does not result in a statistically significant effect. So, it might not come as a surprise that the majority of glasses achieved a similar result, especially when it comes to the taste. This means that if you buy a high quality eau de vie you are able to enjoy it from any of the presented glasses. Yet, there are some glasses which work better with a lot of different varieties of eau de vies than others. In this tasting this was true for the Spiegelau Digistif Authentis, the Stoelzle Glencairn and the Zalto Digistif glass. While this pretty much summons up the whole tasting, I guess you are a spirits nerd and you want a full in-depth analysis of the effect the different glasses have on the sensory perception of the individual eau de vies.

In depth analysis

Well, here it goes: The rather atypical Lobmeyr Staehlemuehle glass concealed alcoholic notes the most. The exact opposite effect had the Stoelzle Quatrophil / Guglhof glass. It intensified the alcoholic notes the most. Bitter notes can be especially well perceived with the Eisch Unity Malt glass and sweet notes with the Eisch Melissa glass. When it comes to fruitiness the Guglhof glass and the Zalto Sweet Wine had the highest ratings in the aroma and the Spiegelau Willsberger Cognac glass in the taste. You can also see this with my tasting notes of the Reisetbauer Williams also sampled from this glass. Below you will find a detailed look at each glass and the style of eau de vie it is best suited for.

Eisch Jeunesse

The Eisch Jeunesse is a hand-blown glass with a capacity of 90 ml and a rather typical shape for eau de vies. In our tasting it was especially suited for apple and pear eau de vies, where it achieved high scores in complexity and fruitiness for the Faude Appel, Gugelhof Red Bartlett and the Reisetbauer Williams eau de vies. As a side note the Jeunesse glass is quite short and therefore does not take up a lot of space.

Eisch Melissa

Contrary to the Jeunesse, the Melissa glass with a height of 200 mm is quite tall. It has a similar form, but with 125 ml also a higher capacity. Looking at the overall results it scored similar with a bigger difference in the complexity in the taste. The glass best suits grape marc spirits, in this case the Capreolus Siegerrebe. However, you also get decent results with citrus eau de vies.

Eisch Malt Whisky Glass SENSIPLUS

With a volume of 230 ml the Eisch Malt Whisky Glass is among the biggest glasses in this tasting. Since, Eisch designed it for single malts, it might not come as a surprise that it works best for barrel aged eau de vies and overproof ones. The glass especially amplifies the fruitiness of the Faude Apple eau de vie, but it is also suitable for other apple and pear eau de vies. On top of that you can also enjoy concentrated citrus eau de vies from it.

Lobmeyr Staehlemuehle

As mentioned above, when trying eau de vies from the Lobmeyr glass (volume 150 ml) the alcohol notes are subdued, both in the aroma and the taste. Of course this means it is a great glass if you are sampling overproof spirits and do not want to be overwhelmed by the alcoholic notes. When you are looking for a glass which generates a more mellow drinking experience than the others, the Lobmeyr Staehlemuhele is the right choice. Surprisingly for me, it was the best glass to sip the Gölles Cherry eau de vie from.

Spiegelau Digestif Authentis

I use this as my standard spirits glass. I am used to it and in my opinion it is a perfect combination of aesthetics, capacity and feeling. With a volume of 170 ml it is neither to big nor to small for most spirits and therefore it serves as the benchmark for me. Concerning eau de vies, it turns out that it is especially suited for apples, pears and apricots. Apart from that, sampling from the Authentis glass resulted in high medium scores for all eau de vies, except the blackberry spirit.

Spiegelau Willsberger Anniversary Cognac

With a volume of 280 ml the Spiegelau Willsberger Anniversary Cognac is even bigger than the Eisch Malt Whisky Glass. It has a conical shape at the bottom and therefore also looks a bit atypical. All in all, the volume and shape mean that you need a flavourful eau de vie to not get lost in it. In this tasting it worked especially well with the Zott Pomeranze citrus eau de vie, but even better with the Hiebl plum eau de vie.

Stoelzle Glencairn

The Glencairn glass produced under licence by Stoelzle is one of the most iconic whisky glasses out there. They successfully resolved the conflict between stemmed nosing glasses looking not manly enough and whisky tumblers. While you get especially good results for all eau de vies with this 170 ml glass, it especially suits apple and pear eau de vies as well as barrel aged ones.

Stoelzle Grandezza

The Grandezza glass with a volume of 105 ml comes in a small tulip form. It works well for spirits distilled from grape marc, apples as well as pears. However, it achieved only mixed results for eau de vies distilled form macerated fruits or nuts. For all other fruits it is a good all-round eau de vie glass, too.

Stoelzle Quatrophil / Guglhof

The Stoelzle Quatrophil (volume 65 ml) is almost exactly the same as the glass from the Austrian distillery Guglhof. It best fits stone fruit eau de vies as well as apple and pear eau de vies. On top of that, the hazelnut eau de vie from Lantenhammer also tasted best in this. Yet, since your nose is very close to the spirit you also get a lot of alcoholic notes when sipping from it. This is why I would not recommend the glass for overproof eau de vies.

Schott Zwiesel Basic Bar Selection Grappa

One thing that set the Schott Zwiesel Basic Bar Selection glass apart was its rather big stem. However, with a capacity of 127 ml it achieved good results for grape marc spirits and apricot eau de vies and berry eau de vies. However, it only achieved mixed results for the rest of the eau de vies.

Zalto Digistif

The Zalto Digistif with a volume of 140 ml you can use it as a good all-round glass with especially thin walls and rectangular shapes. On top of that, it works best for apple and pear eau de vies as well as barrel aged ones. Yet, the glass achieves mixed results with grape marc spirits and the berry eau de vie in the tasting.

Zalto Sweet Wine

The sweet wine glass from Zalto probably is one of the most unusual glasses for sampling eau de vies. I included it in the tasting, because according to Zalto it works well for some eau de vies and whiskies. After this tasting, I can absolutely relate to that. The glass which resembles a tulip-shaped champagne glass has a capacity of 320 ml. In this case the glass works especially well for citrus and overproof eau de vies. However, you can also sample more traditional eau de vies distilled from apples, cherries, pears and stone fruits as well as barrel aged eau de vies. Similar to the Zalto Digistif glass it only results in mixed scores for grape marc spirits and the berry eau de vie.

*The fact that I received a product reviewed in this article for free, did not – in any way – influence the rating of said product. Most glasses were provided by the manufacturer.