The history of barware is the history of housewares itself. Properly storing your home brew required a ceramic crock able to handle the fermentation without breaking down. Given the stretch of time since the dawn of human civilization the drinking glass has undergone numerous beneficial improvements.
This is not one of them. Produced by the fine people at sempli I give you the CUPA-Rocks glass.
Like a number of products the visual impact of this piece is stunning. It is from there that the process begins to fall flat.
For starters let us assume that like many people your table is a flat surface. This glass, when placed upon the table, will have a natural tendency to roll. Unless of course you used a level to place your table it is entirely possible that your first careless guest is going to have fine bourbon splashing to leeward the first time they need to bend over and tie a shoe.
But wait, surely the designer foresaw this? You would be partially correct. I’m assuming that after a few catastrophic dinner parties the light bulb went on, but rather than simply find a way to redesign the glass itself they elected to cash in on their own flaw. They offer specialized coasters and place mats with a slot in them to prevent the glass from rolling. (Yours for $18 a 4-pack, $38 for the place mats).
Next problem is the server, when you have a table full of people who want a nice double whiskey you would normally put the cups on a tray and save time. Attempting to do that with these would result in a short wine-glass version of carol of the bells followed by a lot of spilled whiskey. Never fear, the CUPA-LIFT comes to the rescue. A piece of wood with divots in it designed to hold the CUPA glasses flat and stable you can buy them in a 2 slot for $40 or a 4-slot for $80.
Next problem, the pour. I’m going to assume you elected not to buy the lovely $80 CUPA-LIFT and want to pour a couple of quick glasses for friends. Normally, with a standard straight sided cylinder you can pour one or two fingers and be relatively assured of an even pour at a standardized amount. With CUPA the tilt of the glass creates a somewhat oblong trapezoid where the volume requires a slide rule and some advanced trigonometry classes to figure out.
Did I mention that these ROCKS glasses cost $50 for a pair? A steal after you tack on the $40 tray, $18 coasters and $38 place mats.
If you seriously have the money to burn for a boondoggle like this, send the money to me and I’ll gladly forward you a considerably less troublesome bar glass.
You might say, “It’s just one glass, what’s the big deal?” Ah ha, there you would be wrong. The CUPA is part of an entire line of products from wine “goblets” to shot glasses, from wine decanters to water carafes. All with equally IKEA-esqe names and all with the exact same ridiculous spinning-top bottoms to them.
Shaker and Spreadsheet 