Question 1

How big is a highball glass?

Accepted Answer

Most hold between 300ml and 400ml. The smaller end suits a single spirit with a small bottle of mixer, while 350 to 400ml leaves room for a double, a full-size mixer, a garnish and enough ice to keep the drink cold throughout. Anything much taller than that is usually sold as a Collins, a zombie or a sling glass instead.

Question 2

Is a highball glass the same as a Collins glass?

Accepted Answer

They overlap heavily and many shops list them together. A Collins glass is traditionally taller and narrower, a highball slightly shorter and wider, but both are straight-sided tumblers made for long drinks over ice. Either works for a gin and tonic, a mojito or a Tom Collins, so the distinction rarely matters when you are buying for home.

Question 3

What drinks go in a highball glass?

Accepted Answer

Anything built over ice and topped with a mixer: gin and tonic, rum and coke, whisky and soda, a mojito, a Paloma or a Dark and Stormy. The shape is just as useful for soft drinks and long alcohol-free serves, which is part of why most people get more use out of a set of highballs than any other glass they own.

Question 4

Should I buy toughened highball glasses?

Accepted Answer

For a bar, an event or a garden table, yes. Toughening treats the glass so it copes better with knocks, stacking and repeated dishwasher cycles, which is why the trade specifies it as standard. Indoors at home it matters less, though it is still worth considering if you have children around or you tend to catch glasses on the tap.

Question 5

How much ice should go in a highball?

Accepted Answer

Fill it. A glass packed with ice melts more slowly than a glass with three or four cubes rattling around in it, because the cubes chill each other as well as the drink. Less ice means faster dilution and a warmer, weaker drink by the end of it. Use fresh cubes rather than the half-melted ones sitting in a bucket.

Highball glasses

Rain Hiball 9oz (25cl), set of 24

Rhine Hiball 14.5oz (41cl), set of 6

Riedel Manhattan Hiball Tumblers 350ml

Rockstar Hiball 16.75oz (48cl), set of 6

Rossetti Hiball 12.5oz (36cl), set of 24

San Marco Hiball 14oz (40cl), set of 6

Savage Highball 11oz (33cl), set of 6

Side Hiball 10oz (29cl) CE, set of 12

Side Hiball 12.75oz (36cl), set of 12

Singapore Hiball 11.25oz (32cl), set of 24

Sydney Hiball 12oz (35cl), set of 24

Symphony Hiball 12.25oz (35cl), set of 6

Symphony Hiball 15oz (45cl), set of 24

Symphony Stacking Hiball 12oz (35cl), set of 12

Tahiti Hiball 15.75oz (45cl), set of 6

Tahiti Hiball Onyx 15.75oz (45cl), set of 6

Tahiti Hiball Smoke 15.75oz (45cl), set of 6

Tapered Hayworth Hiball 13oz (37cl), set of 6

Tapered Hayworth Hiball 17oz (48cl), set of 6

Timeless Vintage Stackable Hiball 12oz (35cl), set of 12

Timeless Vintage Stackable Hiball 16.5oz (47cl), set of 12

Tocai Hiball 36cl (12 1/6oz), set of 24

Tokyo Hiball 13.75oz (39cl), set of 48

Toughened Hiball 10oz (28cl) CE Act Max, set of 48