Proper Glassware
The Pimm’s Cup, like anything worth doing, is worth doing right, and the easiest way to tell if your bartender or host is “doing it right” is by looking at the type of glassware they’re using. If your Pimm’s Cup comes served in a lowball glass, send it back. If it comes served in anything with a stem, forget about it. If it comes served in a boot, call a cab, because if you’ve allowed yourself to be seen in an establishment that serves drinks in glass footwear you are much too intoxicated to continue drinking.
The proper glass for a Pimm’s Cup is a 10.5–12 oz collins glass. These tall glasses are sometimes referred to as zombie or highball glasses. The actual differences between these glasses are subtle and there’s no use expounding on them unless one wishes to sound like a jackass. All of them will work fine for a proper Pimm’s Cup. The reason that the taller collins glass is preferred to the lowball is that the collins has a larger capacity. Lowball glasses typically hold only 8–10 oz., which by the time you’ve added sufficient ice and the requisite cucumber slice or Borage sprig, does not leave much room for the cocktail itself. Lowballs are also commonly associated with whiskey and scotch drinks, which would be as out of place at a summer gathering as mufflers and mukluks! Save those drinks for the fireside evenings of autumn.
Stemmed glassware is shunned for the reason that it is typically reserved for the parlor or dinner table, and would appear too stuffy and a might bit pretentious for casual summertime gatherings.
It should also be noted that the collins glass is the preferred glass for many other summer cocktails. The classic gin and tonic, the Tom Collins (obviously), and the Cape Cod.
