Jayson Wilde, beverage director for prolific San Francisco hospitality company Future Bars, says the shift happened during the early aughts, as a by-product of the American craft cocktail renaissance. In 2006, when Future Bars opened Bourbon & Branch in the Tenderloin, one of the city’s pioneering craft cocktail bars, they served martinis in v-shaped glasses. But it wasn’t by choice. “There wasn’t a good option for a sexy martini glass,” Wilde said, noting that Libbey was basically the only company producing barware at scale. “They were hard to find.” America was still coming out of the ’90s, when anything served in a conical glass got categorized as a martini, whether that meant a cosmopolitan or a lemon drop.
But as craft cocktail culture proliferated across the country, more cocktail glass suppliers began to spring up. That’s when Wilde says some bars started to switch over to coupes. There was a practical reason for the change too: “[Coupes are] simply easier to carry on a tray,” Wilde said. “They’re easier to pass off to a guest so you’re not spilling half your drink walking away from the bar.”
The popularity of even more elegant Nick and Nora glasses came even later, and Wilde says they’re even easier for bartenders to use. Unlike wide-rimmed martini glasses or coupes, slender Nick and Nora glasses take up far less space for both storage and in a dishwasher. And while they can be almost as apt to spill as a martini glass, Wilde said the aesthetic appeal has made them a popular substitute. Additionally, Nick and Nora glasses usually hold about five ounces of liquid in total, making them well-suited in size for such a stiff drink.