This is part one of a two-part article about Team Delta Farce and their mission to create something unique as whisky glass to symbolise what our project is about. The team is also offering you a chance to win a complete set of four glasses that Team Delta Farce created. These glasses will be a one off, limited release of only 250 sets. They will be released for sale after we publish part two of this story next week.
Team Delta Farce
This mission needed the very best of the best. The elite, spec-ops types. Battle hardened war veterans that could stare down Chuck Norris and make Rambo call his nanna for some comforting words and moral support. We assembled the our Special Ops team: Team Delta Farce. You may applaud.
whisky glass
We had Captain Cringe (Jason – content and editorial support), Private Parts (Darryl – product design and branding), Sergeant Major Catastrophe (Hayden – our GM), Corporal Punishment (Fabien – product design and branding) and Chief Petty Officer Otter (Phill – editor for all our content) all under the leadership of Major General Mishaps (Jay – our CEO, who just came along when he heard there was free whisky).
The Usual Suspects – The Four Main Styles of Whisky Glass
There are 4 main styles of whisky glasses that are dominant in the market. Although we don’t know the industry statistics (most of us just swig directly from the bottle so glasses are irrelevant) and we probably don’t even have the correct names for them, we decided to simply call them Rocks Style, Snifter Style, Glencairn Style and Tulip Style. We’re deliberately not including a shot/shooter whisky glass because as every whisky lover knows, good whisky is to be sipped, savored, and experienced. Shot glasses can stay in their lane next to a cheap bottle of Sambuca, or (as we prefer) in the bin.
Most whisky brands typically brand one of these 4 main styles with their name and logo and bundle them in a box set with whatever bottle they need to sell more of (or, more likely, charge extra for). It’s boring, it has zero creativity, and its a rinse-and-repeat cycle that does little more than employ a Photoshop monkey to change the pictures on the front of a template for an outer box.
Other Funky Stuff
There have been some interesting ideas come out in the world of whisky glassware over the last decade or so, due in part to the growth in whisky consumption. When combined with crowd funding websites (which has created accessibility through pre-selling to fund new concepts) many new glasses have become available. This means different shapes, different sizes, even sometimes with new materials! What they all share in common are claims about how the particular glass enhances the experience of drinking whisky. I don’t know about the other members of Team Delta Farce, but I hold the opinion that a fancy glass in my hand speaks volumes about the quality of my character.
A Drinking Glass or a Tasting Glass? What type of whisky glass did we really want?
Well, our team has tried them all: every size, shape, and style there is. We’ll be honest, there are some styles that genuinely enhance the aromas of whisky, which does enhance the whisky tasting experience. But (and we’re sure most of you will agree) there’s a vast difference in mindset and comfort when tasting whisky versus drinking whisky.
When tasting, yes, we all use a tasting glass. The shape and style are normally a personal preference between a Glencairn style and a Tulip style. There are logical reasons to want a taller shape to capture aromas.
But, when we are drinking, our slippers on, bum in a comfy old chair, with some gentle background music, perhaps with a cigar, we agreed as a team that a rocks glass was the preferred style.
A slug of whisky, an ice ball, with no cares in the world.
Get Your Rocks…On?
The thought of us, growing wooly fleeces, bleating in synchronisation and following all the other sheep in the whisky industry with generic, branded rocks glasses would be as painful as gouging out our eyes with spoons.
The time had come to design our own. In the same way we do everything at Nine Rivers Distillery, it was mob of whisky lovers brainstorming ideas over a few whiskies. Starting with a long list of wants and needs, which would lead to some scribbles and sketches, it eventually led to some design concepts which resulted in developing prototypes.
We knew we needed ultra premium quality, extra flint glass. We wanted weight. We wanted a chunky thick base. We wanted some sculpted character. We wanted everything that would make this stand out amongst a sea of other glassware on any whisky lover’s shelf.
Time For Tech
There aren’t many ways to include technology in glassware. How can technology improve the enjoyment of whisky once past the design phase? That was a question we all pondered on.
“If we changed the glass to borosilicate glass, the boron trioxide will give a much lower coefficient of thermal expansion.”
Five confused faces stared at the source of the noise they had all just heard and for a brief moment there was absolute silence. Eventually, one of the five asked what everyone else was thinking – “what on earth are you babbling on about – how does that help design a whisky glass?”
“It means the whisky glass wont crack under extreme temperature changes, so we could (in theory at least) get a laser with a wavelength of 532nm, map it against the 3D renders from the architects, we could essentially create a path of micro-fractures in the glass. “
Five confused faces stared at the source of the noise again and for another brief moment there was absolute silence. This time another one of the five asked what they all thought – “are you just drunk and talking nonsense?”.
“We could create a 3D sub-surface laser engraving in the base of the glasses. Each glass could have one of the buildings in it. A set of 4 glasses would become a representation of the entire distillery.”
This time there was no silence. There was 5 dull-sounding clunks as 5 jaws hit the table in front of them, quickly followed by two “wows” one “awesome” one “show me what that looks like” and a “I think this is a very very shit idea.”
Five Votes to One
With five being in favour and some examples shared of 3D images being engraved within blocks of glass, this injection of nerd-factor motivated the team to get scribbling with some designs that were literally good enough to make into our first whisky glass.
Coming Up Next Week In Part 2
We have a lot to show in Part 2. We’ll do the big reveal on what our first whisky glasses are going to look like (and you can trust us when we say they look absolutely amazing). We’ll also be showing you all what we did to take what was already a pretty awesome concept and turn it into what we consider to be a work of art.
The competition winner will be announced (just to prove we’re not cheating) and they will be featured in the article.
We’ll announce the cost of a set of glasses and open up sales on them as soon as the content goes live. Remember, there are only 250 sets available so these glasses will sell out quicker than Jay can trigger a wobbler in a WeChat group.
Competition Time
Here’s a chance for you to win one of only 250 sets of these glasses that will be made. We won’t do another production run on these glasses, period. BUT REMEMBER – we will be announcing the winner, so if you’re shy and want to stay out of the limelight, don’t enter.
Get your thinking cap on your head – 开动脑筋想一想
Answer the questions below to have a chance to win a set of glasses. Remember, we need your details too so don’t skip that bit – 回答下面的问题，有机会赢得一套杯子。请留意填写你的详细信息，请勿忽略。
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