In Reference to... Nick and Nora Glasses
- Katherine Arkady
- Mar 11
- 9 min read
Updated: Mar 20
Introduction
I was doing research for a Detroit-based story the weekend before Valentine's day. There's this spot, Castalia at Sfumato that, according to their website, "is an experimental craft cocktail bar located in Midtown, Detroit. Focusing on the harmony between flavor and fragrance, each of our drinks is paired with a scent from our sister company, Sfumato."
Perfect date night spot, perfect place to research perfumes. I'm getting two birds with one stone.
If you're in the Detroit area, I highly recommend you go there. My boyfriend thought it would be cheesy—expensive cocktails with flowery smells?—but he changed his mind. It's a sensory experience that folk should experience at least once. And they have a rotating list of cocktail pairings as they are always creating new scents!
"But Katherine, what does this have to do with Nick and Nora Glasses?" you ask.
Right, yes. I was sipping on this lovely cocktail called Light and Dark, Good and Evil. It's got
a botanical spirit (peppermint, dried lime, basil), elemi, lemon, raicilla (a distilled spirit originating in the south western part of the Mexican state of Jalisco. Like tequila and mezcal, it is a product of the agave plant), cucumber, amaro ((Italian for 'bitter') is an Italian herbal liqueur that is commonly consumed as an after-dinner digestif), and vermouth.
And it was served in this cute, cute glass. Wikipedia describes it as "a long stem, a high-sided bowl, a narrow mouth, and a moderate capacity (of about 5 US fluid ounces (150 ml))."
I, ever curious, asked the bartender what the name of the glass was.
She said, "a Nick and Nora glass."
I asked why that was and she didn't know. Suddenly, from the deep memory banks of my college literature classes, I wondered aloud, "I wonder if it has to do with the Dashiell Hammett novel."
She had to go and tend bar but I was on my phone searching away at this.
And, what do you know, it DID have to do with The Thin Man (1934) by Dashiell Hammett. My trivia-going energies were tingling. My reference hunting energies were buzzing. My blog writing energies were grinding away.
So dear reader, let me tell you more about the novel, The Thin Man, the movies inspired by the book, and the cultural influences they had on these glasses.
The Literary Origins: The Thin Man
Dashiell Hammett
Samuel Dashiell Hammett (May 27, 1894 – January 10, 1961) was an American writer of hard-boiled detective novels and short stories. He was also a screenwriter and political activist in the vein of anti-fascism.
You know him without knowing him, too. Like I knew Hammett from The Thin Man, others may know the genius of The Maltese Falcon. Honorable mentions include Red Harvest and The Dain Curse which draw from his experience as, of all things, a Pinkerton Detective from 1915 to 1922. Talk about writing what you know!
He's got 82 complete and standalone short stories under his belt. He also wrote under the pseudonyms of Peter Collinson, Daghull Hammett, Samuel Dashiell, and Mary Jane Hammett. The man wrote.
I could chat about all his works as I had a literary college class all about hardboiled detective novels, but that's for another post. This post is in reference to The Thin Man.
The Thin Man (1934)
So, The Thin Man, as I'm sure you've guessed by now, is a detective novel by Dashiell Hammett. It was originally published in condensed form of fourteen chapters in the December 1933 issue of Redbook. Here's a link to the public domain copy! It starts on page 111 though I recommend looking through the entire book—the ads and stories are a hoot from the past.
A month later, I guess when things in publishing moved faster, it was published in book form by Alfred A. Knopf. Here's a link to a public domain copy of the 31 chapter book.
The book starts with Nick Charles, who used to be a private detective but has basically retired into day drinking with his very wealthy, very cool wife, Nora. They’re in New York for the holidays, just trying to have a good time, when Nick gets dragged into this mystery involving a missing inventor named Clyde Wynant. Things get messy fast—someone turns up dead, everyone’s lying, and Nick just can’t help himself and starts investigating. Nora’s totally into it too, and insists on tagging along, mostly for the drama and the fun of it.
Nick and Nora Charles
Nick and Nora Charles are honestly the best part of The Thin Man. Nick’s got that dry, slightly sarcastic humor and this very I’ve-seen-it-all energy, but never in a jaded or cynical way. He’s sharp, but he’s not trying to prove anything. Nora, on the other hand, is this effortlessly stylish, quick-witted woman who married into all of it for the fun—and maybe a little for the chaos. She’s rich, clever, curious, and totally unbothered by the darker stuff. She’s the kind of person who hears someone’s been murdered and is like, “Okay, but what really happened?”
From Chapter 8:
She sat up holding her cheek and looked around the room until she saw Morelli, nippers on one wrist, standing between two detectives. Morelli's face was a mess: the coppers had worked him over a little just for the fun of it. Nora glared at me. "You damned fool," she said, "you didn't have to knock me cold. I knew you'd take him, but I wanted to see it."
One of the coppers laughed. "Jesus," he said admiringly, "there's a woman with hair on her chest."
She smiled at him and stood up. When she looked at me she stopped smiling. "Nick, you're—"
I said I didn't think it was much and opened what was left of my pyjama-coat. Morelli's bullet had scooped out a gutter perhaps four inches long under my left nipple. A lot of blood was running out of it, but it was not very deep.
Together, they have this really modern, playful relationship that feels way ahead of its time. There’s no old-school gender dynamic where he’s solving the case and she’s staying home. Nora’s right there in the thick of it, asking questions, cracking jokes, dragging Nick out of bed to go snooping. They tease each other constantly, but it’s never mean—it’s pure chemistry:
From Chapter 1:
"She grinned at me. 'You got types?'
'Only you darling - lanky brunettes with wicked jaws.'"
You get the sense they’re best friends and completely in love, which is kind of rare in old-school fiction. They basically turned solving crimes into a flirtation game—with a side of gin. That’s why people are still talking about them today—they weren’t just characters, they were a whole mood. It feels less like a gritty noir and more like a murder mystery hosted by people you’d actually want to drink with.
The Cinematic Influence
The Film Adaptations
While Hammett's novel laid the foundation, it was the 1934 MGM film adaptation that turned Nick and Nora into household names—and cocktail icons. Here's a link for the first movie on Internet Archives. Played by William Powell and Myrna Loy, the on-screen chemistry between the two actors brought Hammett’s characters to vibrant life. Their effortless sophistication, clever repartee, and casual, glamorous drinking habits resonated with audiences during the Depression-era, when escapism was in high demand.
Frankly, they took the idea of The Thin Man and RAN with it. Check out Internet Archive's The Thin Man collection.
And the Wikis for each film in the series can be found here:
There's also a TV Series but that stars Peter Lawford and Phyllis Kirk. William Powell and Myrna Loy are my Nick and Nora.
Cocktail Culture
Nick and Nora's drinking wasn’t just a background detail—it was practically a character in itself. In The Thin Man, Nick and Nora are constantly drinking. Like, constantly. At a fancy dinner, mid-investigation, or just lounging in their hotel room, there’s always a cocktail in hand. But what’s interesting is that it’s never portrayed as reckless or tragic—it’s elegant, effortless, and a little bit cheeky:
Nora: How do you feel?
Nick: Terrible. I must've gone to bed sober.
They made drinking look fun, social, and even intellectual. It wasn’t about getting drunk—it was about style, ritual, and wit. That’s a big reason why people latched onto it.
Nick: How about a drop of something to cut the phlegm?
Nora: Why don't you stay sober today?
Nick: We didn't come to New York to stay sober.
And then the movie adaptations took it even further. William Powell and Myrna Loy turned cocktail culture into an art form. For example, in an introductory scene, Nick is explaining to the bartenders how to shake a cocktail:
“The important thing is the rhythm. Always have rhythm in your shaking. Now a Manhattan you shake to fox-trot time, a Bronx to two-step time, a dry martini you always shake to waltz time.”
The way they drink together—always laughing, never sloppy—became a kind of aspirational thing. People didn’t just want to solve mysteries like Nick and Nora; they wanted to drink like them too. Their cocktail lifestyle came to represent this classy, carefree sophistication that audiences in the ’30s (and even now) found completely irresistible. It basically turned them into icons of old-school cool.
The Evolution of the Nick and Nora Glass
Now, the glass itself. The Nick and Nora glass is small—usually around 5 ounces—with a rounded bowl and a short stem. It’s often mistaken for a mini coupe or martini glass, but it’s distinct in how it handles aromatics. Bartenders love it because it concentrates the nose of stirred cocktails like a Martini, Manhattan, or Martinez without the spillage risk of a wide-brimmed martini glass.
Comparison to Other Cocktail Glasses
According to Food & Wine's article, The 5 Best Nick and Nora Glasses, According to Our Tests, "What separates a Nick and Nora glass from other stemmed glassware, like the coupe or martini glass, is the shape of the bowl. The wider coupe and V-shaped martini glass have a wider opening as opposed to the deeper bowl shape of the Nick and Nora Glass."
The Revival
The name “Nick and Nora glass” didn’t catch on right away. According to it's Wikipedia page—yes, it's got a page!—"Use of the glass became widespread beginning in the late 1980s, when bartender Dale DeGroff had several made for the Rainbow Room restaurant in New York City. The design was found in a 1930s catalog under the name "Little Martini"; DeGroff was looking for a small, delicate glass to counter the large conical martini glasses popular at the time. DeGroff's protégé Audrey Saunders spread the use of the glass to other bars in subsequent years. In the present day, the glass is found in numerous manufacturer catalogs and in upscale bars across the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom."
It’s a staple of the serious bartender’s toolkit, evoking vintage charm and classic sensibilities!
Recipes
Readers, research had to be done.
I found the most classic of classic 1930s cocktail recipes for Nick and Nora on Liquor.com where they explain that Dale DeGroff offers the recipe. "He suggests using Beefeater, a classic London dry gin, and Noilly Prat, a good dry vermouth from France. That combination in a three-to-one ratio, with an olive for garnish, will help you channel the intrepid duo as you stir then sip your cocktail."
Ingredients
1 1/2 ounces gin
1/2 ounce dry vermouth
Garnish: Spanish olive (no pimento)
Steps
Add the gin and vermouth to a mixing glass with ice and stir until well-chilled.
Strain into a chilled Nick & Nora glass.
Garnish with a small Spanish olive without pimento filling.
Dear readers, I hate olives. I test them every once in a while to see if my taste buds change their mind. (Fun fact, it isn't true that they change every seven years. It's every 10-14 days) But I liked the olive in this drink! Something about the dry vermouth (that I've been known to sip on its own) and the funk of the olive actually changed my outlook on the dumb little fruit.
Try this recipe out when you want to impress your cinephile friends.
If you're looking for more recipes, check out Bev Nap & Coaster's Article on 10 Cocktails To Make Using Nick & Nora Glassware. I will neither confirm nor deny how many of these cocktails I tried out, however...I wasn't disappointed in any of them.
Conclusion
Today, the Nick and Nora glass feels like a symbol of restraint and refinement. In a world of oversized drinks and over-the-top garnishes, this little glass says,"I know what I'm doing."
You’ll find it in speakeasy-style bars, on curated bar carts, and in cocktail kits designed by mixologists who appreciate the balance between form and function. It also taps into a broader cultural nostalgia—an era when drinking was ritualistic, stylish, and social.
So the next time you see a Nick and Nora glass perched on a bar cart or filled with a perfectly stirred martini, know that it’s not just a pretty little vessel—it's a tribute! In a world that moves fast and often forgets the charm of subtlety, the Nick and Nora glass is a small, elegant reminder of a different era—one where the drink mattered, the company mattered more, and the banter was always on point. Cheers to that.
More References
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_%26_Nora_(glass) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thin_Man https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dashiell_Hammett
https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/1336952-the-thin-man https://www.imdb.com/list/ls074468058/ https://www.riedel.com/en-us/blog/inspiration/nick-nora
Keeping the trivia knowledge alive, Katherine Arkady
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