A tall glass is a variety of tumbler intended for bubbly mixed drinks, particularly long drinks. A traditional bar glass, it is flat-bottomed with a thin, minimally tapered or perpendicular wall. Large and small tall glasses are called a Collins glass and highball glass respectively, for their respective eponymous cocktails, the Collins and the highball (the latter as opposed to a lowball glass). The fizz glass is an archaic, further smaller tall glass for fizzes.
A tall glass of can be used interchangeably as a Collins glass or highball glass: a Collins glass typically holds about , whilst a highball glass may hold about . In some bars, a tall glass may be replaced with the readily available pint glass. The tall Collins glass or chimney glass is a larger glass used for large cocktails like the Singapore sling or Zombie.
History
The tall glass was introduced in the 1870s to keep carbonated mixed drinks fizzy for longer, owing to its narrow shape. The larger Collins glass and the fizz glass came about first, with the highball glass arriving as a go-between size in the 1890s.
The gin and tonic is typically served in a tall glass in the Anglosphere. In early 21st century Spain, the tall glass has been increasingly swapped for a large balloon glass () for gin and tonic (); the alternate choice of glass has been introduced to Britain from British tourism to Spain.
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