Hosts and hostesses need not be mixologists to recognize the style and elegance of sipping cocktails from vintage barware. Glasses and shakers from yesteryear are easier to find and maintain than slightly sexier collectible finds like art deco baubles or 1950s convertibles. Not that cocktail accoutrements are shrinking flowers in the world of treasured classics – an original version of the penguin shaker reproduced by Restoration Hardware recently sold at auction for more than $6,000, according to Forbes. But the rest of us can set off vintage shakers and glasses with an inventive array of cocktail ingredients in a way that old Moscow Mule simply didn’t. Secure a set for the next summer shindig, and witness as an in-home bartender evolves into a libation superhero.- Elana Ashanti Jefferson
MARTINI SET The array of collectible barware available through the online antiques clearing house RubyLane.com includes this hand-blown, brandy style, red and gold-trimmed martini set produced by the Colonial Glass Co. of West Virginia in the 1960s.
It sells for $52.
MAN’S MAN “The Hunt” whiskey decanter with matching shot glasses and tray, left, was produced in Germany in the
early 1900s. Available for $145 at Mod Livin’, 5327 E. Colfax Ave., 720-941-9292, modlivin.com.
SHAKEN, NOT STIRRED One Home in Cherry Creek North (2445 E. Third Ave., 720-946-1505, onehomedesign.com) stocks this chrome shaker and coordinating glasses, above, from the 1950s. Set: $140.
OH, BELLHOP! This balancing-bellhop shaker and pitcher from the 1930s sells for $175 and $145 respectively. Available at Mod Livin’.
