rocks is a bartending term for ice. Customers asking for a drink “on the rocks” wish for it to be served over ice, and those wanting a single cube of ice in their spirit may request “one rock.” Because they are generally used to serve spirits on the rocks, Old-Fashioned or lowball glasses are often termed “rocks glasses.”
Though the similarity between hard cubes of ice and rocks is readily apparent, the term actually derived from the name of a specific drink: “scotch on the rocks.” In 1947, Earl Wilson reported in his It Happened Last Night syndicated column that the current “fad drinks” at New York’s 21 Club included “scotch on the rocks,” which he explained was “scotch over ice cubes.” The term moved quickly into nationwide usage, and by 1950 it had become shorthand for a distinctively American type of drink. (“The average American,” noted the Rockford (IL) Register-Republic in 1950, is brought up on “a simple and Spartan diet of double Martinis, bloody Marys, and Scotch on the rocks.”)
Nor did it take long for the term “on the rocks” to be applied to any straight liquor served over ice rather than neat. In 1948, David Embury included “Gin on the Rocks” in his seminal Fine Art of Mixing DrinksEmbury, David. By 1950, the term had spread to include mixed drinks, the latest thing being the “Martini on the Rocks.” Eleven years later, according to the *New York Times, it was now “vodka on the rocks” that drinkers considered to be “the ultimate in sophistication.” Around the same time, Old-Fashioned or lowball glasses—short, sturdy glasses with a wide mouth and straight or rounded sides holding between four and nine ounces—began to be called “on-the-rocks glasses.” By the mid-1970s the term was shortened to just “rocks glasses,” and it is now the standard way to refer to that particular piece of glassware.*
See also glass, old-fashioned; ice, history of its use; and ice, science of its use.
Felten, Eric. “A Chill to Scotch Purists’ Hearts.” Wall Street Journal, May 16, 2009.
Hamil, Erb. “Rex Reaches Bar.” New Orleans Times-Picayune, February 19, 1950, section 3, 7.
By: Robert F. Moss