If you’re at least a tiny bit interested in whisky, you might already be familiar with Norlan. In 2016, they launched a Kickstarter campaign featuring a new type of whisky glass. The Norlan whisky glass looked amazing, and the team behind the campaign were masters of marketing language. With pretentious phrases like “combining design, science, and sociology for the perfect whisky drinking experience”, and “fluid dynamics modeling and bio-mimicry”, it was obvious that every hipster across the globe would throw their money at Norlan. When the campaign ended, the company had raised more than 10 times their initial goal - including $38 pledged by yours truly.

After a bit of a wait, I received my two Norlan glasses. Or, to be more precise, I received one glass, and an unofficial Norlan whisky glass puzzle. The postal service hadn’t been too kind to the package, and one of the glasses had broken into a million tiny, sharp pieces. Not a major crisis, since I’m the only one in the household who enjoys whisky. And it only took a quick e-mail to Norlan to get a replacement glass for free. Amazing costumer support!

The Norlan whisky glass is great. But I’ll be honest with you, I’ve only used it a couple of times. The glass falls into the nosing category, and I’m more of a tumbler guy myself. So you can imagine my excitement when Norlan recently announced that they’ve made a brand new tumbler as well; the Rauk Heavy Tumbler.

With Emphasis on Heavy

The Rauk Heavy Tumbler are marketed in the same way the Norlan whisky glass. Here are a few examples lifted from the product page:

“When we set out to make this glass, we knew who we were making it for. You. The off-world galactic pilot, savoring that whisky on ice. […] The base, precision-modelled, touches down on four crystal points, making surface contact while giving the appearance of hovering – a satellite in spirit. […] It is a glass ballet. A pop and lock of timing and intuition to make this heavy glass hover.” - Nolan Rauk Heavy Tumbler marketing

That sure is a lot of hot air! You can say what you want about the marketing, but the Rauk Heavy Tumbler looks amazing. Its base crystal makes it heavy, weighing in at a massive 575 grams. There’s no doubt that the Rauk Heavy Tumbler will feel good in my flimsy, feminine hands. The glass is pricey as fuck, though, costing me £50, including P&P. I’ll have to pay import tax, and handling fees on top of that. The total for a single Rauk Heavy Tumbler will probably be close to £65, about the same I’d pay for a decent bottle of whisky.

But it’ll be worth it. Or so I hope.