How to Clean Water Spots from Wine Glasses
The Best Way to Clean Water Spots from Wine Glasses, Beer Glasses and Cocktail Glasses
Nothing ruins a social gathering like the cringeworthy moment of serving your guests a nice glass of wine (or beer, or liquor) in a spotty water-stained glass. Water spots are a common occurrence on wine glasses, beer glasses and cocktail glasses. Things are only compounded if you have particularly hard water at home (as many homes do when they're connected to municipal water supplies).
First things first: always wash and sanitize your wine and bar glasses according to the glass manufacturer's instructions. You want to remove all dirt, grime, lipstick etc. with soapy and hot water.
Personally I never put glassware in the dishwasher, as some of them are too delicate and dishwasher can lead to water spots (no matter what those detergent commercials promise).
Beer glass before. Air dried, with water spots clearly showing.
The trick to removing water spots from glassware is in how you dry the glasses after washing
It's what you do after washing that will help to stop water spots.
For the home bartender, there's one main thing that you can do to stop water spots for good: get the right dishcloth and do not air dry your wine glasses, beer glasses and cocktail glasses.
Same beer glass after polishing with ultra micro fiber cloth. No more water spots (only the light reflections remain).
The right cloth for getting crystal clear glassware is an ultra fine micro fiber cloth made for cleaning glass. Think of the cloths that come with your glasses or sunglasses. There are big versions of those shiny little cloths made for cleaning glassware (and mirrors, computer screens and so on). These are not normal micro fiber cloths (the fluffy ones), so be sure you're searching for ultra fine micro fiber.
Standard cotton dishcloths may not only leave unsightly lint, but they're not great at cleaning water spots.
In the two photos above I have unretouched images of the same beer glass, moments apart. The first image is a typical air dried beer glass. Polishing with a “normal” dish towel would not remove the water spots (at least not without a lot of elbow grease and rewetting). After a quick rinse and then a polish with an ultra fine micro fiber towel, the difference is clear. Ignore the light reflections on the empty glass and you can see the water spots are gone.
To keep your wine glasses, beer glasses and cocktail glasses spotless and clean, you need to dry them with an ultra micro fibre cloth right after washing. That is another reason I avoid the dishwasher. Not only will ultra micro fibre cloths keep water spots away, but your wine glasses, beer glasses and cocktail glasses will shine like never before.
Three examples of ultra fine micro fiber cloths I got from Amazon.
Remember that for glasses with stems, do not hold the glass by the base and turn it while polishing the bowl of the glass. The stems can break off. So it's best to hold the glass by the bottom of the bowl with one cloth and clean the glass with another cloth.
Ultra micro fibre cloths are widely available including on Amazon, where they have bulk packs (which is what I purchase). Mr. Siga is one popular brand, but there are many. I have a few different brands that I've purchased and use, and they all do a pretty good job. Read the comments on Amazon to get a sense of how reviewers are using the cloth to be sure it is the right one for glassware. A bulk pack is good because, while they are absorbent (even though they're thin), they ultra fine micro fiber cloths get very wet after a few glasses. I switch to a dry cloth after approximately every five or six glasses to maintain the optimal polishing power. Ultra fine micro fiber cloths are machine washable and the good ones won't fray in the wash.
Close-up photo of two ultra fine micro fiber cloths.
One thing to note is how the towels are made.
In the close up photo above you can see that one towel has stitched edges and one is scissor cut. The scissor cut towels were less expensive, so I will see over time if these ones tend to fray more than the others after multiple washes. Note that the towel on the right is ridged, while the towel on the left is smooth (similar to the small towels for cleaning eyeglasses). The ridged towel is a little harder to move along the glass once it’s dry (but it does an excellent job of cleaning, possibly due to the ridges).
Both of these towels work well and I tend to use the one on the right for the initial dry and the one on the left for the final polish.
By Mike Belobradic
Wine, Spirits and Beer Virtuoso
Grand One Lounge