A Look Back at Beer Receptacles

It is well known that beer has been around mankind for a long while. The way we drank beer changed as beer expanded, changed, and improved. The earlier vessels mankind used for drinking included stoneware, pottery, wood, and even sewn-together pieces of leather. As time proceeded, people witnessed little advancements in the quality of their beer glasses. During the black plague beer steins were necessary because of their closed top to prevent flies from landing in the beer and making them sick.

Today, the most important thing to affect modern beer glass making was the creation of glass. As beer glasses became increasingly popular, consumers could actually see what they were consuming and demanded a lighter and more appealing color and taste. Customers didn't want chunks in their beer anymore so manufacturers started to filter their beers. It almost seemed like beer steins were on the way out as the improved beer glasses started to become more popular.

The development of glassware thrived and created a variety of glasses for all kinds of different beers. The most popular in America is the 16-ounce pint glass. It was originally developed to fit the top of a Martini shaker, but bartenders soon found that as the brew flowed out of the beer tap handles the pint glass was the top receptacle because it allowed for part of the carbonation to be released and let the aroma of the brew to be more pronounced. The pint glass rapidly became a favorite with bartenders who had to rinse each glass individually because it can be put on top of each other and put easily on shelves.

A drive to get customers to purchase their brand of beer by breweries led to some exceptional and groundbreaking products on the marketing and promotional front. Giving away beer glasses to consumers was one way that manufacturers found to promote their beers even with it illegal. This led to the manufacturers producing glasses that were works of artistic merit unto themselves. Gold or silver embossing on either side of the glass was the standard for these first opulent and high dollar glasses. Gradually, artists for the breweries started doing detailed etchings on the sides of the glasses or steins and even created a method of firing enamel paint onto the beer glasses. Even though they were made more recently than other beer collectibles, these enameled glasses are still some of the most valuable and rare today. Nowadays, many of the beer memorabilia and banners are worth thousands of dollars and sought out planetwide by eager collectors. Have you looked up in the top of Grandpappy's drawer lately?