All About Beer Mugs

Birth of the mug

Traditionally, a beer mug, as we know it, is a German beer tankard or stein, made of pewter, silver, wood, porcelain, earthenware or glassware with a handle. The stein usually has a hinged lid and levered thumblift. The lid was implemented during the age of the Black Plague (1400s), to prevent diseased flies from getting into the beer. The mug, on the other hand, has no lid. This trait technically distinguishes the mug from the stein.

Depending on your societal status and economic worth, the vessel used to hold beer varied. The wealthy of the time usually drank beer from a pewter or even silver mug. These materials proved to be too expensive for the masses who often settled for wood or earthenware mugs. These two materials were fragile and broke easily. It would not be for a couple of centuries after the lid was implemented (roughly around the late Renaissance) that stoneware would be introduced leading to a sturdy and viable mug. This type of mug was the foundation for the variety of beer mugs found and used throughout the world today.

Today's beer mugs

The beer mugs held by beer drinkers around the world today don't really differ very much from the mugs of feudal Europe, or at least, they don't have to. Depending on the place, beer drinkers still delight in individualizing their beer mug. In many homes, it is not odd to find collections of intricately designed pewter beer mugs, glass beer mugs, traditional steins, or even plastic beer mugs either tucked away in a cabinet or on display for fellow connoisseurs to see and hopefully use. Some establishments even allow for their regular patrons to keep personalized beer mugs on the premises.

What's in the Mug

The mug, no doubt, is a popular aspect of beer drinking. But without the beer, there is no beer mug. Beer is the world's oldest and most popular alcoholic beverage, dating back to, at least, 4000 B.C. Today's beer mugs probably didn't grace the tables of ancient Egypt or Mesopotamia. They are, however, the result of that liquid, produced and still consumed by countless thralls of humans all over the world.

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