The word stein is a shortened form of Steinzeugkrug, which literally means a stoneware jug or tankard. By common usage, however, stein has come to mean any beer container regardless of its material or size.  The English will call these tankards. Both vessels come with and without lids, handles, or ornamentation.  The tankard or beer stein is not only the ancestor of all beer glasses.  They have become the quintessential symbols of Bavarian gemütlichkeit (coziness, peace of mind, and a sense of belonging and well-being springing from social acceptance) especially during Oktoberfest.   Beer steins are often artfully decorated making beer drinking a feast for the eyes. Many reenactors favor a sturdy stein (often made of pewter, copper, wood, or even leather) as part of their field kit.  To the uninitiated these are just cups to drink from but to the true beer connoisseur, a stein is an essential piece of drinking equipment and has many historical and practical features, Today, I want to talk about some of those unique features you may have just accepted as the way they are made.  Rest assured, every part of your trusty stein has a clear purpose and history.

Glass at the bottom:  One feature many think of as a manufacturer’s shortcut is the glass bottom.  Steins may be made of metal, wood or several other materials but one unique feature of an 18^th Century stein (particularly an English tankard) is the glass bottom. 

Taking the King’s shilling was like the handshake acceptance of an official contract.  Like today, enlistment bonuses were offered to entice men to join the Army and Navy. A bonus payment of one or two shillings was offered to tempt lowly-paid workers to leave their trade and sign on to military service (often for life). Since the average daily wage at the time was only about 2p, getting a shilling (12p) was like being paid a full week’s wages so this bonus was a significant enticement.  Some men, however, preferred not to serve. 

Publicans, tricksters and recruiting parties would, however, sometimes slip a shilling into the drink of an unsuspecting patron at the local pub and once the shilling had been accepted, the taker had entered a contract and it was almost impossible to leave the Army. In a solid pewter tankard, these shillings could be disguised to that the hapless recruit who accepted the tankard of ale would discover only too late that they had unwittingly accepted the King’s offer.  To keep this practice away from their establishments, ethical publicans would have tankards for their pubs made with glass bottoms so that the drinkers could inspect the contents before accepting.  The drinker could then see the coin in the glass and refuse the drink and therefore avoid conscription. 

A hinged lid:  Some steins have a hinged lid, which is moved with the help of a lid lifter.  This lid was originally conceived entirely as a sanitary measure. During the summers of the late 1400s, hordes of flies frequently invaded the cities of Central Europe. By the early 1500s, several principalities in what is now Germany had passed laws requiring that all food and beverage containers be covered to protect consumers against insects. The common mug was fitted with a hinged lid.  Thumb lifts were added to enable them to be used with one hand. By the end of the 1800s, when the covered-container laws were no longer enforced but 300 years of conditioning had taught Germans to view a stein as incomplete without a lid.

Another fun use of the lid is that it signals waiters that the mug is empty and ready to be either collected or replenished.  Even today, If you want another stein of beer, you simply leave the lid open and the waiter can see you are ready for another drink or refill.

Crests, seals and other decorations:  Tankards were soon decorated with shields and historical, allegorical, and biblical scenes. Beer drinking was one of the few luxuries landless day laborers could afford so having a pretty personal tankard became an important status symbol and display piece for men of all classes.  Having a highly ornate stein was a status symbol. 

Metal vs ceramic:  Pewter, silver, and glass luxury steins were soon available and the most luxurious of all were the imported Chinese Ming porcelain mugs.  Since no one in Europe knew how to make porcelain, but several German potters were quick to jump in with a cheaper porcelain substitute — faience.

Faience is earthenware with a porcelain-like white glaze made from tin oxide. Faience is not as durable as the Chinese porcelain, but it was far less expensive and had two aesthetic advantages. First, the motifs on German faience were popular late-Renaissance and early-Baroque designs, not foreign-looking Chinese figures. And second, the cobalt oxide of China was contaminated with purple manganese oxide, and the Persian cobalt oxide that the Chinese artists sparingly mixed in would often diffuse badly. The purer German cobalt oxide supplies were bright blue and allowed for crisp lines.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, manufacturers began using different materials, like silver and pewter.  Pewter (a malleable metal alloy consisting of tin (85–99%), antimony or lead (approximately 5–10%), copper (2%), bismuth, and sometimes silver) was an especially common material for steins in England. To differentiate these mugs from their German ancestors, metal steins are more commonly called tankards.

Bump on the handle:  In the 1920’s beer steins began to have a small do not have a bump on the handle, the bump provides an area of additional grip, making it easier for people to handle the glass without slipping.   These modern additions sometimes creep into our historical reproductions so be aware. 

Erotic images in the bottom:  Not all steins have glass bottoms and one class of beer stein – German Regimental Steins have opaque bottoms for a very important reason.   They are lewd! 

Between 1890 and 1914, military service was compulsory in Germany. Most men would take basic training between 17 and 20 and then enter the reserves until age 40. These men would enter a unit together, stay in the same unit for training and be discharged as a unit creating a sense of togetherness.  To reinforce this bond, many regiments also created steins with unit name, insignias and other decorations as souvenir of military service. These became known to collectors as “regimental steins.”

Many regimental steins have hidden lithophanes in their bases. These lithophanes often are images of nude women or men and women in an erotic pose.  Other lithophanes feature more domestic scenes like a sweetheart reading a letter or a tavern scene.

So now that you are all pulling your steins down from the shelf to inspect them, fill them with good ale and enjoy the day.  Make a few toasts and consider that event the most basic item in our kit has significance and history. 

---

Want to have the
Regimental Brewmeister
at your site or event?

You can hire me.

https://colonialbrewer.com/yes-you-can-hire-me-for-your-event-or-site/