Ah, the humble pint. It's a key part of any night out at the pub, it's there for summer barbecue season, and likely you've accumulated many a different pint glass throughout the years.
Nowadays it's pretty much a standard part of British culture, but how much do you really know about the icon?
Well, Brits have been drinking pints since the 1698, and there's been plenty of interesting history along the way.
From tankards to the nonik glass, 10-sided glass, and today's schooner, we've looked into the rise of the pint - check out some of the fascinating facts we've found along the way...
Pints were made law
In 1698 an Act of Parliament prescribed that ale and beer should be sold in pints, full quarts (two pints) or multiples thereof.
You could say that the foundations of this great beer-drinking nation were laid down there.
It is thought that this law was to stop cheapskate pub contractors from selling their customers a shorter measure.
People first drank from tankards
Before pint glasses, tankards and steins were the vessels of choice for beer drinkers.
When you think of tankards, you might have an image in your mind of a pirate, on a ship, complete with a patched eye and a tankard of beer in hand.
It’s a common image, and tankards were sturdy things, perfect for the life of a pirate. They were sometimes made of wood and bound with iron or leather.
Following the bubonic plague, they developed into a tall, one-handled, lidded mug made from pewter called a ‘stein’.
The lid was there to help keep the drink from becoming contaminated, and to protect against plagues and the like.
There was a shift to drinking from glasses
Tankards were used until the end of the Victorian era. Then dingy pubs became better lit, and new filtration methods started to produce a clearer drink.
People became more interested in the look of their beer, and the beer glass was born.
One of the first beer glasses was the 10-sided, handled pint mug. It meant that drinkers no longer needed to hold the glass, so could enjoy a cooler beer.
Other glasses followed, such as the dimpled glass, and the ‘nonik’ glass, which is a straight glass with a bulge at the top.
George Orwell referred to this variety of beer glasses in his 1946 essay The Moon Under Water.
He said: “They are particular about their drinking vessels at the Moon Under Water, and never, for example, make the mistake of serving a pint of beer in a handleless glass.”
The schooner was introduced
The last time the law changed was back in 2011, with the introduction of the two-thirds pint, also known as a schooner.
Around the same time, some publications ran articles suggesting ‘real men’ don’t order half-pints, and that these were for the ladies.
Of course, this isn’t true and both men and women should feel they can opt for a half-pint of beer instead of a full-pint.
Even more so these days, with craft beers coming in smaller cans and bottles. A small glass is a great way for you to enjoy the quality, rather than just the quantity.
What’s in store for the pint?
In October 2018, a Twitter poll asked when users had last had a pint of beer. Almost four in five people (78%) said they had done so in the preceding week. So, the pint is still going strong.
So is the half-pint. In 2015, CAMRA surveyed drinkers to find which measure they liked best. The half-pint came out on top (34%), with the full pint and third of a pint tied some way behind (25%).
From this, it seems that although people prefer smaller measures, the pint is still a force to be reckoned with.
So, be the craft man standing! Next time you have a pint, appreciate it, enjoy it, remember its history and be glad that you can drink it in comfortable surroundings, unlike the rough seas of pirates.
Please drink responsibly, 18+ only.
