The History of Glass Bottom Beer Mugs

Over the decades, beer mugs have undergone changes in design and style, sometimes for practical reasons and sometimes for impractical reasons. While serious beer drinkers choose their mugs based on the type of beer they are drinking, some drinkers just prefer a glass bottom beer mug.

A beer mug is also known as a tankard. Tankards are most commonly made from glass, pewter or silver. Tankards made of pewter or silver, but with glass bottoms, have multiple legendary origins.

Some myths say that the first glass bottom mug was made by the captain of a ship who wanted to keep an eye on his crew and the scoundrels he played poker with---even when taking a drink of his ale. To solve his problem, he cut a hole out of his mug and fitted the bottom with a glass piece.

Another popular legend surrounding glass bottom mugs is derived from recruiting practices for the British army in the 19th century. When members enlisted, they accepted a payment of one shilling, known as the "king's shilling." If the recruiter could get you to accept a shilling, even if you didn't know you had accepted it, you became part of the army. Army recruiters would buy a round of drinks for the able-bodied candidates they met in pubs. They would trick the candidate into accepting the shilling by dropping the coin into the bottom of his mug, to be found by the candidate when he finished the drink. Glass bottom mugs allowed the men in the pubs to see the bottom of their tankard, to look for coins.

The real reason that tankards had glass bottoms was likely so that you could judge the clarity of your beer before drinking it. Clarity is a favored trait among beer drinkers, and sometimes unfiltered beer can have an unclean or sour taste.

Today beers served in pubs are filtered with additives and other agents. Pewter and silver mugs with glass bottoms are available for the sake of tradition, and not for practical reasons.