Small Beer or Big Beer? Here's What Tradition Teaches Us
Beer is the only food product ordered more often by color and size than by name. It's likely that everyone has, perhaps absentmindedly, asked for "a small lager."
As strange as it may seem, the ability to order beers in different sizes isn't available everywhere. On the contrary, in places where beer has a long and deep connection with the local culture, the shape and size of the glass often play a fundamental role and have even contributed to the success of certain beer styles.
The pint![]()
Consider, for example, the pint, one of the most well-known glasses, even among non-beer lovers, and the most commonly used (often wrongly) form in pubs today, particularly in its so-called "American" variant.
The pint is primarily a unit of measurement used in the English-speaking world, corresponding, depending on whether it is in the United Kingdom or the United States, to one-eighth of an imperial gallon (a little over 568 milliliters in our measurement system) or one-eighth of a liquid US gallon (473 milliliters). The size of the container for British ales was defined by law as early as 1698: to prevent pub owners from misleading their customers, the English Parliament imposed that all beers be served in a standard-sized container, the pint.
The shape we associate with the pint today – a truncated cone-shaped glass with a base narrower than its opening and sometimes a bulge at the top – is, however, quite recent.
The mug
Until the end of the 19th century and again during the first half of the 20th century, the most common container for drinking beer was the tankard with a pewter or ceramic handle.
This custom is attested to by a curious essay written by George Orwell in 1946, The Moon Under Water, in which the famous English novelist listed the characteristics that he believed a perfect pub should have. Among these, he mentioned serving stouts in pewter tankards and never serving ales in glasses without handles.
The rise of the glass and the shape we now associate with the pint began in the 20th century thanks to two major innovations: new filtration systems that made beers more visually appealing and new pub lighting systems that allowed for "drinking with the eyes," an aspect that would become an obsession for British drinkers.
The Nonik
The invention of the pint with a bulge, called a nonic pint or nonik, dates back to 1914. Although it is now considered typically British, it was actually designed by Hugo Pick of Albert Pick and Co. in Chicago.
This renowned company in the catering sector had already made a name for itself by creating a coffee maker capable of withstanding the bumps and strains of continuous service in cafes open day and night.
Strength was also the nonik's key characteristic: its bulge allowed pub owners to stack glasses without them breaking when separating them, made them more resistant to shocks, and offered customers a better grip. For all these reasons, as historian Martyn Cornell has aptly explained, in 1948, British designer Alexander Hardie Williamson drew inspiration from the nonik to design a new ale glass for the English company Ravenhead Glass, thus ensuring the success of this now iconic glass.
The half pint
Alongside the pint, there is the half-pint, which, in its native territories, traditionally serves to signal to the bartender that one is ordering one's last drink before leaving.
The pint's shape and size are likely so popular because they are well-suited to the characteristics of the beers they are most commonly served with. Its wide neck helps quickly disperse some of the undesirable aromatic notes sometimes found in traditional British ales, such as sulfur notes. As for its capacity, it is ideal for beers that don't suffer from a slight increase in temperature when left in the glass or in the hand for a while.
The Stange and the Weizenbock
Temperature and the need to keep the beer fresh are key elements of the glass used for Kölsch, the top-fermented beer typical of Cologne, Germany. In this case, the glass is a small 20 cl cylinder that can be emptied in a few gulps.
Staying in Germany, another important glass is the Weizenbock, used for wheat beers. In addition to its size, which allows it to hold an entire bottle—an essential feature for these beers, which require the yeast deposited at the bottom to be poured out—the Weizenbock has a double curvature that, with each sip, creates a slight swirl in the lower part of the glass, reviving the foam until the last drop, an essential element for this type of beer.
The TeKu
Among the most iconic tasting glasses, the TeKu has become renowned for its ability to highlight every aromatic nuance of beer. Created in 2006 by Teo Musso, founder of the Baladin brewery, and renowned taster Lorenzo Dabove, known as Kuaska, this glass was designed to enhance the aromas and flavors of all craft beers.
Its elegant and functional shape, created by the Rastal company, has become a benchmark not only in Italy but also internationally, winning the appreciation of many renowned craft breweries. Available in several versions, such as the TeKu 3.0 and the Mini TeKu, this glass embodies the perfect fusion of design and functionality, transforming every tasting into a unique sensory experience.