Wot No Glasses?

[allenlondon]

When did the uncivilised habit of drinking beer out of bottles catch on?

Back in the 60s or 70s, if a barman had given you a bottle and no glass, you would have complained. Now it seems to be the norm.

So what happened?

[barry1010]

Bring back the proper pint glasses with handles and dimples.

[Ellipsis]

My draught beer always comes in a glass. As does my red wine, G&T, cognac etc etc. And never spiked.

But, when it comes to beer in bottles, I'm sure it's everything to do with spiking and nothing to do with the fact that glasses are more effort to collect, wash and store when the drink is already delivered in a handy portion-sized bottle ...

[allenlondon]

My choice of Best Answer pains me somewhat, but there you go, got to give credit where it's due.

[New Judge]

//Every pub I've worked in washed their bottles before they went on the shelf/fridge.//

I've never seen that done anywhere - home or abroad. But even it it was, you cannot clean under the crown cap where it meets the top of the bottle - the very part you put in your mouth.

[ummmm]

I don't know what abroad has to do with anything?

I don't suppose you sit at the bar watching the staff bottle up.

[barry1010]

Don't the labels fall off if you wash the bottles?

[New Judge]

//I don't know what abroad has to do with anything?//

For the sake of completeness.

//I don't suppose you sit at the bar watching the staff bottle up.//

I have spent plenty of time sitting or standing at bars watching shelves and fridges being refilled. Of course I've never seen every bottle in every bar placed in a fridge or on a shelf. But every one I have seen goes straight from the box or crate to the shelf. In some establishments I've even seen a large plastic crate on wheels, containing a wide variety of different drinks including beers, wines and soft drinks loosely stacked, brought from the cellar or store room. Every one was simply placed on a shelf or in a fridge. Many places scarcely have enough staff to keep the bar replenished at all during opening hours and I'm sure they don't have enough to fanny about washing bottles.

[gulliver1]

10.25, Barry, Spot on.

[MartinMillar]

Been drinking out of bottle since the 80s

[barry1010]

I drank out of a bottle in the 50s. Usually it was full of milk, occasionally with a drop of brandy (best thing for gripe)

[Old_Geezer]

Don't tend to drink straight from the bottle, but I don't get uptight about it. Have been known to drink from soda cans. But a barperson should, by default, provide a glass. It's not cool to avoid normal expected service in the hope of making the establishment seem 'trendy'.

[allenlondon]

Not a question of getting uptight, Geezer, just a legitimate concern about falling standards - and, as it happens, taste! Taste in the sense of what it tastes like.

Ever tried drinking a good malt out of a plastic cup?

Awful. Similarly a good wine, and, I would argue, a decent cup of tea tastes better out of a bone china mug or cup.

We have to eat (and drink) to live, of course, but to eat without refinement lowers us down the scale of living beings, and we end up stuffing our faces with mass-produced burgers out of cardboard boxes and beer out of unclean bottles...

A

[MartinMillar]

Eating a mass produced burger does not mean you are stuffing your face, it is possible to eat a burger out of a box in polite company.

[allenlondon]

"it is possible to eat a burger out of a box in polite company" - pair of nice white gloves, I suppose, one on, one held daintily in the other hand?

[MartinMillar]

I get the impression you are not interested in what others say and only interested in the fact that those that drink from bottles or eat without cutlery or a linen napkin are 1 step off the evolutionary scale.

[sherrardk]

My kids occasionally get a treat of takeaway burger and chips that they eat straight from the box - but they still say thank you and tidy up after themselves, that’s what I think is important.

[New Judge]

//...it is possible to eat a burger out of a box in polite company.//

That's certainly possible. Quite what the "polite company" might make of it is another matter. Nobody I know eats cooked food from cardboard boxes - not at home and especially not in the street or in their car.

[Jackdaw33]

Have you never eaten fish and chips out of newspaper? I'm sure many of us have.

[Old_Geezer]

Not for years. Assumed H&S didn't allow it any more.

[Mamyalynne]

Fish and chips in paper (no print) sat on rocks by the sea is divine.

*always dispose of your litter sensibly.