Сыра құмыралары және коллекциялық кружкалар

Drinking vessel

A beer stein ('/s//t//aɪ//n/ STYNE), or simply stein, is either a traditional beer mug made out of stoneware or specifically an ornamental beer mug sold as a souvenir or collectible. An 1894 article on beer mugs in the American Vogue magazine that describes various types of steins stated: "And it is to this [i. e. German] nation that we owe Wagner's music and the apotheosis of the beer mug." Such steins may be made out of stoneware, pewter, porcelain or even silver, wood or crystal glass; they may have open tops or hinged pewter lids with a thumb lever. Steins usually come in sizes of a half litre or a full litre (or comparable historic sizes). Like decorative tankards, they are often decorated in a nostalgic manner with allusions to Germany.

The English word is attested from 1855. It is borrowed from German Stein, which has – aside from its prevailing meaning "stone" – elder regional meanings "beer mug" and "beer measure of 1 litre or 2 Schoppen". The word can be compared to Old English stæne "pitcher, jug". The word Stein alone is not used any more to refer to a beverage container in standard German; rather, Krug, Humpen or, especially in Bavaria and Austria, Seidel are used. Oktoberfest usage is Maßkrug.

It is believed by some that the hinged lid was implemented during the age of the Black Plague to prevent diseased flies from getting into the beer. This is unlikely to be true, as contemporaries did not know fleas spread the disease. Instead, the prevailing belief was that it was spread through dangerous “miasmas”. The advantage in using stoneware to make steins was that molds could be used to mass produce elaborately carved steins. In using glass, not only could one produce multiple glass mugs, but an artistic touch could add to the glass by including acid etchings, glass staining, or even multicolored overlays. Porcelain's advantage was that a stein fabricator could use molds to make "character steins", steins that had a particular shape modeled after an item or collecting antique and replicated beer steins became a very popular hobby not only among individual people, but in museums as well. Production of beer steins has become substantial in America, but the largest producer of beer steins is Ceramarte of Brazil. Steins have also been known to have been made out of wood, earthenware, and crystal. to replace beer mugs made from glass or earthenware by ones made from plastic (for security reasons) have been variously met with protests, even burnings of mugs and were never successful in the long or even medium term in Germany.

The lids on beer mugs serve as a sanitary measure, especially to keep insects out of the beer. They are usually made out of pewter, and are usually equipped with a lever that is in reach of the thumb, so that it is possible to grab the mug and open and close the lid with a single hand. These days beer mats are usually used to cover the glass or mug when required.