German Beer Steins

I’ve always been an avid collector of beer mugs. From novelty to classy beer mugs I love they way they are designed and created. More recently I’ve begun to appreciate German beer steins which are a little different to beer mugs. Firstly they have a lid which I guess makes it look more like a jug than a mug. This hinged lid gives off the impression of it being a jug which is actually what the word stein means in German. Don’t let the idea of a jug put you off though, they are real things of beauty. The other big difference from a traditional beer mug is the unique handle which I think makes it look really classy. It’s also another feature which makes it look like a jug as it is usually over sized compared to the size of the mug. This large handle is required because the mug tends to be quite large in size and can therefore hold a lot of liquid. It may be big enough to wrap both hands around it in some cases to make sure you have a firm grip of that beer.

Believe it or not German beer steins can actually be worth a lot of money and there are numerous collectors out there who will pay a small fortune for rare beer steins. As I mentioned before, I’ve always found them to be great things of beauty down to the workmanship involved in producing them. There is an amazing amount of detail in much of the designs a lot of it still done by hand. As like most other collectible items the rarer the item the more expensive it tends to be. You want to avoid steins which have been massed produced in a factory and go for the hand crafted ones if you’re looking to start collecting them. Hold on to the rare steins and it may just be worth something one day. Steins can have lots of different types of designs etched on the side. This can vary from family coat of arms to graphics celebrating items of nature such as animals or flowers. My favorite place to see all types of German steins is at Oktoberfest which is held in Munich once a year. It is without a doubt the largest beer festival in the whole world. As well as seeing all different types and styles of beer steins you can also drink a gallons and gallons of beer! If you’re not a beer drinker then it’s well worth a visit purely for the atmosphere which is always friendly and welcoming. There are quite a few sites online which go in to great detail about the history of German beer steins and how they came to be. You also be lucky and find out that the stein you’ve had in the attic all those years is worth a fortune! For the majority of us though, we’ll have to take pleasure in the designs and craftsmanship involved in creating these wonderful objects. German beer steins are certainly not just another beer mug!