Tankard

For other uses, seeTankard (disambiguation).

A wooden tankard found on board the 16th centurycarrackMary Rose.

Atankardis a form ofdrinkwareconsisting of a large, roughlycylindrical,drinking cup with a single handle. Tankards are usually made ofsilverorpewter,but can be made of other materials, for examplewood,ceramic,orleather.A tankard may have a hingedlid,and tankards featuring glass bottoms are also fairly common. Tankards are shaped and used similarly tobeer steins.

Wooden tankards

The word "tankard" originally meant any wooden vessel (13th century) and later came to mean a drinking vessel.The earliest tankards were made of wooden staves, similar to abarrel,and did not have lids. A 2000-year-old wooden tankard of approximately four-pint capacity has been unearthed in Wales.

Tankard recovered from Gribshunden shipwreck (1495)

A late medieval example of a fine tankard milled from alder wood was recovered by underwater archaeologists excavating the wreck of the royal Danish-Norwegian flagship,Gribshunden.The ship sank in June 1495 while King Hans sailed from Copenhagen to Kalmar, Sweden, for a diplomatic summit. When excavated, the tankard's lid was still securely in place, and gas from the degradation of the medieval beverage was trapped inside.

Glass bottoms

Metal tankards often come with a glass bottom. The legend is that the glass-bottomed tankard was developed as a way of refusing theKing's shilling,i.e., conscription into the British Army or Navy. The drinker could see the coin in the bottom of the glass and refuse the drink, thereby avoiding conscription. However, this is likely a fable since the Navy couldpressby force, rendering deception unnecessary.

A further story is that the glass bottom merely allowed the drinker to judge the clarity of their drink while forgoing the expense of a fragile pint glass.

Glass bottoms are sometimesretrofittedto antique tankards, reducing their value and authenticity.

Conversions

Covered tankards fell out of fashion in 19th century England resulting in a number of them being converted to other roles such as jugs.

Modern tankards

Metal and ceramic tankards are still manufactured but are regarded as specialty or novelty items. Modern metal tankards are often engraved to commemorate some occasion. Glass tankards—that is, straight-sided or inward-sloping glass vessels withstrap handles—are still in everyday use.

Lead leaching from pewter

In previous centuries, thepewterused to make tankards often containedlead,which exposed the drinker to medical effects, ranging from heavy metal poisoning togout.This effect was exacerbated incider-drinking areas—such as Somerset, UK—as the acidity of the cider leached the lead from the pewter more quickly.Claytankards became prevalent in this area. Pewter is now widely lead-free.

In popular culture

A 1970s TV advertising campaign forWhitbreadbeer features apub landlordspinning atall taleto an American tourist, who suspiciously asks: "Are youreallyLord Tankard? "

In Season 3, Episode 3 of the sitcomCheers,Frasier Crane says to his bartender friend Sam, “Well, I’ll have a tanker of your finest lager.”

Gallery

• 
  A whiteslipwaretankard fromCyprus,c. 1600–1150 B.C
• 
  Little ceramic tankard with lid
• 
  Pewter tankard
• 
  Modern glass stein or tankard
• 
  A 19th-century Norwegian burr-birch tankard.
• 
  Wooden tankard in the coat of arms ofHonkajoki

See also

• Beer stein
• Häufebecher
• Kronkåsa
• Maß