7 ms·
In the UK, and I suspect elsewhere, pub glasses are manufactured to indicate their age as they're meant to be replaced regularly. Often in pubs you can see the
by veltas 2y ago
In the UK, and I suspect elsewhere, pub glasses are manufactured to indicate their age as they're meant to be replaced regularly. Often in pubs you can see they've far outlived their proper life, if you know what to look for, and are covered in etches from repeated washes. Clearly glasses last a long time, I don't think smashing is the kind of issue they're making it out to be.
These hardened glasses are sharper when they smash. They tend to smash after a few drops, but more drops than normal glasses.
They solve a historical problem from East Germany: lack of resources to make glass, which is no longer a problem. Normal glasses are recyclable. EDIT: No apparently they are not, so maybe that's useful?
- Xeyz0r 2y ago[dead]
- Rinzler89 2y ago>pub glasses are manufactured to indicate their age Why? This just sounds like planned obsolescence. >as they're meant to be replaced regularly Why? Is it a real hygrine problem or something?
- scott_w 2y agoIt's likely the washing process still scratches the glass but it's less visible. It doesn't increase the "safe" life of the glass, as bacteria is still able to get into those scratches. Making the scratches obvious makes clear to the pub landlord that they need to be replaced (and tips patrons off so they'll put pressure on the landlord by not coming back).
- Rinzler89 2y ago>It's likely the washing process still scratches the glass but it's less visible. It doesn't increase the "safe" life of the glass, as bacteria is still able to get into those scratches. Honestly, I've never heard of this before and I have friends working in the restaurant industry. Is it a real documented health hazard or a FUD spread by the glass manufacturers to create perpetual demand for their product (Glass As A Service)? My grandma still uses the same glassware from like 30+ years ago and washes it by hand and it doesn't look tarnished at all. Is she and our family likely to die from drinking from those old glassware with micro scratches?
- scott_w 2y ago> and washes it by hand That's the key part here. Pubs use commercial dishwashers which effectively shot blast your dishes and glasses. There's a reason you can see "Not dishwasher safe" on certain items: because it'll blast off the nice patterns. I know because I've done it by accident.
- sfn42 2y agoNot sure what shot blast means, but as far as I know dishwashing machines just spray hot water and detergent on everything. I guess that could cause abrasion if there's hard and sharp particles in the water, but I'm not sure what could cause those. Maybe if glass breaks during washing, but I'd assume the machine filters the water before reusing it.
- scott_w 2y ago> as far as I know dishwashing machines just spray hot water and detergent on everything There's a couple of sources: - The dishwasher tablets have a mildly abrasive substance - The water itself (especially in the UK) can carry abrasive substances from the pipes
- ThePowerOfFuet 2y agoIf it was in the pipes, handwashing would do it too. Dishwasher detergent does not contain abrasive substances; dissolve a teaspoon of it in a glass of hot water and see for yourself.
- scott_w 2y agoI’m not convinced because I can run pellets over a surface by hand and not scratch it, yet a shot blast will strip paint off easily. Same substances with different processes produce different results.
- Rinzler89 2y ago
- infecto 2y agoI will be honest that sounds doubtful with at least the contraptions and process used in America. I guess its possible if you are just hand washing the glass?
- scott_w 2y agoI don't know what American bars use but the use of the term "pub" marks this out as a UK thing. I recall going to social clubs and other, cheaper, drinking establishments and seeing grotty glasses. I know for a fact they use dishwashers (I've seen them) and that dishwashers scratch the hell out of your glasses (I've seen that too). Handwashing simply doesn't do this. Dishwashers work by, effectively, shot-blasting your dishes and glasses so I can see the mechanism by which your glassware will get scratched. I don't see how this happens when you're handwashing with Fairy liquid and a soft sponge.
- infecto 2y agoMy point being that the sani-wash that most all pubs/bars/clubs use would eliminate any bacteria hidden in scratches. Hence my caveat that I know America best and perhaps that is not the standard in other countries. A UK pub might not use these traditionally which may introduce sub-par cleaning. Thank you for the explanation but already knew it, just going towards the part where commercial washers are less "soap" and more sani-solution.
- eru 2y agoWhy would a pub landlord buy these glasses?
- BoxOfRain 2y agoSome pint glasses designed for lager are made with nucleation sites for the bubbles at the bottom, over time these wear out and make your pint of lager look 'dead' compared to a fresh glass. This is less of an issue with ales and other less carbonated drinks though.
- consp 2y agoMy experience is either the wrong soap or unclean water leaves a residue on the glass killing any beer. It likely also fills these nucleation sites.
- ch4s3 2y ago> Some pint glasses designed for lager are made with nucleation sites They really shouldn't be, forcing CO2 out of suspension is exactly what you don't want. It causes the beer to become flat more quickly. This is why good beer bars use a glass washer right before serving, to remove any small particles that may end up in the glass and cause nucleation.
- walthamstow 2y agoMore quickly, like how quickly? Most pints are drunk within about 45 mins of pouring
- ch4s3 2y agoYou'll notice a difference right away, because the escaping CO2 breaks the head on the beer, which is exactly the opposite of what you want on a pilsner. As for going flat, I'd have to root around on Brulosophy later I think they did a test on this.
- jdietrich 2y agoIt's a quality issue. Beer served in a new, spotlessly clean glass will have a distinct foamy head on top of clear liquid. If the glass is dirty or scuffed, bubbles will rapidly form on the sides of the glass, which seriously affects the quality of the beer. The head will be thin and uneven, the liquid will look murky and the beer will taste flat. https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/2971/0116/files/dirty_beer_glasses_collage.png https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/2971/0116/files/dirty_beer... This isn't meant to be a nationalistic point, but America has a relatively undeveloped beer culture; beer is often kept and served very poorly and drinkers rarely notice. British, Belgian or German drinkers will notice, complain and tell all their friends if you aren't serving beer properly.
- javaunsafe2019 2y agoGerman here: as if! No one except a few nerds would notice in real life.
- mschuster91 2y ago> Why? This just sounds like planned obsolescence. It's a requirement of the volume calibration - beer glasses used for commercial purposes are classified as certified measurement devices under EU law, you have to print on the glass the year in which the required stamp got affixed [1]. This serves to provide the customer with a way to check if they're being sold the correct amount of beer. Fun fact, this was a massive issue for stone mugs and led to a lot of confusion when the regulation became enforced [2]. [1] https://www.agme.de/?qs_servlet=downloadIxServlet&rq_RecId=3432&qs_fileId=73&qs_lastModified=1464943945927&qs_fileControl=5C3C3DD3613D27081F9BF777B553B2A8298EF50F https://www.agme.de/?qs_servlet=downloadIxServlet&rq_RecId=3... [2] https://germany.representation.ec.europa.eu/news/klarstellung-eu-verbietet-nicht-den-bierausschank-aus-steinkrugen-2017-03-28_de https://germany.representation.ec.europa.eu/news/klarstellun...
- Steve44 2y agoI've posted a fuller reply, but they year on the M stamp is about certification of the tooling used to make the glass. This can be updated annually and so does give a decent indication of year of manufacture, but it is there as part of the Weights & Measures legislation and not about obsolescence / "use by" etc
- agurk 2y ago> Normal glasses are recyclable Is this the case in reality? Everywhere I've lived drinking glasses were not accepted as part of domestic glass recycling due to their composition [0] Perhaps there is a commercial recycling route for pubs though? A quick google didn't turn anything up. [0] https://www.friendsofglass.com/ecology/what-glass-can-you-recycle/ https://www.friendsofglass.com/ecology/what-glass-can-you-re...
- veltas 2y agoI take that back then. Would these hardened glasses be recyclable though?
- defrost 2y ago"Yes" From a glass making point of view you don't want them messing with expansion coefficients and bulk properties so they're off the table there - it's a waste of energy to reheat them up to ~ 1,000 C. But you do end up with large volumes of glass .. a relatively consistant material, you might want to crush and tumble that (to take the sharp edges away) and use that sized grit | frit as driveway material, as additive to concrete where structurally sound, as fish tank "sand", etc.
- toxik 2y agoIIRC concrete aggregate should be jagged so that it interlocks with itself. You actually can't just use any old sand, you need sharp sand, which is an increasingly scarce resource.
- defrost 2y agoMy bad .. mentally insert more commas and juggle the clauses :-) The tumbling was only meant to be applied to application requiring rounded grit, you're correct that concrete and other uses might prefer jagged.
- inglor_cz 2y ago"you need sharp sand" Hmm, practical concerns about acquisition aside, would lunar dust work?
- yoavm 2y ago> I don't think smashing is the kind of issue they're making it out to be. I never ran a restaurant but Googling around it seems like bars replace around 100% of the glasses annually due to breaking. That sounds like a lot... > Normal glasses are recyclable I've never seen anyone collecting broken glass and putting it in a special glass-bin. The glass bin we have in Amsterdam isn't one that you can even push broken glass into if you wanted - it's shaped specifically to receive bottles. Most resources online hint that the reason this hard glass didn't become successful is because there's a lot of profit to be made by reselling glasses when your old glass breaks.
- nemo44x 2y agoI remember reading once that the average Martini glass has a lifespan of 3 uses in a bar environment. Very thin and easy to chip.
- nerdbert 2y ago> The glass bin we have in Amsterdam isn't one that you can even push broken glass into if you wanted - it's shaped specifically to receive bottles. It wouldn't take large shards of a plate window but it definitely can accept anything with one dimension that doesn't exceed 10cm or so, which is almost all the broken glass we've wanted to put into it.
- wiether 2y ago> pub glasses are manufactured to indicate their age I was first confused by this because here in France we have this popular practice, mainly at the school cafeteria, to look at the bottom of our glass to know how old we are (actually it's the mold number obviously...) and depending of the people, the younger (or the older) gets to fetch water for everyone else during lunch. https://eu.duralex.com/en/blogs/inspirations/et-toi-tu-as-quel-age https://eu.duralex.com/en/blogs/inspirations/et-toi-tu-as-qu...
- grecy 2y ago> Normal glasses are recyclable That may be, but rem ember of the three things you should be doing - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle - Recycling is the worst and should be avoided anytime the other two are doable.
- eru 2y agoAlso recycling glasses might not make much sense. The raw material for glass making is basically sand, and there's no problem dumping old glasses in a landfill. So you should only recycle glass, if that's cheaper than making glass from scratch. There's no benefit otherwise. (And you can still reduce and re-use, of course.)
- veltas 2y agoAs another commenter mentioned, apparently they are not!
- Xeyz0r 2y ago[dead]
- prmoustache 2y ago> Normal glasses are recyclable. Recycling is not energy neutral. Far from it. > Clearly glasses last a long time, I don't think smashing is the kind of issue they're making it out to be. Clearly not. Spend 2 hours in any crowded bar or restaurant and you will hear the sound of glass smashing into pieces.
- infecto 2y agoWith the small size of the UK it might make it easier to recycle. In larger countries glass might not always be recycled, it might cost more to recycle than to just produce new glass. The transportation cost/impact to lug around heavy glass to be recycled is not worth it.
- infecto 2y agoI don't know why this was downvoted but this is absolutely a fact in places like America. You may want to feel all fuzy that you are recycling glass but unless you are geographically near a glass production plant, your glass most likely ends up in the landfill. It does not make economic sense to truck crushed glass around the country, there are not a large number of plants making glass.
- puzzlingcaptcha 2y agoIn any case, glass is chemically inert and eventually breaks down into sand so it's not a huge environmental issue, other than its bulk.
- bell-cot 2y agoMost of the environmental issues with glass are on the other end - mining raw materials, refining those, manufacturing, etc.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- Steve44 2y ago> In the UK, and I suspect elsewhere, pub glasses are manufactured to indicate their age I think that is a TikTok 'story' which sounds reasonable and is spreading despite it being not true. Yes perhaps the year can be an indication of older glass and perhaps they have more wear, but that is down to use and care rather than just age and not what the year means. The M mark indicates the year the tooling for that specific glass was certified and marked. Years ago the glasses were manufactured, then tested for capacity, and finally stamped to show they passed. More recently the manufacturer, this is a major factor for plastic glasses which are moulded, has their process and tooling regularly certified and random samples regularly tested. This means they can be marked during manufacturing rather than an additional process. This has a good overview of the markings on a UK drinks glass https://advancedmixology.com/blogs/art-of-mixology/what-does-markings-on-a-pint-glass-mean https://advancedmixology.com/blogs/art-of-mixology/what-does... A bit of legislation from Trading Standards who police it. https://www.southwark.gov.uk/assets/attach/2503/Alcoholic-drinks-measures-2012-.pdf https://www.southwark.gov.uk/assets/attach/2503/Alcoholic-dr... A bit of Government legislation about applying the mark. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/applying-a-crown-symbol-to-pint-glasses https://www.gov.uk/guidance/applying-a-crown-symbol-to-pint-...