Yard of ale
very tall beer glass
A yard of ale or yard glass is a tall beer glass used for drinking around 2+1⁄2 imperial pints (1.4 L) of beer, depending upon the diameter.
The glass is approximately one yard (90 centimetres) long, shaped with a bulb at the bottom, and a widening shaft, which constitutes most of the height.
The glass most likely originated in 17th-century England, where it was known also as a "long glass", a "Cambridge yard (glass)" and an "ell glass". It is associated by legend with stagecoach drivers, though it was mainly used for drinking feats and special toasts.
Drinking a yard glass full of beer as quickly as possible is a traditional pub game; as with the toe of a beer boot, the bulb at the bottom of the glass makes it possible for the contestant to be splashed with a sudden rush of beer toward the end of the feat. The fastest drinking of a yard of ale in the Guinness Book of Records is 5 seconds.
Description
The glass is approximately 1 yard (36 in; 91 cm), shaped with a bulb at the bottom and a widening shaft, which constitutes most of the height. In countries where the metric system is used, the glass may be 1 metre (1.1 yd; 39 in). Because the glass is so long and in any case does not usually have a stable flat base, it is hung on the wall when not in use.
History
The glass most likely originated in 17th-century England, where the glass was known also as a "long glass", a "Cambridge yard (glass)" and an "ell glass".
“Yard of ale” enters the record as very tall beer glass. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Yard, very and tall can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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This entry incorporates text from “Yard of ale” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.