BEER TIME

THE LOVE OF BEER

As mentioned in a previous Cultural Serving about beer and beer mats, Beer has been an integral part of life for many, even since ancient Egypt.

This love for beer was carried on over the centuries and into the modern day, particularly in breweries, where drinking was a way of life. In the 1900s, employers at these brewpubs often granted their workers an unlimited supply of beer to give them the motivation to get through the gruelling and taxing shifts.

Breweries often sported a room called the ‘sternewirth’. In these rooms, unlimited beer was supplied through taps to workers at all times. This is where the term ‘on tap’ derives from. After a while, this unlimited beer supply transgressed into each staff member having a certain number of tokens that permitted them free beer each day. On average, workers drank around 40 glasses of beer a day, however some were said to drink up to 100! Many breweries set daily breaks called ‘Beer Time’ where workers were allowed to drink all they could in that short time period before returning to work.

Although this notion promotes alcoholism a little too much for our liking, we are a fan of this idea of ‘Beer Time’ because it allowed the factory workers to take a break and unwind during a shift. What’s more, we like it because it is similar to our favourite meal of the day - lunch! - in the way that it acts as a gap that breaks up the working day. We appreciate the skill and dedication that goes into a manual job and think that it is important to recognise this with a well earned break.

We value the notion of ‘Beer Time’ as an after-hours past time too. That first sip of beer after a long day of work is always the most rewarding. Beer is affordable and volatile. There is a beer for everyone, from a light pilsner to a wholesome stout. Globally we drink 187 billion litres of beer a year, making beer the most popular alcoholic drink. A great thing to us about beer is that there are local breweries dotted all over the country. It’s incredibly easy to shop small and keep our carbon footprint low by supporting these local breweries that all work hard to produce unique, amazing quality beer.

A beer bottle is in itself very stylish, so we’ve created a little ‘Beer Time’ range to bring this level of style from the brewery, straight to your home. But of course, these products are for any drink, not just beer! Our coasters refer to your drink as various types of magic potions, their design is inspired by vintage medicine bottles; and our bottle opener quotes Julius Cesar ‘Beer, a high and mighty liquor.’ We hope that we can bring a little bit of the pub home to you with these little leather items.