I found this stein in a second hand store and purchased it for a couple of bucks or so. It is heavy and the lid is very sturdy, well engineered like any good German thingamajig should be.
For those of you not familiar with this type of mug, you open the lid by pressing on the bit that sticking up from the hand, and which is called the thumblift. When you press it, the lid lifts up and you get access to your delicious brew. You have to be careful not to get your knuckles rapped because this thing snaps back like it means business.
You might be asking yourself a question: this seems like a troublesome and difficult way of drinking beer, so why should I bother?
One word: fruit flies.
Okay, that's two words. Regardless, they are really annoying, the bugs not the words, especially in the Summer months, when this pesky species are more likely to invade. Not only do they like to go after any piece of fruit you may have laying around, they also go after your booze. How rude!
I had actually forgotten all about this mug until one particular Summer, I left watermelon scraps on the kitchen counter, and soon the unwanted guests arrived. They made themselves at home in spite of all my attempts at removing them. Thereafter, whenever I opened a beer, guess who showed up? Oh yea, little bastards wouldn't let up. The whole swarm would descended and dive-bomb my ale. Inevitably, a few of them landed inside, and I had fish them out with my finger. At that point, I remembered the stein, and I could hear the angels singing from up above. Aha! That’s when I realized that humans might just be smarter than bugs.
The lid worked beautifully. The fruit flies couldn't get into my brew. They had to content themselves with the vinegar that I had put inside a bottle trap. Bwahaha! Take that suckas!
The mug is designed with classical Germanic aesthetics. The top of the lid is embossed with a leaf and acorn or hops motif, the thumblift is shaped like a leaf and is attached to a hinge that shows why the Bahaus design movement came out of Germany. Form follows function.
The main graphical design around the stein is the Bavarian coat of arms, which consists of shields, colorful geometrical patterns, lions and dragons with sharp claws and long tongues. I don’t know what fascination Germans have with tongues, but it makes the creatures look bad ass. As if saying, you so much as look at my brew, and I will give you a good licking.
On the base, the stein sports some words and phrases.
Hopfen und malz
Gott erhalt’s
This appears to mean: God controls hops and maltz (source) I don’t know what that’s supposed to mean. Perhaps the sentiment is more like, God blesses hops and maltz.
There are also the following words on the base: Rgl. Baher. Bierseidel.
The word bierseidel is German for stein. The rest I do not know.
At the bottom of the mug is what a appears to be a folk or beer song, which I won’t attempt to translate because my knowledge of German is null.
The capacity of this stein is rather large. I poured all 473 mL of my Wolves IPA into it with room to spare. Those Germans sure take their beer seriously.
On the con side, the stein is heavy and a bit cumbersome to operate in spite of its simplicity. On the pro side, it is sturdy, well engineered, has a large capacity, and sports a cool classical design. It may seem a bit over the top to drink my beer in this manner, but it gives me a lot of joy in addition to keeping my ale bug free.