Waiter, there’s a fly in my beer

According to beer smarts, which regular readers know is a set of trivia cards I received for Christmas, the lid on a beer stein was originally conceived as a means of preventing disease during the outbreak of the bubonic plague in the 14th century. As a secondary matter, it also helped keep the happy beer drinker from becoming a less happy beer drinker and fly swallower. Wikipedia’s version of the story is a similar one, suggesting that the lids prevented disease-carrying flies from infecting the beer. Either way, the lid on a beer stein has been around a long time, and even now in many beer halls there are areas where regular guests can store their own personal stein.

I almost bought a stein while in Munich, but it wasn’t for disease prevention measure, nor was it to keep the flies out. Today’s biergarten visitor is most likely to be bothered by yellow jackets in the early spring, and that’s definitely one surprise no one wants to swallow.

Image of Stoneware beer mugs and stein from Meyers Encyclopedia, 1888-1889 (public domain).