Kwak glass

Kwak Glass

This is a koetsiersglas aka “Coachmen’s Glass.” Legend has it that tavern owner Pauwel Kwak designed the unique shape in the 1790s. When Napoleonic Code took hold in Belgium. One stipulation of the stringent new legal code was that coachmen were no longer allowed to drink with their riders. This tactic focused on drawing a clear line between the wealthy and working classes. And it meant left of potential customers had to wait *outside* Pauwel’s bar.

Like any enterprising entrepreneur, he figured out a loophole: coachmen couldn’t come in, but beer could come out to them! He designed a wooden cupholder of sorts to hold a glass. The coachmen could attach this cupholder to their coach. Then, Kwak created a glass that would stay in the cupholder, or in the hand of the coachman on even the bumpiest ride.

The tricky part was that the glass had to be narrow enough for a coachmen to wrap their hand around it even with thick gloves. This left a long slender neck of a glass with most of the beer contained in a bottom bulb to prevent sloshing in a bumpy coach. The already odd looking contraption has a massive lip at the top to make drinking (while driving, yikes!) easy and to contain spills.