THE UNAUTHORIZED HISTORY OF THE SHOT GLASS
By Steve Kirwan
Published on Wine and Whiskey Globe
They’re everywhere. You’ll find them at pubs, bars, saloons, and especially at the cheesy souvenir stands dotting the highways and byways across the country. Whether proclaiming your favorite liquor brand, sporting a silly slogan, or plastered with the image of a treasured tourist attraction, a single undeniable truth transcends the shot glass’s shabby chic: nobody knows its origin.
Ask a dozen scholars, and you’ll get as many theories, all based on fragmented anecdotes and folklore. The modern shot glass, with its heavy base and thickly flared sides, holds between one and two ounces. Graduated or not, it’s used much like a jigger to measure pours or to serve liquor.
Urban legends abound, providing many fanciful origins of the eponymous glass. One holds that olden-day writers filled the glass with lead “shot,” creating a stand for their quill pens once finished writing. Another claims that Old-West surgeons used the glasses to hold bullets surgically removed from those who’d been “shot.” Perhaps the most romantic claim explains that during the late 1800s, a Colt .45 pistol cartridge cost about twelve cents, roughly the same as a pour of whiskey. A cowhand, short on cash, could trade a cartridge (or “shot”) for a drink, placing it in the “shot” glass. One theory…
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