Historical evidence or urban legend?
Tap en Schap, Heineken's fortnightly magazine for the wholesale trade, reported in 1972: 'We were represented for the first time at the 8th Twenthe Ladies' Fair this year. Here too, Heineken beer prompted many to take a break with a glass of Old Brown or, especially the younger visitors, a glass of Pilsner. As at other fairs, the guilder paid for the beer included the glass...The yard glass once again proved the most popular of all our promotional items on sale.'
Here we see one of those beautifully shaped glasses, somewhat reminiscent of laboratory glassware. At the same time, the long shape with the spherical bowl at the bottom also resembles the glass typically used for Belgian Kwak beer, where you have to be careful that the last sip doesn't slosh all over you.
Kwak for coach drivers
The name of this Belgian beer is said to refer to one Pauwel Kwak, who brewed beer in his tavern on the road between Mechelen and Ghent during the Napoleonic era. Tradition has it that he designed the glass especially for coach drivers who, according to the new Napoleonic Code, were not allowed to get down from the box when they stopped at his inn. The wooden fitting is said to have been designed to hang the 'stirrup glass' next to the driver's seat. The foot was added later to create a stand.
Drinking game
This makes for a good story, but there's no historical evidence. It's more likely to have been fabricated for 'historical' advertising. The glass probably derives from a drinking game, in which a tall glass with a convex bottom passes from person to person with each taking a sip. Those who drink too greedily cause a bubble to form in the bulb and get a wet collar in return. This game originated in 17th- or 18th-century Britain, where the glass is called a yard-of-ale or yard glass, because of its exceptional length.
Wishful thinking
The Heineken glass with the ornate, elongated neck is also a type of yard glass. According to the transfer on the hand-blown glasses from the 1970s, it's a '17th Century Dutch Driver's Glass.' But, like Kwak, this would appear to be nostalgic wishful thinking and a clever advertising stunt.