# Yard of ale
A yard of ale is a very tall, trumpet-mouthed beer glass about one yard (three feet, roughly 90 cm) long, with a bulb at the closed end, and by extension the quantity of beer it holds. Drinking its contents quickly, without spilling, is a traditional British pub challenge, and the glass itself is also called a yard glass, long glass, or, in Australia and New Zealand, simply a yard.[1](https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/yard-of-ale) • [2](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/yard_of_ale)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Shape | Trumpet-shaped mouth, long narrow neck, small globular body at the closed end; often one yard (three feet) long[3](https://allaboutglass.cmog.org/definition/yard-ale) |
| Capacity | Commonly cited as about two and a half imperial pints (roughly 1.4 liters); Collins gives two to three pints, while the Corning Museum of Glass describes historical examples of about one pint[4](https://artisan-ales.com/yard-of-ale/) • [1](https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/yard-of-ale) • [3](https://allaboutglass.cmog.org/definition/yard-ale) |
| Origins | Came into use in England in the 1680s and continued into the 19th century; earlier "ell glasses" are recorded from the reign of James I[3](https://allaboutglass.cmog.org/definition/yard-ale) • [5](https://regencyredingote.wordpress.com/2011/04/01/quirky-quaffing-bottoms-up/) |
| Earliest dated mention | John Evelyn's diary records James II's health being drunk at Bromley "in a flint glasse of a yard long"[6](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/54381/pg54381-images.html) |
| The challenge | Rotating the glass slowly while drinking lets air into the bulb gradually; tipping too fast releases the remaining beer in one surge[7](https://prat.uk/yard-review-a-yard-of-ale-is-a-trap/) |
| Half yard | Typically 18 inches tall, holding about one to one and a quarter imperial pints[4](https://artisan-ales.com/yard-of-ale/) |
## The glass
The vessel has three parts: a wide flared mouth, a long narrow shaft, and a hollow spherical bulb at the bottom. Because the bulb gives the glass no flat base, it cannot be set down while it still contains liquid, so a drinker who starts is committed to finishing or spilling.[4](https://artisan-ales.com/yard-of-ale/) The Corning Museum of Glass classifies the yard-of-ale as a type of English ale glass that "functioned like trick glasses," noting that historical examples often held about one pint.[3](https://allaboutglass.cmog.org/definition/yard-ale) Modern glasses vary in size because they are hand-blown or mold-blown, and published capacity figures range from two to three pints; two and a half imperial pints is the most commonly cited standard.[4](https://artisan-ales.com/yard-of-ale/) • [1](https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/yard-of-ale)
For the half yard of ale, the same shape is reproduced in a smaller form, usually standing 18 inches high and holding roughly one to one and a quarter imperial pints.[4](https://artisan-ales.com/yard-of-ale/) Surviving old examples come in two forms, those with feet and those without; the footless ones generally have a bulb at the base.[8](https://nnty.fun/downloads/books/survivorlibrary/library-glassmaking/english_table_glass_1905.pdf)
## History
The yard-of-ale came into use in the 1680s and continued into the 19th century.[3](https://allaboutglass.cmog.org/definition/yard-ale) The earliest dated mention usually given is in the diary of John Evelyn (1620–1706), who recounts that King James II's health was drunk at Bromley in Kent "in a flint glasse of a yard long"; collector sources date this entry to 1683 or 1685.[6](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/54381/pg54381-images.html) • [8](https://nnty.fun/downloads/books/survivorlibrary/library-glassmaking/english_table_glass_1905.pdf) Earlier "ell glasses" are recorded from the reign of James I, but an ell is nine inches longer than an English yard, and those earlier glasses had feet; the yard of ale in its familiar form evolved during the eighteenth century.[5](https://regencyredingote.wordpress.com/2011/04/01/quirky-quaffing-bottoms-up/)
**The coaching-inn story.** According to *The Oxford Companion to Beer*, the glass is believed to have originated in 17th-century England, where it was also known as a long glass or a Cambridge yard, and was designed for stagecoach drivers: at intermediate stops, drivers would be handed ale in a yard glass through an inn window, the length letting them drink without leaving the coach. A pub called the Olde Gate Inne in Brassington, Derbyshire, once on the coach road from London to Manchester, retains a small latched window said to have been used for this.[9](https://www.beerandbrewing.com/dictionary/VCaIsCCfNI) The association with coachmen may also have been reinforced because the glass resembles the old post horns carried on stagecoaches.[10](https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2016/05/top-10-ritual-drinking-vessels/2/) A skeptical account argues the evidence for the coachman story is thin and that the glass more likely began as an absurdly long novelty made in a 17th-century glasshouse, with the coachman explanation added later.[7](https://prat.uk/yard-review-a-yard-of-ale-is-a-trap/)
**A measure, not only a vessel.** One trade-dictionary account holds that the yard glass was never intended as a drinking glass but as a measure from which to pour, and that selling ale by the yard left behind the expressions a "long drink" and a "short."[11](https://api.pageplace.de/preview/DT0400.9781846748851_A23441644/preview-9781846748851_A23441644.pdf)
## The drinking challenge
The difficulty is not the volume but the bulb. As the glass is tipped, liquid drains steadily from the long shaft; then air rushes up into the bulb all at once, displacing the remaining beer, which surges out in a single uncontrolled flow toward the drinker's face.[7](https://prat.uk/yard-review-a-yard-of-ale-is-a-trap/) The standard technique is to rotate the glass slowly while drinking, a quarter turn at a time, so that air enters the bulb gradually and the flow stays steady.[7](https://prat.uk/yard-review-a-yard-of-ale-is-a-trap/) • [4](https://artisan-ales.com/yard-of-ale/) Old glass-collecting accounts describe the same dynamic: the ale leaves the bulb "with a rush and drenching the drinker," and the glasses were used at merry-makings as tests of bibulous skill.[8](https://nnty.fun/downloads/books/survivorlibrary/library-glassmaking/english_table_glass_1905.pdf)
In Britain and its former colonial countries the vessel has been used as an initiation ceremony in which a young man reaching the legal drinking age consumes its contents, usually given as three imperial pints of beer; a failed rotation ends with beer over the face.[9](https://www.beerandbrewing.com/dictionary/VCaIsCCfNI) In Australia and New Zealand the yard glass retains pub-culture currency and is sometimes called simply a yard.[4](https://artisan-ales.com/yard-of-ale/) • [2](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/yard_of_ale)
## Related vessels
*The Oxford Companion to Beer* links the yard of ale to older drinking-horn customs and to the stirrup cup, a vessel used to toast a departing horseman.[9](https://www.beerandbrewing.com/dictionary/VCaIsCCfNI) The Belgian beer Kwak is served in a small yard-of-ale-style glass held in a wooden stand; according to the Bosteels Brewery, it is named after Pauwel Kwak, a coaching-inn owner on the road from Ghent to Mechelen who handed such glasses to coach drivers, who could rest the bulbous end in a stirrup.[9](https://www.beerandbrewing.com/dictionary/VCaIsCCfNI)
## References
1. [Yard of ale definition, Collins English Dictionary](https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/yard-of-ale)
2. [yard of ale, Wiktionary](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/yard_of_ale)
3. [Yard-of-ale, Glass Dictionary, Corning Museum of Glass](https://allaboutglass.cmog.org/definition/yard-ale)
4. [Yard of Ale: The Glass, the Tradition and the Challenge, Artisan Ales](https://artisan-ales.com/yard-of-ale/)
5. [Quirky Quaffing: Bottoms Up, The Regency Redingote](https://regencyredingote.wordpress.com/2011/04/01/quirky-quaffing-bottoms-up/)
6. [Collecting Old Glass, by J. H. Yoxall, Project Gutenberg](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/54381/pg54381-images.html)
7. [Yard Review: A Yard of Ale Is a Trap, The London Prat](https://prat.uk/yard-review-a-yard-of-ale-is-a-trap/)
8. [English Table Glass (1905)](https://nnty.fun/downloads/books/survivorlibrary/library-glassmaking/english_table_glass_1905.pdf)
9. [Drinking customs, The Oxford Companion to Beer, Craft Beer & Brewing](https://www.beerandbrewing.com/dictionary/VCaIsCCfNI)
10. [Top 10 ritual drinking vessels, The Drinks Business](https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2016/05/top-10-ritual-drinking-vessels/2/)
11. [A Dictionary of Old Trades, Titles and Occupations](https://api.pageplace.de/preview/DT0400.9781846748851_A23441644/preview-9781846748851_A23441644.pdf)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Food, customs, and everyday culture › Food, cooking and hospitality › Beverages and drink culture › Spirits, cocktails, and alcoholic drink culture › Drinking culture, customs, and toasting traditions*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 19, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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