German Beer Mugs

As an aficionado of German beer, I am also a collector of German beer glasses and to a lesser extent, German beer mugs and steins. This dates back to my US Army days in Erlangen in the 1960s. In addition to dozens of beer glasses from different breweries, I brought back a few one liter and half liter mugs. I have recently taken the one liter mugs  out of the garage and now display them on my bookcase in my study.

As you can see, I am somewhat of an amateur scholar on the history of the Third Reich and the Holocaust. Having been stationed just outside Nuremberg, I became quite interested in this terrible period and still read voraciously on the subject.

In the top photo, on the top shelf (l-r) , the mugs are, Bamberger Hofbrau, Henninger Reifbrau of Erlangen, Steinbach Brau of Erlangen, and Erlanger Erichbrau. On the bottom is a mug from Kitzmann of Erlangen. With the exception of Steinbach, all of the breweries are now defunct. The Steinbach and Kitzmann mugs were just purchased this month on Ebay. The other three are souvenirs from Erlangen's Bergkirchweih beer fest in the 1960s. The ceramic Frankfurt beer stein is one of a separate collection.

Kitzmann of Erlangen


They make a nice collection, but the problem is if you have too many, it is hard to find a suitable display location. My wife isn't going to tolerate any more beer mugs in my book case.