Shot Glasses

A shot glass is a small glass designed to hold or measure one to three ounces of liquor, to be poured into a mixed drink, or drunk straight from the glass (a "shot"). more...

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The modern thick-walled shot glass probably originated in the United States during the Prohibition era, and the term "shot glass" or "shotglass" first appeared in print in the 1940s.

Jigger or pony is an earlier name for a container used to measure or drink a standard quantity of liquor. A small glass holding a shot of liquor is called a whiskey. American distilleries distributed thin whiskey glasses bearing etched advertising between the late 19th century and the beginning of Prohibition. Shot glasses decorated with a wide variety of advertising, humorous pictures, and toasts are popular souvenirs and collectibles. Pre-prohibition whiskey glasses are also highly collectible.

Origin

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word shotglass first appeared in print in the 1950s. There are many apocryphal stories about its origin, but none of them stand up to scrutiny. They all place the origin at least decades before the word or phrase shows up in print; or they describe an item that had nothing to do with drinking liquor. If any of them are true, the word should have appeared in print long before it did.

Many references from the 1800s describe giving workers who were digging canals a jigger of whiskey or rum. Most shotglasses are found in America, and shotglasses from before the 1940s are very rare. The word shotglass (or phrase shot glass) does not show up in print until the 1940s in The New York Times, in a story about an effort to regulate the size of a shot of liquor in New York; and did not come into common usage until much later.

If the origin of the shotglass was sparked by special circumstances in America, in the years before the Second World War, the likely candidates are The Great Depression, and Prohibition. Although most people associate the beginning of prohibition with the passage of the Volstead act, alcohol was locally prohibited in many locations years before the passage of the act (see local option). Since the Great Depression was a worldwide phenomenon, and shotglasses evolved only in America, the depression was probably not a major influence on the birth of the shotglass.

The obvious connection between Prohibition and the shotglass is they are both related to alcohol. Before Prohibition, thin-sided whiskey glasses were common . After Prohibition, the shotglass with thick base and sides had replaced them.

The Old West

The most popular origin story is that the shot glass originated in the saloons of the old west. The story explains that the cowboys of the old west would trade a cartridge (bullet plus powder and primer encased in brass) for a small amount of alcohol. One problem with this story is that, even if true, your average old west saloon would not be able to “commission” the creation of a new style of glass to fill this purpose – even today many bars do not stock shotglasses; they serve shots in ordinary whiskey glasses. Another problem with this origin story is the economics of such a trade are such that it would never happen. Alcohol sold for much more than a single cartridge -- even today you can get anywhere from 50 to a couple hundred rounds of ammo (depending on caliber) for the same amount as a drink of alcohol.

Read more at Wikipedia.org