Here’s what the numbers on the side of your pint glass actually mean

Every day's a learning day.

If you've always wondered what the digits etched on the side of your pint glass mean, publican Dan Horsman has taken to TikTok to give you the lowdown. the general manager of The Buck Inn in North Yorkshire in the UK took to TikTok to explain what the numbers on your pint glass mean. The general manager of The Buck Inn in North Yorkshire, known as ‘Pub Man Dan’, on social media, said in the video: “If you’ve ever wondered why your beer doesn’t look quite right, you see those bubbles forming on the side of your glass, it’s because of that number there... That’s the year the glass was made." He continued: “You shouldn’t keep your glasses for more than three years. After that three years, you should be getting rid of them and getting new ones.”

While everybody agrees that the numbers do denote the year in which a glass was made, some have argued against his other claims, saying that bubbles can form on the side of a glass from dirt which can be removed using a glass cleaner. Beer dispensing equipment supplier, Micro Matic, explains: “A head of foam on the top of a beer is ideal. However, bubbles forming on the sides or bottom of the beer glass and then rising to the top may indicate the glass is not ‘beer clean’. “Bubbles form at the sides and bottom of a glass, where residue or microscopic cracks serve as starting points for carbon dioxide molecules to gather. When the carbon dioxide at a collection site reaches critical volume, a bubble detaches from the glass and launches itself towards the beer head. “A clean beer glass should not have bubbles anywhere but in the head on top of the beer, or lacing on the side of the beer glass.” So long as it’s not absolutely rotten looking it’s probably fine. That’s my theory anyway. Did you know what the numbers on a pint glass meant?