Pub landlord reveals what the number on a pint glass means

'I thought everybody knew this!'

A pub landlord, Dan Horsman, the general manager of The Buck Inn in Malham, North Yorkshire, took to TikTok to explain what the numbers on your pint glass mean.

'Pub Man Dan', as he is known 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."

Surprisingly a wealth of people didn't know this - but I guess not everybody spends their life down the pub.

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, explain: "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?

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