# UK - The purpose of vinegar bottles with a hollow 'stopper' **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 18, 2004, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-the-purpose-of-vinegar-bottles-with-a-hollow-stopper/235010 "2004-03-18T10:43:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dogfat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@dogfat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dogfat)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2004, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-the-purpose-of-vinegar-bottles-with-a-hollow-stopper/235010/1 "2004-03-18T10:43:03Z")
Can anyone settle a great debate for me please? In the UK, in Beefeater type restaurants, you often get vinegar in a small jug like glass bottle. It has the usual stopper, but the stopper is hollow. If you completely invert the bottle the stopper fills with vinegar. When you turn the bottle back up the vinegar remains in the stopper, allowing you to remove it and shake vinegar onto your chips. Is this a deliberate (genius) design or just a happy freak of nature? Is the correct usage of said bottle as above, or should you just adopt the old slightly remove stopper and pour technique that you would if confronted with the same vinegar bottle with a solid stopper? ---
**Author:** ![Bromley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4da419/32.png) [@Bromley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bromley)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2004, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-the-purpose-of-vinegar-bottles-with-a-hollow-stopper/235010/2 "2004-03-18T12:01:01Z")
I tried to google some info, but no dice. From reading adverts about this sort of bottle being used for oil or vinegar, I’d guess that you’re right. ---
**Author:** ![Ponster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponster/32/17081_2.png) [@Ponster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponster)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2004, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-the-purpose-of-vinegar-bottles-with-a-hollow-stopper/235010/3 "2004-03-18T12:45:37Z")
Just searched [http://gb.espacenet.com/](http://gb.espacenet.com/) but couldn’t find any patents concerbing this design. Can’t say I’ve ever seen it elsewhere though… ---
**Author:** ![wiggler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a4c791/32.png) [@wiggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wiggler)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2004, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-the-purpose-of-vinegar-bottles-with-a-hollow-stopper/235010/4 "2004-03-18T12:48:46Z")
I’m not sure, but it may be due to glassblowing/moulding techniques that makes it easier to produce such glass lids. Also, it would effectively still give you the problem of having to pour the exact amount of vinegar on your plate as the volume that the lid holds (if not, then it would be a matter of putting it back in the bottle again and repouring again). ---
**Author:** ![Pergau](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7c8e57/32.png) [@Pergau](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pergau)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2004, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-the-purpose-of-vinegar-bottles-with-a-hollow-stopper/235010/5 "2004-03-18T13:07:20Z")
Why would you eat in a Beefearer, and anyway, there’s way more worrying things in one of their restaurants than vinegar bottles. Welcome to the board by the way. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2004, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-the-purpose-of-vinegar-bottles-with-a-hollow-stopper/235010/6 "2004-03-18T15:16:54Z")
Educate an ignorant American - what’s a “Beefeater” type restaurant and **Pergau** , why do you think it’s not a good idea to eat at one? ---
**Author:** ![Ross](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@Ross](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ross)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2004, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-the-purpose-of-vinegar-bottles-with-a-hollow-stopper/235010/7 "2004-03-18T16:07:09Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > Educate an ignorant American - what’s a “Beefeater” type restaurant and **Pergau** , why do you think it’s not a good idea to eat at one? Two words: “pure class.” Recent court case: [http://www.asa.org.uk/adjudications/show\_adjudication.asp?adjudication\_id=32294&from\_index=by\_media&dates\_of\_adjudications\_id=all](http://www.asa.org.uk/adjudications/show_adjudication.asp?adjudication_id=32294&from_index=by_media&dates_of_adjudications_id=all) ---
**Author:** ![dwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwyr/32/363_2.png) [@dwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwyr)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-the-purpose-of-vinegar-bottles-with-a-hollow-stopper/235010/8 "2004-03-19T01:20:16Z")
My mother has a vinegar cruet like that. (We’re in the U.S.) It’s just a relatively cheap, pressed glass bottle. I think the stopper is hollow simply because it would be less expensive to produce than a solid glass one. ---
**Author:** ![flight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbce88/32.png) [@flight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flight)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-the-purpose-of-vinegar-bottles-with-a-hollow-stopper/235010/9 "2004-03-19T01:40:42Z")
I had a very nice bottle of Tequila that had a stopper like this, somehow I don’t think it was meant for sprinkling on fries though. ---
**Author:** ![shelbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3d9bf3/32.png) [@shelbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shelbo)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-the-purpose-of-vinegar-bottles-with-a-hollow-stopper/235010/10 "2004-03-19T02:21:53Z")
I had a bottle of Jose Cuervo 1800 tequila with a similar top. Unfortunately, in order to fill the top, the bottle had to be held upside down. As soon as the bottle was turned back over, the tequila began to pour back out of the top. If you moved very quickly you were able to wrench off the top before all of the tequila had drained out, but it proved impossible to do so in a manner that did not involve fairly large quantities of tequila being flung across the room. ---
**Author:** ![Pergau](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7c8e57/32.png) [@Pergau](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pergau)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-the-purpose-of-vinegar-bottles-with-a-hollow-stopper/235010/11 "2004-03-19T13:28:04Z")
Hi Zoid, if I may expand on Ross’s pithy explaination, Beefeater resturants are (thankfully) uniquely British. They are a sort of sit down diner/resturant that provides food that is almost without exception deep-fried (I swear that the peas are even fried) the place has that smell of hot fat and everything tastes the same - it’s the degree of mushiness of the various foods that differentiates them. The crockery has a slightly greasy feel to it - as if they forgot to put detergent in the dishwasher and some of the cracks in the cups look as if they are older than the cup itself. The sugar bowls are filled with sachets of sugar that have been recycled from previous clients and there is a layer of encrusted sugar at the bottom of the bowl because you don’t have to bother cleaning something that hiolds paper sachets. The chairs are never even and you get the impression that the only treason for this is that they were previously used in a fight between two truckers. They’re a family resturant, aimed at young families, and couples out on their first date. Happy places where the waiting staff seem genuinely surprised to see you there and treat you in a familiar “one of the family” way by ingoring you for 20 minutes and then getting your drinks order wrong. The sneeze guards by the salad cart really work, and the management leave them in an uncleaned state just to assure you that the food remained safe underneath. I really recommend that you go if you ever get the chance - as I mentioned earlier, you’ll be able to sit there for at least 20 minutes without having to touch or eat anything and you can then slip out unnoticed by the staff and other deeply depressed diners. Also, I believe that the idea of the Vinegar bottle stopper is that you turn the bottle upside down and fill the hollow in the stopper and than remove the stopper and use the small amount of vinegar in it to sprinkle over your chips, or clean your needle or whatever. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-the-purpose-of-vinegar-bottles-with-a-hollow-stopper/235010/12 "2004-03-19T14:51:47Z")
Ahhhh, I see. Thanks for clarifying **Pergau**. We have something _similar_ in the US, it’s called Ponderosa (or Bonanza depending on the location). They claim to be a “Steak” house. This is true only if your definition of steak is expanded to include parts of the animal historically reserved for tanning or making glue. Having worked at one for 1 week when I was 15, I can tell you first hand that the ONLY washing the tables ever got was a quick wipe with a rag dipped in vinegar (I won’t go into what I saw in the kitchen). ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-the-purpose-of-vinegar-bottles-with-a-hollow-stopper/235010/13 "2004-03-19T15:19:12Z")
> [@Pergau](#): > > … and some of the cracks in the cups look as if they are older than the cup itself. They are. The cracks are obtained from old crockery removed from building sites in central london (during the office building craze of the 1980s). Some of it dates back to the early 18th century. The cracks are extracted and added into the clay mix of beefeater’s cups just prior to the firing stage, and the mixture of grime and bacteria is apllied by hand immediately after firing.