Can you provide a cite for that? I’m not from London, but I’ve never heard anyone in the UK (or anyone outside Australia/New Zealand) calling any beer glass a schooner. To me schooner means a sherry glass with concave sides, and my dictionary backs that up.
There are four styles of “straight” glasses I’m aware of – the concave version GorillaMan mentions (which is mainly used in the half pint size), the one with the finger bulge the OP asked about, the fully straight-sided one and one with a gentle convex curve. The glass trade may have its own jargon but as pjd says, pub customers call them all “straight glasses”.
At my local the bulging glass is used for real ale, the smooth convex for lager and cider, and straight for Guinness. Except for the London Pride logo glasses which are also straight. The dimpled glass with a handle is called a jug or just a handle. The halves are a mini bulge type. Another advantage to the bulge other than stacking is that they don’t slip out of your hand as easily after a few too many.
To me also they have always been called tulip glasses, as Beagledave says above.
There are many other generic beer glass designs available also.
BTW, Guinness recommend pubs only serve their wares in these (tulip glasses) as it, apparently, pours & settles better in this particular shape of glass. So I’m told by my mate who is currently a Guinness Rep.
Bonus point for the first non-Irish who can list the offical colour of Guinness from memory…
If you think UK beer glasses are complicated just hop across the channel to Belgium. This country produces hundreds of beers and each type , so some people say, should only be consummed in its own design of glass. This link shows just a small selection :-
I own both pint and half pint glasses. I bought them from one of the links listed above. I have measured the contents just out of curiosity and they hold, respectively, 16 oz. and 8 oz. American.
I personally like them because they feel good in my hand.
You’d really have to specify that you wanted the bulge. I’ve seen those British-style glasses here, but the vast majority of Australian beer glasses are of the smooth outward-then-inward curve type. Even the pint, which BTW, is not a particularly common measure in Aussie pubs - although it is gaining ground slowly.
notquitekarpov, that site gives “schooner” as a glass shape. If the term truly isn’t used much in the UK, and is given only because of an Australian influence on pub culture over there, then I’d take issue with it. A schooner in Australia is most definitely a 15 British oz or 3/4 pint size, and is the most common beer size ordered in Sydney. It can be in any shape of glass and still be a schooner.
Many (many) years ago I was working as a contract systems programmer at the HQ of the United Glass group of companies in Middlesex UK. At that time the Ravenhead company was part of the group.
The nonic beer glass was first produced by Ravenhead and featured prominently in their vanity display outside the board room.
The principal reason for the design was to allow the glasses to be “herded” on the counter or in the washing trays without the rims coming into contact. If the rims contacted each other, eventually the glasses would develop small nicks in the rims and have to be discarded. Hence the name “nonic”, as a short form of “no nicks”. This was a valuable selling point when dealing with the breweries as it significantly extended the working life of the glasses. The advantage of being able to stack the glasses was, at best, a secondary advantage.
