Though it’s not obvious where to trace the beginning of the trend of small batch glassware for beer nerds focused on pop culture references, I think the most obvious emergence goes back to The Answer’s glassware designed by BlackNinja. The earliest glasses focused on 8 bit Nintendo era video games with subtle nods to beer like including a hop cone or a mash paddle somewhere in the art.
Shortly after, realizing you only had to have some clever nostalgic art which appealed to 25-40 something year olds with a penchant for NEIPA Instagram posts, the limited quantity beer glass hype drop game began to explode. Today there’s several crafters making these that have all developed their cult like following. However there’s really no adequate directory of these, as they’re all decentralized across Facebook, Instagram and their own sites.
Our personal preferences are for glasses with original art containing unique beer reference integrated into the design. I’ll also include beer glass makers that have literally just taken intellectual property, ran the art through some filters to simplify the colors and slapped them on for nostalgia appeal but I do find them fairly tacky.
This page has links to the beer glass projects that have public storefronts. We’ve chose not to include glasses strictly sold in private facebook groups or other means. To lead off, we’re featuring some of our favorites or sites we’ve purchased from in the past followed by other popular makers.
Beer Glassware Elite Tier
Permanent Hangover
This project blew up following the original drop of Glassy. They routinely have some of the most original designs and collaborations with breweries like J Wakefield, Southern Grist, and Trillium. While The Answer blew up with offering Contra, Ms Pac Man, and Mega Man glasses, Permanent Hangover can hang its dad-hat on its original creations before they began referencing Full House and Cool Runnings. While their start was glasses, their T’s, koozies and other apparel are also pretty great. Glasses typically are around $15 but vary.
Glass to Mouth
Glass to Mouth has now released 112 glasses all focused on movies, TV, video games and other pop culture. My favorite is probably Kevin’s Famous IPA. They’ve recently started trying to make glasses with broader appeal to wine drinkers in what is probably going to be a forward thinking move other makers will follow in the months to come. Glasses are typically about $12 and don’t instantly sell out meaning you don’t have to stalk their social media religiously for good releases.
Black Ninja Design
I opened with a brief mention of Black Ninja Design’s influence on some of the early video game glasses that helped create a market for glassware. Black Ninja has evolved with more original designs over time with their Danksy series with playful takes on Banksy art and more design focusing on their own brand. Glasses typically are priced around $40 and still move quickly.
Beer Glass Maker Directory
17% Drip [cartoons] [originals] [music]
4mer Legends [sports] [games]
BeerCanvas [originals] [cartoons] [music]
Clear Nero [music] [tv]
Color Rush Glassware [sci-fi] [memes]
Conspiracy Glassworks [movies] [tv] [games]
Craft or Die [cartoons] [comics]
Fruit Pop Shop [cartoons] [tv]
Fueled By Hops [parody] [originals]
Glassphemist [cartoons] [games]
Glass Play [tv] [causes]
Hop Fiction [movies] [tv] [music]
Hops For Harambe [originals]
Hops in the Hollows [games] [movies] [sports]
Idi0t 404 [cartoons]
Just Glass Designs [hand blown]
Keever Glass [originals]
Lags Glass [cartoons] [tv]
Pixel Pints [games]
Pop Pop Glass [movies] [tv] [cartoons]
Pregame Glassware [cartoons [tv] [originals]
Poura Vida Glassware [cartoons] [tv] [movies]
Quinn’s Creations [originals] [movies]
Saint Nate Beer Sanctuary [Home grown Simpsons stuff]
Sip N Proper [games] [originals]
Sloppy Joe Glassware [sports] [comics]
Sour Linus Glassware [Peanuts] [cartoons]
Still X Storm [music] [tv]
Terramar [music] [originals]
The Drunken Dolphin Glassware [movies]
The Pint of No Return [movies]
True Class [wrestling] [comics] [games]
Wheat Whale [memes] [tv]
Last updated: 4/19/2021
Koel Story Bro 