Catalogue no. BBG116

Imperial Pils

Brewery: Brasserie Impérial (Anderlecht)
Beer style: Pils
Glass style: Goblet
Capacity: 33cl
Place: Brussels (Brussels)

Curator’s Notes

This compact 33 cl goblet comes from Brasserie Impérial, a former Brussels brewery based in Anderlecht. The precise beer for which the glass was intended is uncertain. Impérial produced a surprisingly broad range, including Horse Ale Impérial, Exki Pils Impérial, Export Impérial, Bock Impérial and Impérial Stout.

The glass has a distinctive mid-twentieth-century appearance. Its rounded bowl and broad foot echo one another, connected by an unusually ornate moulded stem. The decoration is restrained: the flowing Impérial name sits beneath a crowned shield containing the intertwined initials of the brewery.

Its precise date also remains uncertain. The glass appears likely to belong to the period before Brasserie Impérial became caught up in the consolidation of the Belgian brewing industry during the 1960s. Part of the old brewery survives in Anderlecht: its Art Deco bottling building, constructed in 1936, has since been converted into housing.

I found this glass at a brocante for just 30 cents. What initially appeared to be an attractive piece of old Belgian glassware turned out to be a surviving fragment of Brussels' largely vanished brewing industry.

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