Catalogue no. BBG130
Glasses limited edition
Exhibit information
Glass style Ale Glass A versatile, usually straight-sided glass with a wide opening, designed for easy drinking while leaving room for a good head and the beer's aroma.
Read in Explainer
Explainers
Capacity 33cl / 25cl Curator’s Notes This striking ale glass combines a restrained overall form with a series of unexpected details. The tall, elegant bowl sits on a subtly raised foot and is marked for both 25cl and 33cl servings.
The front carries the Gruut name in distinctive gothic-style lettering. It is an immediately recognisable piece of the brewery's visual identity and sets the medieval tone for the more unusual details elsewhere on the glass.
On the rear is an intricate white motif representing a medieval coin. Annick De Splenter (owner and brewmaster of Gentse Stadsbrouwerij Gruut), explains that coins known as Groten were used in the Middle Ages, with the name rendered as Gruuten in Ghent dialect. The coin depicted here represents a single Gruut, neatly connecting the design with the brewery's name and its wider references to medieval Ghent.
More unusual still is the reflective panel incorporated into the glass. Its purpose only became clear after my visit, when Annick explained it to me by email. The design draws on anamorphosis, a technique in which an image is deliberately distorted so that it only becomes recognisable when viewed from a particular angle or reflected in a curved mirror. Annick told me that medieval examples were sometimes used to conceal erotic images and scenes. Gruut adapted the idea playfully: specially designed coasters carried the distorted image, while the reflective panel on the glass acted as the mirror needed to reveal it. The comic and erotic references used on Gruut glassware were deliberate parts of the same historical conceit. I don't have one of the accompanying coasters, so have yet to see the hidden image the glass was designed to reveal.
This limited-edition glass was gifted to me by Annick, Gruut's owner and brewmaster, during my visit to the brewery in Ghent in 2026. Her subsequent email of 18 August finally explained details of the design which I had noticed during the visit but had not fully understood.
I found a YouTube video showing how the anamorphosis works:
Anamorphosis effect
I can't attest to the quality of the video!
