But getting to the bottom of the quintessential glühwein mug’s rise to fame isn’t as easy as it looks.
It make some effort to hide my disappointment , standing in front of a glühwein seller in Vienna ’s Maria - Theresien - Platz . And I was n’t doing a very good chore . Behind me in this impossibly European context tolerate theHofburg , the sprawling former imperial palace of Austria ’s Habsburg dynasty , and all around were the magical trappings of the seasonal Weihnachtsdorf , or Christmas Greenwich Village : wooden buildings drip with yellowish lighting ; joyous explosions of laughter ; the olfaction of meat , fried thing , and ardent cider ; booths selling everything from snow Earth — aViennese excogitation — to spice Lebkuchen gingerbread sum . But despite the joy , and meat , and gingerbread , my face had visibly fallen .
Why ? Because my glühwein seller was about to pour my spiced warm wine into aregularcup . Everywhere I looked patrons young and one-time ( well , untested - ish — the drunkenness age is 18 in Vienna ) clutched endearing porcelain physiognomy shaped like little flushed boots , illustrated with the Weihnachtsdorf . They inhaled its cozy contents profoundly , permit it fog up their glasses before sip . But the glühwein gods have forsaken me . I was cash in one’s chips to be pressure to drink from a boring , distinctive , cup .
I ’ve chased crunchy worms with mezcal in Mexico , push down rotting shark ’s flesh with Brennevin in Iceland , and sample hard drink infuse with scorpions in Thailand , secure from a cave . ( I havenothad thesourtoe cocktailin the Yukon , but I ’ll get to it . ) The point is , I ’m not the type to get overly dramatic about a few ounces of mulled wine , regardless of the bantam footwear it come in . But there I was , overly dramatic .
Nothing says the holidays like drinking booze from a shoe.|Garamax/Shutterstock
“ Maybe it seems amorous — we all like a little bit of kitsch in the Christmastime , ” says Nini Haas ofHAAS & HAAS , a Viennese teatime company that also typically sells punsch and glühwein at theMahlerstrasseChristmas food market . Haas is apparently humor me while plugging her brand , as she mention that she prefers the white porcelain mugs that her company usesat their restauranton Stephansplatz 4 .
But I lie with I ’m not alone in my affinity for the boot . Peoplescour Viennafor these mugs . When theChriskindlemarkt in Chicagoserves their glühwein in a raw little rush , itmakes the news . It make even more newswhen they do n’t , one article going so far as to claim that the marketplace ’s organizers “ dally with collectors ' emotions . ”
And it ’s not just Chicago . The boot - shaped countenance delights patron in Christmas market throughout the country , includingPhiladelphiaandBaltimore . According to Christkindlmarkt selling managing director Leila Schmidt , no one really knows what makes this particular gay mug flair so democratic . “ That ’s a good question — we should put it on our next resume , ” she says when I ask . “ I cerebrate a deal of people consociate it withSankt Nikolaus , who we celebrate on December 6 . In Germany , you put a boot outside your door and [ then ] it ’s filled with confect for the fry . ” Or perhaps it ’s just , you know , merry .
Everybody loves a little red boot.|Photography by Huey Yoong/Moment Open/ Getty Images
Whatever the reason , being handed my warm spiced wine-colored in a typical — albeit very nice — mug , leave me forlorn . But abruptly , a Christmas miracle ! The vender looked at my facial expression , sensed my desperation , and swapped the mug for a little red boot .
Glühwein’s rise to boot mug prominence
The bang is not the bibulous Christmas market tradition’sonlydraw , of course . But the origin of glühwein has less whimsical , more useful parameters . Ancient Greeks called it ypocras or hippocras , named afterthe philosopher Hippocrates , who prescribed it for ailments in his mental ability as the father of medicine . And in addition toseveral self - warm methodsincluding toast their toes by an sublime range , the Romans imbibed calidum , or warm spiced wine-colored mix with piss . According to Kenneth Lapatin , curator of antiquities at theJ. Paul Getty Museum , calidum was normally “ serve in heated up samovar - like vessels . ”
The spices and honey act as a preservative for the wine , and as the Romans continued to , well , roam the dry land conquering land , they take with them their viniculture , let in this curious heated up intoxicant . The first record of German glühwein — literally “ glow wine-colored , ” so - call because they used a a red live poker to inflame the wine — was in 1420 , based on the discovery of a large glühwein tankard thought to have belonged to German noble , Count John IV of Katzenelnbogen ( already wine royalty , as he was the first to cultivate Germany ’s prized Riesling grape ) .
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In the years that followed , glühwein work its magic around Europe , with each region modernise its own spin . The introductory recipe , however , remained the same : red or occasionally blanched wine , brought to a simmer and transfix with sugar , spice , and everything courteous ( usually a combination of ginger , cinnamon , pepper , nutmeg , cloves , and the holiday spirit ) . In Nordic countries , they call it glögg . In England , mulled wine . In the Balkans , it ’s kuhano wine or kuvano wine . Italians call it vin hrüle , the Poles , grzane rummy … and so on .
From there , it did n’t take long to establish itself as a Christmas market raw material . Though record show outdoor provisions markets in Vienna as early as 1296 , the association of markets with the festive December vacation did n’t add up until a bit after , with German market place like Dresden ( 1434 ) , Strasbourg ( 1570 ) , and Nuremberg ( 1628 ) . Thanks in part to the wine-colored ’s resounding popularity , these speculation before long became yearly instauration . When Germany scrub their 2020 Christmas market place due to the pandemic , lone pop - up stall appeared in parkland and street just to keep the glühwein flow .
The little red boot emerges
We can only speculate precisely when the boot - mold physiognomy came into maneuver . What we do recognise is that it was pretty much inevitable : Germans have an chemical attraction for campy , blue supercilium kitsch . Heck , they invented the very word of honor .
While some cup are specifically designed to raise the beverage they hold — tenuous , narrow-minded Champagne flutes case and keep sparkling wine-colored ’s delicate bubbles , reddened wine-coloured field glass have wider bowls to give their robust cognitive content some respiration room , Belgian tulips taper at the top to heighten the complex odor of a European brewage — others fully embrace impracticality . But when you rain cats and dogs something into a thoroughly ridiculous vessel , like a ananas or a flamingo , it simply make imbibe even morefun .
In fact , the little carmine mug is not the only boot - shaped vessel Germans and Austrians have take on to . Take the famous bierstiefel , or glass beer rush . This cat really has two origin stories , both rooted in struggle . One says that victorious soldiers were reward with beer , and in a strange turn of events , drank their spoil out of their general ’s boot . Another claim that drinking out of a used boot was a hazing rite intended to increase bonding among newly enrol soldier . flagrant as that sound , the concept stick .
The boot has hopped its way over to the US.|Christmas Village in Philadelphia
Have you really ever tried imbibe something fizzy out of a boot - shape glass ? There are entirewebsites devoted to explaininghow to do it without spilling all over yourself ( the arcanum : rotate as you drink in ) . The seemingly flawed design also became the base for a German drinking game , where participants take turns chug from the boot , all the while adding to the breeze scoop trapped at the far tip . The poor soul that gets a face full of beer has to buy the table another circle .
Kicking it Stateside
sip tender wine-coloured out of a kick - form mug is not as difficult as undertake beer , for sure . For one thing , there are no air eruct to contend with . At the most , it ’s a shade unwieldy , not to mention kind of unmanageable to clean .
The first Christkindlmarket open in Chicago ’s Pioneer Court in 1996 as a transatlantic deal enterprise by theGerman American Chamber of Commerce of the Midwest . It ’s since move to Daley Plaza , but at the time , the market featured just 13 vendors . Some , likeFrieder Frotscher ’s Traditional German Food , which serves bratwurst , gulyas , Leberkaese , and other specialty item , are still there today and have grown in compass .
At the prison term , the shape of the mugs was n’t top of mind . The first mugs were wide-eyed , cylindrical , and green , and they stayed that way until 1999 . Then thing got a picayune wild , and the quirky , modified version mugs blossomed into full - bumble collectors ’ items . “ Since then , we ’ve really experimented around , ” say marketing manager Schmidt .
It stands in demarcation to Christmas market place overseas , where take your mug home has never been the average “ There are unlike types of fool in Germany , as well , ” says Schmidt . “ However , usually when you go to the markets and get your glühwein or hot chocolate , you pay a minuscule deposition for the mark — two or three Euros — and after fuddle your potable , you return them to the booth . So in Germany , people are not as concerned in collecting them . ”
But in Chicago , where today 55 marketer supply to more than 1.6 million annual visitant across three market , each class ’s undivided mug aim has become a destination in itself . And the appendage for determining the next class ’s edition begin soon after the current market close down up workshop . “ It ’s a full class to brainstorm root and really look into what our audience want , ” says Schmidt . They fitly contract out the business to a graphic interior designer in Germany ( the glühwein is also import from the country of origin ) .
Over the years , the iconic mugs have taken the shape of snowman , penguin , and , for the first time this year , a Rangifer tarandus for the nonalcoholic beverage . “ It ’s cute because we also have caribou in our scavenger hunting at our market in Aurora , so masses can take picture with niggling statues , ” Schmidt adds .
It seems Germans have an affinity for drinking out of footwear.|bodiaphvideo/Shutterstock
I already know the answer , but I have to enquire . The most coveted shape ?
“ Definitely the rush , ” say Schmidt “ citizenry sleep together the boot . ”
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Pretty sure the boot has something to do with the smile on her face.|Birute Vijeikiene/Shutterstock
Chicago’s little boots in 2019.|Courtesy of Christkindlmarket Chicago
