Drinking horn goes on sale

Tired of drinking your beer from a pint or your wine from a Riedel? Now you can quaff your favourite tipple in a far more heroic fashion – from a drinking horn.

A modern twist on an ancient drinking horn has gone on sale after a successful Kickstarter campaign launched by a pair of entrepreneurs from Brooklyn.

Dubbed “Das Horn”, the quirky vessel made from plastic with a stainless steel rim costs US$24.99.

An 1893 depiction of the Norse goddess Sif with a drinking horn.

The horn is the brainchild of entrepreneur David Segall and industrial designer Alex Chatham, who has worked on everything from sports cars to rainwater harvesting systems.

The pair managed to raise $83,743 from 1,645 backers on Kickstarter to bring Das Horn to life, which can hold up to 70cl of liquid.

The horn comes with a neck strap (useful for pub crawls) and a display stand. Its makers assert that the it’s dishwasher safe.

Drinking horns have been used from Classic Antiquity and were popular for ceremonial purposes during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period in parts of Europe. They are still used to this day for ritual toasting in Georgia.

The Thracians and Scythians were known to drink from horns. Julius Caesar describes the Gaulish use of drinking horns thus:

“The Gaulish horns in size, shape and kind are very different from those of our cattle. Their rims are fitted with silver and they are used at great feasts as drinking vessels.”

Drinking horns were common during the Viking age and feature in Old English epic poem Beowulf, set in Scandinavia.