Shot glasses with a variety of designs. Shot glasses such as these are often collected as novelty items. Shot glasses decorated with a wide variety of toasts, advertisements, humorous pictures, or other decorations and words are popular souvenirs and collectibles, especially as merchandise of a brewery. The word shot, meaning a drink of alcohol, has been used since at least the 17th century, while it is known to have referred specifically to a small drink of spirits how many shots in a pint the U.
The phrase shot glass has been in use since at least the 1940s. There are two theories as to why a shot is called that way. One is that it was inspired by the Old West, where cowboys paid for their whiskey by trading for bullets. Another theory is that shots were named after Friedrich Otto Schott, a man who started a glassworks factory that made shot glasses in America.
