What’s on tap? For the beer drinker, that’s an important question. It also led to the birth of a whole industry around containers that serve beer. The Germans realized early in the 16th century that drinking vessels needed a lid to keep the flies out and nowadays most historians credit the Germans with inventing german beer steins, as we know it. The early stoneware and pottery steins of the 17th century were handmade in a variety of shapes and sizes but they were usually plain, a natural brown clay hand-painted in a series of colors. By the 18th century, raised designs appeared with more color. People liked the innovation and production increased throughout Europe. By the mid-19th century, the production of steins was raised to an art form with the etched Mettlach steins made by the German firm of Villeroy and Boch. Today, collectors focus on the high quality and workmanship of their chromolith process that involved the inlaying of colorful mosaic designs into the body of the ware. Later on, underglaze printing from copper plates was used. Most examples are marked with an incised castle and the name ‘Mettlach.’ The castle represents a chapel built by the monks in the 10th century A.D. People cherish the expressions of the character steins, the smiling monk, the drunken monkey, the melancholy radish, and the bemused child. Mettlach steins show people doing everything from dancing and singing, to bowling, hunting and drinking.