In the UK, where drinking warm beer was a thing, pint glasses were an appropriate vessel for centuries. In 20th century Germany, a new type of beer vessel evolved along with the technology of refrigeration: The stange, which translates to "pole" or "rod," as that's what the narrow-but-tall vessel resembled.

Stangen are used to serve Cologne's Kölsch style of beer, which is best imbibed cold; thus the glasses hold just 100-200mL (3.4 – 6.8 oz), allowing you to get it down your gullet before the room warms it up. The narrow design exposes a minimal amount of beer to the ambient air, and also allows a frothy head to form.

The emergence of these glasses also spawned a new product design for beer hall servers. The kranz ("wreath") tray made it far easier to whisk loads of the diminutive glasses to thirsty customers.