Description
Brian Marshall’s hand carved drinking horns remind us how much artistic talent is out there, and how much Dry January sucks. Sure, I could order a Where the Gods Live drinking horn now and use it as a reward for completing my 31 days of beerlessness. Orrrrr I could order a Where the Gods Live drinking horn now, quit this abstinence while I’m ahead, and use it as a reward for coming to my senses.
Marshall carves his pieces from real steer horns, scrubbing and cleaning them inside and out, shining them up for carving, and then alcohol-curing the finished products to make them safe to drink from.
Marshall’s two most expensive horns, the Stag ($450) and the Roots of the Yggdrasil (pictured above, $3,000), are real beauts, elaborate, technical, and true pieces of art. The Stag design is made of a single horn whose embossed look Marshall achieved by removing horn layers around the spiraled pattern with a hammer and chisel to create its shape and effect.
And if that took a year off his life, the Roots of the Yggdrasil probably took another 5. Marshall’s depiction of Niohoggr the Dragon (I’m not familiar, but Marshall says he lives in the roots of the World Tree, Yggdrasil) has the beast winding through the tree until both dragon and roots hit the Mimirsbrunnr, the well where Odin left his eye to gain the ability to see everything.
The band of Roots of the Yggdrasil is made copper. The horn is 28″ long and holds around 46 ounces beer that better show craftsmanship as fine as the vessel holding it.
