Apropos the remarks about who did or didn't drink out of pewter at what time in history, I have just come across a relevant comment in the book "Fire & Steam: How the Railways Transformed Britain" (Christian Wolmar, Atlantic Books, ISBN-978-1-84354-630-6): "One of the more obscure developments brought about by the railways was the change from drinking ale out of pewter tankards, which were more suitable for the capital's stouts, to glasses" (which the context in the book implies were more suitable for the beers brought by the Midland Railway, particularly Bass from Burton).
This is in one of Wolmar's endnotes. He identifies the sources (albeit secondary ones) of most of the quotations in his endnotes, but this one has no attribution at all. I therefore venture no opinion on its accuracy, but I pass it on for what it's worth.