It was very common in Syracuse, one time home of nearly thirty breweries, for a kid to go to a saloon to get a pail of beer for Dad for the evening. My Dad spoke of his foster father getting a milk bucket filled at the Hotel to "Pay Off" the hands after haying. A bucket or pail was just a simple way to carry beer. Some saloons had specvial pails that they lent to customers. It was common place in the states, I assume so in Ireland and the rest of her colonies to the south and east.

Don