I don't know that there is a yes/no answer, some times and places would have been different and it depends how far back in history you want to look.
Lager, Clear Glassware and Modern refrigeration all came into vogue fairly contemporaneously, there is probably a large element of them being interdependent to.
Before refrigeration Lager was brewed in the cooler months then it was stored (Lagan - store) in deep cold caves, It was probably kept in cellars and its worth remembering that there have been Ice Cellars since classic times, were people cropped ice from lakes and stored it for warmer weather.
Lager as is in cold fermenting was known as far back as the 14th Centaury, but it wasn't really discovered as a separate type of yeast and a way to make a unique style of beer until the middle of the 19th centaury. The first patent for a commercial ice making machine was registered is 1856, Josef Groll released the first commercially made Pilsner (lager) (Pilsner Urquell) in 1842.
As you can see it was a pretty interesting time for beer - probably as entertaining as the "craft beer" revolution that is in full swing right now.
Go bask past 1800 and we are talking about Ale - most of it infected with Lacto and Brett and a bunch of wild yeast, yes people complained in the newspapers when brewers started cleaning it up - thought the body and complexity had been taken out of the beer.
I am a bit of a beer history buff, and yes Josef Groll is my brewing hero (well theirs Pasteur and Hansen and ...)
No doubt the introduction of the new brewing techniques and lager strains didn't happen everywhere at once so how beer was made, stored and served would have ben going through a lot of transition though the second half of the 1800's until well into the 20th centenary and its still changing.
Mark
