Pint Glasses

 

Sorry, no Friday the Thirteenth angle here.  When it comes to horror, my sole inclination is along the lines of H.P. Lovecraft: cosmic horror of the truly bizarre.  This business of a serial killer bores me (affected yawn).  “If it bleeds, we can kill it” (Pre-dater).  Anyhow.

I’ve noted that I collect various things:  concert t-shirts, guitars, CDs & vinyl, soccer jerseys, and pint glasses.  I suppose you could say I have a collection of collections – a collection collection.  However, I make it a point only to collect things with some intrinsic value.  You can listen to a CD or vinyl, wear a soccer jersey, or drink from a pint glass.  None of these are things you collect for the sake of collecting and maybe selling later.  I see these Funko Pop! dolls with the oversized heads at the comic book stores and wonder, “what practical purpose do these have?  What can you do with them?”  Put them on the shelf, I suppose.  Or keep them in the box they came in and collect them.  If you can’t take it out of the box for fear of destroying their value, that kind of defeats the purpose.  Now you’re simply collecting for the sake of collecting.  That strikes me as extravagant, but hey – it’s your money.  Spend it however you like. 

I like beer & cider.  I’m not an alcoholic, and never have been.  No one in my family is, so genetically I lucked out.  I can have a beer at dinner somewhere, stop there, enjoy my dinner, and by the time it’s time to get behind the wheel (or in the saddle) and go home, I’m fine.  I’ve never had a DUI and don’t intend to start.

Accordingly, my tolerance for alcohol doesn’t seem to have changed since college, which is that 4 year drinking program interrupted by classes and exams.  1-2 beers gets me buzzed, 4-6 will get me drunk.  I’ve never passed out.  It seems I get full before I get that far.

I don’t like drinking from bottles or cans.  I prefer to pour the drink into a pint glass and drink it that way.  If I’m at a restaurant or bar, I request a pint glass if I’m not already drinking a draft.  And that extends to home.

The prior weekend I visited CD Cellar in Falls Church, not with the express intention of buying anything, but just out of boredom and curiosity: to see what was there.  You never know what you might find if you keep your eyes and mind open.  They had a Pink Floyd Wish You Were Here pint glass for $10.  Nice! 

When it came time to wash it, I realized that putting it in the dishwasher might be a bad idea.  I’ve had several pint glasses with printed designs wear off, presumably due to that treatment.   So I’ll wash it by hand and let it dry.  We’ll see.

Lately I’ve noticed a new trend in pint glass designs.  I have a few TOOL glasses, a University of Maryland Terps glass, and a DOWN (Corrosion of Conformity/Pantera/Crowbar crossover group) glass.  What they all have in common is that the design is not painted on, but etched.  Very clever!  No way, no how, is any amount of cleaning going to remove that etching from the glass – it’s permanent.  Yet it’s also very easy to see and recognize.  Granted, that puts colors out of the equation, but I’d say that’s a fair compromise. 

Mind you, you don’t have to drink alcoholic beverages from a pint glass.  Water, soda, green tea etc. all work perfectly well.  Of course, none of those will get you drunk.

Notables:  TOOL (Fear Inoculum, 10,000 Days, Lateralus, AENima), King Crimson (Discipline, Larks Tongues in Aspic, Red), Clutch (x2), Tun Tavern (USMC Museum), Rutgers, NYU, West Point, University of Maryland, Coors (from the brewery itself), Narragansett.  The Filling Station in Chelsea Market in Manhattan sells their mason jar variants when you buy a beer.  Dead & Company sell variants of their Dave’s Pick’s.  As the picture shows, I keep them chilled in my freezer.  My diet of frozen food is mostly chicken and taquitos, taking up a minority of space, leaving the majority free for my collection of beer & cider receptacles. 

If there’s one downside to a pint glass, it’s that you can definitely drink much faster than out of a can or bottle.  A good thing or a bad thing?  I’m not quite sure.   Let me have another drink and think about it…