Okay … Russ digs into my very soul with this one. Gear! Shirts, hats, stickers, glasses. GEAR!! Why do we keep buying all the stuff?
I have a confession to make. I have an obscene amount of glasses from breweries and brewpubs. No, really…it’s ridiculous. My wife threatened for years to throw away any new ones I brought home, but now she is an enabler and actually has started a collection of her own. I was looking through the glasses, t-shirts, hats, stickers, bottle openers, coasters, etc… that I have, and I started wondering “why do we collect this stuff?”
The answer is easy…it’s to remember the vibe! Every glass brings back the memory of a brewery visited, the people that I enjoyed imbibing with, and the brews I got to try. Every t-shirt inevitably leads to questions from a stranger about that brewery or craft beer in general, and voila…new friends! I use coasters I pick up from every restaurant when we have friends over as they are way more interesting than regular ones and are great conversation starters. My beer fridge covered in stickers makes me smile every time I pull into the garage; adding a new one after returning from a trip is a ritual that has become one of my favorite things to do.
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| A small (and ever-growing) sample |
The swag is not just swag. They are mementos of time spent laughing with old and new friends over the love of craft beer. They are reminders that no matter how hectic life gets or how bad the workweek is, there’s a place that has a barstool waiting for you with people that want to make sure you relax and are thankful you appreciate the time and effort they take to brew beer for their fans.
I’m pretty excited about the Beer Blogger’s Conference coming up and all there is to learn, see and taste, but I am completely stoked about the visit to Dogfish Head and the chance to see what they do and take home some swag!!
(and if anyone has any swag they want to send my way…that would be awesome!)
We have a lot of glasses …
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| Seriously … this isn’t even all of them |
Gimme ALL of the glasses
You can have the glasses … I'll take the shirts and hats! And stickers. And probably some other stuff too