Best Beer Fest Value: The Floater Mug

Beer Luvvas,

I've been torn about making this post, but after commenting on It's Pub Night's discussion of the Six Pack Equivalent of tasters v. full mugs at OBF this year, I felt that I should pass along this wisdom to my (few) regular readers...

Over the past 17 years that I've been attending beer festivals (mainly the Oregon Brewer's Festival), the line to which beer is poured for a "taster" of available quaffs has dramatically lowered to approximately the 3-4oz line v. the original ~50% mug capacity line. And in parallel, the cost of a full mug of beer has doubled from $2 to $4 (~13oz).

Smarter beer drinkers than I noticed that, depending on the pour, combining two tasters of the same beer into one mug usually exceeded the 50% full line, and at times, approached a full mug of wondrous nectar - allowing one time to enjoy the "taster" with others rather than slowly sipping the minute amount while waiting in line for the next tiny taste.

We figure that the $5 cost of an extra mug is easily a better deal than $4 full mugs - especially when that mug is "floated" between multiple people throughout the day(s) of the festival.

Freebird and I have had multiple successes with The Floater Mug at OBF, The Holiday Ale Fest, this year's North American Organic Beer Festival, and some out of our state festivals in years past: The Great (their word, not mine) Tempe Beer Festival, and the San Jose Beer Festival.

Sooooo, I implore all of you readers to employ The Floater Mug at your next beer festival and enjoy two tasters of the same beer for half the price of a full mug! But don't tell "The Man!" He'll figure out a way to quash this value.

Prost to the Floater Mug!