One famous perk of Bartending is all the free swag that comes from beverage companies and other promotional materials! There are plenty of ways companies try to spread the word about their brand, other than promoting the actual product itself!

All of those beer cozies 🥤, t-shirts 👚, shot glasses 🫙🍻, pint glasses 🫗, baseball caps 🧢, and beads 🪅 - material stuff that seems to appear and disappear in the same night of revelry - all of it does go somewhere other than a landfill. And often that place is the home of the restaurant staff!! (in addition to the patrons homes, of course) 😆 😉 😅 🍽🩴🎒🧤🍺 🍭

I’ve gotten so many different kinds of swag, from my own restaurant or brewery, from another beverage company promoting their own brand, or from customers, as a bonus during an event we were hosting for them, or as a tip of some kind. Even some of the uniforms I’ve worn in the past were branded shirts sold by the restaurant to patrons, and more than a few of them were sleek enough to wear outside of work!

Some companies take it really far, for example some specifically branded and extremely unique craft beer glasses, like one from the Two Brothers Brewery, that I cherish. Which is a whimsical wine glass shaped orb 🍷 with a rounded bottom, so it rolls around the table every which way, on its own. They were introducing a brew they called the “Wobble IPA”. 🍺 Although if the India Pale Ale doesn’t stay IN the glass while you’re consuming it, it’s hard to get the word out about the flavor. It was worth a try though, and I’ll never forget it, so they did their part when it comes to marketing!! 🫗 😆 🫗 🍻

My other favorite freebies always came from Rouge Brewery in Portland, Oregon. They flew out ✈️ to the place I worked in Cleveland, Ohio once a year for an entire weekend of oysters and beer, which I would love to tell you all about on another post! ✨🦪🖤🍺✨

They had the softest T-Shirts you’ve ever felt, and a classy yet punk flair that was unmistakably Rouge. Marketing and branding wise they had it covered already, but from a quality standpoint they memorably stood out from the crowd! I’ll never forget some of the shirts, hats and other trinkets I’ve collected from them!

WHATS THE BEST FREEBIE YOU’VE EVER GOTTEN AT WORK?? WHAT ARE SOME EXAMPLES OF WORK SWAG YOU’VE LOVED??

✨ 👚 🧢 🩴 🎒 🧤 🍺 🫗 🍭 🥤 🫙 🍻 👒 ✨

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