The first time I got a Stanley product was when my old maritime company gave us Stanley Growlers for Xmas gifts. Sailors and portable drinking paraphernalia… what could possibly go wrong.

The thing that sucks about the growlers is that most breweries won’t fill them with their own beer. Unless you are super tight with some local brewery, chances are they’ll be forcing you to buy some shitty $60 dollar glass growler with their logo stamped on it. Then add a $15 to $20 dollar fill of your favorite beer and you have a pretty expensive vessel of beer that has literally no chance of staying cold and fresh for an extended period of time.

Plus, if you’re doing the near beer program like I am, you’re basically filling your own receptacles for use outside your home (i.e. camping, fishing, etc).

I can’t say enough about the awesomeness of the Stanley series of mugs, growlers, cups, etc. I even put water in mine with ice cubes for when we go fishing in remote areas of Big Sur. I left the growler in my car and two days later, the cubes had melted, but the water was still cold. The Stanley beer stein is rad and great for picnicking or camping and has a definite old school / new school vibe to it.

The aesthetic of Stanley is freaking timeless. I can picture my grandfather drinking hot coffee out of a Stanley Thermos while glassing for deer in a 1963 Chevy pickup with a rifle rack in the back. I like supporting brands that invoke an iconic American (or Canadian, in my grandfather’s case) feeling.