The highest compliment I can pay the 聽($25) is to say that I鈥檝e pretty much forgotten about it. Not in the 鈥渋t鈥檚 sitting in my garage unused鈥 way, but more in the 鈥淚 use it so much that I don鈥檛 even think about it鈥 way. I reach for that glass out of instinct at this point.
At home, this 16-ounce insulated powder-coated vessel is my water glass. Out camping, I use it for coffee in the morning and soup at night. On a recent trip where I lived out of a cheap motel, it held my instant oatmeal at breakfast.
I prefer the True Pint over a tumbler for several reasons. First, it鈥檚 bigger, so I can drink more coffee and eat more food. Second, I like that it鈥檚 vacuum insulated but doesn鈥檛 have a lid, so my coffee stays hot for just the right amount of time. Plus, I don鈥檛 have to wash or keep track of a lid, which can be a pain. Third, the insulation stops condensation, so I never have to worry about ruining my coffee table. I know a powder-coated outer seems like marketing foo-foo, but it actually makes a difference鈥攊t feels good in my hand. Finally, when I鈥檓 done, the Pint is easy to clean and stackable.
Oddly, I rarely drink beer from the True Pint, which is what Hydro Flask鈥檚 designers had in mind when they set out to build it. In fact, the company spent 18 months trying to perfect the Pint so even the biggest brew snobs would be happy. 鈥淲e did a pretty lengthy study on all different shapes of beer vessels. We looked at everything, from what you鈥檇 drink a Belgian beer out of to the Hefeweizen type of fluted design, and we were really intrigued by how all of those operated,鈥 says David Visnack*, vice president of product*聽at Hydro Flask. They also talked to beer experts in the company鈥檚 hometown of Bend, Oregon, which has more breweries than Seattle has Starbucks. The company ultimately decided that the standard pint was the best universal beer-drinking device and worked to create a metal version that was just as good as its glass counterpart.
If you look inside, Hydro Flask鈥檚 True Pint is shaped so that the beer falls correctly on your palate as you tip it back (so they say鈥擨鈥檓 not enough of a beer snob to really taste that, but some claim it鈥檚 important). And the thin lip feels like a regular pint when you鈥檙e drinking your favorite microbrew. 鈥淯ltimately, what we wanted to do was completely replicate the experience of drinking out of a pint rather than something that was thick and clunky,鈥 Visnac says.
Granted, the Pint might not be for everyone. Some might prefer the extra insulation of the . Or you might prefer to eat your camp food out of a regular bowl. Plus, at $25 a pop, the True Pint is expensive. But here鈥檚 how I think about it: That amount is nothing spread out over the thousands of uses, especially for a tool that makes everything from computer work to campfires significantly better.