I’ve always been a big collector. From baseball cards to stamps, I often get fixated on acquiring an entire set of some sort of collection, and then spending countless hours sorting them.
Collecting coasters is something that I got into within the last decade. I love it because it acts as a great souvenir from different places that doesn’t cost you anything. Throughout my travels around Europe, Central and South America, I’ve made a point to grab a coaster at whatever bar or brewery I could find one at. I’ve found all kinds of cool ones over the years, as employees are always more than happy to give me a couple whenever I’ve asked.
The marketing event of my dreams—I’m bringing my Flo beer mats (we call them ‘coasters’ in Canada) into the city tomorrow night 🍻🥂 #27Minutes #twentysevenminutes https://t.co/IJyqpuRisU
— AshleyTateAuthor (@tate_ab) November 24, 2023
One of the more memorable experiences was in Norway. I was at a brewery and asked for a coaster, but was shocked to hear that coasters do not exist anywhere in the country. Due to regulations against promoting alcohol culture, no advertisements for beer exist whatsoever. This unfortunately extended to coasters. This actually led to a cool outcome though, as one guy gave me a free glass instead. At a different brewery, I was given a wooden coaster that was commemorating a popular Norwegian board game. I was thrilled with these finds considering I was expecting to leave the country without a single coaster.
I’ve noticed over the past couple of years that breweries are simply not carrying coasters as much any more. The reasons make some sense. Despite them seeming like a harmless piece of cardboard, the costs for customized coasters can be pretty steep. In addition to the cost, their purpose is not all that useful.
I work at a brewery in North Vancouver that refuses to have any coasters whatsoever. This kills me a little bit inside, since it would be nice to add the brewery I work at to my collection. There are definitely some wet rings that develop on tables, but we wipe down the tables enough that they never leave any sort of mark. However, using coasters at home is smart, because who has the time to constantly wipe down your tables?
Will coasters make a triumphant return to relevancy? Eh, I doubt it. With recent reports of the financial struggle of craft breweries, there doesn’t really seem to be a point of incurring extra costs right now for something like coasters. Perhaps in another ten years I’ll pivot to a different beer-related collection, like stickers. For now, I’m going to try to wrangle up as many of these things as I can.