Streets Ahead

EW reviews Uncommon Green barware with engraved street grids

Drinking alcohol on the job as a journalist seems like it’s gone by the wayside — just like many other things. The industry has changed, sadly. But I decided it was time to christen my new rocks glass from Uncommon Green, which has a laser engraving of the street grid around me.

So here it is, another episode of “Weird Stuff They Send People Who Work At Newspapers.”

Uncommon Green sent over a set of rocks glasses from their Maps Barware drinking glassware catalog. The rock glasses are pretty cool and thick. I don’t know anything about what sort of liquor is supposed to go in it, but I’m sure you could fit a lot of it in the glass. Because I don’t know if drinking on the job is allowed at the Eugene Weekly, I went out and bought a tall can of BANG Energy Drink, some sort of heart attack-inducing mixture my colleagues are obsessing over.

(We interrupt this review with an editor’s note: Some of us on staff drink more than Henry does, apparently. Rocks glasses are so called because you have your drink “on the rocks” in them. Whiskey is a fine option.)

Although it’s the only set of rocks glasses I have, it seems like it could handle my clumsiness and general disregard for preserving the nice things in my life.

When ordering a rocks glass, you can choose from a long list of choices: college towns, metropolises and international cities. The company then lasers street grids on the glasses.

Because the University of Oregon is the center of the Eugene-Springfield universe — many of us still think about Marcus Mariota despite his NFL call up — my glass centered on the campus area.

The unfortunate part is that the heart of Eugene-Springfield isn’t the best piece of street grid to look at when you’re taking a sip of hard liquor — or in my case an energy drink.

For those who don’t know, an interstate highway splits the two cities and it’s not like a southern California city where the plethora of interstate highways can be artistic despite its inherent chaos.

On the other hand, these glasses would probably be more artistic with some unique street grids. Nevertheless, an order of the Maps rocks glass would make a great gift for someone who has a passion for cartography or city planning — or who works as a getaway driver and needs to memorize a bank robbing route over a stiff drink.