As a pit bull mom and generally clumsy human, I am always on the lookout for durable products. Whether it’s my own fumbling or being knocked into by a lovable, furry 60lb brick moving at high speed, I need items that can withstand a fall, don’t scratch easily, and can take a hit.
Whenever my friend and I get together so our two pittie boys can play in the yard, we enjoy a beverage or two. But with twice the chance of whatever is in our hands hitting the ground, we tend to drink our wine from Yeti tumblers. They’ve done well for us for years, but as grown adults, we’d really like to drink from appropriate adult glassware made for our specific beverage types.
So when an opportunity arose for me to try out Rowdy Crowd’s unbreakable drinkware, I jumped at the chance.
Rowdy Crowd – "Rowdy Couples" Pack
It turned out to be good timing. Just before the package arrived on my doorstep, I heard a crash from my kitchen. A pint glass that was drying on the counter took a tumble and shattered on the tile floor.
No one was even in the room. Clearly I need sturdy objects just for accidents of gravity.
The Unboxing (or The Unbagging, As It Were)
The box from Rowdy Crowd was surprisingly light. I opened it to find a lightweight bag containing 8 drink vessels. (I don’t think I’m legally allowed to call them “glasses” since they are not made of glass.)
Inside the bag, each vessel was neatly wrapped with one piece of tissue paper.
Having only ever had thick pint glasses (which, despite expected durability, still shatter when they hit tile — see above) and thicker-stemmed wine glasses, I was surprised to see how thin the drinkware was. It felt a little odd on my lips after decades of drinking from thick-rimmed glassware, plastic Cambelbacks, and steel tumblers. My pittie mom friend, who I didn’t know was a drinkware connoisseur until I asked her to test the products with me, said that the thinner and more delicate the glassware is, the more high-end it is. Despite “rowdy” being in the name, the drinkware definitely skews “high-end”.
Taste Test
You know how some people will only drink water out of a glass and not a plastic cup because it tastes different? They’re not wrong. It does. And wine from a Yeti tumbler tastes different than from out of glass. Nothing against Yeti, but it’s not really intended for fine wine; glass is intended for wine.
Despite Rowdy Crowd being made from durable plastics, it didn’t taste like drinking from a Solo cup at a keg party. It tasted like drinking wine from a glass.
Recently I had the displeasure of drinking hard cider from a paper cup. I don’t recommend it. The venue I was at requested that if you took your drink outside to the courtyard, that you transfer it from the bottle to a paper cup. I’m not sure if it was to avoid glass shattering on the uneven brick and cement or for ease of disposal, but after getting the damp paper fibers out of my mouth, I considered how different my experience would have been had the venue had Rowdy Crowd’s drinkware to use instead.
All the Feels
The smoothness of the exterior gives Rowdy Crowd drinkware its glass-like feel on the lips and in the hand. Having seldom consumed beverages from high-end glassware, I had to get used to the lightweight vessels, and I kept assuring myself that heft wasn’t needed to keep it sturdy.
I used the wine tumblers often over the course of two months, even when there were no playing dogs acting as hazards. I purposely dropped the drinkware on tile, kicked them around the deck, and just drank from them properly without incident.
Drinking a cold cider from the schooner on a warm California afternoon, two things struck me:
1. No condensation appeared on the vessel.
2. The cider stayed pretty cool even after an hour.
The material of the drinkware doesn’t intensify the heat of the sun as a glass does, and it doesn’t seem to cause condensation. (Your mileage may vary depending on unknown scientific factors like humidity.)
Cleaning Up
Not having a dishwasher, I was unable to test Rowdy Crowd’s durability in the machine. The instructions state not to use abrasive towels to wash or dry. I don’t think my towels are especially soft, and I encountered no etching or scratching.
For washing I first used a standard sponge and then changed over to a wool sponge by Full Circle Wool. Neither scratched the drinkware. Letting it dry naturally after using a standard sponge left hard water spots which is pretty common for everything that air dries here, but when I started using the wool sponge, I found that there were fewer hard water spots — on all my glassware including the Rowdy Crowd drinkware.
The smoothness I liked in my hand and on the rim also keeps the drinkware clean. The legs of the wine could be seen on the sides but they didn’t stay long — the same as on a glass. I let my dirty Rowdy Crowd wine tumbler with a little rim of red wine at the bottom sit in the sink for three days. When I cleaned it by hand without using force, no stains were left behind. I tried again the following week again and had the same result.
Overall, cleaning the cups is as easy as drinking from them.
Specifications
- (2) Wine Tumblers:
- (2) Beer Schooners:
- (2) Gin Balloons:
- (2) Champagne Flutes:
- (1) Storage Bag:
The beer schooner easily holds a 12 oz bottle of cider.
The wine glass has a fill line etched into the side to indicate a 5 oz glass, but both my friend and I missed that the first few times, as we don’t generally consume anything in 5 oz increments.
When Not In Use…
I wish the Rowdy Crowd drinkware was stackable, but if we’re comparing high-end glassware to it, none of that is stackable, so that’s fair.
Rather than a bag to carry the drinkware in, some sort of stackable or hard case to put them into would really help to store them neatly on a shelf. The bag makes them feel like a net of soccerballs, and while that’s great to toss in the trunk of the car for travel, it’s annoying to keep them situated in a cabinet.
Pros
- Feels like fine glassware.
- BPA-Free.
- Beverages taste like they’re in a glass, not in plasticware.
- Seems to be stain resistant (at least in terms of red wine).
- Easy to clean and dry.
- Extremely lightweight.
- Appears to be scratch resistant.
- Dishwasher safe.
- Does not shatter or break when hitting the ground or floor from table height.
Cons
- Not neatly stackable.
- The seam on the drinkware is visible in certain lighting.
- Only storage option upon purchase is a bag.
The Final Sip
Spending a couple months using Rowdy Crowd drinkware at home, I started to see many places this could be used. These aren’t just perfect for pittie moms on playdates who enjoy wine, or a clumsy middle-aged woman who can’t keep a pint glass from falling off out of a dishrack. I could see them being used at the dog park-bars popping up around the country, or the venue that didn’t want glass breaking on brick in their courtyard, or leveling up a fancy dinner with children and allowing them to have “grown-up glasses” that they can’t break.
Rowdy Crowd – "Rowdy Couples" Pack
If you don’t need such a variety as the Rowdy Couples Pack provides, or two of each isn’t enough, you can get sets of eight of each type. Get eight wine tumblers for Galentine’s Day, or only schooners for the Super Bowl, or eight gin balloons to stock the wet bar in the den, or order eight champagne flutes when expecting a formal occasion to celebrate.
From date nights and playdates to catered events and large venues looking for classy, sustainable, durable, adult drinkware, Rowdy Crowd fits in just about everywhere.
