Getting Silly for Silipint

Ahh, the pleasure of drinking beer al fresco. The sun! The fresh air! The sounds of nature! It’s all just lovely … until someone breaks a glass. Well, now, you can thank Fido—or at least, Fido’s thirst—for the creation of an unbreakable alternative for your outdoor beer drinking pleasure. And it’s not tacky, like a plastic cup, making drinking in the fresh air even that much more enjoyable, and a whole lot safer.

The story goes like this: Rick Fredland of Bend, Ore., invented a silicone dog bowl, which was, in itself, a fantastic product for those who like to take their dogs hiking and camping: It’s lightweight, won’t break and is easy to pack. But it wasn’t until Fredland was heading to an outdoors trade show and wanted to serve beer at his booth to attract potential customers that the next iteration came to him. Fredland thought it would be cool to serve the beer in silicone glasses as a tie-in to promoting his silicone dog dishes. Excited by the idea, he and his partners looked into the possibility.

“I went right home and googled ‘silicone pint glass,’” says Silipint president Robert Berman. “It was the first time in my life I have ever googled something and nothing came up. …  It was at that moment I knew we had something special. Such a simple but powerful idea. Hard to believe it didn’t already exist.”

Made of 100-percent food-grade silicone, the Silipint is dishwasher safe, as well as freezer, microwave and oven safe—not that you’d ever want to heat your beer in an oven, but it might come in handy for some wassail in the winter. What’s more, it’s free of toxins and those nasty chemicals that some plastics are under fire for these days.

But most importantly for those who want to drink beer where no glass or can should go, Silipint is unbreakable. Video on the company’s website shows Silipints being subjected to all sorts of torture, getting run over by cars and smashed in streets. The results are all the same—the Silipint retains its shape and even bounces, giving imaginative minds plenty of fodder for new drinking games.

“Silipint has lots of uses, including for beer, coffee, sodas, iced teas, lots of games, building sand castles,” Berman says. “But frankly, our lowest hanging fruit is anywhere people don’t want broken glass—poolside, at the beach, restaurant outdoor patios, etc.”

Berman says that in addition to providing logo glassware for pubs and restaurants, another initial market has been corporate promotional products. “We’ve had some pretty interesting requests,” Berman says. “One of my favorites was being approached by Hooters to do a custom mold with boobs on the pint and having the print read, ‘The silicone you can play with and not get slapped!’”

Berman says that while they’re sticking with their original pint shape for now, they are considering a number of other drink-related products. “The starters in the works now are a kids’ sippy-cup version with a lid and a straw, and the Sili-shot—a shot glass. [There are] lots more [plans], but if I told you, I’d have to kill you,” Berman says.

In the meantime, Silipints go for $10 each but can get as low as $3.15 per “glass” if bought in bulk. “More expensive than glass? Yes,” Berman says, adding that in the long run, establishments won’t have to pay as much to replace pieces that break either from carelessness, accidents, or wear and tear.

Check them out at silipint.com. ■