I'm doing a six-year vertical of Stone's Russian Imperial Stout in three weeks and I need 49 glasses, but I don't want to drop a lot of money on the glasses and have them collect dust for a long time after the tasting. I've looked at a dollar store near me and didn't find much. What can you all recommend for cheap glasses that are suitable for a RIS?
Perhaps something from here? No "great" choices for RIS, but maybe something: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/categories/departments/eating/18868/
Perhaps consider contacting a party rental company. Then you are not stuck with the glasses afterwards, if that's an issue. Otherwise, keep hitting dollar and thrift stores or maybe a restaurant supply store.
Ha ha ha. Intervention time, cosmicevan. We recently bought a couple of cases of mason jars to use as glassware for a party. Nobody was bummed when a few of them got smashed, and they are certainly more useful than my out of control glassware collection when it comes to everyday storage/tasks.
Ask anyone I taste with, when i host a tasting I let them at whatever glass they want with only a few minor exceptions that would make me cry if they broke. At the end of the night I usually end up cleaning anywhere between 20 - 50 glasses depending on what was opened during the tasting. Although my collection has reached intervention proportions, there is something to be said about doing a 5 bottle vert across 6 people and everyone having 5 unique mini snifters so they don't mix up the beers.
I bought 12 of these on Amazon - I think it was right around $20. Great deal, and use them for all my tastings.