Get rid of the drunks - not the glasses

By Geoff Griggs - The Marlborough Express

As a lover of fine beer I was appalled to read the recent news that traditional festival glasses will not be available at this year's Blenheim Blues, Brews & BBQs.

Despite an absence of evidence linking injuries with festival glasses, it seems last April the Blenheim police lodged an objection to the Marlborough District Council's liquor licensing committee, opposing the use of glasses at future Blues, Brews&BBQs and Marlborough Wine Festivals. From what I can gather this came to light only when the committee received applications for licences for this year's events.

It is of concern that the committee didn't make the police's objection known earlier so that festival organisers would have had more time to formulate their response. While Wine Marlborough has vowed to fight on – and, I am certain, will convince the committee to issue a licence allowing it to use glassware – the Blenheim Round Table, which runs the local Blues and Brews, has decided to comply with the police's wishes and, for the first time in its history, the event will switch to plastic.

In 2008 I put in a huge amount of time and effort collecting signatures for a petition to ensure beer glasses were retained at the event and to see that effort wasted is galling. Although I admire the wonderful charitable work done by the volunteers of the Blenheim Round Table, I am hugely disappointed they caved in so easily, especially as they had already shelled out about $30,000 for 10,000 branded glass handles. That's a lot of money our local charities won't be receiving.

I am even more annoyed because the Round Table – a group which has no affiliation to the brewing industry – has now set a precedent which will make it almost impossible from now on for anyone to operate a beer-related event at a public venue in Marlborough with proper glassware. In my opinion, that's a tragedy. Aside from the fact that fine beer, like good wine, tastes best from a decent glass, glass can easily be recycled. And while most people I know like to collect their festival glasses, few I suspect will bother to keep a plastic or polycarbonate equivalent.

For these reasons I won't be attending this year's Blues and Brews. I don't drink beer out of plastic cups at home and I certainly don't intend to start doing so when I'm at an event that should be showcasing the quality and diversity of New Zealand beer. I will be making a donation to the Round Table and would encourage others to do the same.

As I wrote in 2008, "When it comes to Marlborough's two annual alcohol-related festivals it's obvious that the vast majority of people go along to enjoy the food and drinks, but there's a tiny minority whose idea of `a good time' involves getting inebriated to the point where they first become annoying and later downright dangerous to those around them. It's these people we need to clamp down on.

"When people are injured and killed on our roads we don't ban cars, we prosecute bad drivers; at Blues and Brews we should get rid of the drunks, not the glasses."

Sadly, I fear when it comes to such people the change from beer glasses to an inferior synthetic equivalent will have absolutely no effect whatsoever. As usual, it's everyone else who'll suffer. Cheers!