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Doug Clark: Aspiring mug club members remind us what made this country great

I used to think this country had lost the pioneer toughness that helped us win the West and make Donald Trump such a bloated, pompous rich guy.

As I discovered while driving to the store Saturday morning, however, some Americans are still willing to suffer great hardships for the right motivation – namely that beer is involved.

Choking the sidewalk at 10th Avenue and Perry Street was what I first took to be another gathering of the Occupy Spokane movement.

A couple of tents and lawn chairs had been set up helter-skelter. A dozen or so people were milling around with hopeful looks on their faces.

On second thought, the Occupy movement would have ejected these folks for being far too clean and upbeat.

My professional nosiness kicked in. I slowed down, opened a window and asked what the heck was going on.

To which they all responded at once …

“Mud glub. Mud Glub. MUD GLUUBB!!”

That’s what it sounded like, anyway.

It was only after getting out of the car that I learned these people were trying to join what arguably could be the city’s most exclusive organization.

The Lantern Tap House Mug Club.

See, pretty much anybody with a checkbook can get into the Spokane Club. The Mug Club, however, is limited to just 65 beer-loving members.

Let me explain.

Say you order a pint at the Lantern Tap House, which, if you haven’t already guessed, is also located at 10th and Perry. The barkeep will hand you a glass containing the traditional 16 beery ounces.

Not if you’re in the Mug Club. Each member owns a 22-ounce mug, which, according to my math, will put you into a 12-step program much faster.

“Over time it works out,” Garrett Browning said.

A 26-year-old computer technician, Browning wanted into the Mug Club so badly that he parked his pickup in front of the bar and slept overnight in the truck bed so he could be first in line.

Here’s the catch.

A Mug Club membership is good for one year. But you can renew that membership by purchasing 50 pints during those 12 months.

Most renew. Some don’t.

Those who don’t lose the magic mugs, which are redistributed the first Saturday in December on a first-come basis.

So you never really know how many mugs are up for grabs.

“It’s a blood sport,” Tap House manager Steph Mitchell said with a chuckle.

Browning, by being at the head of the line, not only got a coveted mug, but coincidentally got the mug numbered No. 1.

This is the very first mug that was given out when the tradition began six years ago.

“You take it in stride,” Browning said of his newfound prestige. (Mug Club members also get a T-shirt and their own annual party.)

Then there’s the story of Ronald and Monica Sanchez.

Talk about romance. Ronald got into the Mug Club last year. Knowing Monica wanted in, he spent most of the night waiting in the cold as a Mug Club proxy for his wife, who showed up at 6:45 a.m.

“She wanted to get a mug,” said Ronald, “and I wanted to get it for her.”

Ahhhh …

“You’re covered for Christmas,” muttered one of the Mug Club hopefuls.

And speaking of proxies, Brendan Genther brought along an armless naked female mannequin to stand in for him in case he needed to heed the call of nature.

Genther, a hotelier by trade, flew back to Spokane from Phoenix late Friday night. Yet he made it to the Tap House by 6:30 a.m.

Unfortunately, no awards for “farthest traveled” are given out in this contest.

Only nine mugs were distributed when the Tap House opened Saturday.

And despite his extraordinary effort, Genther wound up 10th in line. “I’m out this year,” he said, vowing to return to the Perry District next December. “I wish it would’ve been happier, but it was still fun.”

As the immortal Hank Williams once sang, “There’s a tear in my beer, ’cause I’m cryin’ for you, dear.”

Doug Clark is a columnist for The Spokesman-Review. He can be reached at (509) 459-5432 or dougc@spokesman.com.

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