Tincup Whiskey Didn’t Reinvent the Wheel, But It Did Reinvent the Bottle

The brand’s new “Adventure Pack” is meant to go where glass can’t — or shouldn’t.

Published September 7, 2023

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Updated February 13, 2024

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For all the new types, varieties and brands of whiskey that seem to roll out every year, there’s one aspect of them that doesn’t change: the bottle. Sure, the glass may be blown, poured and shaped into various designs, but generally speaking, it’s silicate holding your booze in place in your closet.

Stop to think about it for a second, though — perhaps over a glass of your favorite scotch or bourbon — and you might start to wonder … why?

After all, it’s not like liquor is bound by divine right to exist in glass vessels. It’s born in metal stills and aged in wooden barrels, consumed through paper straws and from plastic cups. Well before humans mastered the art of turning sand into hard, transparent material, we poured wine out of goat skins and sipped it from the golden chalices of kings and the clay cups of carpenters. Sure, it’s handy to be able to see what’s inside — both to measure quality and quantity — but with that comes the fragility of dealing with a substance known far and wide for being easy to break and dangerously sharp once it does.

So, as the folks at Tincup Whiskey of Colorado decided to ask … why not try making a whiskey bottle out of metal?

Tincup Whiskey Adventure Pack: What We Think

It’s rare that the container, not the spirit, is the marquee attraction with a bottle of booze, but that’s certainly the case here. The liquor — Tincup’s bourbon-based American whiskey, a blend of 65 percent corn, 32 percent rye, and 4 percent malted barley with notes of caramel and other slightly sweet flavors — is solid at its traditional price point, though here you’ll pay significantly extra for the bottle.

Still, between its superior toughness and aesthetically appealing design, it’s a fun choice for taking places where you’d be worried about glass shattering like on a hike or camping trip, or giving as a gift for a whiskey-loving outdoorsy person — even if its price might have the practicality-first crowd consider using a large flask instead.

Tincup Adventure Pack

Pros

Steel construction makes it way more durable than glass bottles
Looks damn good

Cons

Only comes in 375ml size
Pricy by volume for Tincup

$33.49 at Reserve Bar

The bottle is a handsome piece of work

There’s no denying the fact that the Adventure Cup bottle certainly stands out amongst the sea of browns at the liquor store, in no small part because, well, you can’t see any brown liquid. Instead, it’s a subtle mix of a light blue — almost turquoise — body with gunmetal silver accents for the logo and cap. It’s a very appealing look that helps make this liquor — which Tincup sources from MGP in Indiana, like many a whiskey brand does — a bit more unique.

It’s handier than your average liquor bottle

The biggest advantage, obviously, is that steel is a tougher material than glass. Tincup is very much all about the adventurous Colorado lifestyle — hence, for example, why their bottles are trapezoidal, not round; it’s to keep them from rolling down steep slopes if they tip over — and the last thing leave-no-trace outdoors folks climbing fourteeners want to do is leave behind a patch of shattered glass to besmirch the natural environment.

The Adventure Pack’s ace, then, is that it’s nigh-on indestructible, at least as far as whiskey bottles go. Drop it on the rocks, and where most bottles would shatter, it simply bounces. Sure, it might score a dent or a scuff, but hey, that just adds character. Hell, you could even use it for target practice once it’s empty and you’ve sobered up. (As always, do not mix shooting and liquor.)

Plus, like many a Tincup bottle, it comes with its own shot glass screwed over the top, which both provides extra protection to keep the mouth from being dinged up and gives you a handy vessel from which to pound a shot for courage before you leave the tent to find out if that sound you heard was the wind or a grizzly bear.

You pay the iron steel price for it

$30 for a bottle of whiskey is far from an unreasonable price, at first blush; after all, a regular bottle of Tincup’s American Whiskey costs $33 for a fifth. But the Adventure Pack isn’t a fifth; at 375 milliliters, it’s half that size. If you already have a big, tough flask — for example GSL Outdoors Boulder Flasks, our sturdy camping-friendly 10-oz. pick for the best affordable flask — then you might be better off on filling it up at home before you hit the trail.

Still, that would require a good deal more forethought than you might need if you’re stocking up for a camping trip and realize you ought to bring some sippin’ whiskey. Plus, hey, that wouldn’t be as unique — and wouldn’t make for as good a conversation piece around the campfire.