If it's good, you needn't give me the glass to persuade me to drink it.

The current vogue in the Louisville metropolitan area is to stage "pint nights" wherein supposed craft beer fans are attracted to an on-premise establishment to buy craft beers, usually special releases, and "keep the glass" as part of the price.

That's all well and good with me, and I'm sure that NABC will indulge in the same on scattered occasions, but this is beginning to sound like a broken record. Is this sort of thing really good for the segment?

I'm not directing this at anyone or any place in particular, just idly wondering if there is any conceivable, creative, different way that an establishment might choose to promote the wonders of craft beer without, in effect, openly bribing potential customers with free glassware?

Is the formula "freebies = promotion" being deployed solely because of the sluggish economy, or out of marketing laziness and an absence of ingenuity?

Is there a suggestion here that craft beer releases nowadays are no longer truly special, or sufficiently unique to merit perhaps a fair opening night price for a signature pint glass, with the bar or restaurant keeping the glass so that when one purchases the beer subsequently, it will come in the correct signature glass?

When did the imperative become bribery?

I believe this "free glassware" trend is cheapening the craft beer product by implicitly suggesting that it isn't good enough absent a giveaway to stand on its own, and that bothers me.

Anyone care to talk me down from this ledge?