Monday, August 15, 2011
Will Miss #352 - the "bottle keep" system
In Japan (and possibly other Asian countries), bars offer something called "bottle keep" in which a customer buys a bottle of booze, drink some of it, and then store the rest at the bar. This is done to allow people to drink from the same bottle repeatedly without having to finish it off at once. In bars where this is done, you see shelves or racks of bottles with tags attached to them to keep who owns what straight.
As I've said before, I don't drink alcohol so this isn't a service that I personally can take advantage of. However, there is something about the community spirit that underlies this, not to mention the trust that is shown by the customers in allowing the bottles to be stored in the bar which I find really heartening, and I'll miss what this custom says about Japanese people and culture.