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One of the few silver linings of the pandemic is that I’ve probably saved more money than I care to calculate by not really being able to drop more than I should on a fancy cocktail or eight ounces of craft beer at a bar, but much like I’d love nothing more to once again be able to spend $12 on a Bud Light at a sporting event, I eagerly await the day I’ll be able to feel that sinking feeling in your stomach that comes with closing your tab after spending a few hours imbibing on a Friday night.
However, there’s nothing I miss more than posting up on a barstool at a watering hole on the opposite end of the spectrum, as there’s nothing quite like decompressing at a dive bar with the help of a $7 beer-and-a-shot special featuring the kind of whiskey you should only drink when you have a High Life to wash it down with after ripping the shot.
Earlier this year, I couldn’t help but yearn for that experience after coming across a fantastic Twitter account devoted to documenting dive bars around the world; the kind of places that lure in patrons with a neon sign advertising a beer they don’t actually serve, a bartender who acts like taking your order is the ultimate inconvenience, the smell of the stale cigarette smoke that’s managed to permanently permeate every service, and the feeling that there’s a possibility someone will try to fight you for making eye contact with them.
Thankfully, Miller Lite is here to do what it can to fill that void in our lives with a new line of candles it’s recently rolled out that supposedly capture the essence of three unique kinds of drinking establishments—including a dive bar, which “mixes scents of musk, tobacco, pine, and yeast to conjure ‘dim lights,’ a faint glass clinking, and the sinus-clearing sensation of a puddle that somehow exists indoors.”
Missing your favorite bar? Whether it's a dive bar, a sports bar or a beer garden, @MillerLite's limited-edition candle collection lets you bring that signature smell home. https://t.co/vM8kiEgJb6
— Molson Coors Beverage Company (@MolsonCoors) March 23, 2021
If dive bars aren’t your thing, you can also recreate the ambiance of a beer garden, a combination of “green moss, warm pretzel, and cracked wood” as well as a sports bar, which features notes of “salted peanut, jalapeno, and cracked leather” in an attempt to imitate the essence of gameday.
The candles can be purchased for $20 a pop, and if you need some extra motivation, you can feel good knowing that all proceeds will be donated to the United States Bartenders’ Guild to ease the impact the pandemic has had on the industry.