Mugg Club!

What the heck is the Mugg Club?

You know all those big glass mugs with handles and individual numbers on them? These are what you get when you are a member of the Mugg Club. Each member buys their mugg annually and leaves it in the bar for each season. At the end of the year the muggs go home with their owners’ to join muggs from seasons past and glorious.

The 2012 Muggs are currently hanging in the bar, patiently waiting for you to come in a order a beer in yours! Please check out the UPDATE below.

Oh wait – you didn’t check in yet? You should totally do that right now before it turns into a pumpkin and goes to the next name on the waiting list.

Oh wait – are you on the waiting list but didn’t check in? You should totally do that before you loose you place on the (really long) list and have to go to the back of the line.

Oh wait – you’re not on the wait list? Well, you’re kinda outta luck. Considering the length of the list, we are temporarily closing the list.  Fish stories have the list anywhere from 20-90 years long. If you are just dying to get on the list (which may in fact be the case,) take it up with the barkeep.

And now a few words from your trusy barkeep, Chris Mayone

Thanks to all of our dedicated followers and patrons that make the Mugg Club at MRG possible and enjoyable to be a part of

Greetings to everyone following GSPub activities on this forum.  With the coming of the new year (and the new ski season!) I thought it would be appropriate to provide some updates about happenings in the pub.

GSP Mugg Club:   There is much news to report on the Mugg club front.  First and foremost …  the 2012 mugs are IN.  They look very nice.  You will notice the absence of a Magic Hat logo on this year’s mugs.   We contracted the mugs out privately this year and are seeing how something new works out.  So far,  so good.

The new mugs have the numbers hand-painted on the bottoms so that the bartenders can see them more easily.  Again we’ll see how this works out.  Could change back in the future.  They are still 20oz size and remain available at last year’s price of $50..    Please come in and get yours as soon as you can. We accept CC’s and Mad $ also.   Be sure and leave us your email address when you pay for your mug.   It will help us notify you in the future if you’re in any danger of giving up your spot.   Which bring us to the next subject:   The List

The MRG Mugg Club wait-list currently holds 193 names.   The turnover rate of mugs is about 2 per season if we don’t add any more  mugs (we currently lack space for more to hang).  This translates to a wait of approx 75 yrs if you were to get on the list today.  That seems quite unmanageable to me and I hope to you as well.  We are looking at some ways to address what can be done to make the waitlist a little more realistic.  Currently the waitlist requires you to check in each year if you would care to continue to remain on said list.   We have been lax about this particular part of the process (because its hard and mean to take people off) but we will begin this off-season to actively cull old names from the list.   193 names is a big list to maintain.  It’s a little too big for us to handle if it continues to grow.  We would certainly like to see the list be a little smaller but more importantly ……  it must remain full of active waiters.  You’ll need to check in at the bar in some fashion EACH SEASON in order to continue to remain in place on the list.    If we don’t see or hear from you in some way during the course of the ski season we will move your name to the back of the year in which you registered.  If a 2^nd season goes by w/out solid contact then we’ll need to remove that name from the list.    In that spirit of list-trimming we will STOP adding names to the waitlist this year and in the future until the current list is culled down to 100 active names.   I suspect this will take a year or more.  But a list with a wait of 75 yrs is not responsible or fair to the people waiting on it.   Even a 100-person list has a potential wait of far, far too long.   We’ll continue to explore options for improving the situation in the future.   But in the meantime … the list is currently full.

Mug Protocol:   A review of the easy-to-use instructions for using your mug responsibly in GSP.

1. Please don’t ask us to serve someone else in your mug.  Our policy is the mug holder is the only person drinking out of your mug.   We stick to it pretty hard.  We protect you the holder,  even if you don’t want us to.  )
2. Please try your best to tell your server your mug # when you order, especially if you’re at a table in the DR.   There are 118 mugs and mugholders.   The servers are very busy most of the time.  Please don’t ask them to remember your # for you.
3. PLEASE take your mug home at the last visit you expect to make to MRG.  We do not like to keep them over the summer and will more-than likely stop doing so beginning this off-season.  This year was especially difficult w/all of the construction that took place in the pub.    So if you’d like to keep them please take them home when you leave for the season.    A suggestion was made that any mugs remaining after the season ended would lose their hook number.  I felt that to be a little harsh but that’s how serious we are about you taking them home.  Really.
4. Cocktails in the mugs: We happily serve beers and sodas in the 20oz mugs.  VT state law (and common sense) prohibits us from making a cocktail of that size to serve.  We’ll make you a cocktail in your mug but try not to be disappointed if it isn’t filled to the top.  Sorry about that.

All of us working at the General Starks Pub are looking forward to getting the new season kicked off w/ a bang.  We look forward to seeing you enjoy the newly upgraded Fireplace room and feel the warmth of the hearth on your feet.  Enjoy a beverage in the sunshine or out on the deck.   We are always looking for ways to make the Mugg Club easier to use,  to be a part of, and to enjoy.   If you have any suggestions about how to improve our service we’d be happy to hear them.   Please see Chris at the bar or email your suggestions to chrism@madriver.com

IMPORTANT UPDATE, 1/26/12

So while we absolutely hate being the bad guy and selling off people’s mugs in their absence,  the monster that we have created demands that something be done to move the names along through the waitlist queue.   The process that we have said we would follow is to insist that the mugs be bought and paid for by Feb vacation (it used  to be MLK weekend) or be at risk of being sold to the next waiter on the list.   We have not held the line on that policy too well but this year will be the first that we are forced to do exactly that.   So spread the word to anyone you know that is a mugg holder …..  straighten out your mug business in Feb or risk losing your hook.

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