Liberty Bottleworks, founded in 2010 in Yakima, Washington, had a short run. By 2018, it was out of capital and out of time, and the company sold to Olympia Tools. Today, it’s a case study in what happens when a great American idea meets high production costs and competition from China.
But hey, it was a good run while it lasted. Innovative, high-quality water bottles, 100% made in the USA from recycled aluminum. Invited by Trump to the “Made in America showcase” at The White House in 2017. Diversifying into insulated tumblers, crowd-funded via a surprisingly successful Kickstarter campaign.
And then its reach exceeded its grasp.
I’ll admit to having been a Liberty Bottleworks fanboy. I absolutely loved the product, of course, and I still have a few (pictured). My name even appears as an “investor” on the first run of those double-wall tumblers. I liked the way the company did business with its customers.
It just didn’t last. That’s a damned shame.
In the photos I’ve included here are three of the original aluminum bottles. That 16-ounce “Liberty or Death” I bought directly from Liberty. The SIG SAUER bottle, also 16 ounces, I picked up at the SIG Academy in New Hampshire while there on gun business.
The silver “Full Metal Jacket” bottle holds 32 ounces. It originally came filled with a half-growler of fresh beer from BrewDog in Canal Winchester, Ohio.
(When BrewDog went publicly anti-Trump and excruciatingly woke in 2017, I slapped a Black Rifle Coffee Company sticker over the beermaker’s logo. Much better. Still a great bottle.)
All three of those companies, by the way, have (or had) issues. Liberty Bottleworks is gone. BrewDog expanded from Scotland to the US faster than revenue could support, and its edgy, woke stunts didn’t sit well well with beer-drinking Americans. Once valued at $2.7 billion, BrewDog was sold to a weed company a few months ago for just $33 million.
As for SIG, it continues to wrestle financial and legal fallout over claims that its flagship P320 fires without pulling the trigger.
I recall the closing scene of Patton, in which the irascible general reminds us of “the slave’s whisper” to the conquering hero:
“All glory is fleeting.”
Nothing, no matter how good it is or how much we love it, lasts forever.
With Smudge’s breakfast and mine taken care of this morning, I puttered inside the cabin awhile. I paid bills, being the first of the month and all. Then I made a bowl of cukes’n’onions for this evening’s dinner.
I peeled and sliced up about a third of a cucumber, thin as I could, and tossed it in salt. I put the slices into a colander and set that over a bowl. Then I laid paper towels on the cuke slices and perched a jar of peanut butter on top.
Say what you want, but my improvised press works. The more water I can squeeze out of the cucumber — I got about an ounce from this batch — the more room there’ll be for it to take up whatever dressing I choose.
I sliced and separated red onion, threw in a dash of Mrs. Dash and a pinch of garlic powder, then added red wine vinegar until it seemed right.
Last — and this is why I made it early this morning — I covered the bowl and put it in the fridge. There, it’d marinate all day.
The weather’s been muggy lately, and hot. It wasn’t a comfortable morning by any means outdoors, but I wanted to get to the range and do a little shooting.
On my way there, I saw that Jeff was out on his tractor, repairing damage to the road caused by last week’s heavy rains. I detoured to say hello. While we were chatting, a neighbor rolled up on his own Kubota to help.
That’s the way of things ’round here.
I did make it out to the east slope and went through a box of .45ACP. That was both fun and productive.
I can’t say it was pleasant, though — high humidity, plus a temp of 81°F and a heat index of 92°F, had me drenched from the inside-out. Sweat poured off of me.
And it was only 10am.
Afterward, I sat down at my rustic Daybreak table to relax with coffee and a CLIF Bar. Resident songbirds were out, so I launched Merlin and started recording.
The app said that five species were present in the trees and brush around me…
…with a sixth joining the ensemble late.
This is my world, People. I live for moments like that.
Thunderheads started unfurling over The Mountain around 4:30pm — out of the north, too, which isn’t typical. As I write this, we’ve seen nary a drop of rain, only dramatic clouds, booming thunder and lightning strikes as close as a mile away.
We’ll be under a severe thunderstorm watch until 9pm.
I paired my cukes’n’onions with the last of the Bahama Mamas (dressed with Swiss cheese, chopped onion and yellow mustard).
Great meal.
Take care of yourselves, Patriots. Stay calm. Stay sharp. Stay free.
#WiseUp #LibertyOrDeath #Ungovernable
*As long as there’s eBay, I suppose, nothing’s truly gone forever. For a list of available Liberty Bottleworks items, including some claiming to be “brand new,” click here.