I was hanging out with SB over the summer when I had a great idea for a product -an insulated Mason jar holder! I drink from Mason jars all the time, only here in Florida, condensation is ridiculous. An insulated jar cover would be great for a FloridaHillbilly. This was a genius idea!

Only someone beat me to it!

So I contacted them, and to order a couple, only to find out they didn’t offer any in pint size, only quarts! Bleh! Pint jars are all I drink out of when I’m at home. We don’t often can in quarts, so we don’t often have an available….but I wanted to try these out, so I ordered two,  In camo, of course, and with FloridaHillbilly.com printed on the side. I also asked to be kept in the loop for when they started to offer pint-sized versions.

The quart sized ones turned out to be rather nice, if oversized for my regular use. I kept one for myself, and passed the second on to BlueTang, he is a jar drinker too. I won’t speak for him, but I thought they were a great product. For me, it was ALMOST perfect.

My wife carries a beer bottle koozie for “emergencies” – we never know where we’ll end up, though summer days in Florida tend to end up as summer nights with beer somewhere on the water, watching the sun set with good friends.

That all sounds fantastic except here in Florida, our summer temps soar into the 90’s, with an average temp of 86 for the eight moths (Apr-Oct) we usually spend time on the water. Add in the the fact that our average evening humidity of 61%, keeping in mind that is the AVERAGE, we are sitting at sea level with our toes literally in the sand – the humidity is probably higher. The end result is bottle sweat, condensation, and warm beer.

The math is pretty complicated:

(Read about it here)

The details as I understand them are the water in the air (humidity) cools rapidly where the air touches the cool bottle, causing condensation, or concentration of the water molecules on the glass. This process forces the bottle to warm somewhat, as the condensation process uses up energy. The condensation accumulates on the bottle that in turn warms the bottle further, since water is 26 times more conductive to heat (I dive, ask me how I know THAT factoid!), adding more condensation along the way, until the contents of the bottle are the same temp as the surrounding air, and soaking wet. And who likes warm beer?

So as I said, we carry a koozie for the wife’s beer. I, on the other hand, don’t care for beer. My preferred drink is served in a glass…and if I have my way, a glass jar, pint size, thank you very much. But being glass (and NOT having a koozie), I end up with a wet drinking container and a warm drink. Not very enjoyable.

The inventor of the koozie may be debated, but the ingenuity of this simple wrap is unquestionable.

A koozie does three things.

• It offers a soft, grippable surface.
• It insulates the bottle to slow down condensation
• It absorbs what condensation is created.

End result, a cold beverage that stay cold longer, and leaves your hand, and anything the drink it set on, less wet. Win-Win-Win!

So when I was contacted recently by Ryan from Jar-Z.com, I was ecstatic! Not only did he have pint versions available, he offered to send me samples so I could write it up here. (See notes below)

Mine arrived, and they were just as I pictured them when I thought the idea was mine, only I didn’t have to do any of the work to get it done. The folks at Jar-Z.com did all the work, and did it well.

They offer multiple colors, and optional screen printing. The product is simple enough, yet highly effective. They store mostly flat, yet conform nicely to a round jar. The grip given is also nice, and the neoprene may offer some minor blunt force trauma protection, should you drop your jar. (No protection for the contents though, sorry.)

And they keep your drink cold longer.

I now have one in our travel box in our family vehicle….sitting right next to the wife’s beer bottle koozie.

If you, or someone you know, is a Hillbilly, or simply understands the simple pleasure of drinking from a Mason jar, head offer to Jar-Z.com and order them a few.  I’m pretty sure it would be a conversation starter, and a gift they do NOT have, but one that will get used. Or get some for yourself. Either way, I’m giving this product two thumbs up. It’s not a life saving product, but it sure does make life a little more enjoyable down here in Florida.

Peace,
db

Notes:

I received 6, in camo (of course), with FloridaHillbilly.com on them (of course). I will be keeping two of them for personal use, and the other four I will be giving away.

Comment below to enter. I will randomly pull four names from the list on Sunday the 13th at 9pm EST. One entry per person, please.