Someone Invented A Beer Glass That Punishes You For Forgetting To Drink Water

We’ve all heard the responsible drinking advice before: Have some water between beers. Pace yourself. Hydrate. All sensible suggestions that become considerably easier to forget once you’re several rounds deep.

A Japanese brewery decided your beer glass should simply force the issue.

Yo-Ho Brewing, the company behind Japanese craft beer brand Yona Yona Ale, has created the Wobbly Beer Glass, a U-shaped glass designed to lose its balance and tip over if you only drink beer from it.

The concept sounds like a prank until you realize there’s some clever behavioral engineering happening here.

The glass relies on a separate cup of water to keep it balanced as you drink. Take a sip of beer and eventually you’ll need to drink some water to restore the equilibrium. Ignore the water long enough, and your increasingly unstable beer glass becomes a tiny physical manifestation of your questionable hydration choices.

Yo-Ho Brewing developed the glass after identifying a pretty sizable gap between what drinkers know and what they actually do. According to the company, 75.6% of people surveyed know alcohol can contribute to dehydration, while 75% said they don’t consume enough fluids while drinking.

Essentially, knowing you should drink water and actually remembering to do it at the bar are two entirely different skill sets.

The brewery launched the Wobbly Beer Glass as part of a responsible drinking campaign during Japan’s summer months, when beer consumption tends to increase. Pre-orders began Aug. 5 through Yona Yona Ale’s official online store, while approximately 30 beer bars and restaurants throughout Japan are also serving drinks with the glass.

Beginning around mid-August, travelers will even get a chance to encounter it for a limited time at the JAL Sakura Lounge at Chubu Centrair International Airport.

It’s an amusingly analog solution to an extremely human problem. Your friends can tell you to drink some water, your bartender can tell you to drink some water, and of course your future hungover self would absolutely tell you to drink some water if they could reach backward through time.

Now your beer glass can nag you, too.