I live in a small town. Not suburb small, but rural Vermont small. In fact, I don’t even live in a town. I live in a village. And in this village, there is only one place to go when you want to get a drink: the Back To Vermont Pub.

I don’t know how true this is, but the rumor is that it’s called the Back To Vermont Pub because the owners moved away from this little village for a while. They didn’t move to Florida or California or even Massachusetts. No, they moved about 45 minutes down the road to Manchester, Vermont. For those who don’t know, Manchester is where rich New Yorkers stay when they “go to the country” for the weekend (Why can’t you get a blow job in New York on the weekends? ‘Cause all the cocksuckers come to Vermont). Apparently, the owners of the Pub lived down there for a little while, and then moved back up here. And though Manchester is officially part of the Green Mountain State, our heroes decided they had to come back to our little village in order to go Back To Vermont.

Now, at the Back to Vermont Pub, there are about four or five dozen ceramic mugs hanging from the ceiling, all of which were made by local artisans. They’re all supposed to hold 24 oz., which is 8 oz. more than a normal pint of beer, but since few local artisans have been certified by the Department of Weights and Measures, most of the mugs seem to hold a bit more than that. Each mug costs $25, but you get to fill it for the price of a pint, so by the time all the math is said and done, the mug pays for itself after like five beers.

This all sounds great, right? Well, the trick is that the mug stays in the bar. You don’t bring it home with you at the end of the day. Instead, the proprietor will take your mug, wash it for you, and then hang it from the cieling, where it will sit until you return to fill it again. So while the mug sounds great, it only makes sense if you’re going to be around for a while.

Which is why, when Dawn bought me a mug last night, I truly began to feel like a local of this little village. And it was a pretty good feeling.