Snow Lake, Man., is a small northern community with a long history of mining, but there’s a new item behind the counter of the local bar that may attract curious visitors who aren’t in town to work in the zinc mine.
Gerard Lamontagne of the Snow Lake Motor Inn has invested in a unique project: a custom-made, solid-gold shot glass that any customer can use.
Lamontagne told 680 CJOB the project has links to the town’s mining heritage, and although he has found examples of a few other — less visually appealing — golden shot glasses, he thinks the ‘Golden 49er’ is the only one in a bar anywhere on the planet.
“There’s a little over two ounces of gold in it — diamond, ruby, sapphire in our logo on the front and the logo on the back,” he said.
“The build cost was right about $10,000.
“I was just thinking about a project that I could come up with — something golden that we could use in the bar to promote, and a golden shot glass it was. I went and saw my jeweller Roger Watson, he does all our stuff, and I pitched the project to him.”
After discussing procedures to keep the glass safe from theft, and sourcing some hometown gold to build it, Lamontagne said the project went forward.
He held onto the finished shot glass for a few months until a loosening of COVID-19 restrictions meant he could finally introduce the Golden 49er to the public — by offering the first sip from the bejewelled beverage holder to the oldest man in town, his own father, Rene, on Sept. 18.
The glass is now available for use by Snow Lake Motor Inn patrons.
“The price of the shot from the Golden 49er is the price of a shot itself,” he said.
“And then we have a $10 (fee) that goes to our waitresses.”