YETI YETI "Shot Glasses & Case" Shot Glass Set with Case 1 piece

The toast at the end of the day, once the engines are off

Four stainless steel shot cups and a case they ride in as one single piece in the boot. Made for the moment after packing down, when the bonnets have long been shut. Nothing about it is leakproof, and liquid doesn't belong in the case.

The YETI Shot Glasses Set is YETI's shot glass set for anyone who doesn't leave the end of a long car day to chance. Four cups in 18/8 stainless steel, plus a matching case with a silicone lid in which the cups travel as a stack. It sits next to the cooler all day without you noticing, and comes out when the folding tables get packed away.

• Small enough that it's simply always with you. The case is just under 12 cm tall and 5.6 cm wide, and the full set weighs around 181 g empty. So it fits in the door pocket, the glovebox or the side pocket of the cooler. Kit you don't have to think about is the kit you actually end up bringing.
• Four cups, zero shards. Stainless steel instead of glass means a cup that falls off an 80 cm folding table onto gravel makes a noise and nothing else. No field of shards between four cars, no hunting around the tyres with your phone torch, no splinter of glass turning up in a tyre two weeks later.
• After the round, into the dishwasher, done. Cups and case can go in the top rack, YETI gives a 5-year warranty on materials and workmanship, and the coloured versions wear DuraCoat powder coating rather than paint. You don't hand-wash them separately just because they were pricey.

Detailing1's tip from the shop: The most common mistake is an obvious one and still wrong: the case isn't a fifth cup. YETI says in its own product FAQ that it isn't meant to carry liquid. The second mistake only shows up two outings later. Take the silicone lid off after use and let the case and cups dry open, for at least a night. If moisture stays trapped under the lid, the case smells of stale schnapps the next time you open it, and a dishwasher cycle won't get that out anymore.

Five minutes when nobody is standing by the cars anymore

The case comes out of the cooler at the end of the day, when the cars have cooled down and the folding tables are coming down, and it puts a full stop on the day. That moment is the same at every meet.

The silicone lid of the YETI Shot Glasses comes off with a satisfying pop, the four cups sit inside as one stack and twist out one by one. Just under 50 ml fits in, so exactly one measure and not a drop more. The rim is wide enough that it doesn't feel like camping gear, but like something someone brought because they wanted to.

In the hand the cup is heavier than it looks, and it stays dry on the outside. No wet ring on the tabletop, no mark on the boot sill, no damp hand landing on a freshly sealed wing two minutes later. The same eye for surfaces you already have for the car, just applied to a cup.

If you want to do it properly, put the cups in the small cooler with shoulder strap ten minutes before pouring. Stainless steel takes on the cold and passes it to the drink, and the difference is far bigger than with a glass made of glass. Ten minutes you've got anyway while packing up.

At the end the stack goes back the way it came. Twist them together, slide them into the case, lid on. Nothing gets left behind at the meet, because there's nothing that could be left behind. That's exactly what sets this set apart from four cups rattling around loose in a carrier bag.

You buy the case not the four cups

The case for buying the YETI Shot Glasses is the case, not the glass, because nobody else brings four cups that travel as one piece and stay clean doing it. Four loose shot cups, on the other hand, everybody has in the kitchen.

Loose cups in the boot turn into what loose small parts always turn into there. They roll under the back seat, they end up between the tool bag and the polisher, and before anyone can pour, someone has to go over them with water first. The stack in the closed case doesn't have that problem. That isn't a side detail, it's the whole idea of the product.

Before you order, two things that don't jump out of the spec sheet. First, only the cups stack, not the cases. If you're regularly out as a group of six or eight, you need two sets and end up with two containers side by side, not one twice as tall. Second, the silicone lid is a one-off made for exactly this case. No lid from the rest of the Rambler family fits it, and replacements go through customer service.

Then the limits you need to have heard once. Nothing about this set is leakproof, the cups have no lids, and the case only closes against dust. According to the maker it explicitly isn't meant to hold liquid, and nothing gets stored in it either. Stainless steel never goes in the microwave, bleach and scouring agents stay away, and anyone with an oral nickel allergy should know that 18/8 contains around eight per cent nickel.

That makes for a clear decision. If you're looking after four people at the folding table and want to take everything home again, this set is right. If you're after something that seals tight and carries its contents through the day, the hip flask from the same range is the piece you want, and the cups are the accessory to go with it.

The bonus nobody mentions in a product description: the funnel from exactly that hip flask fits into the silicone lid of the case. Bring both and the funnel lives in the one place it won't get lost. And anyone with the case, the flask and the cooler in the same colour on the folding table didn't end up there by accident.

After three seasons in the boot they look untouched

The YETI Shot Glasses Set is built for people who use their kit for years instead of replacing it every other season. That only shows from season two onwards, before then everything looks good.

The case rides in the boot for two summers, spends some time lying sideways in the toolbox, sits overnight in a cold car in winter and goes through the dishwasher a few dozen times. Afterwards it looks like the day you unboxed it, with the same rich colours and no chipped edges. The warranty explicitly doesn't cover dents and scratches, nor slow colour fade. Even so, it's a set you keep rather than replace.

In this scene, kit says something about its owner. Whatever sits on the folding table next to a well-kept car either stands up to a closer look or it doesn't. That's exactly why the set works as a gift for someone who's long had everything for their car: small, instantly recognisable as quality, in ten colours from Stainless through Navy and Rescue Red to Olive Camo and Black Forest Green.

Who it isn't for. If you're out alone or as a pair, you're carrying four cups around and never need three of them. If you regularly cater for bigger groups, one set won't cut it. And if you're still driving that evening, skip it entirely. In Germany, from 0.5 per mille you're looking at a fine, two penalty points and a one-month driving ban, and for new drivers on probation and under-21s the limit is 0.0. The toast goes to the passenger or whoever's staying put.

For everyone driving home, the counterpart is in the same boot. A coffee for the drive back, a water for the hours on the stand, and the case stays shut. You'll find what fits in the rest of the YETI range, from the espresso cup to the cooler, mostly in the same colours.

The move no manufacturer writes down: at the folding table, don't pour into cups standing on it, pick each one up in your hand. The cups are narrow at the bottom so they nest, and that exact foot makes them wobbly on a sloping boot sill or a rickety camping table. Pour, set down, step back, in that order. That's the difference between an evening where nothing happens and a round that ends with a cloth on the paintwork.

Caring for the YETI Shot Glasses Set

Put the cups in the cooler ten minutes before pouring. Pull off the silicone lid, take out the stack and twist the cups out one by one.

After use, cups and case go in the top rack of the dishwasher, with the silicone lid separately alongside. Then let everything dry open for at least a night before the lid goes back on the case.

Notes: No bleach, no scouring agents, never in the microwave. The case isn't for carrying liquid or storing anything.