Google rubs it in with new Photos collection of all the pints you once enjoyed

You know what I haven’t seen in more than a year? The inside of a pub. Or a bar. Or, indeed, any kind of inn, hostelry, saloon, roadhouse, taproom, tavern, or beer hall where money can be exchanged for the sweet relief of drink. Google, though, hasn’t forgotten and has apparently decided to taunt me with a new tag in its Photo app dedicated to the stuff.

As first spotted by 9to5Google, if you open up the Google Photos app right now, it should have a new Memories collection at the top of the screen. These are thematic groupings of photos selected by machine learning, and while previous collections have focused on children or food, this one — appropriately titled “Cheers!” — is dedicated to booze.

Click the image, and you’ll be shown a bittersweet slideshow: pictures of drinks being drunk with friends and loved ones. To paraphrase Mad Men’s famous Carousel scene, here is the essence of nostalgia, taking us to a place where we ache to go again. The pub.

Photos by Cameron Faulkner / The Verge

A tiny caveat: when Verge staffers looked for the “Cheers!” collection in their own app, not everyone found it. And those who did noted that the software didn’t always pick up on all of the relevant pictures of pitchers. (Maybe it’s a fussy drinker? Can’t relate.)

At any rate, it’s another neat demonstration of the power of Google’s machine learning photo tools as well as a cruel reminder of what most of us are currently missing. And please, if you’re in a country where pubs and bars are currently open, where you can simply walk out the door and grab yourself a pint in the sunshine, I beg of you: shut up and don’t talk to me.