6 Rules for Attending Your First Bottle Share

As someone else said it should be uncomplicated but then you get friends of friends coming and bringing a 6 pack of off the shelf beer as you brought a 750mL bottle you thought you were going to share with close friends who brought hard to get beers. I typically have no problem with sharing/spreading the wealth, etc. but I think most people would be upset if you spent $50 on a bottle that was opened when some guy/girl brought a $10 off the shelf 6 pack to share. This goes back to my personal rule, do not bring a beer that you would not be willing to share with everyone unless you know your entire group. And if someone is not able to compensate in beer have them bring something else of monetary value. Some nice chocolates or cheese to pair with the beer can help.

 

I think Wake n Bake would be the perfect thing to pull out for that person; it's a great beer and really can highlight what a complex beer can be, without being pricey or hard to get; now French Toast Wake n Bake, I might reserve for the beer nerd friends, because the person in your example wouldn't be able to tell the difference between those two anyway. I agree with the original sentiment, if someone would be lost tasting a vertical and would taste the same beer 6 times, then just open the fresh one and move on, leave the aged ones for someone who can appreciate the nuance; where I diverge is in the attitude that it'd be a "waste" to let them drink it.



Wake n Bake might be a bit big for a virgin palate , maybe Moo Hoo

 

I disagree. You've always got to keep in mind ...



... no matter how good the beer is. Otherwise what's the point of continuing to live?

 

funny thing is, I did really well in my diff eq course back in college, yet that almost looks like a foreign language to me. I go to "mu of t" and quit.

pretty sad how much you learn in college that you never actually apply in real life -_-

 

upon finally actually reading these "rules", I would like to know which Veritas was bottled in a 375ml format?

 

Would you take home your unopened wine that you brought to a dinner party? This seems like the same situation.

Also you brought that beer in trade for the beer you drank, so is it really still yours?

Lastly, if your beer didn't get opened, that's at least a little bit your fault.

 

If you bring something super rare that you would be tempted to bring home, shouldn't you make sure that one gets opened so everyone can try it?

 

I agree with not making it too complicated, but this read more of like "avoid these faux pas if you've not already familiar with them" than "these are the rulez!"

 

yeah calculus III, dif EQ and a couple other classes I've taken (literature... GAG) don't have a whole lot of application to what I'm doing now. But if I had to take one again, it would be be cal III, easily by a mile!

What I need to take is advanced beer drinking: analysis and applications III. Now that's a class I can use.

 

All good points, and this has been a problem in the past for me. I'd like to say though that I have also been burned by holding on to bottles for too long, I'm at the point now where I'm starting to open up some stuff I've been saving for shares or special occasions, after a test or long day of work instead.

 

i have to say a dinner party is going to be a little different from a bottle share. A dinner party, you're going over there to have dinner, socialize and drink is part of the equation. You typically bring over a bottle of wine or two as a hostess gift, if not something else. A bottle share, you're bringing several bottles with ideal of opening and sharing them. I have never been to a bottle share where everything I bring is opened, not because we're being stingy, trust me, we're opening up our own stuff every 20-30 minutes just because we want to try it and putting it on the table, but because there is just so much going around. I think it's acceptable to bring home your own unopened bottles, and maybe leave one as a parting gift for the hostess, either giving it to them at the start of the party for them to stash for their own enjoyment later, or at the end of the day when you're leaving. And never take home stuff that isn't yours, duh.

 

I brought a growler of a decent IPA to a huge bottle share one time and overheard a dude bemoaning the fact that it was in a growler. Something along the lines of "Who would put a beer like THIS in a growler"... to which I wanted to reply... "A dude who could pour it on the ground in front of you and get more when he gets home, that's who."

 

I can't believe there are now rules for attending a bottle share!

 

It's not the rules per se, it's the penalties for breaking them you need to be wary of. Some of which involve electrodes.

 

I've heard of* an exception to this if it's being held not at someone's home (where the host defaults to keeping left behind bottles), such as if it's in a hotel conference room, BYOB restaurant, VFW, whatever. If someone has left something behind perhaps someone takes it to return to them, but if not then the left behind bottles are "drafted" by the remaining participants.

*= I've never done this, but have heard of it.

 

What beer was it? Can someone explain to me why this would be moaned about? (see what I did there?)

The entirely illogical things that some elitists think up to complain about....

 

Now that all sounds great. Sign up sheets are awesome. I do like to know what to expect. My few prior experiences from a couple years back seemed to yield a couple of "out there" fellas who seemed a bit guarded by what they wanted to share in return for what they were getting. I wouldn't exactly call it hostile because after a few beers, those guys were fine. But I don't think they brought their best intentions.

I don't see it much as rules. But more of a pot luck type work situation. What are you all brining type questions. You don't want two spaghetti dishes etc.

Now I do find complete blind samplings to be the best. So if you can find one party to serve the beers, you can have people guessing what it is. At that point, I really wouldn't mind some "normal" extras thrown in to test the subjects at hand.

 

Truth be told I was skeptical of sign-ups at first, I like the idea of it being a surprise, and getting to do a little bit of a 'reveal' to 'oooo's and 'ahhhhh's from the crowd.

Then I saw how awesome it was once a few people posted their intentions; the minute someone put up "2013 Dark Lord" 3 other people volunteered to turn it into a 2011-2014 vertical, that would never have happened without the signup sheet. Also gave me a place to post my cellar link to request suggestions, and as I mentioned the ability for someone to focus on an underrepresented style is great.

And usually enough people put up a smart-assed "Bud Light" that there's still some surprises once you get there.

 

And usually enough people put up a smart-assed "Bud Light" that there's still some surprises once you get there.

haha this kind of reminds me of a small beer/smokeshop in a town near me they had a clip board for beers they would like to see for sale

had crazy shit people that live where its brewed can't get heady ZD etc one guy put pliney so I wrote next to it fuck it get the younger too

my bottle shares usually consist of a sporting event on tv red solo cups and a cooler full of ice

 

currently have this problem with my core tasting group. there is the occasional ooh la la pull from this individual but it is so few and far between that it is meaningless. it used to be kind of a joke, but at this point it has gone beyond being down right rude. ultimately in my group it doesn't really matter what you bring since there is always more bottles than we can open and we have a system that encourages people to bring fun stuff...and ultimately the goal is to open the bottles you brought. we are very welcoming to new people who are new to beer and may or may not have great beer to share, but this individual has such a vast cellar that (s)he could bring awesome beer all of the time and not even touch his/er best bottles, but instead they choose to bring those leftover bottles from last years seasonal pack that the drain doesn't even want. it really makes no sense at all...except maybe hoarding problem or just someone who won't share/contribute. we've dropped enough hints that at this point the damage is done and this individual gets bumped down to the D list, at least when I organizing a tasting going forward.

on the flip side...i think it is important to realize that if you don't have crazy bottles or you aren't into trading, that it is ok also. if someone opens a really rare bottle with you it is because they want to share it with you, much like your buddy buying you a round at the bar when you are out of cash. it isn't a loan or a tit for tat kind of thing. don't feel that you need to start trading because someone shares beer with you, but yeah...if you are able to reciprocate, don't be a dick.

so the difference is the appreciation of the beer? what if we open 3 beers in a row, don't like them and pour them down the drain before we get to one we appreciate? i would ultimately like to try every beer ever made (not possible) but yeah, i like beer too