Biggest Beer Tasting Ever in Texas

Discussion in 'Southwest' started by atxdelivery, Sep 6, 2013.

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  1. greenspointexas

    greenspointexas Initiate (0) Jan 16, 2011 Texas

    Cant tell if this thread is serious or not.....
     
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  2. DanzBorin

    DanzBorin Initiate (0) Apr 11, 2012 Texas

    We've had WAY bigger at Petrol. :wink:

    That one was pretty dang nice though. Sad to have missed it.
     
  3. decadance

    decadance Pundit (759) Mar 14, 2010 Texas

    Sounds now like it would have to be at a strip club.
     
  4. BrewDogRocks

    BrewDogRocks Initiate (0) Oct 15, 2011 Texas

    Hello. I had floated this idea with some friends in Austin and San Antonio. I don't know how you guys feel about bottle shares, but in general for me if there are more than 10 people involved and maybe more than 10 bottles involved, I don't feel is worth it. I've been to bottle shares with 35 to 40 people with 50+ bottles and in theory it was great, but in practice it just doesn't work that great.

    You get less than 1 oz sample of stuff or none at all. And the sheer overload of information, palate fatigue, etc. just wasn't conducive to a good experience for me. Even when there may be the occassional white whale involved. So for me bottle shares are not something I want to do unless it's 10 people or less with fewer bottles.

    But being that we live in Texas and everything is bigger I thought we could have a statewide 'beer' share. Not bottle share, beer share. My idea was to get say 10 to 15 people from each of the major cities Dallas, Austin, Houston and San Antonio but everyone is welcome obviously. So the Dallas people bring 2 or 3 half barrell kegs of Dallas beer like Peticolas, Community, Lakewood, etc. The Houston people bring Karbach, Buffalo Bayou, Southern Star, Saint Arnold, etc. You get the idea.

    In this way, with kegs of beer, even if you have 75 to 100 people, everyone can get full pours of beer. You won't have a very wide variety of offerings but at least the people that don't live in Dallas will have a chance to taste beer that is either impossible or very hard to find in their town, same for the people in Houston, etc. From what info I have gathered, probably the best way to do it would be to rent a brewery in Austin for an event and have the 'delegations' from each city show up with their beer. Each person pays for a tour fee or event fee which covers the breweries cost and then we just share the 'city' kegs.

    Anyway, I think a statewide beer share is something very interesting and something I would definitely be a part of. Bottle shares are not good for me unless the number of people and bottles are low. Let's see what you guys think of that.
     
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  5. BrewDogRocks

    BrewDogRocks Initiate (0) Oct 15, 2011 Texas

    By the way, I forgot to mention that in talking with the Austin and San Antonio people, it seems that the best time to do this is mid June to early August. Once you get to September there's too much stuff related to beer and life in general that would get in the way of it. October of course also is problematic for GABF and other reasons. November you have the different Beer Weeks across the state. Early December may be possible but it would have to be the first week.

    Then from mid January to May it's mostly open but the weather is not as nice as in the fall. So summer, for reasons of weather, life availability (no school, etc) and very few to zero competing big beer events seemed like the best time.
     
  6. jl28r1

    jl28r1 Initiate (0) Jan 10, 2011 Texas

    Will you have enough room for all of us at your house? ;-)
     
  7. Indytruks138

    Indytruks138 Initiate (0) Jun 28, 2013 Texas


    So are you wanting to do this NEXT summer?
     
  8. BrewDogRocks

    BrewDogRocks Initiate (0) Oct 15, 2011 Texas

    Hello. I realize you're joking, but just to clarify what I said in Post #24 , the best place to hold it would be to rent a brewery for a private event. Each person pays a fee to cover the breweries expense, whatever that may be, $20 to $25 maybe. We drink the breweries beer as well as the kegs of beer to share. We approach a food truck to swing by and sell us kibbles n' bits. That takes care of location, service and food, we just bring our fee and our kegs.
     
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  9. BrewDogRocks

    BrewDogRocks Initiate (0) Oct 15, 2011 Texas

    (Dammit I should have replied to jl28r1's post so my response would have quoted in context. Sorry).

    Indytruks138, as I mentioned, for the event I described the only time really available this year would probably be the first week in December. Otherwise it would have to be at least mid January of next year. And as I mentioned also, because the weather will be better starting in May and through mid August, it would be the time that would be most ideal to accomodate everything. Better weather, less complications, less beer competing events, etc. So yes next summer.
     
  10. DanzBorin

    DanzBorin Initiate (0) Apr 11, 2012 Texas

    Summer seems like the worst time unless we can do indoors.

    See Atrial Rubicite heat issues at Jester King for the Saturday Shares.
     
  11. Theortiz01

    Theortiz01 Initiate (0) Jun 7, 2013 Texas

    BrewDogRocks, the whole point of the OP was to get a bunch of people together for a bottle share b/c he had about 30 bottles he wanted to open. I personally don't want to pay $20-$30 to go to a brewery when I can do that at any time. I'm wouldn't be opposed to getting a few kegs for all of us to split from different cities, but I think the bottle share was kind of the main point. I bet we could actually call a few breweries that would donate beer if we invited them to the party (Jester King and Buff Bayou has contributed in the past to bottle shares) Everyone knows that bottle shares with more than 10 people can be a pain logistically, but who cares. The point is to have fun and try a few beers you've never had. What we have done for larger bottles shares is this....for every bomber you bring you get 10 tickets, each ticket would be a 2 oz pour (12oz bottle would be 5 tickets) then you "pay" for the beers you want try with your ticket. Yes, not all people will get to try everything they want, but it's a compromise, and has worked pretty well in the past. The OP wanted to do it in October. My reasoning for wanting to do one in October was for those of us that weren't able to go to GABF this year. As for the place, I'm not sure but there should be a park or somewhere that we could rent out to do this.

    Just my 2 cents,:wink:
    Thanks
     
  12. atxdelivery

    atxdelivery Initiate (0) Aug 28, 2010 Texas

    We had maybe my favorite tasting (except for the Freetail bottle shares and some at my condo and Rubio's) was the tasting at ABW on their dock. They came into the thread and opened their arms to us. It would be cool do it there, or another off the map place like the Driskill or Phara's. 30 maybe have been a slight exaggeration but a bunch for sure. Something like the beer share sounds cool but not on this thread bubba. My idea is more like this, not everyone will get equal and fair pours of all the beers, the people who bring beer can surely give themselves a healthy pour first and pour the rest or pass the bottle around. The idea is to have so many good bottles floating around that equal pours is a non issue. Palates get wrecked all the time so I am not worried about that. I think if people can bring at least 3 bottles we should have a generous amount of bottles. I know of other generous bottle bringers here in Austin, Dallas and San Antonio they might come. I guess setting a date and location would be the starting point and lets see what happens. I do wish I could have made that Gman tasting in Houston, that is an amazing amount of killer shit. Although the last Freetail tasting I am pretty sure was the biggest and most fun tasting I have seen.
     
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  13. champ103

    champ103 Grand Pooh-Bah (5,682) Sep 3, 2007 Texas
    Pooh-Bah Society

    Good for Petrol. Seriously, these huge tastings are more annoying than anything. The Gman tasting yesterday was about 5 people, and I will take that any day.
     
  14. bmurray10

    bmurray10 Initiate (0) Feb 28, 2013 Texas

    Wait...........so blown out clams at the strip club if off the table? Just for clarity
     
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  15. atxdelivery

    atxdelivery Initiate (0) Aug 28, 2010 Texas

    Hey if you don't like the social atmosphere of a big tasting then this idea is probably not for you. Who knows it my be just a few people. Blown out clams is pretty funny and after due diligence it is off the table. I am sure we can hire the massage girls who do the underground poker games if we need to.
     
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  16. Cablejelly

    Cablejelly Initiate (0) Sep 6, 2010 Texas

    I think both big and small tastings have their merits.

    I've had a small tasting at my house (north austin-area crew) roughly once a month and they're all fantastic, personal, fun experiences where I'll feed everyone fantastic food (and shitty meatballs...) while we shoot the shit, bond, make fun of each other, and head home with full bellies. Everyone gets to try everything but there's often a ton of stuff left due to opening too many bottles and the variety isn't as great as huge tastings (it's still fantastic but realistically can't be as diverse as shares incorporating more people)

    I've been to bigger "event" type shares where whalez flow freely but people miss out on some, fall over drunk, and have palate blow out early on. They do, however, meet new people, form new friendships, make excellent trades, and have a blast. Still fantastic experiences and usually happen during an already fantastic event making it even more memorable.

    I'm a fan of both, depending on my mood, and have no problem catering either to suit my mood for the day. I can sit to the side and just enjoy a few beers quietly or make my rounds talking to everyone. Both have their benefits imo and any day at a share is still better than a day at work* :wink:





    *unless you're a brewer :slight_smile:
     
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  17. Strelnikov

    Strelnikov Initiate (0) Jan 29, 2008 Texas

    It isn't the size of the tasting...
     
  18. kmello69

    kmello69 Initiate (0) Nov 27, 2011 Texas

    You make a nice Spam sandwich, though (I think there was other stuff in there, but the Spam was the shining star! :astonished: )



    Personally I prefer small shares where you can talk, take your time, and really enjoy the beer you're drinking. Big shares tend to make me rush through my beer to get to the next sample thats already open. Hell, I've seen people literally throw away whats in their glass because a new bottle gets opened and they dont want to take the time to drink the first one and possibly miss the second. Sort of goes counter to the whole idea, for me anyway.
     
  19. Cablejelly

    Cablejelly Initiate (0) Sep 6, 2010 Texas


    Time to start making creative blends in your glass!
     
  20. DanzBorin

    DanzBorin Initiate (0) Apr 11, 2012 Texas

    Not good for Petrol, good for Open the Taps. :wink:

    I have fun at most any share wether 2 or 200. :grinning:
     
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