BA Outside of BA

I've met several BAs via in-person trades. Most of them were just quick swaps, and a short 5-10 minute chat, but they all seemed like great guys. Sat down with one BA trader for a good hour and drank a couple of beers together.

I've gone out of my way to meet a particular individual here a couple of times who, at this point, I would actually consider a friend. We talk all the time, and I've had a blast hanging out with him. He opened his Assassin with me, and I opened my Biére de Norma with him. I hope to share my BBT and Samuel with him as well. If I ever got a "mega whale" bottle, I would drive down to open it with him without hesitation. I think my weird, quirky, semi-long distance friendship with him really highlights just how incredible of a community this is, and how it can genuinely bring people together. The banter, chats, trading, and participation is all fantastic, but being able to personally connect with like-minded people and have a good time over a few beers and laughs is what really makes this platform special.

There are several BAs that I text regularly and occasionally send boxes back and forth to, but only two where the relationship goes beyond beer and into "buddy" territory. I hope to meet many more of you, to sit down and share some beers with! My cellar has reached the point where I definitely need some people who appreciate it as much as I do to share the wealth with. Let's hope for a swift end to this COVID business so we can get the ball rolling with that!

 

Because of my avatar, I've had a few BAs from this area recognize me and have said "hello" at bars or festivals.
We've had a quick chat and moved on.
I did, once, make friends with a local Tequila Aficionado back when the Blue Agave Forum was active and we remained friends. I brought him into the beer scene and he has an account here on BA.

 

Last year I had a couple of beers with @dbrauneis , @metter98 , and @smithj4 when one of their many beerventures brought them through the Sioux Falls area. Also last year @GreenBayBA was in the area and we got together with @hoptheology and his wife for a share and trade. Recently @hoptheology brought me some goodies from his latest beerventure. These meetups weren't totally outside of BA since initial contact was through BA.

 

I have met lots of people through BA in person in Houston. We use to meet up every month for bottle shares at The Ginger Man, we would post every month here about it. There might still be a small group of Austin people doing bottle shares through BA, well pre covid anyway. That went on for about 8 years. Most of the people I met are not on BA at all anymore, but am still in contact with pretty much all of them, and probably meeting one up for a beer later today. Several are brewers for local breweries around, and one is a chef that has been part owner of several beer bars around town, but doing his own thing outside of that group now.

 

I wish I met more. It's rare that I hear anyone talk about BA or mention it when we're out and about unless it's about a beer review/rating on particular beers. I don't know how many of us did, however I grew up with forums since the dial-up days of the internet and it seemed customary that I find one for my craft beer passion. I'm glad I did because it's nice having an outlet to share similar interests with other people. As I got more into it and got into brewing, I luckily was able to find a local homebrew club where it's so nice to be able to chat with fellow brewers and learn so much from them. I don't know how many of them are on here or if they're even active.

 

I *want* to meet many of the people I've interacted with here on BA, but as of yet have not. On the flip side, I talked about how much fun I was having with the latest BIF I was in and he signed up for BA. Of course, I have no idea what is username here is. Figures.

 

Pre-pandemic we had a decent crew of BAs meeting up at Other Half semi-regularly.

Definitely the first time was the closest I ever got to either a blind date or a Tinder date (I met my wife pre-dating apps). It's one thing giving it the talk on BA, but it takes real balls to walk into a crowded brewery, go up to different groups of people and say "hi I'm hopmasturbator69 from beer advocate - is this the online meet up?"

@algebeeric_topology especially was totally different than I imagined. I had built a mental picture of a 5'5" guy with glasses. Instead this guy who looked more like Gregor Clegane walked in (albeit he has a math phd so I was half right). I'm going down the dangerous path of tagging everyone. If I fucked this up and missed anyone I am sorry!

@algebeeric_topology @frozyn @jrnyc @SpinSamzo @fdonnelly @hops_for_thought @Feaor @Tallerboy @SeanEDPBK @prettygood @dhaakon @Xerlic @afroskully @FlamingMoe @BLazarus22 @stevebrownsteve @EnthusedAboutBeer @FL0

edit - also @creepyownerguy (not a real handle; one of the OH owners who preuses the forums) even joined in

 

This was me, as it turned out

 

A former co-worker (@Strike00) and I joined BA at about the same time. We did a lot of surreptitious undocumented IP trading at work, I'll tell ya what.

 

I cannot wait to be seen by another BAer in my BA t-shirt some random brewery day.

Plug to buy merch from BA!

 

Because of both geography and maybe personality BA is the way of interaction for me/us, I feel it's real!

 

Met with @Blogjackets last month while the pandemic wasn't being so insane. Also had @FlintB meet me at my apartment last year after I was having a life event. Haven't seen much else other than people in a Facebook group. Me and @Shanex will definitely make a transatlantic meeting someday. Cheers

 

and in turn it became a sneaker club

 

I’ll add that we met outside on the Winking Lizard patio and socially distanced. With winter coming, it’s going to be difficult for a while. We have a person with leukemia in the house, so we’re always on guard. That task has been exponentially more difficult this year. Such is life. My trusty bottle opener still works, so there’s hope out there in small increments. Back later for beer drinking!

 

I've met a ton of people in Denver via BA. Dozens. Many are friends for life now. Most I originally met about a decade ago, but there are a few of us still active in the mountain forum.

 

These meet ups were super fun, hopefully the world gets back to normal at some point and we can do it again! Its always enjoyable (most of the time) to meet up with people you have become friendly with through some other avenue. Its always fun to put a face to the name!

 

I've only had one in person meet up with a few people maybe two years ago at Chuck's Hop Shop.

I think I have a disadvantage, in that I didn't participate much in the forums until the pandemic.

Under non-pandemic circumstances, I think it would be cool to meet up with people.