NBS BIF #13 Sign Up Thread

Welcome, welcome, welcome to lucky round #13 for the NBS BIF, supporting the New Beer Weekend thread!

Before signing up, read this post in its entirety!

Front matter:
*This BIF supports New Beer Weekend. There is no absolute minimum NBW participation requirement, but if you don't post in NBW, or don't intend to post in NBW (including beers received through this BIF), then this is not the BIF for you.

Relevant dates:
*Share date: April 11th, 2021.
*Sign ups close: March 8th, 2021.

*You must ship so that your target receives their box on the Thursday before the share date. This allows any bottle conditioned beers time to settle, as well as putting a margin of error in for shipping. It's better to ship early than late. You can ship as early as you like.

Rules:
There are four main rules for content, and one rule for participation.

*Minimum: 66-72oz (6-12oz, 3-22oz, or some combination thereof) of new beer for your target. And yes, we are serious about the minimums: many of us will send much, much more (there is no maximum limit), but there is zero requirement to keep up with the crazies.
*This also means that no matter how much you send your target, you need to be prepared to receive as little as 66 oz from your sender. If you choose to be generous, crushing your target's porch with multiple boxes, you should do so because you want to, not because you expect your sender is going to drain his or her bank account.
*The focus for your target should mostly be new-to-them beers. It's OK to throw in a Want or a known favorite, but focus on new beers. This should also be an opportunity to share the local love with your target. Not everything needs to be whalez; show him or her what your local area can do!

*One of those beers must be a Mystery Beer, which should be drank and reviewed blind (and the results, preferably, shared). The mystery beer should be wrapped and obscured in some way. It doesn't need to be fancy. Please ensure the mystery beer arrives by the target share date.

*Include at least 1 piece of brewery swag (glassware, T-shirt, etc.).

*Finally, include a local food item of some sort from your area. Dry rub BBQ, pickled okra, Taylor Ham (hint hint). It's up to you! I like to send a few items representative of rural GA (peaches, pecans, BBQ, hot sauce, and the like). Be creative.

*Participation. You must be willing to be active in the Hints and Hauls thread. "Active" is defined as posting at least two hints each week until your target correctly guesses your identity. (If you anticipate being unavailable for work or something similar, please just let us know so that we aren't surprised). Additional posting and guessing is encouraged, as well. The most fun of this entire BIF is typically the back-and-forth in the H&H thread, and senders who aren't dropping hints and engaging in the fun diminishes the enjoyment for everyone else - but especially for their target. Please don't be that guy or gal that leaves your target without any interaction; it's no fun.
*The entire purpose of the BIF is to improve participation in the NBW thread. Thus, as a target, you must be willing to post reviews, or at least thoughtful comments, on at least one of your beers on the "Official" share date. Go all out if you want! Feel free to drink some of your beers before the date, as well - especially if you're concerned about freshness.

Etiquette:
Not hard-and-fast formal rules, unlike the above, but some good guidance.

*Tag your sender. If you're drinking a beer someone sent you, it's polite to give them credit for providing you with some tasty deliciousness. This can be done in Hints and Hauls, WBAYDN?, or NBW - or all of the above!

*Post your reviews (or thoughts). Obviously we prefer NBW, but it's 100% OK (and expected!) to consume some of the beers outside of the NBW time frame. If that's the case, please drop your review, or at least a quick impression, in the H&H thread (along with tagging). Consider the H&H thread an extension of NBW, if you will.

*Lies and reveals. Lying in your hints is 100% authorized. My personal take is that you should at some point in your hint dropping, reveal if one or more of your clues was misleading (or downright wrong). It's up to you. Straight forward, arcane, winding, artistic, deceptive; the only clue requirement is that you keep dropping clues! On the flip side, if someone officially calls you out, I consider it proper etiquette to give them an honest "Yes" or "No." This can be with GIFs if you're so inclined, but I consider it poor taste to lie outright if someone correctly (or incorrectly) identifies you as their sender.

*Guesses. There is no maximum number of guesses to identify your sender, but remember: there's no prize for being right, or even being first. (OR IS THERE??? Secret LIFs are always a real threat!) Don't abuse it. If you guess wrong, all you're going to get is some light teasing (if that), but it's poor form to just shotgun guesses in all directions.

Closing Thoughts:
If you've made it this far, then congratulations: sign ups are live!!! Post your interest in the thread and I will add you to the database.

*This BIF was the result of a lot of hard work by our predecessors, @BBThunderbolt and @LehighAce06 . Derek (@2beerdogs ) and I are the current curators of this wonderful event, but we truly are mites standing on the shoulders of giants. We will fix the pairings shortly after sign ups close, likely no more than a day or two later, to give everyone plenty of time for Hints, Hauls, Ninjas, Porch Bombs, and General Shenanigans.

*The official BIF name will not be finalized until the H&H thread is posted, so there's still time to provide your input. Early concepts include the lunar new year, the lucky number 13, and many other suggestions over the years that we may have stockpiled.

*If you have any doubt as to whether or not I have your information from a previous round, please shoot us (both me and Derek) a BM with the following:

Name, shipping address, alternative contact info (email, phone, whatever), any food allergies, T-shirt size, and swag restrictions (e.g. "Please no more glassware; my wife will kill me!"). If there are any black-out dates where you won't be around to receive your box(es), or periods where you won't be available to participate in the H&H thread, please include that information.

*Participation prerequisites. Any previous NBS BIF participants in good standing are automatically qualified. Anyone else must:
-Have a clean track record in trades/BIFs. It's not required that you are a prolific trader, but it is a must that we can trust you, so a bad reputation or excessive drama is probably a non-starter.
-Have a history of participation in NBS/NBW. It's the entire point of this BIF. If you're thinking of joining, but haven't yet participated in NBW, get started now, and show us that this is a thing you really want to do. We're not looking for masters of poetry and prose; we're just looking for people who will be active and in line with the spirit of the BIF.
-Be vouched for by a previous or current member. Let's be honest: we're a small and insular community. If one of our old guard vouches for you (based on personal knowledge, trades, or other BIFs), and you intend to meet the NBW participation requirement, then welcome aboard!

*Pairings. I will not have target-sender pairs that are in the same state, or adjacent states, unless I absolutely must. I will do my absolute best to avoid pairing you with the same target you have had before (official targets only; ninja boxes do not count). I will try to avoid pairing you in the same general geographic region (e.g. PNW, SE, NE, mid-Atlantic, Great Lakes). That said, we have had more than 12 rounds now (including the holiday mini-BIF events), and my records are imperfect.
(If I have to deviate from the adjacent state ban, I will make that clear in the H&H thread after the pairings are set, so that you are not led astray in your eliminations.)

LET'S DO IT!!!!!

 

I love you guys.

 

I'm similarly glad to have someone to continue to ensure I have a reason to stay gender-neutral with my pronouns - because otherwise I just sound pretentious (when I'm really just trying to be fair!).

 

@Dimidiata also you're a great contributor and I really look forward to having you back (since my attempt at being non-assholish immediately sounded, to me, somewhat assholish).

 

(Pencil in mouth, scribbles down "Make Roguer Christine's target" on an old-fashioned yellow legal pad ... )