6 Rules for Attending Your First Bottle Share

While it would be very hard for me to not yell, "WTF are you doing, you F'ing clown?!" at the guy guzzling a BA Old Salty straight out of the bottle, believe it or not, there are people - otherwise educated, socially-adjusted, contributing members of society - who would look at a lineup of fantastic, rare, highly-sought-after beers, and would not be able to tell you how any one is different from any other. You would tell them, "Look! Look with your eyes - the labels have different names and pictures on them", and they would say, "oh...huh." Not only are they not observant, they just can't be bothered to care.

If you called these people out for grabbing an ultra-rare beer and chugging it, they would look at you with big, dumb eyes and say, "wh-what? I didn't know!" And the sad thing is, that would be a 100% truthful response on their part.

These are the people who reach their hand into the cooler at a party, pull out a bottle at random, pop the top, shove it in their maws, and take a swig, all without once looking at what they're ingesting (lucky for them it's uncommon to store bleach & rat poison in the beer cooler). Only after that first pull would they get mildly curious about what they're holding and stop to take a look at the label, in order to answer one of two questions in their mind: "that's not bad, what is it?" or "yuck...what is this?!"

I believe the only possible options for expanding these people's beer-related horizons are either 1) hold their hand (metaphorically, but literally if they start reaching for bottles looking for something to guzzle), pour things for them, explain what they're tasting, and lead them through the process in hopes of stumbling onto something they like, or 2) don't bother - instead of trying to include them in beer shares, invite them to come over to watch the game, when ice-cold Silver Bullets are the beverage of choice & everyone can have a laid-back good time while chugging as many beers straight from the bottle as their hearts desire.

 

I absolutely believe that and nothing I have written should indicate otherwise. I'm not calling into question what people should know (as I agree, it'd be absurd to assume people are going to know what's a rare beer and what isn't. I'm one of those people actually, I've never even heard of BA Old Salty). I am calling into question how people should behave though (ie, even the person who doesn't know anything about craft beer likely won't be stomping into your house, shotgunning Heady's and then making a beer-a-mid with the empties).

 

Rule 1 for compiling a Bottle Share Rule list: don't call people "neophytes"

 

I suppose 1 and 3 are not quite obvious to a person who has never participated in a bottle share before.
#1 (it's sometimes better to bring more of something more available because you only have one bottle of X limited release)

I've never considered a bottle share because of #3. I have always felt that I would be the "outsider" because I don't seek out/trade for highly sought after beer.

In any event, those two examples guidelines/rules are less obvious in comparison to "pace yourself" or " don't be a dick if you don't like a beer", which are almost too obvious to include in any list.

 

Neophyte = person who is new to a subject or activity. It is actually a particularly good word as it has religious overtones and beer geeks are pretty fanatical and dogmatic if you think about it...

 

I prefer philistine

 

First, a confession: I barely know jack about jack, and totally cheated. When the previous poster who related the chugging-a-rare-trade-straight-from-the-bottle story mentioned that it was from Heavyweight Brewing, I googled them & went with the name of their highest-rated beer for my example.

That probably depends on who you invite & how you invite them; tell your shotgunning frat bro/aspiring beer can architect, "hey, a bunch of guys are coming over to drink different beers", and he'll end the night by announcing the completion of Pharoah Headytop's glorious new pyramid with a thunderous, hop-scented burp. Tell your polite, considerate buddy that you're having some fellow beer aficionados over for a tasting of rarities, and he'll probably hit Google, read up a little, and come armed with his own snifter and a couple decent bombers he picked up on his way over.

 

Forgot to add: you're absolutely right, of course - I said that in a confusing way. What I meant to say was that they'd see a lineup of beers, and wouldn't notice that this one has a picture of a clown on it, and that one has a red label with a bunch of writing, and that one has a drawing of a nice flower and some cursive script. They might look at the bottles and think, "look at all them beers; Imma have me one", whereas an observant, considerate person might notice these things and, even with no prior knowledge, think to themselves, "you know, I think these might all be different. I'll ask someone what the deal is with these".

 

Great question that has crossed my mind as well.

I generally follow the "leave it as a gift for the host" policy, but I would probably draw the line if it was something along the lines of a BVDL, KBBS, rare loons, etc. Although it's hard to imagine bringing something of that caliber to a share and having it not get opened. I have left some pretty decent beers behind before (think Parabola, Black Butte XV, Huna) because it just seemed like the decent thing to do and I had tried them before. If it was something I'd never tried and had traded a bunch to get, I'd probably be more inclined to bring it home.

 

With something special, I have said something along the lines of, "save this, and we can split it the next time I'm over." That way, you've got an excuse to hang out again, it's still technically a gift (although with strings attached), and you actually get to try it.

 

This. Generally the shares are at our place, so when people bring things over that we don't open, I'll either offer it to them to take home, or say they can leave it for the next time; usually resulting in the latter.

 

Be generous and don't be a dick. Pretty simple philosophy

Find a good stopping point. No one wants a DUI on the way home!

 

What if you invited frat bro dude with "you're having some fellows over for a tasting of rarities" or vice versa. That's where Providence's argument of "should know" comes into play.

 

I crash bottle shares with my fridge turds.

After few "good" beers, I piss on the toilet seat and leave.

 

This thread might be a good resource.

 

you have the best avatar on this site.

Also. Bottle shares. I'd echo some guidelines are good, but don't be a dick and it'll go well. Too bad the people this applies to don't think they're doing anything wrong

 

The things I've learned from bottle shares is 10 and less people are best. Keeps everything close knitted and everyone gets to try a beer.
If it's a beer where there is limited quantities of, it's nice of you to pass on a pour if you already had it, or wait last in line for the pour.
Of all the years I've been drinking good quality beer, I'm still a noob at these bottle shares and am always astonished to what people bring. My advice to beer sharing groups is just take it easy on the new people and keep it small.
My first share I brought shelf beer, Schlafly Reserve Barleywine 2011, Miles Davis Bitches Brew, & Dark Hollow Oak-Aged Imperial Stout. I'm just glad that group didn't eat me alive for not bringing whales.

Pour n pass and enjoy.

Shoutout to smoke n barrel dc bottle share, where it all started.

 

I think being a 'dick' as you say would be throwing the person out. A future reciprocal invite is built on past consideration. That's the point of my post. Or maybe I'm a dick too.

 

Oh--it wasn't clear to me if the lack of sharing was in reference to future invites or at the sharing where he brought the local growler.

Personally, I still think that standard (no future shares for the guy who brought a local growler) seems a bit lofty, but I also don't have full context and details--I don't know what other kinds of beers you guys are opening, how good a friend the "local growler guy" is to you or if he knew the expectations in advance and ignored them--so it's entirely possible that my initial suspicion about your beer share compatriots being dicks is misplaced.

The way your post read, it just seemed like a harsh reaction, that's all.

 

Wow OP, you make bottle sharing sound ultra nerdy. What are we all gonna bust out our phones and play Ingress afterwards?