Beer share pet peeves

I've only done one bottle share per year, and it's always with my closest friends (we do it on Labor Day weekend when all of us fly into a common location from all around the country) and I've never had anything to complain about. We break it up into a 2-day event: Light and Dark. Light is IPAs and sours, Dark is stouts and porters.

I can honestly say, I've never had a single complaint. Some of us have access to 'rare' beers and so we are happy to share those. Those that don't have that access will usually provide the food for one of the days, or rent bouncy castle and entertainment for all the kids, and someone else will buy wine and such for all the wives and girlfriends. It's just a great festive holiday weekend we've carved out and made an annual event.

My point is, I only share with my close friends. As a result, I'll never be disappointed sharing.

 

Im completely with this guy.

Most of the people who are uber into bottle shares are the same ding-bats I sit in line with for a release. I'd much rather spend the time drinking great beer talking about a multitude of other things with folks I actually have a deep rooted friendship with.

You dont want people to show up with shelf-turds then stop hanging out with turds.

 

Some people need to chill. You don't like geeking out over the ingredients of the beer? I've been to shares like that an enjoyed them immensely. I've been to themed tastings (Pumpkin beer maybe 4 years ago, for example). My friends and I have a whalezbro tasting NYE each year. For years we essentially did a bottle share every Friday. Sometimes it was rarer stuff, sometimes it was just a new shelf beer, usually it was a mixture. Luckily it was the same group of people so if someone brought a whale and another brought a shelf beer, it was probably reversed on another week. I have friends that enjoy beer but don't know that much and aren't willing to put the effort in for the rare stuff that I am (i.e. they're not willing to put in effort past going to a good beer store). I'm ok with sharing rarer stuff with them. They still appreciate it and appreciate the effort put in and rarity. I'm also happy to share with them.

And as an avid homebrewer, I agree with not bringing only homebrew.

You just have to know the crowd you're meeting with. If you know this before hand, you should know what to expect and have a good time. IMO it's all about expectations when it comes to enjoying bottle shares.

 

The only thing that sort of annoys me at shares are the tickers, sometimes they literally run. And no, not all beers have to be whalez, in fact it's fun to try all kinds of stuff at these. I do appreciate when people try and bring stuff that isn't easy to find locally, and I try to do the same.