I live in Portland and have never participated in a bottle share, but a friend of mine recently brought back some Heady Topper and I would like to share it with some fellow Portlanders who have never had it. I have about 6-7 cans I would be willing to share for a taste of other people's rare/hard to find/highly rated beers that I haven't tried. I'm not looking for any super whales (I don't expect Black Tuesday or anything of its ilk) but I also don't want something I could just buy at an area bottleshop. Stylistically, my palate is all over the map but my favorite beers tend to be imperial stouts, barleywines, strong ales, and saisons. I have no clue how to set this up as I haven't really interacted with any of Portland's craft beer drinkers- I'm rather introverted and tend to take my pints alone. However, this is too special not to share. My preference is for a Friday evening or Saturday/Sunday afternoon (but Wednesday and Saturday evenings are also a possibility). I would like to do this as soon as possible as my friend bought this at the brewery on Thursday and I'm sure most anyone interested would like to experience it as fresh as possible. And, of course, as any BA'er who regularly frequents the forums knows, IPAs/DIPAs become virtually undrinkable pretty much the moment they leave the bottling (or canning) line. Also, my friend (non-beer geek) was very attentive about keeping it cold the entire time, so this Heady had no floaters or sediment when I had it two days ago. Not that I would've minded in the least. Obviously, this would have to be small- I was thinking 8 oz. pours for 12-14 people but am open to other suggestions. Anybody with more experience is this department want to get the ball rolling?
There's a group on twitter called @PDXbottleshare check them out, not sure if any are on here as well
They did a bottle share this past saturday, so it might be a while before the next one happens. My recommendation: pick a time & location where you want to do this. Beermongers and Commons have both been amenable to bottleshares, but if there's somewhere else you usually drink / shop ask them if they'd be okay with it. The two cardinal rules are: get permission from the venue in advance, and an employee must open all containers. (And, buy something and tip well while you're there and offer a taste of anything they want to try to the bartender.) I will say that Friday and Saturday evening are often the two times of the week where places don't want to have a bottleshare going on. Or, of course, just do it at your house if you don't mind having strangers invade. We're generally friendly. Personally, I'm out of town this weekend and next, so likely won't make this; but if you set a time and place, there's definitely folks from a couple tasting groups around town who will come help out.
Completely agree with kscakdef, but I do have a suggestion for you (for whatever it's worth). Based on the comments you make in your post, I wouldn't be coming to the sort of bottle share you're hoping to organize, because it sounds like I'm not invited. I've had HT on a number of occasions (and have 8 cans in the mail that I'm expecting any day now), and based on some of the previoius bottle shares I've attended, I think quite a few PDX BA's have tried it before. So right there, I think you're limiting the number of folks this is open to. Next, I don't know what rare, hard to find, and/or highly rated beers you've had in the past, so I'm at something of a loss as to what to bring (except that I'm not invited anyway, so I guess it doesn't matter). Also, most of the BA bottle shares I've attended, the folks participating often bring "whales." Or at least wha it sounds like you feel are whales (for that matter, BT isn't what I would call a super whale, so once again, I think there's a problem with semantics when you start limting what people can bring). Just my two cents, but why not simply state that you're hoping to organize a bottle share, that you happen to have some fresh HT you want to share, and so this would be a great opportunity for anyone who hasn't had HT before to come by and try it. Don't limit what people can bring, but by the same token, maybe assure folks that this is a social occaion, and that no one should feel as if they can't come just become they don't have something super rare to bring. Like kscakdef noted, PDX BA's are generally friendly, though I'd still recommend that you try to hold this at Beermongers or Commons (as bottle share gatherings can get pretty large). They're also generally pretty generous as well.... hopefully you can overlook that failing. Cheers!
Pick a date, contact the place you want to do it (call, FB message, tweet, etc), and post the time and place here or post another thread with the time and place in the title. I would agree with ^this guy^ and say, if you limit it to people who haven't had it (I don't know if you are actually doing so, but that is how it reads in your original post) or have a requirement on what somebody can/can not bring (again, that's how it reads), you probably won't have too many people attending. And believe, if you post it, they will come Also, In my experience, people around here don't take bottleshares lightly. I'm up for it, as I just picked up a few things recently. But then again, I just opened a can of Heady myself
First of all, I would like to thank everyone for all the advice and suggestions. I really had nothing concrete in mind and it certainly wasn't my intention to uninvite anyone or restrict what anyone should bring (that's why I didn't include any definitive list of what I had or what I wanted). While I've been into craft beer for quite some time, I am a complete novice when it comes to the social aspects (trading, bottle shares, etc.) of craft beer culture. In the past when I've seen bottle shares, I've automatically uninvited myself because I didn't have anything unique to bring. I do understand that Portlanders and, in general, Oregonians are generous people but even after five years, it's hard for that to sink into my East Coast brain. I guess what I should have written is that people who haven't had Heady should get the first crack at it and assumed that BAs would naturally bring some of their best. I'm still a little on the fence about organizing one since I've never even been to one. However, I will refrain from drinking the HT for now, see if a critical mass develops, and go from there. The worst case scenario: I have to drink that Heady all by myself, haha. And once again, thanks for the advice. You were all very helpful.
"In the past when I've seen bottle shares, I've automatically uninvited myself because I didn't have anything unique to bring." I try not to ever tell people what they should do on this site, but I'll make an exception this one time. Don't do this again! Next time there's a bottle share, whether it's organized by you or someone else, do not "uninvite" yourself just because you feel you don't have something unique to bring to the party. Come anyway, meet some new people, drink some good beer, and enjoy yourself. Cheers!
I'm the reason why kscaldef said "generally". Don't be dumb! I did that once at the HotD tasting before the Adam from the Wood release and have been regretting it ever since. As for letting people who haven't tried a beer have first crack at it, it really isn't an issue with the guys that I know. We are pretty good at policing ourselves and making sure that those who haven't had the beer before get some.
So I've never been to a bottle share but it is something that I'd like to get involved with eventually. On one hand I'm hearing that there are zero expectations, just show up and have a good time. On the other it sounds like people bring some pretty rare stuff with some level of regularity. I guess what I'm wondering is what is the norm? Is a high quality Portland-available beer like something from Ale Apothecary, for example, a good contribution? Or are the majority of bottles acquired through trades/travel, or are very limited locals like HOTD or Upright special releases? What's an example of the typically range from most common to biggest whale in an average bottle share around here?
This is the Google.doc for some past Portland BA bottle shares. There are other invitation only tasting groups out there, but this has generally been the spreadsheet for open tastings. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ag6e7YwcFaDedG1pZUJzSUpMTk80bm5lS1VzZmJMbWc#gid=0
Oh, and one thing I would say is that in general there are way too many bottles opened at these shares to even consider 8 oz. pours.
Once again, thanks for all the advice. I think I will head down to Beermongers this weekend, have a few beers, and try and set something up. I'm thinking next Wednesday evening or next Sunday after the Timbers game. I'll start at new thread if a bottle share is happening.
Personally, I like to bring something that has to be traded for; something that most people probably haven't had. I like to share the stuff that other locals can't get off the shelf, at the time of the share (But I don't think you'd get any complaints if you brought anything from Ale Apothecary). Older Sole comps and Hotd stuff seems to show up with some regularity. Remember, not everybody can get to every single limited release (unless you're Shmeal ), so if you bring something like Special Herbs that was a locally distributed beer, but sold out quickly and a lot of people still weren't able to get, it would be definitely welcome. Prime example of the variety of bottles that show up. A few weeks ago, I was at BeerMongers and King Henry showed up next to a few Crooked Stave bottles and a homebrew in a plastic bottle (shout out to whoever brought that home brew. It was tasty ).
This is a direct copy/paste from a post I made yesterday on almost the identical topic. Perhaps the two of you should partner of up and coordinate a serious tasting. And to add - 8oz of any one beer at a tasting is way too much. Someone dig up a picture of the Bruery tasting we did last year. My liver still tears up thinking about it. --- If you can't bring your liver, then don't bother. There are a number of bottle shares that happen in Portland. Some are formally organized on public NW forum, some are organized via private beer mail, some happen when an out-of-towner has an in person trade, and some happen very impromptu when a couple BAs happen to bump into each other at a bottle shop (mainly Beer Mongers). My suggestion is attend a couple of the more publicly announced shares in the NW forum. Possibly even suggest one yourself. It doesn't have to be formal. A message on the forums - I just got in this cool growler and I'm bringing it to The Commons on Friday at 5:00 - will quickly grow into a small tasting. Do that once or twice and you start to meet people. Before you know it, you'll be attending a bottle share so often your dog starts barking at you when you come into the house at night.
This has been a helpful post. I haven't attended a bottle share before but have wanted too. It's good to know the general approach to participating, what to bring, etc. general rule as I see it......bring something you know others would like to sip even if it's not impossible to get without trading from a land far far away. I do think it would be in great humor to pull out a couple of forties of schlitz while keeping a straight face. Of course, followed by some red poppy or the like.
Just to add on a bit to this, and give one person's perspective: I have some fairly limited and/or rare stuff from the time I spent living on the East Coast. Most of the stuff is in 22 ounce bottles or 750's, and most are high gravity/abv. beers. There's no way I'm going to drink those beers by myself, and unfortunately, most of my close friends aren't really into the whole craft beer scene (they're more into wine). So these botttle share events are a great opportunity for me crack open those beers, knowing that they'll be enjoyed and appreciated by the folks at the bottle share. At least for me, seeing other folks enjoying the beers I brought is almost as much fun as drinking them myself. On the other hand... When I first moved to the East Coast some years ago, I was a relative BA newbie, and I felt hesitant to attend any bottle shares in the area, as I didn't think I had anything that was really very worthy. However, the friendly BA folks I was starting to meet scoffed at my concerns, and told me to just bring something made locally, and to come and enjoy myself. It was kind of hard for me to believe that folks I barely knew were actually encouraging me to try bottles they'd brought of Dark Lord, Westy 12, and Smoke from the Oak, but once I was there, it was clearly the case (and they were obviously happy that I was appreciative of the beers they'd brought). So I'll simply reiterate what I said above. Just come and have a good time, and don't sweat it if you don't have something you think is particularly worthy. No one is going to mind or care. Cheers! (Oh, and yes, whoever brought the homebrew to the last bottle share, it was very tasty indeed - I think I drank more of it then anything else at the last event)
And one more post of encouragement: while there are a couple whale hunters in town, I think most of the bottle-sharers lean more in the direction of tickers. Show up with something we haven't tried and we'll appreciate it. For that matter, you could probably even show up at Beermongers empty handed and just ask "what's something in the cases here that people want to try but haven't yet?" and buy it and open it for people.
