I Might Be a Bottle Share Addict & Why Beer People Are Great

Taking a look at the past couple of weeks and the coming weeks I'm starting to think that I might be a bottle share addict. For those wondering what I'm talking about, cruise on over to this Wall Street Journal piece then come on back. For the already initiated, continue.

Photo courtesy of PDX Bottle Share

In October, after not having attended a bottle share in a while, I went to my first PDX Bottle Share at Reverend Nat's. Appropriately the theme was "ciders" and while there were plenty of ciders shared and opened there was also a nice infusion of beers throughout the share.

Then last weekend I hosted a small bottle share, un-themed, where about 10 of us opened enough bottles to have satiated 20. The "two hour" event ended up lasting closer to six hours for me - six hours of pure beer enjoyment.



Turning the calendar to next week there's an annual bottle share that a friend is hosting and another PDX Bottle Share, this time at Bridgetown Beerhouse. Things quiet down around Thanksgiving before next month where I may be hosting another small share and PDX Bottle Share will gather at Imperial Bottle Shop & Taproom.

Circling back to my friend's bottle share, the "5th Annual Winter Beer Fest," I have no doubt it will live up to its name. And its name brings me to what I love about these shares. They really are mini beer festivals and they include a mix of friends, beer acquaintances and sometimes people I'd not met before, just like any other beer festival. Nevertheless, the attendees are all in it for the love of beer. That's a really cool thing. What's even cooler is that this is often times beer that has been lovingly cellared, home brewed or acquired by trade. And yet, beer people are more than willing to share what they have. Beer people are great.

Cider Themed Bottle Share

I've participated in more bottle shares than I can count, from ones we've hosted at our house to larger ones put together by friends and #pdxbeergeeks, but yesterday was the first one I had attended by @PDXbottleshare. It was held at Reverend Nat's and was appropriately cider themed.

Arriving at the appointed hour I wasn't surprised to find there were plenty of familiar faces and bottles of cider and beer already gracing the bar. More people and bottles continued to arrive until the bottles nearly spanned the length of the bar and the taproom space was crowded with a friendly, excited group.

Nat (above) kicked things off by opening a bottle containing the first cider he brewed seven years ago. Not your standard appley cider, but a very smoky cider, a great start to lead off two hours of tasting. There was a multitude of ciders I'd never heard of, much less tasted (like Grasshop-ah), in addition to beers ranging from IPAs to barleywines.

It was a great time and I'm excited about the upcoming November and December dates, which have been announced and and put on my calendar. The nominal entry fee of one bottle of craft beer doesn't begin to speak to the great time to be had. Perhaps I'll see you there.

Huge thanks to Reverend Nat's for hosting and Hotlips for donating pizza!

Upcoming bottle shares:
November 16th 2 - 4 pm at Bridgetown Beerhouse
December 14th 5 - 7 pm at Imperial Bottle Shop & Taproom