For those of you unfamiliar with bottle shares, they are gatherings of craft-beer lovers where each attendee brings a bottle of beer (or two or five or ten) to share with the group. For some of us, bottle shares are rare events, planned well in advance with invitations extended to only our closest beer-geek friends. For others, bottle shares occur more frequently and can range from a few close friends to a blowout of massive proportions.
For Issue 5 (Winter 2014) of Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine®, we took an informal poll of our fellow craft-beer lovers and put together a basic list of bottle-share etiquette dos and don’ts that will ensure you get invited back. Plus they’re just good manners.
DO THIS
Take great beer. Your bottle share may or may not have a theme (e.g., big beers, Belgians, stouts, whales only). Regardless, take a great bottle of beer to share. This is not the time to unload the three leftover beers from that sampler 12-pack you bought two months ago.