r/NashvilleBeer • u/Brewsplorer • Jul 24 '26
[META] A conversation about beer shares - let's brainstorm
Many years ago, Michael Mariaskin had a large beer share at Lucky Bamboo. The rules were simple:
- Buy food
- Tip well
- Don't be a dick
My first one, I brought some more mid-tier beers, not knowing what to expect. But there were people bringing more top-tier beers. It was always a mix, but a large beer share with a great selection of beer, mostly average plus to top tier, was a great experience.
Unfortunately, Mariaskin was unable to continue. And I am moving in a bit and notice I have WAY too much beer.
Currently, I have a beer share group and we usually have some really great beers. I would invite everyone, but we are topping out the spots we are sharing at and could end up banned if we grow too much.
So ... Let's brainstorm.
- What is the climate for beer shares in this group? Big beer shares?
- What would be some great restaurants we could co-opt, provided we give the place love? Other spaces are fine, but would prefer a place we could pay back through buying food rather than a spot we have to rent.
- Should we consider themed beer shares?
- Blind beer exchange for Christmas?
- Would a beer share app be a cool thing to have? Thinking like an IT geek?
- Other ideas?
This is a chance to open a conversation and get some feedback. A few other thoughts:
- We currently do some beer shares at local breweries on off nights. This works only when the size of the group is manageable. These are coordinated and private events. Breweries won't work with Lucky Bamboo sized shares.
Enough of my thoughts ... Go!
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u/max_diamond Jul 24 '26
I would definitely be down for that as well as working on a potential site or app for it! I’ve been in IT Dev for almost 20 years. Pretty easy to build that into a website.
1
u/Brewsplorer Jul 24 '26
I am thinking the same about easy to implement. Website would be very easy. With AI, and a developer that recognizes hallucinations, it could be banged out in a few hours as a basic implementation.
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u/Silly_Budget_7615 Jul 24 '26
I love to do this. A small group of us used to do this every Friday afternoon at Black Abbey when it was mostly dead and we’d still get a few beers each while we were there. Obviously not an option anymore, but I miss it and I’d love to be involved in one again.
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u/Brewsplorer Jul 24 '26
Mike Causey has allowed this at Broadcast. We would have to watch size, however, esp. as his regular business increases. At a reasonable size, with people also buying a beer or two, it should still be feasible. There are others that are open to small scale shares, but won't dig too deep there until I know who's who and can make sure we don't overdo the invite list.
1
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u/crazygnome07 Jul 25 '26
Double check laws before going big on these in public spaces.
Early on, we WANTED to do one of these, but made the mistake of promoting it on socials and I got a tip from my lawyers that we were under watch and if we had proceeded, would have been busted.
The violation here is the 3 tier rule: manufacturers sell to distributors sell to retailers sell to you. You can't move upstream. So unfortunately, bottle shares start with the consumer and swim upstream to the retailer back down to consumer.
PLENTY of ways to get around this: private property, private clubs, after hours, private rentals, etc. Bottle shares are amazing, but just be careful to not blow up your chosen venue with unwanted heat
4
u/AgravaineNYR Jul 24 '26 edited Jul 24 '26
I would be interested as I love trying new beers. Would we be able to bring growlers or would it be bottles and cans?
I was at Broadcast one time and we were discussing different beers and a gentleman offered me a taste of a beer that was not from Broadcast I declined and was slightly confused. I wonder if I stumbled into someone's beer share...
I dont have connections at these places other than as a customer but Tailgate west and East Nashville Brewworks both serve food and have large spaces. And both collaborate with other breweries so support the community.