It's quite interesting at times here at KL---when me and the tasting group guys would be having some bottle share, usually at a friend's craft beer bar--that we would inadvertently attract some curious looks from some who happens to be at the bar--some would just give that "what's going on" look, while occasionally some would walk to us and ask....
Bottle share is something geeks do all over the world especially those living in US/EUROPE where supplies of awesome varieties /big names brew/fresher beers are a lot more accessible than here in ASIA, though having said that, bottle sharing session is still something geeks in ASIA quite often do.
瓶子分享会是Craft 文化中常见动作，算是品酒会的代名词，也是让Craft Beer 变得更有趣，更接近一种分享文化感觉的动作。
在啤迷聚集的社交网络中可以看到很多关于#bottleshare
的图文，重点都是喝了分享了什么瓶子多少瓶子，有些欧美啤迷其中一个惯用词是#killshot，干掉多少瓶子意思。
瓶子分享会出发点当然不在于一次能干掉无限多瓶子，这其实是独乐乐不如众乐乐的延伸动作，就像一个人上餐馆，能一下子吃的不同菜式有限，倒不如叫上几个人，大家可以点满一桌子菜色分享。
在亚洲不同城市，不同啤迷群体都会有自己的瓶子分享会，虽然形式不一，也不管是分享本地或进口酿坊瓶子，有一点是肯定的，分享让大家可以在喝少尝多情况下认识/享受到更多样化不同类型啤酒。
Yes, bottle sharing is quite common really for geeks within the craft community, but it's something very new to newbies, even more curious looking in the eyes of non-craft drinkers.
To all you newbies/non-craft drinkers--here's the basic idea of bottle share session--it's like going to a restaurant alone--that's only so much you could order/eat all by yourself--but having a few friends sitting around the same table, you could order/try out a lot more varieties, and eat in smaller portion.
Is there any rules/set format for a bottle share session? i guess apart from making sure what everyone bring to the session is "not far off or of equal standards/same level of hype"( i know--it's so subjective--but geeks would know how to figure that part out--and sooner or later newbies who care to elevate palate profile would too)---how one likes to do it, be it jumping/mixing it up or vertical, a bottle share session can be quite flexible really.
JUMPING/MIXING it up
this is like going to a restaurant and making sure the dishes ordered are a mix of different flavours profile--you want a mix of taste rather than 1 dimensional, put it in a beer tasting/bottle share session, it's like making sure you have varieties of at least 3 or 4 distinctively different styles, in fact if we were to linked this to say a 10 course dinner, it would be like having your appetizers/main/dessert/s--with palate cleanser/s in between.
Though it is quite natural to start the sharing session in the order of lightest( in terms of abv/style of beer/body and such) to biggest hitters(or biggest hyped/names) like a step ladder style of drinking, where there's a certain concern that if one were to drink a "heavier"beer( say a double ipa) and then only a pale ale---then our palate would not make a fair judgement of the taste profile of the supposedly "lighter" pale ale, that it might just taste less flavourful than it should be or even plain bland.
不同类型风格品酒会
如果以上餐厅点菜比喻，这就像是汇聚了苦辣甜酸咸鲜等不同味道的丰富一餐，啤迷可以一次过让味蕾经历不同啤酒风味感受，有趣的是，如果用西餐的前菜主菜甜品再加之间的清爽味蕾点缀品方式来看，瓶子分享会方式还真的可以蛮相似。
虽然每个人喜欢的方式可能不一样，不过在分享会中一般会从口感酒体或酒精度比较“轻量”的瓶子开始，比如说瓶子选择中有ipa, double ipa的话，会先从比较轻的ipa 喝起，又或者说有porter,
stouts 的时候，会从比较轻的porter 喝起，这样做是有点道理的，因为一开始喝口味比较重的再喝同类型比较轻的就可能会对比较轻体那支觉得太淡太轻，味蕾有欠公平对待。
虽然那样说，实际上，瓶子分享会并没有硬性规定的尝味进程需要遵循，大家可以跟着各自喜好安排不同风格啤酒的先后顺序，只要味蕾感官应付得当，就算不管轻重顺序之分，随意跳着喝也无不可。
Having said that, a "jumping/mix it up" tasting session really can be quite flexible, if you are not having a dead serious tasting notes related or say BJCP exam style tasting--then it can be more relax, though the "light to heavy rules" kinda relevant, but sometimes a little reversing of the rules could work too as long as your palate stays alert (don't drink much more if your palate has gone to sleep--it's a waste of good brew!)
Vertical Tasting
This is quite popular too with some geeks.
if we were to put it in layman's terms, it's like buying the same brand/same taste profile of a particular cheese--say maybe all 10 or 20 of them--the only different would be the year the cheese made.
Yup--you got the idea, vertical tasting is basically SAME brand, styles of beers but brewed and bottled in different years.
Essentially, vertical tasting is about trying to find out what TIME can do to a beer when cellar/kept properly, it's an interesting way of trying to find out what changes can TIME and cellar conditioning/weather and other external factors could caused to a beer though it's by definition the same brand/style of beer.
相同类型啤酒直线品饮
Vertical tasting 是不少啤迷会做的事。
放在吃东西概念来说，就像是把同一家品牌但不同年份的芝士聚在一起品尝，意思是，在瓶子分享会中可能会有十多支同一家酿坊，同一个品牌，同一个风格类型啤酒，不同的就只是年份，有啤迷喜欢这样喝，想探寻不同年份会有什么细微或比较大风味差异表现，这样品饮的基本动机是想知道时间会可以带来什么影响。
当然不是每个人都喜欢这样做，有啤迷觉得一次过和那么多同样风格不同年份的啤酒是浪费，因为味蕾会麻木或感觉像在做研究，有点应付不来。
另一个接近直线品饮的方式是同类型啤酒但不同酿坊，不同品牌，用吃东西概念来说，就像是同时间品尝好几家不同餐厅的烧腊饭/云吞面之类。
这是像探索同类型啤酒经过不同酿酒师傅诠释能有什么差异的方式，这中间其实是有点功夫要做的，比如说IPA品尝分享会，听起来虽然是同类型啤酒，不过，因为IPA可以是很多不同啤酒花功能的展现（就先不说不同麦芽酵母能带来的影响），不同啤酒花之间的表现可以是苹果和橙子的差异，放在其他类型啤酒也一样，所以这样的所谓同类型啤酒品饮其实很难做到所有同类型但不同品牌啤酒能在同一个起跑点上做比较。
Personally i would think vertical tasting is not for newbies/ if you are not fond of a certain beer style OR don't have a certain understanding of that style of beer as it could become a little overwhelming drinking say 6 to 10 or 15 of the same beer at one session though it might be in smaller pour size.
不管你是喜欢跳着喝还是研究心比较重的直线品饮，说到底，CRAFT文化讲究的其实是品饮和分享，如果有身边新朋友还不是那么了解瓶子分享会概念，那就麻烦把这文化散播出去吧。
END of the day, no matter which style of bottle sharing you prefer, the key to a bottle sharing session is NOT about how many bottles were shared/killed--or how many Whalez were slayed( the "joke" is that this is more of a First World Problem in the states and yeah i hear you saying it does matter on social media post)---the fun of a bottle sharing session should be about sharing--drink less in volume--let palate stays alert longer to taste better/taste more--and make some friends if you will.....
