Socially distant in-person tasting

Hey guys!

I’m trying to gauge interest in an outdoor tasting at some point in the next two months or so.

COVID-19 has made it really hard to any kind of social event. I know that traveling is hard too for many folks, especially since most people are trying to avoid as much contact as possible.

I’m offering up my backyard for a tasting. It’s close enough to enough of the regulars that everyone can get home and not be “stuck” at my house overnight. Here’s my initial thoughts:

  1. Plenty of yard and driveway space to social distance as best we can.
  2. Garage can be opened for protection from sun/elements, if needed.
  3. The bathroom is inside, which would be the only reason why we would need to enter the house (not to be uncouth, but there’s also a secluded spot behind my garage for the guys if you really wanted to avoid going inside).
  4. Plenty of bottled water or multiple pitchers of water and hand sanitizer can be provided to avoid contact during hydration/glass cleanup.
  5. If necessary, wipe down bottles/cans after pouring or designate people to pour for those keeping pace with one another (whoever grabs it, pours it).
  6. Obviously, if you’re not feeling good, please don’t attend.

Who knows, maybe we’ll reach herd immunity and it will burn itself out quicker than we think by the time we do a tasting.

1 Like

“Experts estimate that in the U.S., 70% of the population — more than 200 million people — would have to recover from COVID-19 to halt the epidemic.”

Measles requires 90+ percent to be immune - when that falls disease spreads - antivaxers have achieved a measles spread in the US - no reason to expect them to be smarter about COVID-19

Okay.

What does this have to do with them trying to have a socially distant bottle share?

had to do with that part

Got ya. Going to be a while for that.

For those who are comfortable, here’s a Doodle to try and pin down a good date in the next two months.

Since we’re trying to do this largely outside, we may have to have a backup date.

Wishful[quote=“radagast83, post:1, topic:16245”]
Who knows, maybe we’ll reach herd immunity and it will burn itself out quicker than we think by the time we do a tasting.
[/quote]

I think this is more wishful thinking, @bhensonb - he’s not trying to make a scientific statement, which in our day and age has become a political statement.

Anyway, I’m down for sure. Pretty depressing on a personal note to click “available everyday, anytime!” Social life on high right now…

1 Like

I think we should give a few more days before determining the exact date, I’m going to try to reach out to the not-so-regulars and see if there is any additional interest since it looks like the people who have answered are available most of the same dates.

Here’s the typical spreadsheet for adding beers:

For those who didn’t know yet, we’ve landed on the 27th of September for the tasting. Aiming for Noon start time, 7pm-ish end (or twilight).

  • Plenty of street parking.
  • 20-25 minute walk from East Falls Church Metro.
  • About 300 feet from the W&OD trail, plenty of room to park bikes in yard.

I’ll send additional details as we get closer.

1 Like

DM me for my address if you don’t have it.

Good times, and incredible that we had only a handful of IPAs at a tasting! It was like a circa 2012 tasting…

1 Like

This model seemed to work pretty well given the size of the group and area we had. We were maybe a bit lax on the distance from time to time, but I don’t think anymore so than when I’ve walked through the grocery store or wherever, passing people.

I know we were all taking about a Halloween tasting, but I don’t know what the next few weeks have in store yet for that weekend. I’d like to try to do something either in late October or November, but it may be a little more impromptu and a little more lax on picking a date best for everyone.

The Fall can be mild here with some extreme cold snaps that pop up. If people don’t mind bundling up if it’s cold, I think another outdoor one would be great.

I’ve been thinking about getting one of those raised fire pits, but we’d obviously have to keep up the social distancing around it.

Also, after DST ends, we’ll be getting dark really early. I plan on putting up lights in the next few weeks, so that helps a bit, but even a fire pit won’t stop the cold. If people don’t think it’s weird to start before Noon, we could do like 11-5 (or whenever sunset comes or we get too cold).

Need to see if @Iphonephan is passing through town and maybe try to schedule it when he’s here if he’s willing to join in. Last I heard from him he said he’d be around for a very brief window in early November, but I don’t know if that’s long enough or if he’ll just have to grace us with his presence further down the road.

Fire probably sanitizes covid - just have to stand real close :rofl:

1 Like