SX Bottle Share No.8 - 1st Sept 2015 @ The Ale House in Chelmsford

Well, that really was a fun evening, and, to think I was in two minds about whether to attend or not……

This was the 8th time the @sxbottleshare *crew/massive/gang/collective (*delete as applicable) had gathered on the first Tuesday of the month, oh how the months have flown by and it would appear from the list below that some of us are already preparing for the winter months, although that could just be a reflection of the rubbish summer we have experienced to date!

Many of us were there at the beginning and some have been ever present, not me though, I have missed a couple due to one of my other loves - running (5k race series in Harwich). That being said, we usually have at least one newbie, and, Tuesday was no exception, however, with our common interest of beer it doesn't take long for us all to interact, firstly at the bar, then at our designated table, kindly reserved by the @Alehouse_Cford

For those of you who don't know how a bottle share works, here goes:
A group of like minded individuals meet on a regular basis, bring a bottle to share, open, share, drink and discuss.
Simple really, which is often the way with the best things in life.

Personally, I think there are a few things that make the bottle share a very enjoyable experience (in no particular order):

• Variety of beers
• The people
• The venue
• The badges (I am an Untappd fan...all about the badges) 

Tuesday was no exception, we all had a lot of fun, tried some great beers (looking at you here Tom), some interesting ones and a ghastly one (what were you thinking Shaun??).

I am very glad that I decided to pull myself away from the Transfer Deadline Day events on Sky Sports News on the last day of my annual leave in order to attend.

Rather than provide you with our tasting notes, I have listed the beers below and just for fun who presented them. However, we all tappd the beers in, so Cyberspace contains our thoughts on all of the beers below.

The beers we tasted:

Fyne & Wild Cool As A Cucumber by The Wild Beer Co collaboration with Fyne Ales (Saison/Farmhouse Ale) - Shaun

Summer Street by Trillium Brewing Company (American IPA) - Tom
4Beans by Sixpoint Brewery (Imperial / Double Porter) - Tom
Samuel Adams American Kriek by Boston Beer Company (Samuel Adams) (Lambic) - Justin
Wilde Leeuw Cuvée Spéciale Vieille Brune de Flandres Vieillie en Fût de Bourbon (2014) by Brasserie du Pays Flamand (Flanders Oud Bruin) - Martin
Barrel Aged Daydream by Siren Craft Brew collaboration with Mikkeller (Stout) - Mark
Broeder Jacob Double Espresso by Brouwerij Broeder Jacob (Belgian Brown Ale) - Matt
Jaipur X by Thornbridge Brewery (Imperial / Double IPA) - James, this month's newbie
Highland Ale by Innis & Gunn (Scottish Ale) - Steve
Put It In Your Pipe by The Wild Beer Co (Smoked Beer) - Clayton

If you get the chance to organise or attend a bottle share - go for it, you won't regret it.

The SX Bottle Share (early in the proceedings!) minus official photographer, thanks Steve.