It’s been a month since u/prepreludesh reviewed the First Official r/Bourbon Meetup in Louisville, Kentucky and ushered a new era of accountability to the subreddit. With that review, the walls of anonymity came crashing down. We are real people, it said. We have beards. We have ascots. And more importantly: We know what you look like. We’re watching you. Reviewing you.
This Thursday I attended r/Bourbon’s Second Meetup in New York. It was hosted at the Spaniard in the backroom featured in the photo. Full disclosure–that is not my picture, that’s a picture the r/bourbon team took. Below, however, are my thoughts.
Nose:
People smelled fine.
Palate:
I didn’t taste anyone, but if we treat this segment of the review as a metaphor, I’ll say the event started off stiff and quickly opened up. It was hosted in a cozy little room in the back of a busy bar, filled with about 20 to 30 people talking in small groups, and a mini-bar full of Barrell products.
My initial entrance was slightly awkward: I walked in, made a bee-line for the bar, and hoped that by the time I had a drink in-hand, I’d managed to strike up a conversation with somebody. Anybody. Please god, don’t leave me hanging.
And god did not leave me hanging… for long. After nursing a drink, smiling, and nodding at the fringes of a group for ten minutes, I eventually got to talking with two great dudes: Whatshisname and Whoseits. Truly, I could see myself being lifelong friends with Whatshisname and Whoseits. Unfortunately, I forgot both their names within minutes of meeting them, never asked for their contact info, and then got sucked into a conversation with a different group of people.
Conversation was pretty natural, and it wasn’t hard to meet different people. There was quite a bit of bourbon talk, and my god some of you people are next level. I spoke with multiple people who identified their favorite bottle by batch number.
Overall, I got strong notes of 30-something young professional: old enough to be able to sink money into this godforsaken hobby, but young enough to know what Reddit is. I also got a surprising note of diversity, intermingled with a definite undercurrent of sausage fest: it wasn’t just white dudes, but it was just dudes (mostly).
And perhaps this is just me projecting, but I also got a hint of shame. I didn’t see anybody asking for anyone else’s username. The closest it came was when someone asked: “so do you guys post much on the subreddit?” Whoseits just laughed–a little too hard–and said “no no, I just browse.” Whatshisname claimed he was “just a lurker.”
Lurkers my ass. You’re one of only 30 people that turned up to a Reddit event in the most populated city in the country. You’re in deep, my friends.
But so am I. “I just lurk too,” I said.
Finish:
Before I left, I briefly spoke with u/T8ke. He was an extremely nice guy, and I’m not just saying that because he has the power to ban me from the subreddit (and has already exercised that power once before). He asked questions, listened to the answers, and struck the balance between knowing a lot about bourbon and not being an arrogant asshat. That’s a hard line to walk, but he walked it.
It’s funny, I always assumed that these famous whiskey reviewers would be middle-aged swamp-Santa types. Well, color my preconceived notions aborted, he was about my age, better looking, and more successful to boot. Damn him.
Bottom line:
8/10. It was a well-run event with good people and good booze. If you’re looking to broaden your real-life social circle of people who like whiskey, this is the event to do it. If there’s another event in your city, I’d definitely recommend going. Especially since, if you’ve read this entire review, you’re clearly in deep too.
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