Checking In
Hi friends, how is everyone doing?
No, seriously… how are you? Are you hanging in there? We know that it’s a weird time in the world and we sincerely hope that you are doing well. Us? We’re doing okay, and really can’t complain too much, even though we do it anyway. For us, waking up each day is like pulling the lever of a slot machine and seeing which random lineup of emotions we’ll get. The days may drone on mostly the same, but our ever-changing emotional state of mind is still keeping things exciting, for whatever that’s worth.
When we first started our stay at home quarantine, 33 days ago, we took stock of all the things we could do with our extra time at home. We were going to finish those long overdue home projects, get into a regular exercise routine, cook more, bake more, write more. Sadly, very little of that actually happened. It quickly became obvious that being in a global pandemic was not going to make us more productive people. In fact, quite the opposite. It’s been emotionally draining, as I’m sure most of you already know. The first week or so we slept A LOT and still woke up tired. (Thanks anxiety dreams!) Since then, we have tackled a few house projects on the weekends, but weeknights are still mostly unproductive. We work from home during the day, after which we mostly watch TV and spend entirely too many hours scrolling through Twitter feeds (depressing) and TikTok videos (addictive). It’s not been a productive routine, but you do what you have to do to get by, right?
Keeping Calm
If there is an upside to a pandemic, it’s that it’s happening at a time when we can still find ways to connect to one another, virtually, even when we can’t physically be together. We have had some really great times connecting with friends, family, and fellow beer geeks online. We’ve joined several Zoom & House Party gatherings. We play Geeks Who Drink trivia from the couch once a week. We have watched countless online concerts and live-streamed musical performances. It’s definitely different than what we’re used to, which is to say, going out all the time. But it’s all been a lot of fun and a welcome distraction.
If you’re not socializing virtually, we highly recommend it. Even on days when the stress of everything makes one (or both) of us want to hide away from the world, joining these online hangouts have made us feel better. We host a recurring happy hour on Zoom every Thursday night, so pop on by if you want (or need) a little socializing. There’s no formal agenda or expectations. You can drink what you want, or not drink at all… we don’t care. Our goal is to keep things fun and casual. Our Thursday hangout is such fun for us, and hopefully others, and we look forward to it every week. If your interested, we post the details and Zoom link on our BMT Facebook page every Thursday afternoon. Stop on by sometime. The more, the merrier.
Carrying Out
There is no doubt that the virus we’re all staying home to avoid is scary and devastating. But besides the virus itself, perhaps the saddest thing about our current lockdown is how it’s impacting the people and businesses we love. We know we are truly blessed to still be working, while so many people we know aren’t. That’s why we do all we can to support our favorite businesses the only way we know how, by continuing to buy from them as much as we can via safe, low-contact takeout and delivery.
Last week we made a quick beer run to some of our favorite places, both to restock our beer fridge and to show our continued support. We were pleased to see that the breweries we visited had all implemented procedures to make purchases as contact-free as possible. For instance, Call To Arms Brewing Company allowed us to purchase and pay for our order online, limited their taproom to one customer at a time for pickup, and had people enter and leave through separate doors. While not every brewery can offer that level of contactless service, each of the breweries we visited had excellent protocols to get you in & out quickly and safely. Some offered call-ahead service, others offered curbside pickup, and each one of them was busy keeping everything sanitized between customers. We were able to make a few very quick stops & fully replenish our fridge with some excellent local brews. We even snagged up a few snacks and merchandise from Joyride Brewing Company’s “lemonade stand.” It was a quick, productive, and necessary trip.
If you need to make a beer (or food) run, we highly suggest a little bit of research before you head out the door. Usually, you can find an updated menu and ordering details on the social media pages or website of your favorite places. If you can’t, give them a call to see how they can best serve you, safely. Safety is key here. Choose delivery or limited-contact takeout when available. Avoid going out if you may be sick, and even if you’re totally healthy, wear a mask while you’re in public. Yes, you will feel silly. Do it anyway. You may only come face-to-face with that one person at the brewery, but they are serving lots of people each day. They wear face coverings to keep you safe, so the least you can do is return the favor.
Carry On and #DrinkTheStory
As we’ve mentioned, it’s been tough for us to be very productive during this pandemic. That’s not to say we don’t want to try to carry on like a normal beer blog. One of our beer-network friends (wassup, Allo!) from The Craft Beer Concierge had the amazing idea to start a campaign to support local breweries during and after their closures. It’s called #DrinkTheStory. The goal of #DrinkTheStory is to share our love for our favorite breweries online, both to encourage you to support them now (if you can) and to inspire you to visit them in the future (when you can.) It’s an exciting & optimistic campaign that we immediately joined, although so far we’ve been neglectful in sharing our own #DrinkTheStory posts. However, we want to do better, for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, we want to do everything we can to support these great breweries. But on a personal note, we also hope that by getting back to writing stories about beer & the places we love, maybe it will help return some normalcy back to our lives.
While sitting down to write a long-format article has been difficult for us, we’re not going to use that as an excuse not to share the love of our favorite Colorado breweries. Instead, we’re going to focus on sharing our #DrinkTheStory posts on Instagram and Facebook. We have so many great photos and short stories to tell about the beer we enjoy, the places we love, and the people behind the scenes that we cannot wait to see again. Hopefully very soon.
Follow us on the social channels below to see our upcoming #DrinkTheStory posts, as well as lots of other stuff. Also, check out all the great #DrinkTheStory posts on Facebook & on Instagram to find inspiring beer stories about great breweries far & wide. Until we can visit them all for beers again, we can #DrinkTheStory.
Facebook.com/bottlemakesthree
Instagram.com/bottlemakesthree
Twitter.com/BMTbeerblog
That’s all for today. Stay strong, safe, and healthy.
