Oh, Hello
Hi friends, remember us? We know that it’s been quite a while since you last heard from us. 166 days to be exact, not that we were counting or anything.
We’re sorry we’ve been out of touch for so long. It’s just that everything has been weird this past year, you know? Yeah, you know. It’s been a weird 12 months for everyone, so we’re sure you can understand. When things got especially weird, we just had to take a break to regroup. And while things are still plenty weird, we’re cautiously trying to claim a bit of normalcy by getting back to business on Bottle Makes Three.
We know we’re saying the word “weird” a lot, but just so you know we haven’t totally lost it, that’s by choice. There’s any number of adjectives you could substitute in for that word – like unprecedented, chaotic, surreal, relentless, stressful, lonely, challenging, exhausting, or just downright shitty. We’re probably missing many other choice words to describe, well, everything that has happened and is still happening. But for now, we’ll keep it simple and stick to weird. Things are weird.
The last 12 months have been a weird, wild, clusterfuck of a ride. If you’ve been on the same emotional rollercoaster that we have, you’ve bounced between anxiety and anger, frustration and fear, sympathy and grief. It’s been exhausting. So, when it was clear that we had all the weirdness we could handle and needed to unplug from everything, we unplugged. We did it for our mental health and we have no regrets. If the last year taught us anything, it’s to listen to that little voice that says you need to take a time out. Did we think it would last 166 days? Hell no. But apparently that’s what was needed, so again, we have no regrets.
But today, we’re excited to be back!
Okay, maybe less excited and more cautiously optimistic. We’re hopeful. We look forward to returning to doing something we enjoy, and hope that the universe will let us have this little sliver of normalicy in spite of the continued weirdness.
Why Now?
So what’s so special about today that made us want to get back to things? Good question, thanks for asking. It’s because today marks our ninth anniversary of Bottle Makes Three!
We started this website on March 1, 2012. At the time, we made Bottle Makes Three just for us, never knowing (or expecting) that anyone else would ever see it. We created the website just for fun to keep track of our adventures while exploring the Colorado beer scene. As the site grew, so grew our adventures. Over the years, we’ve explored beyond Colorado’s border and shared experiences beyond our favorite beers. What we discovered was that we loved sharing our stories with like-minded friends like you. It’s given this website a bigger purpose than we ever imagined.
But that’s not why we want to keep going.
More than anything else, Bottle Makes Three gives us a reason to keep seeking out new experiences. After all, we can’t share our adventures unless we go out and have some. And we can’t tell you about our favorite new thing – be it a beer, place, or event – unless we first enjoy it for ourselves. So while we created our website because we were having a lot of fun, now we seek out fun times to share here on Bottle Makes Three. So it seemed fitting to get things restarted today, on our ninth anniversary.
The Future of BMT
Things are still weird. They’ll probably stay weird for a while. Some of the adventures we enjoyed, like in-person beer festivals and celebrations, aren’t happening right now. And while we have continued to buy and drink local beer to support the industry the best we can, we admittedly aren’t doing as many brewery visits. Most of our drinking is still done at home, which doesn’t really compare to the adventures we had seeking out beer in the pre-pandemic days. So what can you expect to see here on Bottle Makes Three as we move forward?
The short answer: We really don’t know.
We have some ideas, but we’re still figuring things out. One thing we know for sure is that we’re tired of seeing so much bad news. This pandemic has been tough on the industry, and many places we loved have closed. And while those types of news stories will probably continue, we’re fine letting other websites handle the bulk of the bad news. We need to find a way forward for our website – and ourselves – to focus more on the positive, fun ways to get through the weird days ahead. What does that mean? Honestly, we don’t know. I guess you’ll have to stick around and find out.
All we know for now is that we’re back, and we’re truly happy to be here.
Until next time – be safe, be kind, tip generously, and keep hoping for better days ahead.
