Who is the Bottle Forager ?

 Greetings!

The Bottle Forager is my journey into investigating the best alcoholic beverages produced around the world one glass, pint or dram at a time. 

Since the early days of my drinking journey I was always drawn to the craft scene, which back in the mid to late 1990's started out with the blossoming of the microbrewery movement. It was those early days when most people around me were consuming mass produced "brands" like Budweiser, Natty Ice, Icehouse, Red Dog and other malted "beverages" that I started scouring liquor stores for something different and was quickly enlightened to the infant days of craft beer. Starting with breweries like Pyramid, Mendocino Brewing Co and many local New England based breweries like Ipswich, Longtrail, Magic Hat, Harpoon, Samuel Adams, Paper City Brewing, Catamount, Redhook, Saranac and even Petes Wicked Ale helped shaped my palate for beer that wasn't like the mass produced lagers that lacked flavor and any excitement when I opened them. These craft beers were flavorful and began my education in beer styles like porter, bock, hefeweizen, ipa, barleywine, stouts and more.  Along with finding these newcomers on the shelf I was also curious about the imports and dabbled in trying the limited options like Lindemans, Samuel Smith, Grolch, Youngs and various other European offerings that occasionally appeared in packies around my home in Massachusetts. Building on these offerings and after relocating north to Maine my options opened up to a burgeoning scene of new local breweries with the likes of Gearys, Allagash, Stonecoast and Grittys as the years churned on and the microbrew scene gained traction into the early 2000's I also started to dabble in wine and spirits but to start my primary focus was in trying any and every new offering I could find and would get excited when a seasonal favorite like Gearys Hampshire Ale hit the market with the gold foil tops, or a 750ml of Allagash Grand Cru... it was these infancy days of craft beer that helped shape my palate and encouraged me to dabble in home brewing. I was hooked on creating a library of flavors in my mind and actually tasting what I was drinking in a thoughtful way. I mean this isn't just pre smart phone times, this was before the internet had even really gained traction and I can remember having a home brew journal with a few recipes and intermingled in those recipes was tasting notes on beers like Harpoon Winter Warmer, Ipswich Oatmeal Stout, Allagash Tripel among many others. As the scene slowly grew and my income and friends interested in micro/craft brewing increased alongside it,  the ability to try new things became a lifestyle. The internet became a great tool in marketing and finding exciting new releases and learning about the history of each place with room to tell their stories that eclipsed a simple few lines on the back of a bottle that we were accustomed to as cunsumers. Social media took hold and the "look what I am drinking" culture exploded. I fully embraced the begining days of social media and had a facebook page called "the Bottle Forager". Along with following breweries on social media I signed up to a beer rating site in 2012 called RateBeer, which led me down the road of becoming a beer reviewer aka ticker (3211 beers to be exact) as I scoured beer shelves looking for beers I hadn't tried which took me down the slippery slope of beer trading which in those days were the only was to try some of the beers being made in other parts of the country. I became a regular at the local FedEx drop spot in Portland and routinely hoarded local releases by the likes of Oxbow, Maine Beer Co and Allagash as the beer world exploded and New England became a smorgasbord of delicious offerings. We branched out into the hills of Vermont to search out the Alchemist, Hill Farmstead and Lawsons beers and always would hit up new liquor stores around New England to acquire anything and everything I could get my hands on that looked interesting. Expanding my knowledge of brewing methods and philosophies while becoming life long friends with some of the beer worlds most esteemed brewers. I learned the ins and outs of distribution while managing the beer and wine department at a local natural food store. Through importer connections I was still finding exciting offerings even as the market became flooded with "up and coming" breweries and the oversaturation of market slowly became apparent. The mighty 16oz can took over all packaging lines world wide and slowly the HUGE selection of great beer turned into a bunch of comic book character laden triple dry hopped IPA slushies with fruit additions and stouts stuffed with every and any kind of junk food someone could dream of.  As the beer world churned on I stepped back from the chaos and continued refining my palate in the world of wine and spirits as in my opinion the beer world lost sight of its foundation and every person with a big check book seemed to find a space to open their own version of a beer brewery with no ethos or objective other than to get onboard of this fast growing profitable market. It was during this demise of the beer world, that I became humbled at how quickly the bubble could burst and have great sympathy for those brewers who are in it for the love of brewing and not for the money grab. Hopefully the market will sort it out and the cream will rise to the top before it all grows stale and infected like the unkept lines of those who don't hold such a passion for the craft.  Anyhow, thats my beer rant that shows where I have been since I retired as a beer rater and let the world of Untapped and smartphones take over the scene. It was these changes in the beer world that was a big reason this blog has sat idle for the past 5 years or more.

In that time away I have continued to hold many tastings and bottle shares as well as gifting many of my vintage cellared offerings away as the years churned and my appetite for beer diminished a bit. I do still enjoy occasionally cracking a dusty old lambic, barrel aged stout or a fresh 4pk of a nice crisp locally brewed lager or pilsner and routinely through my work receive samples to stay hip to new offerings and trends in the beer world. My focus though has slowly shifted more heavily into cider and wine, which I always thoroughly enjoyed in tandem with beer but now I was finding my sweet spots for diving deeper into tasting and learning about different wine regions and terroirs.  After many years of attending trade shows, wine classes and blind tastings I am able to taste a broad spectrum of price points and obscure wine regions which allows me to learn, experience and direct my focus on wines that truly speak to me. Finding producers and regions that speak to me and keep my interest level high while providing me with endless rabbit holes to explore from grower producer champagnes to crisp cold climate whites, pinot noir, cabernet franc, albarino and skin contact pinot grigios. In wine there is a rich history of science and alchemy as well as new experimental producers that are pushing the envelope of where certain grape varietals can be grown and a smorgasbord of wine making techniques that push todays technology into new opportunities as well as looking to ancient methods. The possibilities seem endless and that intrigues me to put out my glass no matter what the sales rep or friendly recommendation is because in order to know what you love you must also know what you hate.

While continuing down this almost 30 year path of tasting and bottle foraging in the world of wine, cider and beer... the past few years have taken me down the rich history and flavors of fortified wines and spirits. Primarily vermouths and whiskeys but also dabbling in cocktails, rum, gins and brandys. As many of my close tasting partners have recognized my cellar has slowly morphed into a whiskey library as I hone my palate and flavor profiles from scotch to bourbon, rye whiskey to single malts. My fire has been burning bright and my thirst for knowledge and flavors seems to never cease. 

So if you have made it this far into my "Who is the Bottle Forager?" I thank you! 

My goal for laying out this synopsis of who I am and the path that led me here is not to toot my own horn but to express that my passion for tasting and exploring ferments is not a flash in the pan but a lifelong journey. I don't claim to be the most eloquent of tasters nor am I narrow minded enough to think my opinion is anything more than my opinion. That being said I have found in my 20yrs of selling beer, wine, and ciders in a retail setting that I have a knack for expressing myself in a creative, unique way that translates into a voice that people find helpful. For that reason along with my own personal journey of exploration and documenting is why I find myself back here, reigniting the embers of the bottle forager blog. 

As the days of 2024 tick away and 2025 emerges you can expect to see frequent rants, reviews and praises from these explorations. 

Thoughts, Ideas or Comments email me @ thebottleforager@yahoo.com