How it All Got Started
The Ormond Beach Beer Tasting Society was founded in mid 2020 by the members.
The President, (Matt) has been an avid beer drinker since he was a teen.
He is also a member of the Brewery Collectibles Club of America, formerly known as the Beer Can Collectors of America (BCCA). He started collecting beer cans in 1972, and amassed over 2600 different cans, which he displayed on the walls of his basement.
Along about the year 2000, Matt got into beer TASTING.
He learned about the various styles of beer, and what makes them different.
In 2011, he started hosting a beer tasting once a month at his home, and started keeping records of the beers tasted, and how the group of tasters rated (or scored) them.
His archives are complete with every beer tasted, individual scores, collective scores, notes, fun facts for the year, and other information about the beers tasted.
From 2011 to 2020, Matt (along with this group of tasters) tasted, rated, and recorded 694 different beers.
Upon retiring from work in early 2020, Matt sold his can collection, and moved to a warmer climate.
While still an active member of the BCCA, he no longer collects cans.
But he took his love of beer tasting with him, and he soon met up with a group of people who were having a “happy hour” on Friday nights, in a now current member's driveway. There Matt shared his knowledge of different styles of beer with them, and they also learned how to actually TASTE beer. Since they were already meeting regularly, introducing them to beer tasting was a simple matter.
After a couple of tastings, someone joked and said
"We were nothing but drunks in a driveway, until you came along...Now we have a purpose".
And presto.... our society was founded, our name was born, and a logo was created ---------->
the Ormond Beach Beer Tasting Society.
Matt was elected unanimously by a vote of 1 to be President, Acquisition Manager, and Tasting Host.
All of the people present during these tastings are now members, who eagerly await the next session,
when another batch of beers will be sampled, discussed, and rated.
The O.B.B.T.S. has 1 or 2 tastings a month, and Matt continues to keep records and ratings of the beers tasted.
As of this writing, the O.B.B.T.S. has tasted 894 different beers (and counting)
Matt's personal recorded count is now at 1630 different beers since 2011.
Some of the members of the O.B.B.T.S. are now brewing their own beer, and after a couple of tries,
they now seem to have reasonably good success at it.
