Where have all the big New York City Offlines disappeared to, you ask? Well, let’s see. Abooboo left town. Then Leo left town. I got old and I have enough wine dinners without having to figure out a way to meet all the rest of you. Mark whose last name I forget (Franks? of the Lugeresque dinners) got tired of herding cats. Time for some of you young whipper snappers to step up.
Have missed last two events that Sh@N organized but looking forward to Produttori tasting.
Would love to attend a few more, I am not getting invited to enough of them. Barolos, Burgundies, Bordeaux, Etna Rossos and so many other regions to explore.
I left NYC a few years ago, took my party with me, but I do miss getting together with so many like minded geeks. It’s an incredibly special part of living in the city. Here I am less than 90 minutes away and organizing an offline in these parts has so far proved to be a futile exercise. So we drink alone! Now get off my lawn.
Thread Posted a month or so in advance:
“NYC offline at XXXXX on XXXXX”
Immediate Responses:
“Put me down for this!”
“I’ll attend”
“Sounds great! Add me to the list.”
etc. etc. etc. for about a dozen and a half members
As we get closer to the event:
“Can’t make it.”
“Something came up.”
“I have to bow out.”
etc. etc. etc for about a third of the members who responded that the would attend
Day before the event, a post by the host:
“Two last minute cancellations - who wants in?”
Night of the event:
2 or 3 more no-shows
Can’t for the life of me figure out why nobody wants to schedule / organize these NYC dinners anymore.
You just need street cred as an organizer! After a while, you get to know who are the regular no shows. I’m going to do one once the calendar turns and we’ll see what happens. “Red Meat With Big Red Wines.” I will bring some big red wine that I not longer buy because they sold out to “The Man.” Schrader or Outpost True. Wines from the Loire will be prohibited, so maybe that will be an enticement.
Ian… only in nyc can you have an offline when you have a major snow storm. It left 20 inches in colorado. Ny area is better protected only by mta aka subway. You must live in the west coast.
Also holidays are a tough time. Ppl have lives, life and work happen. It’s easy to have a phd in problem identification. Harder to be part of the solutions crew.
Is “street cred” still a thing with the “Whippersnapper” Millennials? I’m surprised someone under 40 hasn’t replied with their bog-standard "OK Boomer. " retort. It’s bad enough that us fogeys find excuses to not meet. The Moppets would probably rather not go out at all, but instead simply text about the wine they drank or post it on one of their social media sites.