At Vayable, we are romantics. We love bringing people together and creating friendships; maybe, if the stars align the right way, something more will come out of it! With Valentine’s day around the corner, we thought that we would share our love story of two guides. Here is a guest post jointly written by Mike and Erica. Soon you will be able to book a joint beer and wine tour they will lead!

It was 12/12/12, a cold night in the SOMA district of San Francisco. Vayable’s holiday party was jamming inside the walls of Terroir, one of the best natural wine merchants you can come by. I post up at the bar, not knowing anyone inside, and barely connected to the Vayable community. Next to me is Mike, sommelier and key-speaker of the evening, and my soon-to-be boyfriend just waiting for the questions after his talk. Our connection was undeniable. After a few hours of meeting a people, but mostly getting nerdy with one another over aroma and taste, finish and complexity, we knew something special was there.

Our romance was serendipitous –  just as our love for beer and  passion for wine is. Vayable brought us together and now we hope to bring what we love to the Vayable community.

Some of the greatest ideas people conjure are when they are around a table – eating food, sipping glasses of fermented goodness, and engaging with each other. Community is formed with full bellies and open hearts. We hope to bring people together through an innovative, engaged, and delicious beer, wine and food pairing collaboration. For a very long time people have commented on the beautiful relationship between wine and food, and more and more these days people are also becoming interested in the dynamics between beer and food. We hope to see how exactly each sip makes eating more vibrant, how they contrast and compliment one another, while paying attention to how they affect one’s palette.

Our vision is rooted in both of our love for things craft – so much of what we have access to today is watered-down and capitalized to the point where you forget someone is actually making what you are using, what you are eating, what you are drinking. Small breweries, vineyards, and wineries exist everywhere, with people building something from a passion, from nothing, with their bare hands. Their hard work goes unnoticed by the masses, and we hope to change that, little by little, every single day.

We thank Vayable for bringing us together, for the gift of love and passion, and for the excitement of exploring the world.