BYOB used to be what you did at a Brick Lane curry house that never bothered with a licence. These days it might be a 1996 Pommard at Hawksmoor on a Monday. The habit spread. The reasoning never quite matched the glamour.
There are a few basics. Miss them and the night starts on the back foot.
Call ahead
The guide is kept as up to date as possible, but policies move. Some places drop BYOB during December, and others change fees without announcing it. So the polite thing to do is call and ask. Keep the questions simple: do they allow it, what is the fee, and is there a bottle limit?
If you are bringing more than one bottle, say so. It stops the table from turning into a glassware puzzle.
It is also worth asking what they prefer you do on arrival. Most smarter licensed venues expect bottles handed straight to the maître d’, not produced later from a tote bag like a reveal.
Bring something that justifies the effort.
BYOB is for bottles the restaurant does not have, not a £7 supermarket filler with a false sense of occasion. If the wine is cheaper than their house option, the corkage fee will tell its own story.
Check the list first. Bringing something they already stock looks like an argument you haven’t voiced.
Some places have lists so good that carrying bottles across town feels pointless. That is its own answer.
Match the bottle to the place and the food
A grand claret with a £12 pho creates more theatre than pleasure.
Some wines are flexible: fizz, Riesling, Beaujolais, and Pinot. They keep groups calm.
Old bottles can behave badly at odd moments. Taste it at home first if it matters. Bring a spare if it really matters.
Support the restaurant’s list.
If you are in a group, ordering something from the list is an easy gesture.
If it is just you and one bottle, start with a drink from their side.
Think about the bill as a whole rather than tallying wins and losses.
On the night
Hand the bottle over when you walk in if that is their routine. Let them work out pacing.
Glassware will never be perfect unless you are in the kind of place designed for it. A quick rinse solves most things.
Hovering over pour levels only prolongs the evening in the wrong way.
Be generous with what matters.
Offer the sommelier a taste. It is a small moment for you and a useful one for them.
Tip as if the bottle came from the list. Decanting someone else’s old Burgundy is not effortless.
A few quiet do not
- Do not argue the corkage fee.
- Do not pretend a magnum counts as one bottle.
- Do not bring spirits unless told otherwise.
- Do not turn the restaurant into an endurance test. BYOB is hospitality, not a licence to over-consume or become that table.
- Do not stretch a single main course across a long evening because the wine is more interesting than the food.
BYOB works best when it barely announces itself. The bottle appears, the restaurant carries on, the evening moves. The rest sits between you and your glass.