I agree about having some big cellarable beers to have around for an evening, but impressing other beer nerds is highly overrated. Sharing with my friends is far more important.
What if your friends are exclusively beer nerds? For real, though. I'm on the same page. I do like to have something nice to bring to a bottle share with some nerds when it pops up once in a while, but that's only like four or five times a year. The rest of the time, I like to drink what's fresh or what's local. Whenever we travel, my friends and I bring something back to share, but it's usually just whatever semi-common beers we find that we don't see back home.
Speaking of which, I just got back from a bit of a whirlwind trip. Went to a friend's wedding over the weekend in Raleigh. Drove down from central Illinois and stopped in Louisville and Asheville along the way. Just between the two of those towns, I wish I had another week to just hang out and visit breweries. Hell, Raleigh doesn't seem to slouch, either. Brought back a few cellar bottles to stash away, an armful of growlers to pour for friends this week, and a couple of assorted cases to open over the next couple of weeks.
Highlight of the trip so far as beer goes was probably the Wicked Weed Funkatorium. Makes me really want to open a sour brewery.