At the beginning of the year, I made some Beer Resolutions for 2008. Let’s see how I did:
Buy homebrew supplies and brew my own beer: Didn’t get my own homebrewing setup, but I did brew an American Pale Ale with the West Sound Brewers on Big Brew day. I wasn’t that excited about the results, but it was drinkable. It was fun and I’d like to brew more and get better at it. Grade = B
Take several beer trips, including ones to the East Coast, Bend (OR), Portland (for another OBF), Denver (GABF) and either Victoria or Vancouver: Didn’t do as much beer traveling as I’d like, but I went to Portland twice, once for OBF in July and once for a weekend in November. I also got to the East Coast in April and went beer hunting in DC, Baltimore & Philadelphia. Can’t wait to go back to Philly…the 24 hours I spent there was one of my best beer days of the year. Grade = B-
Write about beer 3-4 times a week: No big surprise that I didn’t follow through with this one. I was doing well there for awhile when Seattle Beer Examiner was going strong, but things went to shit the last couple months. I’ll keep working on it. Grade = C
Attend as many of the local beer festivals and events as possible and continue to make friends in the local beer community: Skipped a few things, but managed to hit most of the festivals and big events. Met several cool people and plenty of blowhard douchebags along the way. My socially-retarded, introverted nature makes it difficult for me to “network” like some people do, but just getting out and drinking all over town has been good. Grade = B
Try at least 200 beers I’ve never had: Kicked ass on this one. My list is at 290 and counting. Look for my list of 10 or 20 most memorable beers of the year soon. Grade = A
Give podcasting another go with a new, revitalized format: Nope, but there’s always hope for next year. I’ve got equipment, an idea and a name. Just have to motivate my partners in crime and get to it. Grade = I
Pay more attention to less hoppy styles of beer: See, I knew hop burnout was coming a year ago. When it hit hard, I tried to go off the hops for a month and went back to them after 8 days. This is still a work in progress… Grade = C-
Take steps toward being able to leave my current job and make a living doing something beer-related: Talked about it constantly, but didn’t take any steps toward making it happen. I’m starting to think this isn’t a realistic goal, but haven’t completely given up hope. Grade = D
Take list-making and documenting to new OCD heights by keeping track of every beer I drink (see how long that lasts): After a couple weeks, I realized that I drink far too much beer to do this, so I settled for keeping track of all the beers I’ve never had (plus this year’s seasonals that don’t always taste the same). B-
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