The Beer Retard

Happy New Year. As usual, I’m late with all the stuff I wanted to get up about 2008. To get things started here are five highlights of my year in beer:

1. Virgin homebrewing experience – Gotta admit it was a big deal to brew my own beer. I may’ve been overly critical of the results, but it was a great experience and the beer was good enough to drink. Everyone I gave a bottle to was surprised that it was as drinkable as it was for a first effort (maybe they were just blowing smoke). All the credit goes to Matt and Brad of the West Sound Brewers, who guided me through every step from steeping grains to bottling. Hopefully, I can brew another batch with their help before I take the training wheels off and try to do my own thing.

2. Writing – Had the chance to write for both Seattle Metblogs and Examiner.com in 2008. Neither turned out the way I hoped (partly my own fault), but I’m glad I had the opportunities and gained some experience blogging for other sites. I’m also feeling good about helping start the Bottleworks blog. The guys at the store (Trevor and Shaughn) have taken the idea and run with it, but I will still contribute from time to time.

3. Beer Douche of the Week – These comics were, by far, the most popular thing I’ve done since I started this blog. A few people have taken issue with the idea, but the overwhelming majority enjoy the hell out of them. Too bad I can’t draw…I might be able to really do something with it…

4. Beer Trips & Festivals – It wasn’t a big year for beer trips, but I did what I could with the time off and money I had. In February, I went to the Toronado Barleywine Fest in SF for the first time and was able to try Russian River’s Pliny the Younger during my time there. In April, I headed to the East Coast for a week and explored DC, Baltimore and Philadelphia. In July, I took the train to Portland for my second OBF. I also returned to SF and Portland later in the year for beer weekends. On the home front, I went to as many festivals as I could, including all the ones at Brouwer’s (Hopfest, Hard Liver, Sourfest, Big Wood) and most of the big ones like the Washington Beer Commission’s Cask Fest and Washington Brewers Festival and the SIB.

5. Russian River beers come to Seattle – Maybe it’ll make me sound like a drooling fanboy, but Russian River’s stuff becoming available here was one of the most exciting things that happened in Seattle this year. Being able to have Blind Pig, Pliny the Elder and Damnation on a semi-regular basis is pretty great (not to mention being able to try Temptation at the Big Wood Fest and being the only place where Deviation was available). Still waiting to see Blind Pig in bottles…maybe this year?