Okay, it was bound to happen...again. Life intrudes and suddenly the quest gets shoved into the background. In the last blog I wrote (more than a month ago!), I mentioned that my wife and I had bought a house and were moving. And that isn't even the half of it!
Two weeks after moving, I left on a two week trip overseas. I went to India for a week (not exactly a mecca for beer, you know?) and England for a week (a mecca for beer if there ever was one).
So what happened?
The week we moved I was 55 beers ahead of schedule, more than five weeks. Six weeks later I'm 23 beers ahead of schedule. Still more than two weeks ahead of the curve, but I have lost a lot of ground from where I was. That sucks.
I lost ground when we moved (too busy to sample new brews) and I lost ground after we moved (too busy to sample new brews) and I lost ground during my trip overseas (too busy to sample new brews). In India, not only was I busy, but I was too concerned about drinking anything that wasn't pasteurized. In England, I was too busy (period) to sample as many different brews as I would have liked. I did sample a bunch of pints of bitter (the staple of England) such as Adnams, Woodfordes, Oxfordshire, Kronenbourg, and John Smiths, but not much else. Damn! There were several pubs I wanted to visit, but work intruded. I hate when that happens.
But now I'm back on track and anxious to make up for lost ground. Not only that, but I hit a significant milestone...The Halfway Point! Yes, I have sampled more than 262 beers, half of the 524 I am shooting for. As of tonight, I am at 266 and going strong. By the time Week 24 comes to an end, I'll be three weeks ahead of schedule. Oh, and I'm under the 200 days remaining mark as well.
Since my last blog, I have had some great stouts, hefeweizens, and bitters. Samuel Smith, Erdingers, and Adnams are all good choices, although skip the Sam Smiths fruit beers unless you're into chick drinks. Having said that, I sampled a Stiegl Gaudi Radler Zitrone (Lemon) today that I found to be quite good, in spite of the sweet lemon taste. On a hot day with spicy food, I can't imagine anything better.
Since it has been awhile, how about some stats?
The most beer styles I have sampled are amber ales (26) followed by fruit beers (20), pale lagers, brown ales, wheat ales, and hefeweizens (16). My favorites are stouts (3.6), hefeweizens (3.5), brown ales and porters (3.3), and wheat ales and witbiers (3.2). My least favorites are IPAs (naturally), lagers, pilseners, and pale anything. I guess I like the strong stuff that isn't bitter.
I've sampled more beers from the US (182) than any other country. England (23) and Germany (22) are next. Those three countries plus Canada and Belgium top the list as far as ratings go. Mexico and the Netherlands are at the bottom. For US beers I have sampled more beers from California (42) and Colorado (36) than any other state. My favorite states are Colorado, Massachusetts, Arizona, Oregon, and Maryland. Maine, Missouri, and Texas were the worst. In England, North Yorkshire was the most sampled (8) and the highest rated (3.4) of the English counties. In Germany, Bavaria ruled the roost (naturally...who else?).
The average Ratebeerian score given to the beers I have rated is 3.04. The average rating I have given is 2.94. On the Ratebeerian list, I am 1877 out of 3403 raters who have reached at least 100 ratings. I'm debating on paying for a premium membership so that I can get more stats.
Life is good and so is beer!
"Bunden i vejret eller resten i håret," which is Danish for "Bottoms up or the rest in your hair." I'm not sure I want to think about the saying beyond that.
Goal...............524.....365
Progress.........266.....166
Remaining......258.....199
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)