When I started reviewing beer, it was, like many other aspects of my life, a way to collect data. I wear a wrist band that tracks my health and movements. My iPhone, iPad and Laptop track my location, elevation, speed and other aspects. I have sensors in my shoes, in my car and an app that knows when I wake up and when I fall asleep. I compound this data in the same way I prolifically blog, tweet and privately journal my life. I suffer from a lack of long term memory. Faces, events and achievements are blurred after a few weeks so I track it all through data collection that’s passive and very manual.
Reviewing beer was my way to track something I like doing which is try new things and it’s cool to keep a record of what I’m drinking. I do it via Excel spreadsheets, Untappd, Tweets, this blog and RateBeer. Without these reviews, I would surely forget a lot of what I’ve spent time and money to learn. For me, this blog is necessary. So, it being a selfish endeavor, I greatly appreciate the 200 or so people that stop by each day to read what I’ve been drinking. Thank you.
I joined the beer scene mid-January and now, on the 31st of July, I have reached 500 beer reviews. That’s an average of 2.77 beers per day every day since I started. It’s a lot but something I’ve enjoyed tremendously. This rate of reviews is not sustainable so I am confident that I won’t be at 1,000 this coming January but maybe I will. We’ll see. Here’s review #500:
Why did I pick THIS beer? Well, it’s one of the first corked & caged beers I ever had at some time in August of 2010. I told the story earlier in the life of this blog. It’s one of 4 30th Anniversary beers I have left in the cellar and the beer that turned me on to craft beer as being more than just something to get buzzed on.
3.6 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 14/20 adamjackson (500) – Canaan, USA – JUL 30, 2012 Review #500 A – Whoa. The cork opened with a huge intensity. The scent gushed out. Poured a burnt caramel brown out of the bottle. 1 finger of tan head that faded slowly. In the glass, it looks pretty dark and close to black in appearance. S – Mild level of booze on the nose. Lots of burnt caramel candy scent. Some really nice sweetness. T – Wow. After 2 years, this is still a very sweet Barley wine. Burnt citrus is dominant here. Some orange zest and caramel. Birch and Maple wood and spruce tips. I get a hint of cocoa and cherries at the finish. M – 20% carbonation on the mouth swish. Heavy body and sweet fruity finish. O – I had this beer fresh 2 years ago. It was intense but started my appreciation and love for craft beer. Today, I have 3 of these in the cellar and, at the 2 year mark it tastes fantastic but could use some more time. I’m excited to see how this tastes 3 years from now. |
