{"id":1952,"date":"2013-12-31T17:13:26","date_gmt":"2013-12-31T21:13:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/adam-jackson.net\/beer\/?p=1952"},"modified":"2019-12-20T10:19:14","modified_gmt":"2019-12-20T15:19:14","slug":"2-years-in-beer-evolution-of-the-hobby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2013\/12\/31\/2-years-in-beer-evolution-of-the-hobby\/","title":{"rendered":"Year in Review and 2013 Plans in Beer"},"content":{"rendered":"

This was a great year in beer. There isn\u2019t a single area of this hobby where I feel too many shortcomings remain at least when it comes to taking on beer. My personal shortcomings and issues of \u201cgotta catch them all\u201d continues to be something I battle with but in my efforts to spend less money on this hobby, the money and the ticker in me clash more often than I\u2019d like to admit. So for that, I\u2019m doing much better but let\u2019s let the data speak for itself.<\/p>\n

My goal of simplifying beer buying in 2013 was a success. I\u2019ve dropped my trading and I\u2019m buying and drinking more beer from 3 breweries, Bruery, Crooked Stave and Hill Farmstead. I attended very few Lawson\u2019s farmers markets in 2013 and was very limited on what beer I brought back with me on business trips. I went to Florida last week and didn\u2019t bring a single beer back with me. I\u2019ve also shifted some spending over the Bourbon and Wine. These are not areas I\u2019ll touch on in this blog post though. This year I also divested myself of a few regular trading partners and it was a mutual split and my home brewing is to a point where I\u2019m marginally happy with every batch. I won\u2019t brew much in 2014 for reasons I\u2019ll touch on in this post. Finally, rating beer has remained on track but slightly slower than it was because half-way through the year, a shift happened in that as well and not a shift I plan on recovering from.<\/p>\n

All of this will be touched on in the post and a bit more.<\/p>\n

Beer Trading in 2013:<\/strong><\/p>\n

I traded a lot in 2012 after starting in the spring and trading throughout the year. I primarily sent out Vermont beers in exchange for \u201cquality locals\u201d and the trading partners I developed in that year sent quality beers, many of which are still in the cellar. A few of these one-off trades ended up being regular trading partners and at the end of 2012, I started instituting no-trade periods because the amount of requests outweighed my budget. This continued in 2013. I don\u2019t really trade with strangers unless they have something I want and regular trading partners get the most of what I pick up. But trading is down. Let\u2019s look at the stats:<\/p>\n

\"Cost<\/p>\n

 <\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Trades<\/p>\n

I averaged 5 less trades per month in 2013 versus 2012. The cost however remained roughly the same because I didn\u2019t break out UPS cost between trades and beer societies where trustees will send me my beer. That cost kept my UPS bill consistently high in 2013 so I\u2019m looking for ways to reduce this next year.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m happy with the total trades per month but Inext year, an average of 5 per month would be ideal for me and keeping the cost in shipping around $75 a month and that includes $30 per month in Bruery beer and $15 a month in Crooked Stave shipments. More in person trades would be nice but difficult where I am in Vermont. At some point this year, I created a Tumblr account to track my trades and money spent. Here\u2019s the link – http:\/\/www.tumblr.com\/blog\/adamsbeertrades which I\u2019ll continue maintaining next year.<\/p>\n

Overall<\/p>\n