2023 Beer Goals and aspirations

Beer Talk
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Long story, but basically sister in law was just there and picked up a bunch of beers from a brewery that was not even on RB yet. It is now on RB.

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Damn. Another bites the dust. now NS Beer is on the list with Braven and the old Chelsea brewery of brewers that were open in NY while I lived there that I never visited.

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When I left NYC 5yrs ago I had visited every brewery in city limits other than Island to Island or some name like that I think they are closed now.

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Taking a cue from Travlr, getting ever closer to fully abandoning Hazies, Still not immune to the charms of NZ hops though, and get suckered back in. Sugary Imperial Stouts (12%+) might also get fully dismissed.

Looking forward to visiting Art History, Afterthought, Double Clutch

Hoping Sierra Nevada tries and convicts those responsible for letting the Hazy Little Things take over their portfolio.

Fully enter my backlog.

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13

Bullet points:

  1. Drink more barleywine
  2. see (1.)
  3. see (2.)
  4. Love to reach 25% of rated beers (not ticked) 10% ABV or higher. 20.9% today.
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You should post over in this months beer style thread that just started today

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Simples for me - sort out the bloody backlog! Then review where I’m actually at - consider goals at that point. Got a holiday to Cape Verde at Easter so that will be a new country and I will try and rate as many different beers as I can find (the wife will allow me to find).

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A few addenda based on others’ input. Not so much ‘goals’ for me as much as changes in my drinking preferences.

  • Drink fewer hazies, more westies. I used to love hazy IPAs but now I am way more discriminating. I’ve always loved traditional west coast IPAs and that affinity has surged back in the past year.

  • Drink fewer pastries. I quite like the style but I very rarely find myself at home wanting to drink a whole can. I’ll keep a few on hand, though, for the occasions when I do.

  • Drink more lager. I’ve always loved lager but it kind of got crowded out amid the growth of all other craft beer styles. So I make a little greater effort to drink plain old lager, especially stuff from Germany and Czech.

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  1. I think beer and place rating wise I’m going to be happy with treading water. It’s getting harder and harder to rate 100+ places per year! I will try for 1275 places and 7500 beers by the end of the year.

  2. Visit and rate places at least one new UK county (I’m missing 6), or at least beef up one of my weaker counties with 5 or less.

  3. Continue to chase slightly less common styles I like: bocks, brown ales, Scotch ales, Baltic porters. Get those numbers up and divert myself away from pales, sours, impy stouts and bitters.

  4. Try beer from at least 3 new countries, taking me to 80. It’s getting harder!

  5. Seek out good beer from the US and the Continent. It’s getting harder and harder to find anything affordable.

  6. At the same time, drink more local beer. Sometimes my rate-chasing means I ignore local breweries more than I should, and the two we lost in Leicester this year (West End and Framework) really hit home. Use ‘em or lose ‘em.

I’d love to add an overseas trip to my goals but this isn’t likely.

Addendum: I’m coming up to my 10-year anniversary in May. So while not a goal that’s kind of exciting.

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2022
Drink good beer. (Failed)

2023

Get to 1k/500/100/100 rates in cider categories.

Drink good beer part deux.

Be the top rater of at least one major metropolitan brewpub out of state.
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Maybe if they weren’t sugary, harsh on the throat and didn’t look like sewage…
Or is that the whole point?
:crazy_face:
Most that I try from local to me suck anyway so I totally agree and have for awhile.

Indeed. I’m very pleased to see new ones appearing, many weighing in under 7%.
Now if someone, anyone would take an interest in making pale ales…
:exploding_head:

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Like many users have mentioned before me, cutting back a bit is an aspiration this year, drinking 3 - 4 “craft cans” a day is unsustainable both physically and financially.

An average of 2 new beers a day will take me comfortably to 18k, I’m not going to get in the Overall Top 50 anytime soon, but keeping comfortably in the top 75 would be good. A box of 24 new rates from dry drinker is on its way, which should help an otherwise quite dry Jan (after the @cgarvieuk tasting on the 2nd, which doesn’t count!)

I’d like to stay top of Northumberland, for no other great reason that I’m already comfortably there. I should be back in Amble in late June, so a trip to Brewis and Northumbrian Gifts in Alnwick should net maybe double-figures of new rates. I might have to resort to hitting the meads though.

I’ve 3 styles to get - ice perry and two sakes. I know ice perry isn’t that hard to come by if you’re willing to drop £25 on a 500ml bottle, I’ve just never prioritised it over beer, but it might be fun to complete the styles. One of the sakes I know is stocked at a fancy Japanese restaurant in Edinburgh, but it’s a risk to book a meal for four there and they don’t have it in. Might look again at the Japan Centre online shop and see if they have one or both of them, but IIRC it’s hard to work out the exact style on their shop vs. where RB cetegorises them.

Sheffield is on the radar for me and a non-RB pal who try and meet up somewhere a couple of times a year for a ramble through good pubs and architecture of a British town. Last year we only managed Hull, but it was well worth it. The RB-planned trip in March is too soon for me, I’d rather wait until the trains are back to their normal terrible service, rather the current nearly non-existent service. Sheffield would be a weekend trip from Edinburgh, I don’t drive and don’t fancy the coach.

Other than that, probably some local Scottish festivals, maybe IMBC as that was fun last year. Oh and we’re holidaying by ferry & train to Copenhagen with the family in the summer, and I should be allowed out for a couple of hours to do some furious ticking in a Mikkeller venue or two.

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100 beer ratings is the goal. Anything beyond that is gravy.

Get to 40 US states rated- going on a road trip this summer, and Arkansas is on the list.

Visit as many breweries as possible in the Austin, TX area as I can because I’m moving outta here next year in January.

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Some modest goals for 2023:

  1. Drink less than in 2022

  2. Take a couple of months off again this year

  3. Pick up four or five new countries - stuck on 134 since 2021

  4. Visit a new ex-Soviet country (a failed goal from 2021) and try some of the (not macro) beers on-site

  5. Get 10 new region ticks - currently on 322

Nothing big really, the first two are entirely doable, number three and four depend on whether the borders are open, number five could be done locally but would involve a lot of hunting around and perhaps some travelling to the north, east, or south of the country (if I’m looking for domestic regions).

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  1. Hit 100 countries and 260 regions rated.
  2. Hit the top 50 list for Virginia, Massachusetts, and maybe one or two more depending on travel.
  3. Get place rates in four or more new states (at 24 once backlog entered).
  4. Reach 100 rates in Indiana, Oregon, Michigan, Rhode Island, North Dakota and another one or two depending on travel plans.
  5. Get to double digits in five more styles (currently missing 21).
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No real goals as I have done most of the stuff I really wanted to do as far as beer goals go.

That being said…

Would like to finish the us states, but not sure how i will manage it, haven’t made any progress in the last couple of years. But then again I haven’t made a real effort.

Will try to drink all of the Portuguese craft available in Lisbon while I’m here. 100+ ticks should be easy. 200 or 300 looks like the proper challenge :smiley:

My first trip to US is being planned. This have been one of my long standing goals (visiting US). That being said, not sure if I will visit more than NY, so this probably will not help with the state hunt.

General aim is to avoid bad beers (anything with lactose can go and #@€% itself), but I know this will be difficult because I still want to tick. Tickers gotta tick after all…

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In NYC, Rhode Island is trivial and Louisiana should be pretty easy. Other two you are missing would be pretty much impossible.

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Funnily enough, you could probably get a few Mexican state ticks in New York by just picking up swill like Tecate.

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A few vague goals for 2023:

  1. Get to 5000 ticks - started the year at 4085
  2. Achieve 305 region ticks - currently 297
  3. Climb onto a few more English county Top 50 lists - on 7 currently
  4. As above with Wales - 0 regions so far, & Scotland - 4 regions currently
  5. Get to 1000 place rates, on 920 currently
  6. Keep trying to get all styles to 15 rates, 20 styles left. Probably impossible tbf…!
  7. Rate beers from 2000 breweries, I’m just north of 1700 currently
  8. Maintain any places on lists I’ve achieved
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I don’t have too many goals, but I think 2,500 NJ ticks would be cool, and 11,000 overall seems reasonable.

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