Confessions of 2021's first 50 Days

Regional Forums United Kingdom and Ireland
#1

Yes, 19th Feb is day 50 of 2021; how have you wasted it?

I started the year at a heavy 106 Kg, the most weight I have ever been. I have lost 5 of those Kilograms (11 lb) since then and intend to drop a few more; already losing inches from various parts of my body and feeling healthier. Longer walks with Bertie, sensible eating and drinking all playing their part in my weight loss.

I have started a 3 days with alcohol a week and 4 without system, this has helped me greatly. Of the 50 days so far 28 have been alcohol free, so just 22 with booze.

My rating is still pretty high volume wise: 91 Beers, 9 Ciders and 7 no alcohol beers; 107 in total. So averaging just over two rates a day, all at home of course.

The car has had a holiday this year; I treated it to 46 litres of fuel on 27th Jan, the only time itā€™s had any since before Christmas. It is still over half-full. Our longest journey so far this year was a 20 mile round trip for our Covid vaccinations.

We get fruit, veg, bread, eggs and other ā€˜stuffā€™ delivered from local traders who operate out of our Market, itā€™s a good system and helps them survive in the current situation.

My drinks have come from further afield, with the internet playing a larger part than usual. Sophieā€™s Beerstore is the closest ā€˜localā€™ Iā€™ve used, Web-Bier from Bavaria the furthest away. Once a week I ā€˜go shoppingā€™, different store each week (mostly to check out any new beers), found some decent brews to supplement the web orders and Beer52ā€™s monthly boxes.

Itā€™s not all ā€˜Doom & Gloomā€™ but I am missing our monthly beer exchanges in Chez Sophie, being in a pub drinking Real Ale and of course travelling to see family and friends, etc, etc.

<*))))))><

4 Likes
100th Day of 2021 (10th April)
#2

Beer Festival with the wife and son later today; eight beers chilling, five new rates for me in the selection.

IMG_00322408
IMG_003224081636Ɨ1222 317 KB

<*))))))><

1 Like
#3

50 days! Crikey. The yellow app tells me Iā€™ve had 40 new ticks this year so far, of which 23 have been N/A. Iā€™ve been reducing my alcohol intake for health reasons, while Iā€™ve been reasonably impressed with the range of N/A beer options out there now Iā€™ll admit Iā€™m getting a bit sick of them.

My beer of the year so far is Cloudwaterā€™s Persistence is Utile Bitter Chocolate II. Otherwise Iā€™ve been mostly ticking Welsh stuff from my monthly Wales Ales deliveries.

Donā€™t own a car and have probably stayed within a two mile radius of my house for the duration. I did a lot of running in January, but that has tailed off in February. My work has been absolutely crazy so Iā€™ve been working long hours, which isnā€™t much fun. Like you weā€™ve been eating a lot of local produce which has been nice.

I am pretty desperate to go to the pub though. And for a holiday. We managed to get to France for two weeks last year (which now seems very bizarre) and I am longing for some more of that.

2 Likes
#4

I spend about 8 hours a day browsing bottlshopā€™s webpages whilst suffering a mixture of ennui and anxiety that I cannot buy all the beers I want to tick.

80 beers to date. Dry days being Monday, Tuesday and Thursday.

Since Christmas I have been really fucking busy so start working from about 7:30am and spend half the week in my PJs, and a hoodie for Teams calls. Itā€™s also not been good for ticking because there have been a few few nights I had one or two beers and then fell asleep.

Just booked a week in East Anglia to visit the wifeā€™s friends in Ipswich and Thetford, plus her old stomping ground of Cambridge.

5 Likes
#5

Ohā€¦ you mean AF. Doesnā€™t N/A means you didnā€™t type enough to get a score? :grinning:

#6

I took N/A meaning ā€œnot availableā€ - certainly would be in the case of Beers Of Europe !

1 Like
#7

NA is a common cask ale from the ā€˜Sorryā€™ brewery ā€¦ great distribution at JDW bars !

3 Likes
#8

96 beers reviewed this year so far, 22 dry days, Iā€™m doing Monday to Wednesday no beer and then, the remainder drinking, normally 15 cans and bottles over the 4 drinking days. Iā€™m buying most of the beers from Trembling Madness. So bored and missing my weekly work travel to Europe. Also supposed to be in San Diego this week for sales kick off, would have sampled 40 to 50 beers if I had been there. Iā€™ve got so reliant on buying beer over the internet, going to a bottle shop now seems a hassle, although I did go to the Hive in Crowthorne today, as there wasnā€™t a queue!

#9

Having said that, I have just consumed this beer, which is the best of the year for me so far

image
image3024Ɨ4032 2.8 MB

2 Likes
#10

Hopefully the trip goes off without a hitch. If you want to meet up let me know dates and such.

#11

Before you get too sick of them, make sure you try https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/northern-monk-holy-faith/897507/
Iā€™m currently the only rater so Iā€™m assuming you havenā€™t had it. I donā€™t drink much NA stuff but I can safely say this is the best Iā€™ve had. Not something Iā€™d choose to drink ordinarily, but if for any reason Iā€™d be off the alcohol I could happily drink this one all day.

#12

Sounds like your noble objective of reducing alcohol intake for health reasons is actually ā€˜getting you a bit sickā€™ by drinking N/A beers :flushed:

1 Like
#13

Not til the second week of August so things better be better by then!

1 Like
#14

59 beers so far from me. Aiming to get to 6000 by the end of the year, not on track so far but hopefully the pubs will open at some pointā€¦

The first 50 days of this awful year have been decent enough beerwise. Iā€™ve had two beers at four: Buxtonā€™s Chip Shop brawl and the Naparbier / Garage / Barrier Whiplash collab Headlines.

Iā€™ve also rated my lowest beer to date, the absolutely vile Carlsberg Special Brew at 0.9 as part of a mini-haul from the local Eastern European market. Well, it looked fine so a decent score for appearance.

2 Likes
#15

Without really trying Iā€™ve lost a couple of g and a couple of mm off my weight and waist, so well chuffed! Managed to tick off some more countries, and ever closer to completing the England counties, but might not manage it by Easter as hoped. Very much looking forward to the third 50 day stint, as pubs should be open by then

1 Like
#16

So far 114 beers and 6 place rates, the latter all online beer webshops of course. Trying to mix and match countries a little and relieving the boredom by making up our own themed weekends. This weekend is America so American beers, food, music, etc weā€™ve also had Italy, Germany and Belgium, next weekend we head to Greece or Spain.

Weight is good, having lost about 10kg since last January, I have managed to keep it off and maintain at 74-75kg, by going for a walk every lunchtime 3-4km and using the indoor spinning bikes for 45-60 mins every weekday, at weekends usually do long walks or cycle which we did yesterday.

1 Like
#17

Yes, heard good things about this one. Got a can on order that should be arriving tomorrow!

1 Like
#18

43 ticks so far this year, but quite a few more beers than thatā€¦ Having the pubs closed and the kids home from school all week means drinking time is pretty much limited to 10pm-midnight. Iā€™ve actually started buying 4-packs to put in the fridge instead of all singles or pairs. :exploding_head:

#19

Just 11 rates so farā€¦ really donā€™t drink a lot at home and my bi-monthly 8-pack from Beer52 fulfills most of my beer needs.

Best beer so far this year is Stu Mostow Salamander Black IPA at 3.8.

Have also rated 5 places; those are obviously backlog ones from our few months of freedom last summer. Hoping to finally get my places backlog cleared in the next month or so (just another 6 to go).

1 Like
#20

Ok 68 days into 2021

  • 156 beers rated so averaging 2.29 a day, so up from 2.19 on last update

  • 10 Places rated (either webshop or getrankemarkts)

  • Weight consistently around 74kg now and had got as low as 73.6 last week

  • A few more long walks and a 78km cycle ride a couple of Sundays ago

  • Themed weekends with beer, food and sometimes music continues, Hungary and Greece were the latest countries with a case of beers from Kyakao (Greece) and Mad Scientist (Hungary)

  • Beery shoutouts go to Ganstaller, a Franconian brewery Iā€™d had their beers before at Borefts one year, but only a couple, however, ordered a case a couple of weeks ago, and wow this father and daughter brewing partnership can really brew, the Helles was stunning, the Amarillo Starkbier was not far behind, 4.4 and 4.3 respectively, but all of the beers have been very good to excellent. Their beers are probably pushing the style boundaries a little but they have to adhere to the Reinheitsgebot, it is just you might note that the hoppiness is taken to the next level.

Fin

2 Likes