Beer of the Weekend @ 12

I drink a lot less beer these days, and the last year in beer is a testament to that.

Fifteen beers. I reviewed a measly 15 beers during BotW’s 12th year—by far the lowest number of reviews ever. And I’m fine with it. It’s certainly easier updating my master list of reviewed beers (which I realized I had not done since July—d’oh!).

I still drink beer, still love citrusy and tropical IPAs, still love crisp and flavorful pilsners. I still like tipping back a cold one on a weekend evening with friends (when we’re not social distancing). However, beer is no longer a big part of my life, no longer a passion. It is not as important or necessary as it once was.

Why? Mostly because it’s gotten old. One can only drink so many IPAs before they become old hat, before they all taste the same except for more or less of this or that. Plus, beer is empty calories. It’s tasty but has no nutritional value; it is unnecessary calories. Drinking a lot less of it helped me lose 35 pounds last year. Also, I’m older now and alcohol and beer affect me differently. Dark beers give me heinous hangovers, and I don’t like drinking a lot anymore. I want to wake up in the morning feeling refreshed and healthy.

But beer is still a part of my life. It may not be as big of a part, but it’s still a part. And I’m still documenting new beers. My goal is to review 1,000, and I don’t care how fast I get there.

BotW’s 12th year included one innovation: I upload pics to Flickr and embed them in the posts. It’s something I wanted to do for a while, so I took the plunge this year. It sure beats editing and adding my URL to images through Preview.

On to the (short) list of beers reviewed in BotW’s 12th year:

#919: Scrimsaw (A-)
#920: Brigade Ale (B)
#921: Brute’s Best (B+)
#922: Summer Jam (A-)
#923: Tag (C+)
#924: +1 (B+)
#925: Tailwind (B)
#926: Confluence Original (B)
#927: The Spice Must Flow (A)
#928: Red Headed Stranger (B)
#929: Tip the Cow (C+)
#930: Hill Hopper (A)
#931: Ellie’s Brown Ale (B)
#932: Oasis Light Lager (C)
#933: Gable (C)

The Primo Island Lager BotW@12 Worst Beer Award: Tag. There’s not much to choose from, but I’m picking the beer that is still lingering in the basement fridge nine months after I reviewed it. Why? Because I forgot about it.

“It’s Just a Little Taste of Heaven” BotW@12 Best Beer Award: Hill Hopper, which is a fantastic beer! The aroma and flavor are on point!

The BotW@12 Ultimate Four-pack: Scrimsaw, Summer Jam, The Spice Must Flow, and Hill Hopper. (Since I reviewed so few beers and don’t feel like picking six, the best beers of the last year are in a four-pack.)

(The pic is from my visit to Pulpit Rock’s taproom with The Foxy Lady on March 14. She was drinking one of the many IPAs [on the right] and I was drinking a B.T.O. It is the last time I visited a bar, taproom, or restaurant before they were closed by the COVID-19 crisis.)