To Be Determined

Late in the summer, I read the Lifestyles Blogging Report by the folks that run the Beer Bloggers Conference (yes, it's a bona fide event). I participated in creating the data because I was interested in the results. These results were background to several recent life events that have created an upheaval in my priorities. Without commenting on the events, I realized the time I was devoting to this blog needed to be placed elsewhere, mostly, because I don't fit the definition of a serious beer blogger. As a result, I'm not producing the sort of work that I personally read. While I am confident that I could write to the level of those I respect, I really don't have the time or motivation. I don't think it's an accident that most of those I admire are or are working to become some version of a professional in the beer industry. And, I'm not willing to change to become serious and this means the direction of my blog will change.  

However, I have no idea what that path of Pint Sized Revelations will be. Previously, I was writing about nearly every place I stopped locally and on vacation, but that amount of writing is taxing and taking away from the simple pleasure of reading about and tasting beer. Note taking also changes the experience of a stop, especially on vacation. I have a few recent stops that I would really like to share, so some of last summer will make the front page of the blog yet.  Also, I've recently returned to homebrewing more seriously and plan to share the results of that as well. While the blog isn't dead and will have future posts, I've also renewed my subscription to All About Beer, organized a stack of neglected beer books, and plan to take far fewer notes while drinking. 

Focus

When I started blogging, I worried that I wouldn't have enough to write about.  With one year of writing just a few weeks away and a bit over 250 posts, there seems to be enough beeriness in my life to expound upon. Presently, I'm sitting on 66 rough drafts of various bars and beers that I've had in the past few months.

Which means I have to be a more discerning writer--or devote more time.  And, the latter isn't practical at the moment.  

When I grade student papers, there's always a decision to make.  Students want a number on every piece of work, and, if the world agreed that this was important enough to pay for an appropriate student to teacher ratio, I would love to work in detail with every student on every assignment.  The reality is that the student doing the work is what's important and my limited time for feedback must be used for best effect.  

In the same vein, tasting notes on beers can distract me from writing up other experiences.  While I would like to put everything online, I need a new approach.  Special beers that are above and beyond will still need to be reviewed.  I've got a bottles of Surly Syx and Melange a Trois by Nebraska  Brewing in the fridge that need to be thoughtfully sipped.  Just tonight I acquired a bottle of Utopias 2012, so my imbibing of this unique brew must be shared.  But the rest need to be bypassed, combined or incorporated briefly into other posts. 

When I want to know what beer is good or not, I go to two trusted sources: BeerAdvocate or The Bitter Nib by Al, aka Feloniousmonk.  BA has a range of reviews from geeks to neophytes, and Al writes the most entertaining and accurate reviews online.  Others are doing a great job of documenting beer in real time, and I want to focus on developing my own contribution to the beer world.

So I will diligently drink my homework, applying my growth and learning to local watering holes, travel adventures and peak experiences.  

More beer--reading, please!

Stack of recently no read beer magazines

I've been blogging on Pint Sized Revelations for nearly a year now and starting to see some of the impacts of my work.

Of positive and negative impacts, I didn't anticipate this very simple one.  As an English teacher, I'm a big believer that reading is the base for good writing.  However, I've been falling behind lately.

Part of the reason is the proliferation of good beer writing that is available today compared to even a few years ago.  Beer writers today are pushing new boundaries and maturing along with the industry.  I hate missing any of these issues.

However, spending time writing mathematically takes away from my quality beer reading time.  Free time has limits and there will inevitably be choices.  Personally, I need to return to this reading, in part, because it's a source of inspiration and information.  But, also, it's enjoyable and more relaxing than the rewarding but hard work of writing.  The theme of my personal and professional life lately: the search for balance.  So, I've organized my stack of periodical beeriness and attempting to get to them in the near future.

And, yes, I was aware of the irony of this post while writing it.

On learning to travel blog

Getting prepared for this summer's blogging trips to Colorado, France and Belgium, I set myself up to blog live. I'm typing from a new iPad using the updated BlogPress program to connect easily to Blogger, and I even carry around an Apple wireless keyboard so I can type more efficiently than using the pop up.

However, two weeks into the trip, my conclusion is that I am on vacation and I need to focus on being a tourist and merrymaking, which is, at times, a job that fills a day from morning until night. When traveling alone around Brussels, writing was a way to fill the time. It was fun to be able to drink and focus on the words. However, with my wife and nieces here, I find that it gets in the way of the connection we are aiming for.

The real deal breaker is final drafting. While I clearly have some errors in my writing, I do work to revise my posts and proofread before going live. On vacation, the mental reserves needed to final draft are absent with our style of adventure tripping. I confess to my students that I'm a lousy rough draft writer who covers his weaknesses with strong revision. Even if I'd take the time to do it, I'm not sure I'm clear headed enough to revise well.

So, I've given up on posting for now and will continue to rough draft and take notes on all of the cool places I've had a beer this summer. Not an excuse--just a realization that I didn't achieve until actually trying to write on the run. I started this post on Sunday morning and finally finishing before going to bed on Monday night--prima facie evidence of my conclusion.

Cheers and I will post again as soon as I can.

Location:An early Sunday morning in Paris

5000

This week there was an odd confluence in my pursuit of beer.  I hit two 5000 milestones: total commercial beers sampled and total all time page views.

I knew I was going to hit beer 5000 some time this summer, but thought it would be in Belgium.  Evidently, the Denver road trip was more productive than predicted.  My beer notes started in 2000, so it took a bit over a decade with fifty plus festivals and over two hundred brewery visits.  Because I didn't try to count down to the exact beer, I'm unsure which beer was the magic number; however, I think I was at Firehouse Brewing in Rapid City, SD.  Unfortunately, it was one of the worst brewpub stops--ever.  My guess is that beer 5000 was Chukkar Pale Ale, which also happened to receive my lowest rating: 1, undrinkable.  Oh well--they can't all be world class brews.

On a bike tour in South Dakota with my nephew Ben a few years ago, we did a century ride (turned an 88 mi day into 100+ on our own) on the wrong day because the weather was too rough on the actual day of the official century ride.  We asked if we could still have a century patch (and if it counted) and the volunteer responded "Your money, your rules" and handed us each a patch. I decided it counts and I've adopted this experience as a  mantra to reduce some of my more overly uptight attitudes in life.  So, in Brussels next week, I'm making whatever great beer I'm drinking number 5000.

For the page views, I'm surprised that 5000 came so quickly.  I started in November and the page views have been steadily climbing except for a dip in February during speech season.  Posting on a regular basis seems to contribute, but recently page views accumulate in spite of a low posting rate while on vacation.  Approaching 200 posts, the amount of information on the blog is building and making it easier for people to find.

I'm still trying to transfer over three hundred beer reviews and a hundred plus onsite brewpub visits that I've written on BeerAdvocate over the years.  In process but hope to post them this fall on a semi-regular basis in between this summer's visits.  For the BA transfers, I'm back dating all of them to when they were originally written so that a reader can put the information into proper time context.  As a result my blog will eventually appear to be far older than it is: my money, my rules, so I'm not going to worry about it.  :).

Reflecting on the milestones, I've really enjoyed this journey into beer geekdom and glad to have readers to join the ride through what I hope is still the beginning.  I'm having a great time and plan to continue to be an overenthusiastic drinker and writer for the foreseeable future.