Monday, January 04, 2010

HEDONIST BEER JIVE’S RESOLUTIONS FOR 2010

It was a banner weekend on the beer front this past 4-day stretch. I purchased my first beer fridge, guaranteed to make my electrical bill go up by a good 25%, all for the lofty and very worthwhile goal of fresh, unspoiled beer. I then filled that fridge on a mother-of-all-beer-runs citywide trip to HEALTHY SPIRITS, CITY BEER and BEVMO. Finally, I ran over 20 miles in a single week (over 3 individual days, no less), thereby earning the right to continue this bad, filthy, vice-filled craft beer addiction. With that in mind, here are 7 resolutions for 2010, all formulated during the last of those three runs:

1. Let exercise beget drink, and drink beget exercise. In my world, these two passions are highly correlated. Beer is the reward for my running regimen, and running is, at times, the penance for my beer regimen. Otherwise I let my 42-year-old creaking carcass fall into a shambles & I move into the “sweatpants stage” of middle age. I’m just not ready yet.

2. Ingratiate myself more into the craft beer world without becoming a self-serving, suck-up toadie. This simply means that I’d like to be a little more social and a little less hermetic. Having met other folks over the years who enjoy this great beverage in the same manner that I do, I’ve found that some of them are actually OK, including brewers, journalists and beer shop operators. I’d like to find ways to break bread with more of them, without becoming a namedropping, star-chasing, ass-kissing cretin.

3. Try a gueze for the first time. Yes, you read that correctly. I’m well overdue to try this style of ale. By 2011, I shall have ingested one or several.

4. Conduct more interviews on Hedonist Beer Jive. Who wants to read about me and my drinking habits all the time? I’ve enjoyed the interviews I’ve posted here over the years, but in ’09 we only did one. I promise to do better this year.

5. Never, ever make beer puns like “good for what ales you”, “Hoppy Holidays”, etc. Folks, beer is not funny. You are not funny when you conduct in this type of reprehensible behavior. Let’s only reserve this type of wankery for truly hilarious blog post headlines such as “There Will Be Monk’s Blood”. Now THAT – that is funny.

6. Drink more of the obscure Belgians, at the expense of the falsely hyped American micros. I’m going to slow down my chasing of overly- and often inaccurately-hyped American beers and try and get to all those Belgian ales I’ve never had before. Seems like I’m always happier when I’ve got a bunch of complex tripels, dubbels and Abbey ales in the fridge. I plan to have more of them, from smaller breweries from the darkest wilds of Belgium, in 2010.

7. Drink beer from Surly Brewing and New Glarus Brewing. Now all I need is a Minnesota/Wisconsin-based beer trading partner. I’ve got some Anchor Steam to trade ya!

7 comments:

J T. Ramsay said...

Great set of resolutions. I resolved to be more adventurous in '09 and did a pretty good job. I drank fewer massive IPAs and actually tried things that relied more on nuance than potency. My body thanked me for it.

The obscure Belgians are shockingly worthwhile! I had some delicious beers last year (including a gueze) because I finally admitted I knew nothing about Belgians and drinking was the best way to learn.

Good luck!

KevBrews said...

I too have resolved to drink more Belgians. My local store has a pretty big selection (about 75 diff Belgians, some fairly obscure). I'd be up for a swap again, like we did a couple years back, if I can get you something you can't get there.

Derrick Peterman said...

Good luck with the running thing. They say you reach your running peak ten years after you start, regardless of age, so maybe you have a lot to look forward to, running-wise. At any rate, I find beer and running provides a lot of yin-yang balance.

1009 said...

As far as socialism ... ah, excuse me, socializing ... goes, I'd be happy to join a meetup in Chicago -- running and/or drinking. In fact, I participated in a Dive Bar Tour (not exactly HBJ stuff, I grant you), that was preceded by an 8-mile run along the intended DBT track. Burn off the calories to put 'em back on. Don't have much to swap, but always up for a trip to Map Room.

brentmix@gmail.com

Bill Hansen said...

I can help you with number 7. I live in Milwaukee, and my in-laws live in Minnesota. Drop me a message some time. blackearth@gmail.com

db said...

try the Gueze distributed by the Lindeman's folks. Probably available and delicious!

Adam Trachtenberg said...

My wife's family lives in Minneapolis...

So when we visited on Christmas, I not only made a Surly run, but I arranged a "day trip" to Hudson, Wisconsin -- the first town right over the state border to pick up New Glarus.

Then I ran some and shipped the rest back to San Francisco in two extra suitcases I brought. :)