New Beers Resolutions

I'm back in the real world (after a lovely week off) so back to this blogging malarkey. I don't normally bother with resolutions but I thought I'd use today's post to set out my beery intentions for 2012:

• Get to a CAMRGB event (feisty?)

• Potentially work GBBF during the craziness that will be the Olympics (insane?)

• Spend more time drinking in pubs than at home (doable, though likely to be due to much decreased beer spend this year)

• Meet more bloggers around the country and attend Beer bloggers conference (booked, are you?)

• Constantly seek to get better at writing (wouldn't we all like to?)

• Do some more home brew with a view to full mash later in year (ambitious?)

•  Get back to the gym to shed the beer pounds* accrued in 2011 (optimistic?)
 *though pounds in weight gained is not equivalent to pounds spent! 

What are you lot hoping to achieve this year?

Session #58: A Dickens of a Christmas

Session host this month is Beersay Phil (@Filrd) who stepped up to the plate after I hosted last month's session. The topic this time is "a Christmas Carol", the premise being to pick a drink from Christmas past, Christmas present and Christmas future to talk about to get us in the festive mood.

It would be remiss of me to not mention my first ever taste of alcohol, boxing day 1986, when I was but 46 days old. I expect it was glenfiddich 12 y/o or even a blend like Red Grouse. Apparently the look on my face was such that it seemed I may be set to be teetotal for the rest of my life...that didn't happen!

Christmas present sees a garage full of tasty winter beers (see: high ABV stouts and porters) amassed over the year. I am very much looking forward to bottles of Moor Fusion and Old Freddy Walker plus Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout. Look out for tweets around the time i expect. Bristol beer factory's fantastic 12 stouts should be arriving with me any day soon too; so I expect they will form the backbone of my festive drinking.

Which brings me on to Christmas future. I don't like to predict what will happen in future years, feeling that I might somehow become bound by my proclamations, but I'd really like to spend a Christmas abroad somewhen, in an exotic and distant location and stumble across a hidden gem of a brewpub like schwalbenbrau in Schladming with some tasty treats. I don't have a preference for style or strength, just something unique for that time and place.

So that's it for The Session for 2011. I look forward to Mario's "not beer" topic in the new year!