Your 2020 Beer in Review

No beer goals, but I've been doing this for awhile.

Top Brews (2020)
Trappistes Rochefort 8 Brasserie de Rochefort (4.96)
Coffee Cinnamon B-Bomb Fremont Brewing Company (4.92)
2020 Parabola Firestone Walker Brewing Co. (4.9)
Coconut B-Bomb Fremont Brewing Company (4.89)
11th Anniversary Barrel-Aged Stout Fremont Brewing Company (4.88)
Brew 4000 Fremont Brewing Company (4.86)
Firestone 23 - Anniversary Ale Firestone Walker Brewing Co. (4.84)
Peanut Butter Cup Stout Untitled Art/Hidden Springs Ale Works (4.78)
2020 Bourbon Barrel Aged Dark Star Fremont Brewing Company (4.75)
Abt 12 Barrel Aged Sour Brouwerij St. Bernardus NV (4.75)
Tripel Karmeliet Brouwerij Bosteels (4.75)
Full Moonlight Rye Ale Copper Club Brewing Company (4.75)
This $+0U+ Just Got Serious Untitled Art (4,75)
King Sue Toppling Goliath Brewing Company (4.71)
35th Anniversary Expedition Stout Reserve Bell's Brewery - Eccentric Cafe & General Store (4.71)

Cheers!

 

I did my best to help support the local breweries during the virus mess. Did a lot of driving to pick up beer ordered online. This actually worked well for me. I was able to get some Jester King beers I normally would not be able to get. I also got to know many of the “local” (within 100 miles, I live in Texas after all) breweries and have gone back or will go back to many of them.

 

Well, I claimed these as my "beer goals" last year;

I absolutely crushed #1. My cellar stock has grown and almost all of it is stuff that I know I'll enjoy over the next few years with just a few random 1 offs that I won't let sit long.

I made it about 8 months on #2 this year, did a couple partial monthly breaks and a 3 week hiatus after August but nailed the week off a month jan-aug so that's a win in my book. I will try for the full year again in 21

And #3 was also a success until about August. Then I abandoned it and splurged on lambic. Told my beer store guy that if the world was gonna end I needed my seed stock, my bullets, and some lambic socked away to get me through. I'll revisit that one in the new year too. The weekly budget and the week off work synergistically

Hope everyone can look back and see that 2020 was weird AF but really wasn't as terrible as it could of been. And for those for whom it was terrible, hopefully 21 turns to the brighter side

 

I have dug deeper into the NA beer world, especially the past half year, feeling I'm not exactly a novice anymore. One example is I've found a real international craft online NA store, promises well for 2021, beer from the US and so on next!

 

I didn't have any goals going into 2020, and that was probably for the best because they probably would have involved travel. Looking back though, a few points jump out at me.

I managed to drink over 366 unique beers this year thanks in large part to BA and its fantastic userbase. I never expected to average one unique beer per day for an entire year, but here we are. I feel like I've made more beer friends here in a year than in all of the line shares I've been in combined.

This year has also been one of the most diverse in both styles and breweries for me. Being involved in a few BIF's helped with that. Also, just reading more and expanding my knowledge of beer helped me appreciate styles I had previously dismissed.

This year I also made the step to keeping a dedicated beer fridge much to the delight of my wife and kitchen fridge. It's so nice to store my stouts and wild ales closer to drinking temp, and ready to be consumed at a moment's notice.

Finally, I've always been a fan of supporting the locals, and this year was no exception. I supported more local breweries more often because of the pandemic. It's nice when doing your part to support local businesses results in a fridge full of delicious cans and bottles.

 

Just out of curiosity what is the name of the online store? I too have been exploring NA beer and always want to try new stuff.

 

I had no specific goals or targets for beer in 2020 but I am very happy that I 'discovered' a new beer brand in 2020: Victory Classic Easy Drinkin' Lager

This is a new beer to the Victory portfolio for 2020 and this is how Victory details this beer:

“Classic

Easy Drinkin' Lager

Since Back in the Day

abv: 4.8%

ibu: 18

malt: Pilsner

hops: Hallertau

About This Beer:

Perfectly balanced and exceptionally drinkable, this lager is expertly crafted with specialty hops, malt and yeast to be the standard of refreshment.

Classic is the definition of drinkable with pilsner malt and Hallertau hops bringing perfect balance to this 4.8% refresher for game day, happy hour, mowing the lawn and everything in between.”

I first had this beer in April and it was from a crowler:



https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/new-beer-sunday-week-790.637518/#post-6865033

I have since April purchased four 15-packs of this beer and it is by far the number 1 brand that I have consumed in 2020.

I suspect this beer would not be a ‘wow’ beer for many BAs but for me this beer perfectly ‘hits the spot’.

Cheers!

@SierraTerence

 

This year I ordered a good amount of beer shipped to my home, most of it from breweries whose beers I'd never tried before and weren't previously available in my area. Found some new favorites that way.

Also did a fair bit of driving to pick up beers in person, and visited some breweries I'd never been to before, most of them in the Los Angeles, San Diego or Ventura County areas. It's always a nice feeling to go directly to the source.

Hopefully I did my part in keeping some of these breweries afloat. If the situation improves in 2021 as far as the pandemic goes, then I'll probably plan a couple of brewery trips much farther away, probably to northern California (still hoping to visit Russian River Windsor) and maybe beyond, but we'll just have to wait and see how things play out.

Best wishes to everyone here and their families in 2021!

 

My goals were as always to drink less but to drink better. Also to travel less exclusively for beer--my semi-monthly runs to Tree House were taxing my time. The pandemic helped me achieve the latter but I also ended up drinking a lot more under quarantine.

In 2021 I have two big goals...Have a better mix of NA beer and regular beer. Athletic has opened my eyes to what NA beer can be. I hope to drink more of that in between runs to Jack's Abby and Tree House Cape Cod--as soon as that opens. My other goal is to go on that trip to Budapest and drink up the underrated beer scene there. Come on 2021--be good.

 

Toppling Goliath started pretty widespread distribution to my store so I got to try a ton of their IPAs this year and I enjoyed everyone single one.

For next year I think I'm going to back off on so many beers a bit and start venturing out to wine. Sort of switching it up and trying to get into that.

 

I don't make any kind of resolutions for a set time frame in general. I find that I don't follow that shit, and so have resolved to no longer do resolutions. That's the only one I'll stick to.

That said, this year has been absolutely killer on the beer front for me. Got membership with Private Press, kept my membership with American Solera, finally started using Tavour after seeing that I missed ADWTD on there, got a few incredible releases from Side Project including BBT for the second year in a row, "won" raffles to allow me to buy both BA Abraxas and Term Oil S'mores. Was forced to use proxies for the first time ever, that was new. Got my wife a new fridge for Xmas, so I have a dedicated beer/hot sauce fridge now, that's really exciting to me!

On top of all that, I try to go to my favorite local brewery weekly and grab some stuff to go. They've recently opened back up for outside service, but I'm not comfortable doing that just yet. I've definitely cut down on beer purchases at liquor stores, but have been buying more bourbon, so... shit.

 

https://en.ondernulpuntvijf.com. Non-English stores are not easily found through searches. This is one of the most exciting for me right now. Looks it doesn't ship to the US without special arrangements though . But you get the US ones cheaper over there

Happy New Year!

 

Highlights for me where to try Focal Banger and Equilibrium beers for the first time. And having Tonewood in great numbers

 

It's been a weird, challenging year so here is a link to the "What are your Beer Goals for 2020?" thread for anyone who has trouble remembering what their goals were before COVID hit.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/what-are-your-beer-goals-for-2020.629301/

 

Different world...maybe we are close to it in another half a year...

 

My goals for 2020 were...

1. Drink down cellar (other than lambic and some BWs, everything is better fresh)
   
2. No more verticals
   
3. No more 750ml bottles

I'd have to say I failed on #1 since I now have some beer in boxes which means my 'collection' has actually grown.

Did pretty good sticking to #2. I no longer buy "1 for now, 1 for later." I just buy 2 for now, lol. Everything dark I drink comes with a ton of adjucts these days and none of it tastes "better" 6mos out or longer so I try and drink it all while it's "fresh."

Did pretty good on #3, too. I bet I could count the number of 750s I acquired this year on one hand and I drank maybe 1/3 of the 750s that are ever-populating the bottom of my beer fridge. I think in 2021, I will try and decrease the number of bombers I purchase. 12/16oz cans and 575ml bottles are all I want to be buying in 2021. This will be tougher, though--Modern Times does a lot of bombers, still, and I re-upped for 2021. Guess we'll see.

Cheers!

 

At this rate my cellar drink down referenced in my own post quoted above, will take over 10 years. Just glad still to be above ground and healthy enough to be able to drink an occasional favorite beverage of joy, otherwise known as beer. That continues to be my goal for the upcoming year.

Haven't had a frosty treat in some weeks, so I've got a Denny's Old Stoner Barley Wine I brewed 11 years ago in the fridge. It's ready to be raised in hope for a better year ahead for all of us!

 

My 2020 goal was to review less singles and buy more 4/6 packs and old favorites. I ended up with 329 reviews and I have one more lined up for today, so I didn't do great there. I did better at finding and drinking styles outside my normal range, which is always a goal.