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.

 

My beer goal was to try more beer and different types of em! 2020 might've been a really horrible year for many people and I very do agree but at the same time, I got to try 400 total unique beers according to Untappd and tasted 42 new styles. my cellar has grown from having 3-5 beers in there to having to buy another refrigerator to fit over 25 beers. I wish everyone a happy new year and a welcoming 2021! Big cheers to you all

 

My 2020 beer goals were sadly crushed by the 'rona.

I had planned trips to Colorado, Vermont and Maine for the year. I was lining up live music events to go along with my trips. I had really hoped to get to Red Rocks CO and the State Theater in Portland ME. I did my research on places in Colorado and was really looking forward to the trip. Vermont is old hat for me, being only 3 hrs from Ottawa. Maine is a sentimental spot for me, and Portland is just such a nice town.

I did wind up getting to know some great breweries in Ontario and Quebec as a result of Covid. I enjoyed some damn fine beers, but IMHO too many hazy IPAs. It was very nice to see what other regions were doing outside of Ottawa. In Ontario the law changed to allow breweries to ship their beer within the province, which made trying beer from the far reaches of Ontario possilbe (quick reference for those unfamiliar with Ontario: Ontario is roughly 2100 km (1300 mi) from end to end and it takes about a day (23 hrs) to cross it by car. It's roughly twice the size of Texas). I live in the way east portion, near Quebec.

I wound up having beers from over 100 breweries from Canada, which was really quite fun. It was a great way to pass the time. I really missed my quick access to US beer though, especially good BA stouts and just about anything not hazy to be honest. Christmas wasn't the same without Brown Shugga.

With all of that, I still drank less beer in 2020, which was a goal. I substituted cannabis much of the time (legal in Canada).

I also passed a milestone in 2020. I officially became "the cranky old guy who misses ye olde days." It was all the fault of hazy IPAs. They are so bloody ubiquitous and it's hard to find a brewery making classic styles. I spent most of the summer searching out WC IPAs, Brown ales, milds, strong ales, and the like. I am looking forward to the end of the hazy craze. I will pledge fealty to the first bewer I encounter that is making anything but hazy beers.

For 2021 I was supposed to travel to Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands and Spain, but that is likely kiboshed until the vaccination rates are over 80%. My tempered goal for 2021 is to try more beer from across Canada, and to get to the US when possible. I am hoping to be more social in the new year, hitting the locals (when they open) more often and getting back (hopefully) to live music.

 

Wanted to get to 210 on my quest to tick all of the top 250. Only at 202. Doing it with friends and we tick at shares. Not easy when we live almost a thousand miles from each other. Really what hurt most is having a bunch fall off. We were at 206 or something like that in June. Ticked 2-3 new ones in October and yet we are still at 202 now.

goal is 215 by 2022.

 

Drank and acquired a bunch from the Top 250. I now have had or currently have 202 of the top 250. I drank these in 2020...:

• Samuel Adams Utopias: #110
• Fremont Coconut B-Bomb: #209
• Drie Fonteinen Hommage: #125
• Tree House Doubleganger: #40
• Tree House Very Green: #21
• Tree House All That Is and All That Ever Will Be: #236
• Tree House In Perpetuity: #126
• Tree House Juice Machine: #16
• Tree House King JJJuliusss: #10
• 3 Fonteinen Oude Geuze Golden Blend: #162
• 3 Fonteinen Oude Geuze Cuvee Armand & Gaston: #167
• Alpine Great: #116
• Bell's Expedition Stout - Bourbon Barrel-Aged: #215
• Bottle Logic Fundamental Observation: #12
• Side Project Abricot du Fermier: #90
• SARA West Ashley: #91
• Lift Bridge Barrel-Aged Silhouette: #186
• The Lost Abbey Cable Car: #48
• Prairie Pirate Paradise: #109
• Tree House GGGreennn!: #127
• Hill Farmstead Beyond Good and Evil: #103
• AleSmith Speedway Stout - Vietnamese Coffee - Bourbon Barrel Aged: #31
• Tree House Very Hazy: #9
• Revolution V.S.O.J.: #58

...and acquired these for future consumption in 2020:

• Casey Leaner: #187
• de Garde Nectarine Premiere: #59
• Central Waters Black Gold: #99
• Founders KBS - Maple Mackinac Fudge: #146
• Bottle Logic Fundamental Forces: #173
• Perennial Barrel-Aged Abraxas: #3
• de Garde The Broken Truck: #88
• Alpine Keene Idea: #80

 

My stats for the year:

Oz consumed: 9904 (the equivalent of 619, 16oz cans) or 27oz a day.

Top Breweries (by oz):
Kane: 1282
The Alchemist: 895
Surly: 688
Lawson's 576

Top Beers (by oz):
Heady Topper: 671
Surly Hell: 592
Sip Of Sunshine: 415
Kane Sneak Box: 221
Focal Banger: 216

Top States (by oz):
VT: 1995 (1524 if you take out all the Sip Of Sunshine that is brewed in CT)
NJ: 1408
PA: 1031

Top Styles:
DIPA: 2542
IPA: 2274
Pale Lager: 1652
APA: 908

Best beers of the year:
Kane Comet
Heady Topper (the batches that came out in April were the best I have ever had)
Tree House Doubleganger, Super Treat, Tango, and Jjjjjuliusss!
Pliny The Younger
Lawson's Hopzilla
Surly Hell
Aslin Double Orange Starfish
Von Trapp Trosten
Resident Culture Lightning Drops

 

My goals slowly evolved over the year (considering that I only joined BA 4 months ago!) and will remain the same for 2021:
1) develop a better feel for what specific hops/hop combinations I like so that I can do a better job of predicting what IPAs I might like (or not)
2) review every new beer I have so that I have a better central record of what I like and why
3) explore more NA beers
4) balance my enthusiasm for new beers with my goal of continuing to drop weight and improve my fitness
5) less wine collecting /more beer collecting
I'm happy with my progress on all these, although #1 is still a challenge. I hope to do more flight tastings to really nail it down better since I tend to forget details of various beers when I only average about 5 beers a week and side by side tastings help me compare beers more effectively.

 

In an odd twist, I think I visited more new to me breweries in 2020 then in any previous year. That was because a buddy had to start working from home and he needed to get out of the house and away from the wife on the weekends. I did find out there is a lot of mediocre beer and mediocre breweries in this state. Nothing terrible but a lot of meh. I tried to get back to reviewing beer more and I picked up the pace with over 150 reviews and ratings.

 

2020:

-Almost no reviewing.
-Less alcohol/beer, more exercise and better eating>>25lbs down
-For beer>>almost all classics/classic styles for 2020 and very little haze. Enjoyed in very small groups.

As much as 2020 was awful in general, I was seeking lemonade from lemons.

To a better 2021!!!

 

My typical goal every year is to take a few pub crawls, especially newly-opened breweries here in Michigan. COVID changed all of that so the goal became to support the local breweries as much as I could. I've never drank as much beer from growlers as I did in 2020, but both breweries now can most/all of their beers.

I did get two semi-local, one-day pub crawls accomplished in southern Michigan and one 3-day trip to northern lower Michigan, so a total of 14 breweries visited (10 were new places).

 

My 2020 beer year in review

I had used BA as a way to keep my tasting notes and to discover new beers. Never really ventured out of the beer talk and New England forums. Then i noticed in NBS/NBW a call out for BIF 12. I had never traded beers. I asked to join, was accepted as I have been a frequent poster in that forum and it was...... EXCELLENT!!!! Described by @Dimidiata as a secret Santa combined with a murder mystery for who killed your porch..with ninja assassins. A lot of fun. Highly recommended.

Was able to visit TreeHouse before the lockdown and have used their contactless beer pickup since. Signed up for Trillium home delivery, a delight. Read about the Fort Point Market on BA and its high praise is well earned. A great source of very high quality and varied craft beers. Read reviews of Belgian beers and consumed my first brews from Westvleteren. I was able to get a private tour of Bearded Iris by the brewer/owner thru an introduction by my dentist (former Treehouse brewer). Visited Kettlehaed and Schilling Breweries after reading New Hampshire BA reviews.

New to me beers in my top 100 this past year were once again dominated by treehouse and trillium with my ratings below

king jjjuliusss 4.78
jjjuliusss! 4.75
permanence 4.63
juice machine 4.62
max headroom by trillium 4.61
moment of clarity 4.6
daily serving mixed berry by trillium 4.6
me, myself and thai by Melvin 4.6
black clouds mexican chocolate dancing gnome 4.6 - received from @Pinz412 in Bif12
lions of the sea by vitamin sea 4.59
daily serving tropical punch 4.59
cosmic collision by cigar city 4.55 - received from @Roguer in BIF12
who is vitamin c by vitaminsea 4.54
harmonic wavelengths by equilibrium 4.54 - Fort Point Market
triple shot house blend 4.53
pop tart hamburger highway by other half 4.53
trappist westvletern 12 - 4.53
its all swell by vitaminsea 4.53
creatures from the deep by vitaminsea 4.53
he who was among monsters by timber ales -4.53 -fort point Market
pint break by cisco 4.52 - Craft Beer Cellar
green to green to green by mast landing 4.52
trappist Westvleteren 8 - 4.52
evangelion XV by adroit theory 4.52 - Craft Beer Cellar
2021 resolutions

Quality over Quantity - Drink beers rated on BA as 4.25 or higher. Obviously new beers will sku this target.

Dry January - worked in 2019 &2020 , ready for round 3

exercise every day which I have done since April 1st. Trying to drink half my body weight in ounces in water each day. I am becoming a race horse

Enjoy beer but i want to share the advice to drink responsibly. From my last year’s post

“Public service announcement. We drink beer here. Let’s not drink and drive. Recent events have been on my mind. This young man made a mistake and went to his office Christmas party, over imbibed and got behind the wheel. He made a terribly tragic mistake in which this young girl lost her life.

#https://www.wcvb.com/article/marshf...n-pembroke-crash-that-hospitalized-4/30359404

Call an Uber or lyft if you have had too much. Call for a friend who has had too much. Be a designated driver. Drink responsibly.”

 

Here's my Beer in review..top rated styles, from Ratebeer; I wish BA had something like this.



Notice, no IPAs of any sort.

 

Unless I'm missing your point, I see that you are a Society member, so you do have "something like this available." Here's a link to the thread that explains it in detail https://www.beeradvocate.com/commun...ur-ratings-by-style-state-and-country.586049/, but the short story is:
"Premium members now have access to this new perk which is currently in beta testing. It's very straight forward, but does the trick.

• Head to your your Beers list.
• You'll now see some new sub-nav a stats icon and links to Styles, US States, and Countries.
• Click to view the breakdowns including the number of beers rated per item and its percentage against the data set."

 

My goals last year were to try Younger and get trashed at least once. I didnt get to try Younger but I got pretty blitzed at least once. So I guess I will try again this year.

 

That's very useful indeed but breaking it down for the year would be nice.

 

I did not have any real targets other than exploring more beers but also enjoying the ones I like more often. That said, I reviewed 52 new brews in 2020 compared to about 126 in 2019. Part of the drop is because our small town has seen shrinkage in available craft and imports. Also, COVID has kept me out of the store more than 2019.

 

900 unique beers...i killed it

 

Geez. My goal in 2020 was to have less beer in the house, visit some breweries and brewpubs for the first time, and see more live music at local bars and clubs.

Give y'all one guess how that worked out.

 

Because of the pandemic mess, I tried to help support “local” breweries as much as possible. In my part of Texas, this means within approximately 100 miles. I had many excellent beers, met many nice people (from a distance!), and enjoyed myself while doing it.

 

I returned to BA maybe April or May? I was very much welcomed back by some long timers. I have been in and out of beer. Gotten published on the subject through 2020 which was great. I also completed my German/ Czech portion of my studies. All that aside I drank what I know I liked. Tucked way less. Stuck with brewers I knew I loved and tried a bunch of other amazing ones. As many from Jersey and Philly/ Philly burbs as possible.

2021? I have another daughter to be born this summer. Money will not go to beer. But if I do drink, it’ll be the things I love.