Another year has come and gone, and with it a whole bunch of beer reviews.  I’ve been working the “A new beer each week” angle for almost 2 years now and I’ve had a lot of fun doing it.  I’ve learned a lot so far.  Here are a few highlights:

1)  I don’t know Jack Shit, and Jack just left town. Had to borrow the Bruce Campbell line because its so appropriate.  In the grand scheme, I don’t know a damn thing.  I know more than I did when I started this whole thing, but I’m honest enough to know I still have a lot to learn.  So if you’re coming to me to be the end all, be all source of beer knowledge you are in for some trouble because I’m not it.  I’m working on it though.

2) Its all relative. If I’ve come to truly appreciate one thing, its that all beer reviews should be viewed with a mental disclaimer that reads “This is my opinion.  Go drink it yourself if you really want to know what the beer is like.”.  I’ve had beers that I find incredibly good but that just about every major beer review source has given a bad score to, and vice versa.  Don’t confuse this with some “I’ve become enlightened and I’ll now treat all opinions as mental gold”.  I’m still going to be my pugnacious self in the reviews, but I do at least recognize this now.

3) Respect and Honesty. I’m not talking about giving out respect because someone has told you that you should, or that you should always respect a beer because its someone’s hard work.  I’m talking about giving out respect because after having done this for near two years, I feel I understand things better now.  If I think a beer is at best below standard and at worst horrible, I’m going to say it is in all honesty because to do less wouldn’t be right to me.  Yes, I respect the fact that the brewers have worked hard crafting their beer, but what about respecting the rights of the person drinking it and not serving them up horrible beer?   The respect road goes both ways.  In light of that, I have to say I have gained an entirely new respect for the Alstrom Brothers of BeerAdvocate.com.  Those guys have put together an operation I could only dream of, and are worthy of more respect that I’m able to give out because of it.  I’m not trying to be a kiss-ass, that’s the God honest truth.

4) My writing is at a 5th grade level. Well, this isn’t exactly a revelation to anyone.  Hey, I’m a neurobiologist not an English major.  People can deal with it while I expand my beer vocabulary.

5)  People are actually listening to me.  Over the last year especially, I’ve become more aware of the fact that something that started two years ago as random blog entries on borrowed space at a friend’s webpage has grown into its own monster.  People actually appear to listen to me, which is horribly frightening.  I mean, I’ve had breweries send me beer to review for the love of God.  My reviews actually come up on the first page of a Google search for some beers.  There has been talk thrown around the “office” of merchadise and a book of the first hundred reviews.  Absolutely astounding.

Those are five of the things I’ve learned after the past two years.  I’m sure there is more that I’m not conciously aware of.  That being said, I have two choices available to me it seems.  On one hand, I can just keep going the way I’ve been going since it appears to be working fine.  On the other hand, I can take the Beer Roster and make it evolve.  Since I’m a biologist and I dig on evolution, I’m going that route.  Starting after the New Year, the driving force of the Beer Roster will be changing.  I’m going to be moving from the general “A new beer a week” motif to a more focused one.  On BeerAdvocate and RateBeer.com, there are 100 different styles of beer listed.  The new goal of the Beer Roster is to have me try at least one beer from each style.  Sounds like a lot of work?  Well, if you take into account all the beer I’ve had so far I’m only 48 brew styles away from reaching that goal.  Should be doable.   The big problem will be finding beers in some of the more obscure types, like Kvass and Sahti.

One last thing.  If the Beer Roster is going to evolve, it needs a new name.  Currently the spreadsheet tracking the beers and their styles has been named “Remy’s Beer Quest” by my friend Dave.  I’m throwing a challenge out there for someone to come up with something better and geekier than that.  We’ll discuss a possible reward.

Alright kids, I’m done rambling.  Now go get a beer.

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