Getting started---what is this blog about?

Hello readers....and future readers.   This blog is going to be about beer.  It is going to be about beer I like, and it is going to be about beer I do not like.  Specifically, it is going to be about craft beer and imported beer, since that is what I tend to drink.  If you are a beer enthusiast, you already know what that means.  If not, it means in all likelihood I will not be reviewing cans of Keystone.

Those of you who know me might have noticed that I occasionally write down some notes when I try a new beer.  Sometimes, I even bring a little notebook into a restaurant.  That is because for most of the last three years, I wrote and submitted reviews to www.beeradvocate.com.  My reviewing habit started as a trickle and became something of a stream, and by December 2011 I had submitted just under 150 reviews.  Then, the site crashed.  Then they switched over to a new server.  Somewhere between those events, Beer Advocate lost a fair amount of user data, including mine. 

I have been waiting for them to figure it out and hopefully restore my account.  In the meantime, I have continued trying new beers and writing reviews.  Rather than wait for them to resolve the situation, I have decided to start a blog.  Writing reviews is not enough; I enjoyed the occasional feedback as well. 


Going forward, you can expect most of my posts to be reviews of three types: those I wrote for beeradvocate.com, those I wrote in the interim between Beer Advocate and now, and new reviews.  Sadly, I don't think I backed up most of my really old reviews.  I have some sixty reviews I've written since then.  I won't upload all of them, just the most remarkable ones.  I don't often go to a bar or restaurant just for the beer or even mostly for the beer because of how expensive it is to dine and drink out, but I will throw in a post now and then if I find a cool place.  The same goes for retail stores, industry trends, or any other beer-related thoughts I have.


There will be an FAQ and an About Me later.



Cheers,

Mike