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    Monday 31 December 2007

    Looking Forward To 2008


    The end of the year is traditionally the time we vow to do loads of worthy things during the following 365 days, but rarely keep our promise beyond a week or three. However in spite of previous attempts of mine failing I'm going to try and keep the following resolutions and now that they are being published on this blog I cannot dent ever having said I will do certain things.

    As you would expect of a beer blog most are beer related, but not all are:

    1. Try to lose weight - Who hasn't tried to do this over the years? Truth is though that between the beginning of October and Christmas I lost 14 lbs. Christmas has seen five of these go back on, but a really concerted effort should see success for me this year. Mind you that doesn't mean cutting down on the beer

    2. Eat conscientiously - By this I mean only eat meat farmed organically, or at least that the meat is free range (I really cannot go vegetarian). I already do this at home but I need to stick to my laurels and abide by this when eating elsewhere, like others' homes and beer festivals for example. It's pretty inexcusable not eating more ethically; good food is more expensive but it is most definitely worth it.

    3. Leave more comments on other blogs - I'm sure people appreciate comments being left, I know I do, so I'll try to devote more time to show that I read and enjoy other blogs.

    4. Respond to comments on my blog - Sometimes I just read and publish without joining in the debate, I must get out of that habit.

    5. Don't be so bothered about drinking new beers - this will particularly appeal to some of my readers. I will have had 850 new beers in 2007 by the end of tonight. I aim to reduce that number in 2008.

    6. Drink more local beers - Wherever possible I will drink Northamptonshire beers whenever I see them.

    7. Revisit all of the following beers - I really need to try these beers again in deference to new stuff. To that end, one day a week I will only drink stuff I've had before.

    Orval

    All three widely available Chimays

    Rochefort 6 and 8

    Westmalle Triple

    Aventinus

    Thornbridge Jaipur

    Crouch Vale Brewers Gold and Extra

    Dark Star Hophead

    Bush Ambrée

    Girardin Gueuze Black Label

    Cantillon Gueuze and Rose de Gambrinus

    Becks

    Okay that last one is a joke, but the list isn't exhaustive anyway.

    So let's see how I do, I'll try and report back in a years time. Meanwhile Happy New Year To All Of You, and thanks for reading my little space in surfdom.

    9 comments:

    Stonch said...

    Mark congrats on all you've done on the blog this year, and all the best for next year!

    Your resolutions strike a chord with me and I wish you the very best of luck with all of them! Laudable goals, all of them.

    Anonymous said...

    Concerning resolution No.2, these people have recently come to my attention and may help in this regard: www.thefreerangemeatcompany.co.uk

    Cheers, Mark

    Anonymous said...

    Happy New Year, and thanks for lots of food for thought and interesting posts over the past few months!

    Kieran Haslett-Moore said...

    Cheers Mark

    Happy New Year.

    Boak said...

    All very laudable! Happy new year.

    Knut Albert said...

    Happy New Year from Norway, too!

    Mattias said...

    Happy New Year for 2008 from Sweden.

    And just saying something about the beers:

    Crouch Vale Brewers Gold is one of the best beer experiences I have had in England so far.

    Anonymous said...

    Cantillon Gueuze and Rose de Gambrinus are two very wonderful beers. Not to everyone's liking I suspect.

    Unknown said...

    "Don't be so bothered about drinking new beers - this will particularly appeal to some of my readers."

    !!!

    I'll make a Reluctant Scooper of you yet!


    If CAMRA did only one useful thing this year (which would be a first) then they should make LocAle promotions mandatory. On my Sunday jaunts around Derby I look forward to drinking only Derbyshire beers - easy perhaps as I visit two brewpubs and the county has two dozen brewers.

    And I will obviously wholeheartedly endorse revisiting beers you've loved before. It's a tricky balancing act, this beer ticking/scooping/sampling game; you've got to try lots of beers to find the ones you really love, then you're too het up on finding new beers to drink the ones you know you really love.

    But balance you can do. Foresake the tick/rate for the known great beer. Scoop Reluctantly!!

    Especially where Jaipur is concerned.

    After all, when a man is tired of Jaipur, he is tired of life...