Happy Birfday to me! Happy Birfday to meeeeeeeee!
Happy birfffffffffffffffffffffffffffday dear mysEEeeelf...
Happy. Birfday. To. Me.
Today, August 2nd, marks one year since the pissed liBEERian was brought into existence. Wow, has it been a wild ride. In honor of the occasion, I am republishing my very first post with edits and notes. I got a laff and a half reading this again, hope you do too. Enjoy!
pissed = drunk (not mad)
liBEERian = me
I have noticed a theme developing in my life over the last 2+ mths or so. The search for delicious ales, delivered to me either in full pint form or 4oz tasting glass, has officially BEGUN. I think Brewer's Fest 2010 officially started my slight obsession. Some people critique food, some people breakdown vino & it's many elements. For others... there is beer. [EDIT: Oh sweet, sweet delicious beer. Twas a combo of Brewers Fest & Seattle International Beer Fest that spawned the blog, for the record.]I started drinking beer about 6yrs ago. Started LIKING beer around 3-4yrs ago. All of my male friends and brother have a pretty diverse palate when it comes to ale and I was starting to feel a little left out, possibly uncool. So I made myself try new things (new @ that time =ed anything that wasn't Corona w/ lime wedge) and failed miserably. Beer was purdy gross. I resigned myself to loving the oh so palatable Blue Moon & the occasional Mac & Jacks Serengeti Wheat. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy both but my mind and mouth crave more. Sigh... what's new? [EDIT: I've now pretty much blown all of said friends & sibling out of the water when it comes to having a diverse palate. They call me a beer snob and I'm okay with that. There's just too much interesting and new beer out there.]
Beer exploration took an abrupt halt when I stopped most of my drinking (vino and mixed drinks consumed rarely, beer never) to pursue fitness and weight loss for a stint of 6mths. Still keeping fit and active but have slowly added tasty ales back into my diet.[EDIT: Definitely slowed down on the consistent fitness portion of my life but I'm getting back into it. Unless I want to give up eating completely, I have to counteract all the beery goodness with something.]
Now that I have a few beer related festivals (along with the drunken bruises and fantastically fuzzy memories to prove it) under my belt, I have been fervently pursuing info from breweries around the nation, as well as local pubs for specific brews. The beer that got me started on such madness is Schooner Exact Brewing Company's Seamstress Union, a raspberry wheat ale.
I had it for the 1st time at Brewer's Fest 2010, handed over my little wooden chip not knowing the magnitude of what was about to hit my mouth. I then proceeded to spend many more chips (my own and my date's) at their corner tent location. 4oz a pop is not enough to get my fill! [EDIT: 4oz is still not enough, I have 2 mini growlers of Seamstress Union at home awaiting my private celebration. Yay seasonal beer! The 'date' in question who graciously let me spend his wooden money on SU was the one and only MGD. Neither of us knew that he would become so instrumental in my life's work but low and behold, he's still hanging in there.]
I spent the following weeks harassing the brewers @ Schooner Exact (who were kind enough to load me with info on the beer and where they had most recently delivered kegs in Tacoma) along with local pubs to find out where and when it was going on tap. Finally found it @ 1022 South in downtown Tacoma. Walking from work to my car @ 9p, I phoned Chris at 1022 to inquire on SU and I think he was as excited as I was over the ale "come on down!! we have it right here for ya". Met my partner in crime, MGD (used his real name in the original blog but he's become kind of a big deal so we try to retain his secret identity for privacy sake), for a pint. It was a mutual consensus that it was a) amazing and b) just as good, if not better than we remembered.
I felt fairly relieved that I hadn't built up it's amazingness in my head. Even though I will submit, I am fairly enamored with Seamstress Union. NOTE TO SCHOONER EXACT... take it off seasonal, make it year round!! Still planning on marching my charms down to the SE tasting room in Seattle to talk them into this. [EDIT: I've probably drank more Seamstress Union than most and I will still say, it is one of my favorites still. My tastes have changed drastically regarding beer, over the last 365 days but SU will always remain steadfast in my heart and hopefully in my mouthhole. They did me a total solid by winterizing the beer and creating Midnight Union, Seamstress Union's evil dark counterpart.]
Some of us require Seamstress Union year round. I was told specifically (by the Real MGD) "I don't want to be around you when SU isn't available any longer". Hahahaha, enuff said. ;)
Ale related goals and the Essential point of this BuhLog:
[EDIT: Let's see juuuuust how far I've deviated from my aims in the beginning...]
-Review beers I've tried [EDIT: Or list beers I've tried, especially the ones I loved, and link things to MGD's reviews on Rate Beer. Same difference.]
-Review pubs & breweries where I have sought out these libations (current fave: Parkway Tavern) [EDIT: Yup, still Parkway. They have, and always will, rock my stripey socks.]
-Find cool suppliers of eclectic bottled brew (current best a tie between 99 Bottles and Whole Foods) [EDIT: Success! We've found Binny's, World Beers of Tacoma, Bottleworks & beyond]
-Report on the many random occurrences that tend to happen while consuming the good brew (free age related beer & leaving SIB w/ 2x as many glasses as we started with) [EDIT: Essentially what my postings have been about. Recorded works of my musings & randomness regarding beer, life and events.]
-Learn to love IPA's (it is a type of brew that seems to have the most variety available 'round these here parts and with the coolest names, I think I can make it happen. I am single minded to a fault when there is something I want.) [EDIT: Results are in. I spent the better part of this year drinking mostly IPAs. I've developed an appreciation and can tell you what I like & I don't when it comes to them. However, I don't love IPAs. They still have rad names & my IPA face isn't quite as scary or frequent these days. It still rears its crazy head at times when I drink things like Arctic Panzer Wolf by Three Floyds BC.]
Well, there ya haze it. This last year has not only changed my little world, but my life. And as such things go, the more things change the more they stay the same. Still having fun during every minute of it & excited for the promise of more good times to come.
I've spent some time thinking about what ambitions I have for my little bloggy blog. I always wish I could be a million times more on top of stuff and consistency (you know, like a little more firm. possibly less runny...) can always use improvement. Here are my hopes for myself in the upcoming year (uh, no promises):
- Post weekly on events all around Tacoma. Not just my fave places but everywhere in the 253 with fun Seattle happenings thrown in.
- Bust out the event recaps in a more timely fashion (ahem, photo editing needs to be muy rapido MGD! heehee) and catch up on past event postings that never made it to publication.
- Start interviewing some of the great brewers around here about their awesomeness (instead of just spouting my undying love for them and their creations) & maybe start poking them more often for info about what new things they have coming our way.
- Update blog page, possibly move to a new site.
Yeah... that'll do for now on the goal setting. It's not freakin' New Years.
Now for my favorite part, speech time. SPEECH!!!!
A huge thank you needs to be dealt out to many. I am so blessed and thankful for so many who have contributed to making this blog (and the last year of my life) what it has become. Local brewers (for themselves & the awesome beer they make): who I've spent much time getting to know and make beer events funner than a fun thing, my merry minions (they are an assorted and random group): they've accompanied me on many beer related journeys and endeavors or just been enthusiastic about my plight, and anyone who reads & enjoys my blog: if there wasn't anyone to read it, there wouldn't be much of a point.
Have to add a special 'thank you' to MGD. He falls into the minion category (on FB, the RealMGD has hailed himself as '#1 minion to the Pissed Libeerian' so don't think this is only my doing) but in truth, my blog would not be what it is without him. During the course of this last year he has been my photographer (& always manages to capture perfect moments and kudos for always making me look my bestest), editor (luckily he understand the way I talk/write so he only edits actual mistakes & rarely my grammar), partner in crime (he's always primed and ready for the next big beer adventure with a camera in one hand, a taster glass in the other and a smile), and my man. Who I totally way super duper heart. Like... a lot.
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| Chilling by the fireside at the opening of the 7 Seas PNW Beer Garden. |
See ya on the other side...
the pissed liBEERian
aka Tracy
aka 5 thousand other aliases
