When 2020 started, I had decided to check every beer I had all year long into UnTappd to see just how many beers I really consumed and stuck to it for the first 3 months. Through the loss of Jinx at the end of January to the very early lockdown portion of Covi-19 I was keeping it up but then felt the weight of the year closing in and kind of let the project drop, mainly because I was a little scared at the sheer number I had hit. From January 1st through March 25th, I entered 400 check ins, in only 85 days…a rate of almost 5 per day and even with the grief of losing best little pal factored in, I was firing a little hot for even my pace. I know I probably drink more than the average person, no sane individual drinks a beer and writes about it every single day for more than 5 years without some complications, but the sheer volume of the consumption was a shock. Oddly enough, I had more than half of those as distinct beers, so for a lot of the time, it was still about talking about what was in my glass rather than the pain and anxiety that was in my head. I do love my small moments of authorship each day, sometimes a strictly by the book review and others a free flowing narrative inspired by events and beers in my glass. But I have no delusions of why I drink that much beer, I like the way I feel after a couple and some days that turns hard into more than just a couple. Is it addiction? I would be fool hardy to deny it, I know what I am and while I remain a functional, 50 hour a week working stiff, a drunk at heart I will always be.
I jokingly said beer is my love language the other day, but it has a spark of truth to it as I use beer to express my hopes and dreams, thoughts and emotions every single day. It has become the medium of my message and while I think it wouldn’t hurt to cut back on the volume, a beer a day is something I still think brings some merit to what I do. I could try to be cute, but the truth is some days that beer is the very best thing I do for myself.
So, what is the whole point of this exercise in self analysis? Well, I really do want to track an entire year of beer, much like I did in May of 2018 when I did “The Truth in May” and posted every pint I drank that month on Instagram. By using Untappd, it will be much simpler, entering beers, quick score for my own records and a true tally of every single pint that crosses my path for an entire calendar year. I don’t know if by observing my behaviour I can change it or will I feel the need to keep things much as they are now, but I figure since I’m gonna be drinking them anyway, might as well see what is what.
It will also simplify the tracking of the best and new importantly worst beers I have all year as I rarely bother to post bad beers or drain pours, but wanting to waste the ABV or my time with things that don't work.
If you’d like to follow along, head over to Untappd and be my drinkin’ buddy as we look to use Polk_TheTruth_2021 to really pull back the curtains on what has been a long ride down the Barley Highway.
Cheers,
Polk
No comments:
Post a Comment