When I set out at the beginning of 2021 to document every beer I drank for an entire year I knew it wouldn't always be pretty or easy to accept that absolute truth. I am not under any illusions that I enjoy a few more libations than the average person, although I think if some folks out there were as honest with themselves as I am, we would have a whole different conversation right now. But they are not I and this is not that, so onward we go with this 12 month look at the raw and unfiltered data of my beer drinking.
The month of January opened at midnight on the 1st as I was still on vacation for a few days and we celebrated well into the morning on New Year's Day. So, the first few check-ins on Untappd were all about that party of two and enjoying our night together, a very late one indeed. Headstock from Nickel Brook Brewing was my first beer of 2021 and the reigning pint of the year made 16 more appearances in January as it remained my go-to choice to just relax and enjoy whenever the fancy struck me. This kicked off a very heavy first half of the month and by the 16th I had accumulated 82 total check-ins with 50 distinct beers. That's an average of a little over 5 beers a day and not at all a surprise as that seemed in line with what I had discovered back in 2018 when I had previously tracked my every pour.
But something was different this time, I wasn't particularly proud of that number and here we come up against what the Hawthorne Effect or more simply, the theory that by observing something or being watched changes the behaviour of the individual. In this case, I was seeing in real time and real numbers the actual amount of beer I was consuming and this did change how I approached each one that came after that day. Most of you don't know that I have a fascination with numbers, inspired by my love of sports statistics when I was a young man, and when I used the features of Untappd to delve deeper into my patterns, I began to alter what I was doing with a conscious bias toward changing the trajectory of said numbers. I rarely give myself credit for doing anything with a plan, but I started to look at my days with a little more thought and each beer with an eye to why I was drinking it and whether it wouldn't be better to wait till the next day off to have more than one or two in a day.
I took a clean approach to whatever I was doing, trying to ignore past failures in keeping myself in control of what I was imbibing and the numbers from the final 15 days of the month certainly bear out my intentions of utilizing this year of truth to try and work on my relationship with myself and alcohol. I made the choice to try and have no more than 2 beers on a work night, which for me was usually Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, with a little looser reigns on Wednesday and Saturday because we all deserve a few more pints on our nights off, especially during this pandemically challenged time. What I found with being more aware of the numbers was that I went down to 53 total beers, or 3.5 a day (a 35% drop) and 36 distinct ones. The reduction in consumption was found in the "just drinkin" beers, the pints I didn't write about or make a video with. Those beers are usually consumed well into the evening and often pile on one another in a fashion that a late January snowstorm does upon the trees. Accumulation through ignorance seems to be my easy way out and by taking stock of what was happening and doing a deeper dive into the numbers, I was able to alter my behaviour simply by acknowledging the truth of what was in said numbers.
While I know I still have a ways to go with really coming round on getting my stuff together, the reasoning behind wanting to document this year is coming more and more into focus. It is about changing my internal conversation and trying to break the patterns that have been hardened over the last year or so of mostly solo drinking. It is easy to fall into a night of 5 or 6 beers without consequences the next day, I have been doing that so long it feels like a comfortable blanket and a warm fire. But the accumulated effects of all those nights doesn't show up all at once, but rather slowly over time and I do this with a look to a future that is hopefully longer than my past would often indicate I would see. I have tried to stress moderation in the past, I want to believe I am capable of being far more attentive to my own health than I have been in the last couple of years. But I also want to be able to enjoy a few pints once in a while without feeling like I am heading down that dark path I was on not so long ago. It is a delicate balancing act, one I have seen people I know and love fail to be able to control. I am aware of myself a little more this year, taking stock of life while Covid-19 is all around you does that I guess, and I know I want more of what tomorrow may offer than getting hammered every night can give me.
So, onward we go into February with this new look at the numbers and an awareness that wasn't there when we started on the first of January. I'm sure the creators of Untappd didn't intend for their app to be used as an esoteric look at my relationship with beer, but damned if it hasn't happened anyway. I'll see you all back here after the calendar turns to March and we shall see together what the next 4 weeks brings to my glass and life.
Cheers!
Polk
More numbers because I am 100% that nerd deep inside.
Beers by the day
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