1001 Beers

First off, welcome to my humble new website.  My name is Blake and I've been an avid beer geek for the past 10 years.  Going to college in San Diego and living just blocks away from Alesmith afforded me a unique opportunity to follow the craft beer movement not only in San Diego, but also throughout the rest of California.  Living within driving distance of Stone Brewery, before they were the large brewer they are today and also Port Brewing (and the amazing Pizza Port chain) gave me ample opportunities to try new brews, experiment at beer festivals, and get to know many great people throughout the SoCal craft beer scene.

These days, I still love my beer, but just do so from beautiful Orange County.  Home to The Bruery (2 years old almost), I hang out there almost every weekend and I'm lucky enough to have many great retailers that stock a wide range of beer selections - BevMo, Hi Time Wine, and Total Wine and More.  Through the years, I've maintained my beer geek status and will always try new things.  I am also an avid home brewer (Arkh Brewing), and have bi-annual parties each year at my home - the largest being an "Around the World" beer festival where each participant chooses a country and brings enough to share.  We have also started to have an "Around the U.S." beer gathering as well since there are so many fine craft breweries throughout the United States that a lot of people never get to try.

Since I am currently unemployed after a five year stint at a real estate consulting firm (this real estate market really isn't helping our country's recovery at all...), I decided recently to take a two week trip around the United States, picking up local brews from each market I stopped in and also stopping at brew pubs and breweries wherever possible.  Upon returning home, I was browsing the internet and happened upon a new book that was released on March 23rd, 2010, 1001 Beers You Must Taste Before You Die.  I could sense a challenge, and thus, this site was born.

I ordered my book on the 24th, it arrived on the 25th, and I now have approximately 50 beers ready to be sampled, reviewed, and discussed.  I plan on post a review a day, but I know I can't keep that pace up forever.  At some point, my local beer shops will no longer be able to satisfy my need for a new beer from the book.  Luckily, there are always festivals that I can hit up (including the Belgian Beer Festival this Saturday, March 27th at Pizza Port, Carlsbad) where I will try and pick out some of the rarer Belgian beers that are in the book, but not available in store.  But if I can keep up the pace of 1 a day, it will still take me 2 years and 271 days to review every beer.  Compounded by the fact that there will be many rare beers that are just not available to me without traveling large distances, my goal is to review as many beers as humanly possible.

Follow along with me, suggest new beers that I should try, let me know what you think of the beers that I review, and, most importantly, if you're not a beer geek like me, I hope this site will open up new flavors, styles, and experiences in beer that you have not yet had the opportunity to sample.