One Month of Sobriety

I decided to stay off the beers for the whole of Feb. As a beer lover and sometimes blogger it seems like a pretty strange choice but I had a few of personal reasons and February is a great month, maybe its the clean four weeks  maybe it's the last month of summer. For whatever reason I have stayed completely sober for the whole of Feb and in under three hours I will have done twenty eight days of no drinking.

More interesting than the why, is the what I learned. Here are a few out takes from what I learned from having a full month off drinking:

1. Alcohol isn't good for you. When they say 'what's your poison' they mean it, alcohol can poison you. That doesn't mean you shouldn't drink it or you should stop forever. It just means you should be aware of how much you're taking in, not just in alcohol, but in energy and excessive consumption.
2. Taking a break is healthy! It seems like the logical counter point to the first point. When you stop drinking, your body changes. I've noticed I don't get as fatigued when I exercise and that I've been eating less. It's good, I've even lost a little weight. People say that beer isn't the reason for beer bellies. This is true, but beer and alcohol in general does have effect on your overall health. 
3. You don't need to drink, especially if it sucks. Why do we drink bad beer when it's the only one available? Its senseless, aside from getting drunk, all drinking bad beer does for me is make me angry and make me fat. I'm angry enough about bad beer without drinking it and I don't need to get any fatter, I hate myself enough already.
4. Drinking is not a stress relief. I had a few fairly stressful days in Feb. My first instinct was to drink, but when I resisted I learnt something. It's much easier to deal with a problem if you keep your head clear and deal with it front on. Drinking is a great avoidance technic, but it doesn't solve anything, which sounds like something someone says at a horrible conference on success, but it's true and its easy to forgot when you are feeling a little hot headed.
5. Drinking great beer RULES. By far the hardest moment I had during my month off was when my Beer Masons pack arrived. Looking at all those taste delights made me remember what I loved most about beer. Enjoying one or two super delicious, complex, interesting beers is something I will always love.
6. Its not hard. You just stop. You set a date to start and a date you want to reach. Not doing something is about the easiest thing you can do. It also saves you money, it cleans your liver out and you feel good for it. 

I have no regrets about my little jaunt into sobriety. I don't intend on quitting alcohol full time any time soon, but I have given myself some perspective on the role that it plays in my life. I want to reduce how much beer I drink and focus on quality, drinking unique beers that are new, tasty and enjoyable.

So, with that aside, now on to the hard choice of deciding on my first beer for March. Tell me in the comments which one you think I should tuck into. I'll write a review here as well.

Why beer? Why now?

Beer has suddenly and inexplicably blown up in Australia. I'm not sure if it's the internet's amazing ability to create clarity for previously shrouded sub-cultures or if it has to do with the increasing size of Australia's craft beer market but beer, craft beer specifically, is getting huge.

Given this, it might be fair for any reader to ask why I would start a beer blog in that environment. It hardly seems inventive or original, I'm hardly an expert, nor am I part of the industry. Both of these statements are pretty fair, but they really get to the point of why I am starting a beer blog.

I remember the exact point in time when my beer 'like' became my beer 'love', the moment I realized that Stella Artois is not a top notch "imported beer" and that "premium" did not refer to how much alcohol was in the tinnie.

It was a sunny Saturday afternoon. I had spent a long day crawling the streets of Sydney's CBD looking for cafe's and music shops with my brother Andrew.  We decided it was time for a break, while pacing down Clearance St we happened upon Red Oak Boutique Beer Cafe. I recall my brother looking at me and saying "Well it is a cafe after all".

Inside two large bright beer tanks, lined with wood paneling greet you. A long solid wood bar with 12 taps all bearing the Red Oak logo spans the length of the room. It was so majestic and inviting.

I sat at the table and quickly became confused by the menu, which was bar snacks and a list of almost unrecognizable words, which I'd surmised were beers. The bar tender, Janet, asked if we had ever been before, to which we replied negative, so she recommended the tasting platters.

As soon as the platter was in front of me, I knew I had been missing out. My life was about to change. Frozen cold, pale, bland coloured beers were no where to be seen. But an array of golden, red and opaque black glasses sat before me, small Hors d'œuvre, each placed in front of a beer, matching the flavours and progressive becoming stronger. It was so odd, so different, I'd never seen beer treat like this before, it was like, to my mind, they had somehow confused beer with.... wine! So in the haze of my confusion, I decided, why not? Why not treat this beer in front of me as if it were wine. So my brother and I did just that. We started tasting the beers, slowly swapping back and forward between food and beer, discussing as we went the flavours, their complexities, the subtles, as we had both seen our parents do many times (they are big wine buffs). Janet became involved in the conversation as we progressed and by the end we had spent two hours plus at this bar, learning all about beer.


A few weeks later I sat at that bar and told Janet that I had just got my RSA certificate, she passed me a celebratory beer and asked me when I could have my first shift. I walked at Redoak for a year and a half, and although I haven't worked there for some time now, my love of beer hasn't subsided. I am constantly seeking out new beer experiences, breweries, new beers, beer pubs and great food and beer experiences. I have gone to beer festivals, started home brewing with my brother Tom and even done some stewarding for beer competitions. It's a hobby and a love.


I hope that in this blog I can share with you my love for beer, a few of my favourite experiences and new places and people, as well as some of my opinions on where beer is as an industry, not as a business person, but as a drinker and beer enthusiast. I promise that I wont, review beers or brewers, that's for Beer competitions and is inherently wrought with potential issues. I wont be negative about something, there is no use in me beating on about something I don't reccommend, I'd prefer to spend my time on stuff I've loved, or thoughts I think are "beer positive". I also promise to always respect everyone's opinion, some people love beer in a different way to me, all I can do is share my perspective.


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