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.

Result

So, after the last post, the results are in.

We will be getting Little Creatures Bright Ale and 4 Pines Kolsch for the next few months, and then swapping up real soon.

Keep comments rolling in if you have suggestions and ask your friends too. I think it's a really interesting discussion point. I might even do a poll at a later date.

What's the best craft beer for easy drinking in Australia?

Quick Quiz/ Help me out yo!

I have come upon a bit of a problem.

I work at an advertising agency and we very luckily have a bar area and a fridge which is always stocked with beers. These are usually of the extremely mainstream variety. Tooheys and Hahn Super Dry are stables, while the purchase likes to spice it up with the ever exotic Corona!

Luckily, we also have a thing at work called the Cain award. This award in honor of the first murderer in the bible goes to the thing that each month gathers the most votes for getting rid of. I like this because instead of people bitching at work, they can just vote for the cain award and get rid of their problematic issues, like annoying systems of processes.


This month I organised dissent among my colleagues, and have managed to have our beer choices win the Cain award.

BUT here lies my challenge.

I am now faced with choosing three beers that everyone will enjoy. I was thinking 4 Pines Kolsch, Little Creatures Bright ale or even the divisive Gage Roads Atomic!

What would you choose, if you had to pick three beers for the Friday afternoon drinking pleasure of over 150 of your closest workmates? Remembering that a Rauch might not get the reception you gave it when you were stroking your chin in the local beer cafe.

Trainworks Post Review

I wrote a piece on Trainworks which you can go see at Brews News now.

What's your opinion on Big Beer Festivals, are they good for the craft beer community? Do they attract the right or wrong crowds? What improvements could they make?

The Grifter Interview

I mentioned that I had done an interview with the folks from The Grifter Brewing Company a few weeks ago. Well, I finally got around to clearing it up and you can have a read of it here. Tell me what you think. I'd really like to know if this is the kind of information that you wanted to know about the starting of a brewery? Could I have approached it differently?

Craft Beer and Marketing

Tonight I'll write an article about this video, in the mean time watch this and have a think if you want.

Trainworks Winter Beer Festival

Just a quick one. Really looking forward to the Trainworks Winter Beer Festival on the 25th of August. I would encourage all to come along and check it out, it's gonna be lots of fun, great brewery line up, including my faves Redoak, Balmain, Rocks Brewing and all the regulars. Also if you are going, contact me and we can share a beer and have a chat.



Read the review here.