My 7 Tips For Better Beer Drinking (2023)

A can of Fifty Fifty Brewing "Totality" Emperial Stout — Maybe Imperial Stouts will have a comeback this year, like this Fifty Fifty Totality Stout

I don’t know what beer style will emerge (if any) this year. In fact, I predict NOTHING will. It will get so fucking boring that old styles will get a bump.

Stouts will make a comeback. There. I said it. Remember it. Stouts.

I am not even rooting for it. I Just feel the Stout category is so quiet these days, it is bound to have a comeback. Yeah?

Well, I am not here to make predictions, actually. Nor am I here to play the best games for a beer garden. I am here to pour out some good beer drinking tips to focus on this year. This is for me as much as it is you.

Drinking even MORE West Coast IPAs. I went strong with Westies last year and I don’t see that letting up AT ALL this year. Around these parts, Westies have made a bit of a comeback from the haze craze days and I will continue to support that. #clearbeer
Trying a seasonal beer in every season. Even if the beer style is not my thing, focusing on, at least having ONE beer that is known for the season. Setting aside the cost of buying one, it can’t hurt, yeah? Tastes change so could end up realizing I like a style that I didn’t before.
Visiting taprooms a little more. I say only a little more because I am big on having beers at home. But I could use more time in a beer garden AND definitely more brewery beer to take home.
Not opening another beer when already hella sleepy. What good is wasting half a beer and not really enjoying the other half because you’re falling asleep in a chair with your beer next to you? Training to cut myself off.
Normalizing lunch beers. I feel like 30 years ago, having a beer at lunch (during a workday even), wasn’t a big deal. Why not have ONE (maybe two if you’re low on the alcohols) with your lunch before heading back to work? Tell your boss I said it was okay.
Drinking water before sessions. Loading up on water and making sure I eat before a drinking session prevents hangover. When I get one, I didn’t do one or both of those things.
Roll all the Hazy beers. Yes, rolling your hazy beers is a thing. Take it for a walk if you have to:

Okay. Good luck to you and your drinking this year. If you keep these tips in mind, I think it will be a better one.

Can You Edit Your Check-in Location On Untappd?

Beer on the bar in the Floodcraft taproom inside Whole Foods Santa Clara — Forgive the blurry Half Acre beer, I want you to look at the Untappd board. I messed this check-in up, but I learned how to fix it

Can You Edit Your Location After Posting On Untappd?

Yes. You can totally edit your location after you check-in on Untappd and change it to the right one.

I recently used Untapped (tired as I am at taking pictures of my beer) to check-in a beer at Whole Foods.

I know, weird right? Yes, this particular Whole Foods is one of the ones that have a taproom too, so it was totally cool and legit that I was drinking beers inside a grocery store.

Anyway, I check my beer into Untappd, and they have a live board so I am waiting to see my stupid ass face pop up at the bottom of the screen. And then… nothing. The screen gave me nothing.

I made sure to use the venue both on location and purchase but I still was not coming up on the board.

Turns out that this place has multiple location options for checking in and chose the wrong one. There was:

Whole Foods Market – Santa Clara
Floodcraft (the actual name of the taproom)

After some research, I figured out the right one. For some reason it turned out to be “Whole Foods Market – Santa Clara” which I thought is weird. It should have been “Floodcraft” which is the one I checked in. Nope. I never came up on the board.

But it’s too late, right? I already checked in.

Nope. It’s NOT too late.

How To Edit A Check-in On Untappd

Pull up the post/check-in that needs correcting and click on it. You should have “Check-in Detail” at the top of the screen now.
Click the three dots at the top right.
You should have an option of “edit”, so click that.
Under “Location” find the proper location you want to change to and do the same for “purchased location”.
Save it. Now your check-in should show up as you wanted it to.

It may take a minute before you see your check-in displayed on the board. Also, MAKE SURE to check-in the place you purchased the beer in “location” AND “purchased location”, otherwise it might not get up on the board.

Because sweeping the board is sometimes the only interesting thing to do in a taproom.

P.S. I have a guide to Untappd that you can have for nothin’

Best Notebooks & Tasting Journals for a Beer Geek

The Best Beer Tasting Journals and Notebooks For Brewers and Beer Lovers

I have gathered what I believe are the best beer notebooks and tasting journals for a beer geek. Not just beer gifts for men, but a gift for a great note-taker who likes to have a beer.

Maybe you’re looking for a good gift for beer lovers or you’re a home brewer looking for a proper home brewing recipe journal. Or you want to save your notes about your beer and just want a new beer journal for yourself, I made this post for you.

While most people use Untappd for their beer journaling and tasting notes, putting pen to paper is still a thing us beer geeks do. In fact, we can do both. We’re multi-talented with our drinking and beer notes that way.

You can get really simple with your journal and have something for just writing down basic beer stats, or you can do some advanced sketch-notes like the one pictured at the top by Catherine Madden.

BTW, If you purchase through the links posted below, I may receive compensation (key word MAY). Let’s take a look at the notebooks and journals that are beer-worthy:

Best Self Project Action Pad

The Best Self Project Action Plan pad, is for when you plan to drink beer and relax.

This is perfect for a home or pro brewer along with a pro home drinker that wants to document. It may not be specially made for a beer person, but it definitely can be adopted by one.

There is also the Best Self 13 Week Productivity Journal – for the long range brewing goals.

There are a ton of great notebook options and card prompts at Best Self.

The Leuchtturm 1917 Medium A5

This one has no particular beer things within. It is just a really solid notebook that you can make however you want to. Plenty of open (but ruled) notebook space to create and document all the beers or brewing notes your buzzed little heart desires.

It has two bookmarks and that 150 gsm paper – which just means ink won’t bleed through to the next page. I use this one for my Craft Beer podcast and it performs well.

There are 31 writable lines per page. And it’s durable. Slightly larger than a normal Moleskin style usually is.

It is running around $25.00, but check it on Amazon right now, to make sure.

The Moleskine Beer Journal

This is part of Moleskine’s “Passion” series of notebooks. Moleskine is my favorite brand of notebook to use, it would make sense to get this Moleskine Beer Journal:

It says on Amazon there is only six left. Not sure if that is a ploy to get you to buy it and then as soon as you do there is still magically one again. They don’t seem to be producing it anymore so this may be a collector’s item.

This is the one I would use for a beer diary. It MIGHT be too collectible to use (I am a nerd). I use a straight-up Moleskine notebook for my beer diary or beer brewing notes (if I were to get into brewing someday).

It has popped up on Bookshop.org too, but it comes and goes.

FEATURES:

Beer-themed shapes embossed on its cover.
Traditional Moleskine stickers but with a beer theme.
Five themed sections for tasting notes.
Section for notes about the place you purchased your beer.
Glossary for beer tips.
Has 240 pages and is large format size 5 x 8.25 inches.

The price in the past has been $20 to $25. But if it’s becoming this rare, that price is probably a steal now. At the time I am writing this it is $29.00 on Amazon.

I got one as a gift and opened it on my YouTube channel:

Using a simple blank Moleskine can work too if you like to set-up things yourself. Find a template that works for you and copy it.

Continue reading →

How To Cleanse Your Palate For Beer Tasting

Premium crackers, Daisy Cutter Pale, Pure Project hazy, Moose Drool Brown Ale — Crackers & beer: it’s a thing

You’re having a flight of beers, or you are at a beer festival, or bottle share, maybe you do your drinking from the kitchen table, or are busy sweeping an Untappd board.

Whatever the hell it is, you’re going through a lot of beers.

But you want to taste the next beer as genuine as you can. The cleanest way. I am here to try and help.

These are MY real-world picks, not generic trash results I got off the Internet.

How to cleanse your palate between beers

Crackers. Unsalted crackers are the best but salted still work.
Chips. This works for when you are out in the field drinking. Most places don’t have crsckers but they have chips.
Nuts. Mostly a tip for when you are in a bar or at home. Not that practical anywhere else.
Water. Super boring option and not the best way to reset your palate, but usually there is some around and you should be drinking some anyway.
Your hand. What the hell!? Your hand!? Yes. Give your hand a good lick. Taste that hand – you know where it has been, it’s fine. Almost give it a hickey even. This is the best option when there is nothing around and by the way, I do it often.
A different style. If you are stringing a bunch of IPAs together it’s a good idea to break it up with a Stout or Brown or something. You would be surprised how improved a hoppy beer can be, drinking one after an opposite style.

Again, these are all ones I do myself. If there is science behind this, it’s unintentional.

Resetting your palate before a different beer is something I highly recommend though.

Non-beer geeks (and even some actual beer geeks) might scoff at you. Let them. Be sad for them. They just don’t know. But now you do.