Ground Rules & Ski Weekend

I've been getting (and making up answers to) some questions about the rules of the blog. The truth is I hadn't really set any rules going into this thing. My intention was less about altering my drinking habits and more about documenting them. But it seems like a good idea to set some ground rules sooner rather than later, and it was a fairly uninspired week, beerwise, so now seems a good a time as any to lay down some basics. My three rules, for your consideration:

1) My goal is to drink 365 different beers in one year. Any beer counts - good or bad. This doesn't mean I will drink a new beer every day. There will be days when I don't drink any beer, and there will be many more days when I drink lots of beers.

2) Beer must contain malt, yeast and hops. Therefore, hard cider is not beer (but is delicious), mead is not beer (but is delicious), and fruity malt beverages like Zima and Mike's Hard Lemonade are both not beer and not delicious.

3) I must consume at least six ounces of any given beer for it to count toward the list. So brewery tastings, flights, and sips of others' drinks don't count. A half bottle or more does count.

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Now on to the week that was, in beer.

Wednesday (like most days this month) brought snow, and an after work trip to Sunset Cantina, a bar that becomes more appealing in bad weather based soley on its sheer proximity to work. I ordered 23 ounces of the very refreshing Troegs Dream Weaver Wheat. The waitress asked me if it was good, "like Blue Moon". I'll say it again, what is the deal with people and Blue Moon? Second beer on the night was the classic Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.

Friday night Aaron and I headed up north to my dad's place near Gunstock for some skiing. After a four hour drive from Boston to Gilford, I needed a beer. Badly.

PBR in its natural habitat.

The fridge was stocked with remnants of last summer, so Pabst Blue Ribbon made a surprising early appearance as beer number forty on the year. This is my go-to cheap, canned, and highly drinkable beer for a lazy day on the lake, so I figured it would be at least July before PBR made it into the blog.

A girl can't live on PBR alone, and I wasn't about to touch the Leinenkugel's Sunset Wheat (Blech!) that was also in the fridge, so we made a run to the closest grocery store. Pickings were slim, but I decided a Redhook variety pack was our best bet for the weekend. After drinking another PBR while waiting for the new beer to chill, the frustratingly under hopped Redhook Long Hammer IPA became the next beer on the list.

We met up with my uncle and his family and hit the slopes first thing the next morning. After four hours of skiing, we stopped for lunch and I had a Shipyard Export Ale on draft at the Pistol Pub. After a few more hours, we broke again to the bar for a Samuel Adams Winter Lager before getting a few more runs in and calling it a day. Neither beer was particularly memorable, but the Shipyard was significantly more refreshing.

Back at the house I wondered why I was drinking a Redhook Mudslinger Spring Ale when there was two feet of snow on the ground. Then I knocked off a Redhook ESB (decent) and Redhook Blonde (boring) to finish off the variety pack. Five new beers in one day - a new blog record! (Note to my parents: The five beers were consumed over the course of eight hours. Please stop worrying.)

Beers Down: 48
Beers To Go: 317