Hello and happy new year! I trust that all and sundry had a pleasant holiday, and enjoyed some lovely brews to ring in the new year. This is a looking-forward post. I plan on doing a looking back one in the days to come, re-living some of the highlights of the year that was.
The Year of Beer
I know of at least two people who have committed (one successfully, and one who will be shortly) to blogging their drinking of beer for a year. This is not what I’m doing. For those of you who don’t know, by day I am a freelance web developer, focusing mainly on sites built using WordPress (like this one), and creating an online presence for companies/individuals that include a range of social media, email communications, and goals/metrics to track success. While work is going well, and I’m quite happy, I would love to start to shift my focus more on to beer-related work. Breweries, bars, importers, whatever. In that vein, I’ve volunteered my services for this year’s Toronto Beer Week. But I want more. So if you’re a bar, a brewer, an importer, a rep, whatever, I’m here for you. If you know one of those types that need some help, direct them here, or to my professional page (http://www.ChrisSchryerDesigns.com). You might be surprised at what’s available to you, even at a fairly modest budget. By combining free technology, intelligent use of social media, and a system that allows the user to control most of the content, a little goes a long way. Whether you are in need of your first site, a retro-fit of an older static site, help bringing all the social media aspects together, finding a holistic way to communicate with your customers, or just about anything else you do or want to do on the internet, I’m your guy. You already know I know your business, let me show you what I know about mine.
Resolutions
Okay, the only resolutions I have time for are image ones. As in, “that .tiff is 1200 x 800 at 300 dpi”. I hate new year’s resolutions, and the gym-frenzy they induce every January. That being said, there are three things that I’ve been meaning to do, and it just so happens they are all starting roughly now. But by no means am I publicly resolving to do them. I’m just letting you know, because you might like to join in. The first I just talked about. Focusing on beer related work. The next is one that I wanted to start in December, but shortly after I came up with the plan, I got the flu, and bailed. Part of working from home is the joy of having lunch with Erika and Ben. But this means we need to have lunches that are quick and easy five days a week. Ben is now old enough to tag along with Daddy while shopping without needing to be carried, and is happy to help choose food for meals. So starting this weekend, we’ll be heading down to the mighty St Lawrence Market, to start a Father-Son tradition. We’re going to go each week and buy ingredients to make five days worth of soups, stocks, chilis, and stews. We’ll then spend lots of the weekend prepping the food, so that, come Monday, we’ve got five days worth of lunches that just need to be heated up. Why the hell do I mention this here? Well, for one, I might start a side blog sharing what we’re cooking for the week, to lend inspiration, and seek some from readers too. Also, St Lawrence is the kind of place that is fun to bump into people you know. So if you’re down there on Saturday, look for a heavily-laden guy with a hyper-active 2 year old in tow. We’ll get a cinnamon roll together or something. Lastly I’m going to start going to Bikram Yoga (that’s “hot yoga”, as in, yoga done in a 40*C room). This has nothing to do with anything, but it’s one of the three. My flexibility has been on the decline, and I could use a bit more fitness. Sounds good on paper, anyways.
Stuff I’m Looking Forward To
This year has a multitude of great events, already scheduled. Needless to say, there are going to be many many more. Top of my list this year, though, are Mondial de la biere in Montreal, Session Craft Beer Festival (Curt/Jed, if you’re reading, is this on?), Cask Days and the usual cornucopia of Volo events, and, of course Toronto Beer Week. I got to my first Project X in December, and plan on getting to a few more this year, if you haven’t been it’s worth the drive to Great Lakes, let’s carpool! There will be a year of CASK! Social‘s coming down the pipe, and I want to be at a lot of them. I’m stoked to see what the next St John’s Wort brew will be (Jordan has already given me some insight, but I’m keeping mum), and where/with whom he’ll brew it. I’m excited at the possibility of beer produced by another blogger, Matt from onebeeratatime.wordpress.com, who is in the dreaming phase (last I heard) of getting a homebrewing rig set up. I’m planning on stopping by to visit Kevin and Hirsch at Snowman Brewing to see them in action, brewing a batch of their excellent gluten-free beer. And of course, I’m expecting many sips and sups at a variety of my favourites (oh God, I hope I don’t forget anybody): Castro’s Lounge, Bar Volo, The Monk’s Table, Ceili Cottage, The Victory Cafe, The Burger Bar, Cloak and Dagger (it’s been too long), C’est What?, The Rhino (still haven’t made it for food), The Granite, The Griffin, The Only (Toronto and Peterborough), and St Veronus. I look forward to discovering new favourites (still haven’t made it to Bryden’s, for example). And I’m really excited about the prospect of some new places. I know of a handful of people who are looking to either buy or open places this year; best of luck to all of you. You know you can count on me to add a bit to the bottom line.
So what are you excited for? Let’s make plans!
*** Late press-time addition ***
Welcome back, Bartle! Andrew Bartle just posted a lovely manifesto on his (recently fairly quiet) blog. Check him out and follow along here: http://highhops.blogspot.com/. Aside from being a brewer (saviour of the SOB blogger brew-day) and a BJCP certified judge, he’s a generally nice guy too.
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