Six months!

When i started this project, all i needed, needed was some beer. Six months gone by, I'd say i kicked some ass (to the tune of Kickstart My Heart by Motley Crue)

Anyways, in all seriousness, when i started this project, I'll be honest, it was always about the beer.
My original goal was to go 6 months with a new beer every day, listen to a CD every day, try to get a little excercise every day (run or bike a mile each day) and support some charities with a $50 donation each month i was successful. To be honest, i probably listen to at least 1 CD a day anyway and run or bike 3-4 days a week, so the main effort was going to be the new beer every day.

Well, six months are done and i reached my goal all six months. Thats 186 different beers (I did 2.extra), at least 184 CDs listened to and countless miles on the treadmill, bike, and stationary bike. While it was fun, some days were a challenge, but i did it and its over. Or is it?

First off, i would like to thank the following liquor stores as they were the main ones i acquired most of my beers. There were others of course but these supplied the majority. Please support them if you can. (living in Alexandria, none of these were a quick drive, but i shopped at the places that had the best selection)
Westside Liquour - St. Cloud
Cashwise Liquor - St. Cloud
Four Firkens - St. Louis Park (@fourfirkens)
Zipps Liquor - Minneapolis (@zippsbeer)
The Ale Jail - St. Paul (@alejail)

For the charity each month, my orignal goal was to pick something local, but as events happen and time went on that changed a little. I personally donated $400 to the charities below and i know some people were also donating each month i completed my goal. From known contributors i know total donations were over $1000. Not too bad for something as dumb as me drinking new beers every day. Thanks to my friends and family who also donated! The following charities were supported, please help them if you can:
Lakes Area Humane Society - my local one www.lakesareahumanesociety.org
The One Fund Boston  www.onefundboston.org
Hopekids MN - a organization my employer is active with  www.hopekids.org
With One Breath - a local cystic fibrosis group i support  www.withonebreath.org
The V Foundation   www.jimmyv.org
Hardings Hope - a local MS group  www.hardingshope.org

I am just a regular guy, not a music expert and certainly not a beer expert by any stretch either, just two things i really enjoy. A lot of nights while updating i felt i had no idea what i was talking about, and probably still dont, but as the months went on i think i learned a few things.
As far as the music, everything i listened to i owned, so obviously i liked it at one point and it made the reviews a little one sided. If you think about it though, that actually makes sense. As far as the beers, i went into this not knowing anything except what tasted good to me. I realized that the three most important things to me were the smell, the taste, and whether or not i would drink it again or reccomend it to others. With that in mind, that is how i did my reviews. While i liked almost every beer i tried i would not necessarily look for a lot of them again. On the other hand, there were a lot that i am really looking forward to enjoying again. By no means do i think this project turned me in to a "beer snob" as i am just as happy drinking something basic as to some of the higher rated craft beers, but it sure is fun trying new stuff! I dont want to learn more of the beer making process or technical stuff , i just know what i like and that is all that eeally matters i guess. Anyways, take the reviews in stride, i most likely didnt know what i was talking about, but if i liked it, i think you will too.

I have spent the last week deciding if i was going to quit or try to continue and try to make it a full year. I think i made my decision the other day by just looking in my beer fridge. I still have roughly 80 different beers that i have not tried yet, so that will cover almost 3 of the 6 months, so why not continue? As far as music goes i think i could go forever. Up until now i have done all commercial releases, but i have tons of bootlegs and live shows i can pull out too.

So, i guess i will be forging ahead and trying to make it a year straight. The only thing that will change is my daily updates will probably be a little shorter. As bad as i think my daily write ups were, i realized they took me 30-45 minutes every day to do. So, expect updates daily, but probbly most will be a lot shorter. If you have any charities in mind, please let me know as i am always looking for something local and different.

As always, thanks for the support! Enough with this book, i have things to do and beer to drink!