A Drunk Diary, Episode Eight

4pm : Day Eight, not sure I want to drink today. Also it now looks like I won't be going to Boston, Bollocks!
Trying to decide what to start on.
9.30pm, starting now.

Drink : Goose Isalnd IPA x 2 Bottles
abv : 5.9
Units : 4.18

Drink : Speakeasy Big Daddy IPA
abv : 6.5
Units : 2.9

Drink : Worthington White Shield
abv : 5.6
Units : 2.8

Totals units today : 9.88

52 pubs a week, are we surprised?

I hate this weather. It's bad enough that we have duty increases imposed on us without a seconds thought by a lame-duck government in the throws of dying an ugly, slow and painful death but now the weather 'chips-in' an completely cripples pub going.
This is the first week back at work after Christmas so I never expect the bar to be busy but whenever it snows the whole country comes to a standstill as the transport system slips up on the ice.
Yes it's pretty, but with approx 52 pubs closing a week this is not good news for the pub trade.
There's also the ill-advised, daily mail style scaremongering from the local and national media that is sending people scuttling back home quickly after work.
How about the annual get-fit January from people who try to shed their latent catholic guilt about drinking, eating and having too much fun? Dust-diets all round I guess.
Add into the mix the cheap booze being sold by supermarkets(of which I admit I partook on New Years Eve) and crippling rents being imposed on pub operators by greedy landlords and well, I could go on for hours about this but I know we've heard it all before.
My message to all customers, mine and others too is this : Get yourselves out to the pub tonight, lets see some of that famous British blitz spirit, it's only snow! The pub should be the heart of the community, lets make 2010 the year of the pub.

A Drunk Diary, Episode Seven

Day seven, going to tot up the Units I've had this week, scary.
Six days of drinking = 53.72 units which equals around 8.95 units a day which is more than double daily recommended intake. Yikes!
Of course I've pretty much convinced Mike and Rich that we can afford to go to Boston for the Extreme Beer Festival now, my liver is bad an must be punished!

Anyway, here's today's notes.

Drink : Mongozo Mango x 1 bottle (Before you say anything, I was just trying it!)
abv : 3.6%
Units : 1.18

Drink : Goose Island IPA 2 bottles
abv : 5.9
Units : 4.18

Total units today : 5.36
Total Units this week : 59.08

OK so in the first week we've seen me drink my way to nearly three times the recommended weekly intake!
See you all tomorrow.

A Drunk Diary, Episode Six

First Drink 4pm.

Drink : half pint Brewsters Hop a doodle do
abv : 4.3%
Units : 1.22

Drink : Brooklyn Brown Ale
abv : 5.6%
Units : 1.98

Drink : Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA x 3 bottles
abv : 7.2%
Units : 7.56

Drink : Youngs Ordinary Bitter Half Pint
abv : 3.8%
Units : 1.08

Sierra Nevada Anniversary
abv : 5.9%
Units : 2.06

Total units today : 13.9

Liver taking a pasting again and it's only day six!

Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA

If you read this blog on a regular basis you'll know I'm keeping a Drunk Diary this month, if you're paying attention to it you'll know that I drank 3 bottles of Sierra Nevada Torpedo yesterday.
To me, Sierra Nevada are a very interesting brewery, they produce a massive amount of beer every year and yet they still seem to be considered a 'micro'-brewery! I consider them a craft brewery rather than a micro because they make beer the right way and still manage to make large quantities of beer. Usually when a Brewery starts making bigger quantities the beer geeks/purists/snobs/raters, call them what you will, complain about a lack of consistency and loss of street cred. Apparently if you make large quantities then you aren't sticking to your values, not sticking it to the man, you become 'the man'. My Mate Sid Boggle wrote a great piece of this here Now Sid's piece was written about a trend toward so-called extreme beer and the fact that the beer snobs don't consider a brewer credible if they don't make at least one super strong beer. The beer snobs tend to forget facts like Sierra Nevada doing big beers like the Bigfoot, trying to move into 100% sustainable energy production, the fact that the brewery is still owned by one of its founders, hardly uninteresting sell-outs.
The Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA is not an extreme beer, it is however still interesting and well worthy of the title a craft brew. It has a big hop character but it also has balance bought to it by a perfect combination of Two Row Pale and Crystal malts bought together with the Magnum, Crystal and Citra hops, Magnificent! This could fast become one of my firm favourites.

A Drunk Diary, Episode Five

Day starts with a hangover, that'll be 3 bottles of Torpedo then!

Started drinking at about 1.30 today with lunch.

Drink : Wells/Youngs Double Chocolate Stout.
abv : 5.2%
Units : 2.6

I have to say it's now 5.25pm and I really feel liked I'm all 'beered-out' for today. This is my day off, perhaps I should just leave it at that.
That's definitely it for today, see you all tomorrow.

OK it's now 8.44pm and at last I feel like drinking so with our pork stir fry this evening I'll have some wine.

Drink : Montana Sauvignon Blanc 250ml
abv : 12.5%
Units : 3.12

Drink : Montana Sauvignon Blanc 175ml
abv : 12.5
Units : 2.18

Drink : Montana Sauvignon Blanc 100ml
abv : `12.5%
Units : 1.25

Not beer but great wine.

Anyhow, total units today : 9.15

A Drunk Diary, Episode Four

So, I've reached day four of my drunks diary, I've started calling it my drunks diary because I seem to be averaging about twice the recommended daily intake. So Far it has raised a few interesting issues, like am I seeing how much I drink and not having that last drink.
I'm going to alter the diary slightly and try to remember the time I started drinking and the time I finished drinking because yesterday, for instance, I started drinking at about 3pm and finished at about 9.30pm so that was three beers in 6 and a half hours, hardly what I'D call binge drinking but I'm no doctor.

First Drink today at 1.50pm

Drink : Nethergate Priory Mild x 1/2 pint
ABV : 3.8%
Units : 1.07

Drink : Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA x 3 bottles
abv : 7.2%
Units : 7.56

Drink : St Peters Grapefruit Beer x 1 Pint
abv : 4.7%
Units : 2.66

Drink : Goose Island IPA x 1 Bottle
abv : 5.9%
Units : 2.09

Total Units Today : 13.38

Last drink at approx 8.30pm

OK this is essentially four times the recommended daily intake but I at least know how much I'm taking in.
Can I also just say it was great to see all Lucille and I's friends this evening, well worth the pickled liver.