So like any good New Year’s Resolution; I managed to break mine within a couple of days of it being in effect.

Now, Untappd is a fantastic app and a great tool for keeping track of your beer. When you’re standing in a liquorstore or pub you can quickly check your phone to remind yourself if you’ve had a certain beer… but here’s the thing; generally I’m standing in a fridge where the heavy insulation manages to block the signal and I don’t particularly want to be the guy walking in and out of the fridge with his phone in his hand (though I do sometimes fake a call).

On this particular occasion, I trusted my gut and was thinking “Nope, I would remember that label and I’m not a big fan of bitters so that must be a newbie”.

Evidently I was wrong, as I have had it previously on tap at Hallertau.

I’m going to ignore this mishap as if it never happened.

The going has been pretty good with 17 new beers so far, most of which had not been outstanding… until last night.

My father-in-law had brought me back a beer from the UK and I had been keeping it to share with him, so last night we cracked it.

Wow. It was big and rich and boozey and tasty. There was chocolate and dried fruits and smoke and sherry and so much more I couldn’t put my finger on. A shame I won’t be able to get any more, anytime soon though.