BLOG UPDATE

Hi Guys,

I’ve been pretty quiet on here over the best part of the last year, basically since I bought my apartment & had surgery on my foot. I had high hopes of kicking it back off at the start of the year but then life intervened again. A couple of mates and I won the ballot and suddenly had FIFA World Cup tickets, so despite being a new home owner I had to find the money to go on a 3 week life changing holiday to Russia – unfortunately something had to give and it was the blog!

I’m back now and with a renewed enthusiasm for Beer O’Clock Australia. I’ve done a fair bit of prep-work on the lane on the way home and with any luck I’ll get a fair bit of content up soon. I haven’t done one of these whole blog updates for a few years – so I thought I’d give that another crack to begin with.

	European Beer Challenge – A challenge that was initially (optimistically) expected to take 4 months has almost stretched to its 7th year. There will be an update here shortly to take us down to one country remaining!
	Et Ceterbeer – It has been over two years since I wrote a full Et Ceterbeer review – I’ve been meaning to begin writing more full reviews but life hasn’t allowed me to just yet…
	EURO 2012 – This segment finished with the culmination of the 2012 European Championships. I doubt I will ever have the time again to write reviews in this style.
	Macro Lagers – This is a section that I get a lot of emails about! I’m intending to get to the store I find the majority of my international lagers at shortly, so I may well come across some for you guys.
	The Dark Side – Much like a number of the other sections, my reduced full reviews has really impacted The Dark Side. It is winter so if I rediscover the full review writing side this may well be added to.
	Summer Fruit Beers – Fruit beers, in the way this segment was setup, have really fallen out of favour in Australia. Barring an unlikely revival I don’t see this segment being updated any time soon.
	Beer O’Clock on Tour – Beer O’Clock on Tour will be making it’s return very shortly! Unlike most of my holidays I only visited one country, Russia, so it may be a long piece!
	Great Beer Styles – I definitely need to update this section this year!
	True Brew – The most comprehensive review of the Australian macro scene anywhere (I’m not 100% sure that’s a good thing)! Unfortunately for my taste buds, there have been some changes here that should probably be addressed…
	Fridge Regulars – This segment faded into the periphery as my beer drinking changed. That’s come full circle and it’s now relevant again. I should write about some of the beers that I buy regularly.
	Trappist Beer – This still holds the title as the first completed challenge on Beer O’Clock Australia. I have a beer that I’ve been intending to drink for this segment, but haven’t found the time yet.
	World’s Best Beer Contender – I’ve got some truly World Class stuff floating around – another segment depending on me writing full reviews again.
	The Great Bottle vs. Can Debate – I’ve always loved these reviews, it’s just far harder to come across beers that are packaged in both bottles & cans these days. If anyone has any suggestions please send them my way!
	Oktoberfest Beers – I haven’t written in this section for over 3 years. I’m going through a real lager phase at the moment so will see if I can source anything.
	Abstrakt – Richo & I actually had one of these not that long ago – we should probably write it up…
	Out of Office – Another neglected section and one that I really have to deal with sooner or later – as a number of you ask me about breweries to visit, particularly around Melbourne.
	Untappd – The number of Untappd badges is getting a little out of hand. I’m going to do a post World Cup wrap up and then think about what I do with this section.
	Alphabet Challenge Revisited – I’ve been stuck on Ha Lida for almost 4 years! No idea where that Vietnamese beer has gone…
	Bear Club – Tru Bru appears to be gone for good now, despite promises of a reboot. This section has in any case been replaced by the Carwyn Beer-Thusiast Pack reviews. Dylan & I are hoping to have that up to date shortly.
	What’s in Style? – My longer format style history segment has stagnated since the first post on Grisette. I’ve been promising a Stout vs Porter post for over a year that I really should finish.

With any luck I should be able to keep to about 50% of what I’ve promised! At least I’m up to date on emails thanks to the free WIFI I had in Doha Airport. As usual keep any questions and suggestions of things you’d like to see coming to gus.norris7@gmail.com and I’ll do my best to answer them. Let’s see if I can’t get back to the halcyon days of posts most weeks.

Remember it’s always Beer O’Clock somewhere in the world!