The Full Bar - all my pages

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

New Year, new directions?

What would you like to See Through A Glass?

STAG is coming up on its anniversary, and I'm wondering what you think of it, and what you'd like to see more or less of. Any comments, requests, objections, demands? I won't necessarily publish all of them -- particularly repeats -- but I'd like to know what you're thinking.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lew, the only thing I'd really like to see is more posting. I don't care what you want to talk about, from beer to whiskey to your dog, it is usually pretty interesting.

If I had to specify something in particular, I'd like to see a little less industry stuff and a little more of you just sitting down with a beer and letting us know what you think. Some of my favorite posts of yours have been of that nature.

That said, I'll read whatever you write.

David said...

Congratulations on your "anniversary". I'm in a beer wasteland when it comes to brewpubs so I live vicariously through Lew. :-)

Keep up the pub visits and reviews.

Bill said...

I went back to the Jan. 2007 entries -- I'd forgotten that promoting session brews was going to be a big part of this (four times a week!), and would love for that to get a bit more prominence again. But I'm with Matt -- I'll read whatever you write.

Alan said...

I want a primer on US whiskey. I have no idea about anything made down there and know that it forms a hole in my soul not unlike the one relating to BBQ that I have filled as best I can with pulled pork over the last few years of slow smoked education.

Anonymous said...

How about some stuff on homebrewing (my wife relented and I got a homebrew kit for Christmas! I just have to hook the stove up in the basement and I'll be be a brewin' fool.)

Oh yeah, stop leaving us hanging on stuff.

Lew Bryson said...

More posting: check. Probably not more tasting notes, though...I'm getting away from that...although I might do more tasting beers as a springboard for discussion.

Pub visits: check.

More SBP: check.

More American whiskey: check.

Homebrewing? Probably not. I haven't homebrewed in over 12 years, and I'm way out of touch with that.

Stop leaving you hanging: I'll try to do better. Some definite lapses in 2007.

Anonymous said...

I'm in agreement on both SBP and American whiskey. Oh, yeah, speaking of hanging, I'm still waiting for the at least twice-promised report from the KY Bourbon Festival. (I know you've got a lot of irons in the fire, and I had pretty much forgotten about that until now!) I'm actually big on the industry stuff; no surprise there. Road trip reports are appreciated, too!

Hope all the Brysons enjoyed a great Christmas/New Years!

Frank said...

Lew, I'll second the pub visits and reviews. The atmosphere and incidentals are as important to me as the beer.

Alexander D. Mitchell IV said...

The standard American demand: More and better for free. <:-)

Interesting tidbit of the day, from Derek Gordon, VP of Technorati: of 109.2 million blogs out there tracked by Technorati, just over 99% receive NO hits whatsoever:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/chi-1113blogsnov13,0,6075539.story

Just keep up the great work, buddy.

Emily said...

I really enjoy your larger ruminations on the whiskey and beer industries, specifically the directions in which they're moving and why. At the very least, it helps me to sound smart at parties!

Rich said...

I like the tasting notes, because I really like to hear what someone who has been around the pub scene thinks about different beers, new beers. Yeah, I know you already said you would do less of that, but here's another opinion that says you should do more.

I'm less interested in the whiskey side of things, and more into the beer side of things.

I think you should do more of your brewery updates on this site since you post more regularly here. Maybe start some labels for PA Breweries, NY Breweries, etc, so that it is easier to filter. You should slowly phase out the updates on the lewbryson.com as I find you keep this site more up to date than that one (I often find lewbryson.com to be 3-6 months out of date some time). There's a lot going on with micro's lately and I find that you site doesn't necessarily have the latest info. I think you would find it easier to have your updates at one place with one site to keep track of. Also, show the labels so that we can navigate the site better.

As for polls...they are neat, but I could live without them. Never been much of a poll fan although I will click on them if I see them.

Yeah, I know its hard to keep up with it all, but I'm just trying to help give you some ideas. I think you have some pretty good sites and I like to read your writings and hear what you have to say about things. Keep the good stuff coming.

Lew Bryson said...

Rich,

I'm going to be stripping down the website for use almost exclusively as a book update site, and things will be updated more often after that. It works better that way...assuming I keep it up. But the rest of the site -- except for maybe the 18 LDA stuff -- works better over here, so that's where I'm taking all that. I'll probably leave what is up archived.

Anonymous said...

I love the pub visits/reports, the local beer industry stuff, the session beer events, and the polls. I'll miss the Bryson Best Of because I love it when you speak your mind and keep it real, Lew. I've come to expect some fiery passion in your writing, and don't lose that!

Rebecca

ps-congrats on your one year blog anniversary :)

Lew Bryson said...

No loss of passion, Rebecca...but I'll tell you, writing's tough with this damned toothache I have; it's a bear to focus. I'm getting it dealt with Monday morning, and I cannot remember the last time I looked forward to a dentist's appointment like this!

Anonymous said...

More posting: check. Probably not more tasting notes, though...I'm getting away from that..

Might one ask why? Other than that, I agree with others who say "keep it comin'"

Happy New Year!!

Lew Bryson said...

Why fewer tasting notes? It's the whole "my mouth, not your mouth" issue. How relevant ARE tasting notes, when how we taste apparently varies so much? I do like the idea of tasting notes as a launchpad for discussion, though, and I'll probably be doing that.

I'm not going to stop doing tasting notes. When I get interesting beers, I'll write about them. I'd also like to do more whiskey notes; not so much for you guys, but for me, for practice.