A timeline of thousands

 Funny, yesterday I realized that this year — January 3, to be exact — is the 30th anniversary of Beer Me! Because of some bookkeeping confusion in those early days, the first beer I recorded is actually listed as #1953, Blitzen Barleywine from the long departed La Jolla Brewing Company in California. (I had driven down to the San Diego area for the spectacular "Ring of Fire" solar eclipse.)

The first beer in the notebooks, beer #1 was Butterfield San Joaquin Golden Ale, on March 22, 1993. I had it at Pacific Coast Brewing in Oakland CA, my local hangout back in those days. Of course, time goes on, and Butterfield and Pacific Coast have closed since then.

• #1000: Redhook Märzen, June 7, 1995 at The HopYard in Pleasanton CA, my other favorite hangout back then. I wasn't really a fan of Redhook beers, apparently.
• #2000: Bellows Steam Lager, August 12, 2000 at The Great Taste of the Midwest. That's a great festival, but good luck getting tickets. I visited Bellows in 2002, but they've closed since then.
• #3000: De Troch Chapeau Tropical Lambic, July 25, 1998 (more bookkeeping confusion) at 1st Wines and Spirits in Allouez WI. This was back in the day when I would try pretty much anything, even though I had already recognized my aversion to grocery beers by then.
• #4000: Avery Hog Heaven, October 28, 2001 at Chicago's amazing Map Room. I spent some time there when I was at Siebel in 1998. Three years later, when Paris and I visited, the bartender remembered me! (Hog Heaven is a fantastic beer, by the way.)
• #5000: Köstritzer Maibock, August 6, 2003, at the wonderful Essen Haus in Madison. Köstritzer Schwarzbier is one of my all-time favorites; their others are drinkable.
• #6000: Elysian Whoville Weizenbock, April 13, 2006, at Elysian's "The Hill" brewpub in Seattle. Great beer. This was about nine years before the buyout.
• #7000: Sierra Nevada Southern Hemisphere Harvest Fresh Hop Ale 2008, May 9, 2008 at another of my local hangouts, Omaha's Crescent Moon Alehouse. Sierra Nevada's special releases are always a treat.
• #8000: Carlow O'Hara's Leann Folláin, October 29, 2009 at the Bull & Castle in Dublin. I had other Carlow beers that day that tasted a lot better than this one. I gotta say though that Bull & Castle was probably my favorite Dublin bar.
• #9000: River North Hypothesis, December 31, 2012, on the Beer Porch in Omaha. Our friends Nick and Julie Bernard brought the bottle from Denver, and it was terrific.
• #10000: Scriptown Winter Honey Lager, December 5, 2018 at Scriptown Brewing in Omaha. Looks like I slowed down quite a bit during that decade. Brewer/Owner John Fahrer hosted a 10000th Beer Party at the bar, and a good time was had by all.
• #11000: Well, there's a plan, and it's going to happen today...