Welcome to Ohbeery.me, your one destination to watch a young* man descend into alcoholic oblivion. I thought I better put up a post about what this site is all about.

I’m a pretty tech savvy sort of chap. I carried text message centre numbers around with me in the late nineties to text people on other networks and waste copious amount of money on gadgets, that sort of thing.

I’ve been writing odds and sods for the Information Superhighway for a fair few years now, maintaining one blog or another for random periods. I’ve somehow managed to keep my personal site  alive and kicking for four years now. Admittedly I could have got myself a practical degree in the amount of time but hey ho.

Anyway, my site is mainly a repository for my photography, interesting music and other random bits of shit that I come across scouring various sites. However, over the last year I have been posting the odd bit of beer prose which didn’t quite sit right.

In the last couple of years my missus and I have grown increasing interested in the craft beer scene. Undoubtedly an exciting time in the North East of England; a genuine passion for brewing, beers and boozy banter has emerged.

In the last two years the city of Newcastle, once imbued with the smell of hops and malt of the ubiquitous Brown Ale, has seen a beernaissance. A move away from the mass produced ales and lagers to something altogether more artisan. New breweries have emerged; from Ouseburn Valley, a hobbyist homebrewer-gone-pro, to young upstarts Tyne Bank, making a name from themselves with quality dry hopped cask and bottled brews.

The towering edifice of Scottish and Newcastle by be long gone but Wylam, Mordue, Big Lamp, Hadrian Border, Tyne Bank and Ouseburn are stepping up to the plate and coming out swinging for regionally produced beers.

Craft ale is quickly becoming the lifeblood of the city. Where there was once only blandness, there is now flavour, thanks to the growing availability of Mikkeller, Nogne O, The Kernel and many other bespoke brews. “Meet the Brewer” events and food and beer pairing evenings are increasingly regular events in the local calendar.

Thanks to bars such as the historic Free Trade Inn, regularly voted to have the greatest view of any pub in the UK, to cruise liner chic of the Bacchus, the football frenzied Newcastle Arms to the folk music mad Cumberland Arms, craft beer is not hard to find.

Arguably, the jewel in the crown is the arrival of Brewdog. The world renowned Aberdeen upstarts are bring their Beer for Punks attitude to the ‘Toon’ in what will be only their fourth bar.

Earlier this year, and to celebrate the Something Twitter This Way Comes carnival that is #Twissup arriving in the town, several local booze enthusiasts and myself put out the inaugural issue of Hopaganda, a craft ale fanzine. An honest to goodness, black and white, photocopied affair which illustrated the passion that exists in the North East. The fanzine has been well received and will be gracing the counter tops of many northern hostelries in the 2012. With all of this going on I felt it was time to jump aboard the beer blogging bandwagon.

And so OhBeery.Me was born.

Now, I’m not the most prolific of bloggers. Weeks can pass before I post a video of cat trying to get inside a tiny box on sheriffmitchell.com, so I thought it best to set myself a challenge for the site.

So Ladies and Gentlemen,

I proudly present….

#Beer366

One beer review, everyday, for the whole year. This will be main focus for the site.

I fear for my wallet and liver. Of course this doesn’t mean I will be limiting myself to just one beer a day, that would just be silly. However any other beers drank on the same day cannot form part of the #Beer366 Challenge.

I have a few other themed beer review challenges up my sleeve as well but I’ll keep them to myself for now.

On top of the beer reviews I will also be posting about beer day trips and holidays, my first attempt at homebrew and also the sweepings from the Hopaganda magazine floor.

Can it be done? Well we’ll find out starting 1st January.

Hope to see you then.

*the word young is figurative and is in no way used to imply youth.