You may have noticed it in my footer. If you follow me on Instagram or Twitter you will have seen them pop up fairly regularly. But when I started doing quick beer reviews via Instagram I didn’t expect to still be going over a year – and 100 beers – later.

My wife was pregnant with our second child at the time, and being the responsible type, that meant no drinking for her. Being the supportive husband that I am I forwent the usual bottle(s) of wine we’d drink together … and used the opportunity to really get stuck in to some beers.

That’s where things started. I didn’t set out with any grand plan. I knew there were tons of great tasting, quality beers out there and I just wanted to keep track of the ones I had tasted. I know there are things like Untappd and Beer Ticker, but I’ve always found them a bit fiddly and Social. I wanted something quick, simple and straight forward. Basically just a photograph with a very quick note to say if it was any good.

All I needed was a short, catchy hashtag to keep track of them. Instagram fitted the bill perfectly. The #alelog was born.

Read the rest of this entry »