A Re-introduction, of sorts.

As I sit here after our move, I realize that it’s been a full year since I released a podcast or wrote a blog post of any sort. It’s been a rollercoaster of a year; so many ups and downs! So today I will re-introduce myself to you and hopefully create some sort of schedule for both posts and podcasts. Now if you follow me on Instagram (@drinkswithali) you know that I haven’t been totally silent this year. There’s still been plenty of posts about wines, beers, cocktails and ciders that I’ve sampled (and in some cases made!) this year. It’s just been all the extra, slightly more fun (if not time consuming) things that have fallen to the wayside.

Alright. Buckle up for the highlights of this past year and where we’ll go from here.

In 2021, I lead the Collaboration Brew Day for Annapolis Brewing Co’s Pink Boots Brew. We had a great time and raise a bunch of money for women and non-binary folk in the fermented beverage industry. The money we raise goes to supporting scholarship opportunities for the members. I have also become a board member with Pink Boots Canada! In the fall, I became the Social Media Lead for Pink Boots Canada. Which means that I get to spend even more time every week on Social Media connecting with awesome beverage folks across Canada and around the world.

In addition, I also helped our brewer develop a couple recipes for beer (like a killer raspberry-blackberry sour!).

I tried what has to be 100 wines! Crazy amounts of wine, from white to red to rosé to sparkling wines! I had wines from across Canada, France, the USA, Australia, New Zealand, Italy and probably a few more places too. I also recently led a group wine tasting evening at a local wine bar. At the tasting we drank 4 different wines from across Italy! Even better they were all organic wines!

Cocktails. No I didn’t forget about them! I had the chance to teach a great group of folks all about making cocktails this summer. We had a blast learning to make 3 different cocktails. All using locally made spirits.

Then we moved! Let me tell you…packing up an entire wine cellar plus a bar is an awful lot of bottles to pack and move! Now, I did toss a bunch of bottles, ones that were mostly empty or ones that had been opened for years and that had oxidized. Even still, we moved 15 cases of wine and booze. Oh! And we drank about a case and a half before moving and I made sure that I didn't pick up any extra “can’t wait to try that” bottles in the 2 months proceeding the move. Luckily, this means I now get to restock with some higher end bottles (especially for vermouth) and redesign how the home bar is going to look!

Lastly, I launched a slightly successful TikTok channel. And had a viral video! Fun! (also @drinkswithali)

So where do we go from here? Starting this weekend, I will get a podcast episode out a week. Yes, this is fewer than before, but hopefully this will make it a little more consistent in getting podcasts out to you. I’ve also changed to using a different podcasting platform which should allow for faster edits and a smoother, more polished sound. I should also be able to get at least 1 blog post a week up. So look for those! I know for sure there will be a re-posting and updating of the ever so popular Liquid Gingerbread Man cocktail post.