Beer & A Look Back at 2024

1. State of the Blog 2024
2. Record Visits and Views
3. Top 5 Viewed Posts in 2024
   1. #1 People love the Battered Bastards of Bastogne
   2. #2 The Castle that keeps on giving
   3. #3 I Should Change the Title
   4. #4 Winner of Surprise of the Year
   5. #5 Rijksmuseum Reigns Supreme
4. Promoting the Purgatory
5. What are the Plans for 2025?
6. Beer of the Year 2024
7. Final Words

State of the Blog 2024

In past years, I have managed to write this post on or right before New Years Eve, but as I found myself with a backlog of posts, I decided it was best to harness my final writing energies of 2024 to finish my Beer & Brunelleschi series. There is still much to write about from 2024 and the rest of my Winter should be busy. Now just five days into the new year, it already feels too late for these type of reflection posts, but 2024 was a special year for my blog and I would like the opportunity to give a huge thank you before we stop thinking of 2025 as a New Year.

Record Visits and Views

In 2024, I saw my writing output drop from 40 posts in 2023 to only 22 posts in 2024. But this didn’t stop my blog from achieving a new level of success. The number of views (light green + dark green) of my blog almost doubled my previous best in 2020 while the number of visitors (dark green) actually doubled my 2023 record. The actual numbers I keep to myself, but the results of 2024 leave me speechless (not entirely, obviously). I cannot help but be humbled and appreciative.

Top 5 Viewed Posts in 2024

I was really excited to see that there was a shake-up at the top of my most viewed posts. Although I was still disappointed that people seem more interested in hiking down in Switzerland rather than hiking up.

#1 People love the Battered Bastards of Bastogne

There is a new king of the mountain on my blog, and it wasn’t even particularly close. I am proud that it happens to be one of my Battle of the Bulge posts. Bastogne registers with Americans, and I presume… I hope… it was helpful to even a small fraction of the visitors who found this post.

#2 The Castle that keeps on giving

The winner of 2022 and 2023 didn’t drop far but it now has to accept 2nd place by a pretty wide margin. This post actually got a small update in 2024 to include a new route that I did in January 2024.

#3 I Should Change the Title

After all these years and many spectacular Swiss Alp hikes which I have written about, this is the one that still gets the most attention.

#4 Winner of Surprise of the Year

The biggest surprise in 2024’s Top Five is this little ditty from 2021. Out of nowhere, people were interested in donning lederhosen and heading into the Bavarian forest.

#5 Rijksmuseum Reigns Supreme

Hanging on to remain in the Top Five is my Rijksmuseum post which is still the most popular of my Drunken Masterpieces series. I am always ecstatic when any of my art posts keeps up with the hiking posts.

Promoting the Purgatory

There are several of my posts, however, that weren’t very successful in 2024. All of these garnered less than 10 views; one as low as 2 measly views. Therefore, I want to take a moment and make five of them feel rescued from the depths of obscurity.

What are the Plans for 2025?

That is a very good question which I need to sort out as soon as possible. The clock is already ticking on 2025. But I have never felt less clarity going into a year about what adventures I would like to take. A hiking/whisky trip to Scotland and Krakow/Warsaw appear in this segment for the 3rd straight year. I need to do something about that. Below are some additional new and old ideas.

• Beer & The Bulge: St. Vith
  This was on last year’s list. I was so close to achieving this over the Christmas holidays but the weather did not cooperate.
• More Dickens England and adding Shakespeare to the mix
  Broadstairs, Oxford, Stratford-Upon-Avon, Bath
• Budapest and Sofia
  After a few years absence, I have an urge to get back to Eastern Europe, predominantly these two famous capitals of Hungary and Bulgaria.
• North Wales Pt. II
  I really enjoyed my August 2024 trip to Snowdonia (still to come in my blog) and there are several hikes on my list that I didn’t have time to do.
• Kandersteg Pt. II
  I didn’t get to Switzerland in 2024, but I left a few hikes on the bone when I was in Kandersteg in 2023.

Beer of the Year 2024

2024 was not a year that I did a lot of exploring new beers. I spent a good deal of time in the UK and drank a lot of new English ales, but these will never rank as my favorites. I am still in the phase where if I want a special beer that I will love besides a Belgian Tripel, then I will go for a hazy DIPA. And the most memorable was from this hike.

This DIPA (named DIPA v17 in Untappd) is from Cloudwater Brew Company out of Manchester, England. It got the highest rating (4.5 stars) of any beer I reviewed this year.

Final Words

It was an interesting year. I was not as heavily involved with my blog as in years past, yet by my standards, my blog is thriving. It was a year of distractions and as a result, perhaps I lost some focus. I can already feel that looking back on 2024 has started to revive me as I confront my first work week of the year and the prospect of an entire year with yet-to-be-determined adventures awaiting. Sometimes we need a reminder of how fortunate we are when we have the ability to do the things we love. Reflection is always a good way to do that. However, what fills me with the most energy is the idea that anything I have written has given inspiration to someone on their journeys. I will always remember 2024 for that, and I thank each and everyone of you who have visited my personal journey. I wish all a healthy and happy 2025.