Not that it is a competition

I mentioned last year what a loser I am. Last year, I was completely dominated by my sister (Mrs. Bluefield) in our unofficial monthly blog post "competition". In the article, I mentioned that as of December 2010, I had "won" 3 months during the year to her 8 months. We ended up in a tie in December, and I had to work really hard to scrap for the tie. She coasted through the month effortlessly.

From The Accidental Blogger

This year, I am being dominated again. Through November (if my math is correct), she had 173 blog posts for the year. I have more posts than I have ever had for a year, but still fall short of her total with only 134 blog posts. Just like last year, she has won 8 months and I have won 3.

I have a chance of winning December (I am winning by a real slight margin right now), which would at least mean 2011 can be an improvement over 2010. I guess that would be some kind of moral victory. It doesn't really matter, though; I don't think it is very likely that I'll win December.

	# of blog posts
Month	Sheppy	Bluefield	Winner
January	6	23	Bluefield
February	4	13	Bluefield
March	13	16	Bluefield
April	8	9	Bluefield
May	8	13	Bluefield
June	13	8	Sheppy
July	10	13	Bluefield
August	16	15	Sheppy
September	24	21	Sheppy
October	17	23	Bluefield
November	15	19	Bluefield
December (thru 12/15)	10	9	Sheppy

Good thing it isn't a competition.

For what it is worth, if we were to compare the gallons of beer brewed in 2011, I would be dominating that competition. No contest. (a shutout in fact)

Speaking of brewing beer, SheppyBrew is thinking of making another attempt at The Bluefield Experiment. My last recipe of Bluefield Chocolate Ale was a dark chocolate malt dominated beer with additions of cocoa powder, hazelnut extract, and milk sugar. I'm thinking of replacing the cocoa powder, hazelnut, and milk sugar with peppermint extract. I've mentioned before how much I liked the Leprechaun Stout that I made back at the beginning of 2010. I kept describing it as a liquid version of girl scout thin mint cookies, and think it is the best "dessert beer" that I have made. I think the peppermint really helped accentuate the chocolaty flavors of the dark malts in the beer.

I don't think Mrs. Bluefield will like the new Bluefield Chocolate Ale either, but I also have a suspicion that she has some sort of deep-seeded psychological block that prevents her from liking anything named "beer". It is sad, really, but there is not much I can do about her issues. 

Anyway, I'll be sure to let you know how it goes.