33 Bottles of Beer

I was in Powell's a few weeks ago buying books, and as I was standing in line to pay a little notebook caught my eye. I assume it was mostly the "33 BOTTLES OF BEER" in giant letters, but we'll never be sure. I picked it up and found it was a pretty great little pocket tasting notebook.

It has 33 pages for 33 entries, one beer per page. It has space for all kinds of info about the beer, such as the name, brewery, how much it cost, where you tasted it, the ABV, IBU, etc, etc... It's also got space for notes, and then a cool tasting wheel. Basically it has you rank different tastes on a scale of 1-5 around a wheel. Tastes like bitterness, citrus fruit, malt, hoppy, body, linger, and other things like that which describe the whole of a beer's taste. Once you fill out the wheel, it gives you a nice, visual snapshot of the unique taste of that beer, which helps you remember it in the future.

It was created by Dave Selden of BS Brewing here in Portland, and costs only $4. You can get it at Powell's like I did, many other stores around town and in other states, or online at 33beers.com.

He's also made one for wine and one for coffee. They're very addicting to fill out, and very handy for taking to brewfests or just working at home. If you're a bit of a beer geek like me, I'm sure you'll feel the same way. Check it out.