I like beer.

I like to travel to beer festivals and/or pubs to try beers from new breweries. Or beers I haven't tried before from breweries I know. I keep notes on the beers I drink. I give them a rating. Sometimes that rating makes it onto ratebeer. I keep tabs on what beers are around by reading scoopgen. I buy bottled beers from around the world; I swap bottles with other people, I bottle beer to take away from festivals and enjoy the next day.

So, it looks like I'm a scooper.

But.... I can visit a beer festival and only drink beers I've had before, ignoring dozens of beers that I've yet to try. I live in one of England's finest cities for scooping - Derby - but don't feel compelled to go out scooping even once a week. I'll always drink the beers I love at my local and won't even worry about missing out on a scoop that's on at the same time. I'm happy to sit at home with a bottle of acceptable continental lager on a hot day, rather than traipse across the country in the hope of scooping some Throxheards Old Unobtainable.

I'm a reluctant scooper. This blog will plaster its fat size nines across the fine line that weaves between ignorant alcohol consumption and borderline autistic ticking.

The pubs I drink in - and why you should as well. The over-rated beers, the hidden gems. All the fun of the festivals. Some photos, some gossip, plenty of over-opinionated twaddle.

It all comes down to making that decision: You can only drink one more beer today. You cannot bottle any and take it away. You have a choice of two beers.

One is one of your all-time favourites.
One is a new scoop.

Which one do you drink?

95% of the time, my answer would be: the first one.

Reluctantly.