2011 in Review

Looking over this last year, I definitely kept slowing down as the year went on, sort of reflecting my busy schedule. Something had to give. Admittedly, I didn’t do as many fruit wine fermentations this fall, and I accidently missed all the apples from the homestead that I used last year. 2011 was a year of procrastination for me.

But it was also a learning year. I made a switch from bottling my cider in wine bottles as a still drink to bottling in champagne bottles as a carbonated drink because it really did taste better.  I also got my hands on 16 gallons of good cider apple’s juice, which has natural tannin, so I’m excited to see how that turns out. I expanded into fermentation of other stuff, such as making my own yogurt, and I took a class on distilling.

It was also a year of exposure for me. I’ve been giving away my cider now to friends and family. I’ve been participating in a wine group. Probably most exciting of all was serving my cider to the public at the MashFest last summer. This exposure has also brought in an invitation to be paid to teach twice a year how to make cider at a brew supply store.

I’ve been blogging now for two years. To date, I have posted 412 times counting this post, and I have gotten over 23,000 views. This year, even though I cut down on the number of postings I write, the number of people viewing my website went from about 20 a day in 2010 to about 50 a day in 2011, and I also picked up 15 followers. Thanks!

What are people reading about? Well, the favorite is still pears in alcohol.

My best viewership for a single day was originally set in 2010 when I talked about some Washington State liquor store initiatives. That record for best viewership in a single day was broken when I wrote about the newest Washington State liquor store initiatives. Go figure – politics draw readers instead of chasing them away.

Here are the all-time top 10 most viewed posts I have written (this does not include homepage hits and scrolling through my blog though multiple posts):

1. Pears in Alcohol. This had more than twice the amount of hits than the number #2 posting. I still think the hits are because of USA Pears, whom I linked to, but I’m not complaining!
2. The 2010 write up on the Washington State Liquor Initiatives 110 & 1105.
3. It looks like some people want to read about me on the About the Candle Wine Project.
4. Cider Review: JK Scrumpy Farmhouse Organic Hard Cider
5. Making Wine with Whey
6. Cold Crashing Explained
7. My Eco-Lawn
8. My (pathetic) Apple Grinder that I retired after just a few grindings.
9. My (wonderful) Italian Apple Grinder that I will probably cry over when it breaks down on me.
10. Building an Apple Press

While I do try to specialize in cider, I do tend to wander and research and write about other things that inspire me, and this top ten kind of shows me that it’s okay not to be focused on one thing. People will read what I write, or not. As long as I’m inspired is the important thing, because then people wouldn’t read a thing. So here is to hoping I am inspired to write a bit more in 2012, and maybe actually start tackling getting my winemaker’s license.

Further reading: 2010 in Review