I’m a Beer Snob.

I’m proud of that.

I now live in San Diego, California. According to Wikipedia, San Diego County is home to over 100 breweries, but that dwarfs the actual number of businesses brewing suds in SDC (I’ve checked many lists and several breweries I’ve visited aren’t included). Basically, we love beer. A lot.

And I’m not just any Beer Snob, oh no, I’m of the Please-Burn-My-Tongue-Off-With-Hops Club. Which is perfect, given that SDC’s specialty is the DIPA, or Double India Pale Ale:

Double IPAs (also referred to as Imperial IPAs) are a stronger, very hoppy variant of IPAs that typically have alcohol content above 7.5% by volume.[27] The style is claimed to have originated with Vinnie Cilurzo, currently the owner of Russian River Brewing Company in Santa Rosa, California, in 1994 at the now-defunct Blind Pig Brewery in Temecula, California.[d] The style has been embraced by the craft brewers of San Diego County, California, to such an extent that double IPAs have been referred to as “San Diego pale ale”.[28][29]

Not only a card-carrying member of the PBMTOWH Club (that I just made up), I also happen to be a data nerd.

Thanks to Untappd, I’ve tracked my beer consumption since April, 2014. And thanks to Tableau, my absolute favorite analytic tool, I’ve combined my love of suds with my love of data visualization.

I hope you enjoy a glimpse into the life of a Beer Snob and that this prompts you to consider all the sources of data in your life and what insights you can glean from your own behavior. Fitness, nutrition, music, & BEER data are just a few examples of the types of self-reported data that people commonly have access to, sometimes free of charge.

What can you learn about yourself by taking a closer look at your own behavior?

I’ve learned:

my beer checkins have increased over time, mostly due to a few recent events with a high checkin volume (beer fests, tasting parties, beer-cations)

I’m a somewhat normal curve beer rater with notable exception: I rate to the right of the median on a 5-point scale, with 3 being “drinkable” instead of 2.5; & I do not use the 3.25 rating as often as I would in a normal curve system. I still need to figure out why I resist this rating and jump straight to a 3.5.

Untappd doesn’t allow a 0 rating, but I have 2 beers checked in at 0.25 (the lowest possible rating) & they do allow a 5 rating but I haven’t yet found my “Unicorn” of beer. Which beers earn the undistinguished right to the worst ratings I’ve ever had? Click here to find out!

I love Hops. I already knew this, but the extent of my love is more apparent visually than I anecdotally held in my mind.

A Wheel-O-Beer is really pretty and I want one on my wall. NOW.

Here are sneak-peaks of the visualizations. Go to the Tableau viz HERE to explore more!

Like what you see? Interact with the visualizations here.