Beer O'Clock: Down the Drain

It's rare that I dislike a beer so much that I dump it down the drain. And if I do end up pouring my glass into the sink, I'm certainly not going to review that beer for Beer O'Clock.

I will admit, though, that there are times when I enjoy a beer but cannot finish it, and so I end up wasting some of it down the drain. For example, last week, when I was writing my review of Bellwoods' Jelly King, I was sipping on the contents of my final bottle so that I could ensure that I was getting the right aromas and flavour characteristics that I was detecting (I do this with every beer review) into my blog post.

But because I was planning to go for a bike ride, I didn't want to finish the beer and then hop on my bicycle. With just under half a glass left, I poured the rest into the kitchen sink.

I felt bad but knew that the beer would be flat by the time I would get back to it, so there was no point in keeping it.

But last week, that sour ale wasn't the only thing I dumped that was beer-related. I also got rid of a bunch of beer reviews from my YouTube channel.

For those of you who have been following me for a while, you may remember that a couple of years ago, I stopped writing Beer O'Clock reviews on my blog and started making video reviews for my Brown Knowser vlog. For me, it was fun to sit in front of a camera and crack open a cold brew. Speaking out while I explored the beer almost felt like I wasn't drinking alone.

Over time, however, I learned that viewers weren't going to my video reviews nearly as much as readers went to my written reviews. My kids always told me that my YouTube beer reviews were really goofy, and perhaps the small number of viewers felt that, too.

Fair enough.

On January 16, 2021, I posted my last beer review on YouTube and returned the reviews to my blog. I have no regrets.

But lately, as I've been posting more videos to YouTube, concentrating on my travel and kayaking videos, I noticed how views on those were growing more while the Beer O'Clock videos remained stagnant, garnering no further reviews.

I've learned that videos that don't grow on your channel can actually hurt the overall viewer retention on your channel, thanks to some of the algorithms that YouTube uses. YouTube wants to push viewers to channels that are gaining views, so keeping my beer reviews was hurting my numbers.

And so, last week, I unlisted all of my Beer O'Clock video reviews. Essentially, I poured them down the drain.

Which is kind of a shame, because, like last week's Jelly King review, these are beers worth drinking, not dumping.

I'll have a new review next week.