I recently completed a Data Visualization and Analytics bootcamp and it was really exciting to put some of the skills I learned to use – even if just to see how many bars we went to in 2019! (If you want to see the other impact bootcamp had on my life, just check out the year over year comparison chart.)
Click here to check out the interactive version of my 2019 Bar Charts!
After neglecting this site for most of a year, thanks to my decision to complete a certificate in Data Visualization and Analytics, I’m back and trying to give things a bit of a makeover.
I’ve added a Maps page – you’ll find maps for several of our trips coded to tell you places we liked, places we loved, and places that were recommended but we haven’t been yet. Eventually I’ll get lists posted for each location, but for now just feel free to click around on the Google Maps!
Also in the works is a Bar Data project. We’ve been tracking our bar visits for a couple of years now and a friend suggested we add some more info to make it useful for people trying to find a new bar to try. It’s in the early stages and we definitely need help getting more data, but even now we’ve got info on food, drinks, accessibility, amenities, parking, and more! I’m hoping to use this data to practice the skills I learning in the previously mentioned data boot camp so I’m not yet sure what the end product will look like – but I think it’s already useful.
2019 was a busy year but we still got a number of trips in, like Montreal, Washington DC, and a family trip to London. I became President of the local chapter of the United States Bartenders’ guild and we hosted the USBG Midwest Regional Conference. I earned the aforementioned certificate after an intense six month boot camp, fell in love with bike commuting, and turned 40. 2020 is sure to build on all the fun and learning of 2019 in amazing ways so stay tuned!
Hey, remember a few months ago when I posted about the Winter Passport cocktail program and how it was a really great deal – and a stupidly great deal with a promo code? GUESS WHAT IT’S SUMMER PASSPORT TIME! A couple of years ago, Summit Brewing and the Minneapolis Institute of Art teamed up and made a Tudor Ale for a special event at the museum. I was lucky enough to make it to the Summit taproom while they still had some and it was delicious and fascinating! I remember thinking it was a great way to make history come alive.
Well, Mia is at it again, this time teaming up with Tattersall Distilling to recreate alcohol and cocktails from 1769 to tie in with a talk by Bertie Mandelblatt, author of “Intoxicated Empire: Alcohol, Consumption & Slavery in the 18th-c. Atlantic World.”
Bertie will be at Mia on Sunday, March 3rd to talk about her new book and then will also attend the tasting at Tattersall on Monday, March 4th. The info from Tattersall says “you’ll sample historic concoctions like pear ratafia, milk punch, and saffron-infused bitters.” Chef Steven Brown will also be on hand with “foods inspired by recipes from the past.”
It all sounds like a delicious way to learn!
Tickets for the Sunday talk are available here for $10, or $5 for museum members.
Tickets for the tasting are available here for $50.
It’s been a couple of weeks since 2019 rolled in and it’s finally time to post the 2018 Bar Charts!
I started keeping track of our bar visits in my Bullet Journal back in October 2017 and converted it to a spreadsheet early in 2018. As the year went on, I used this project as a bit of a playground to hone my Excel and stats skills – sometimes work projects improved the bar chart and sometimes the bar chart taught me something that helped me at work. It’s been a fun and surprising project!
The key info includes:
On to the data!!
A few more numbers for which I don’t have fancy charts:
2018 in Summary
We got to take some amazing trips – San Francisco, New Orleans (overlapping slightly with Tales of the Cocktail!), London, and Paris. We played a lot of “Bar Tag” where the bartender or a patron at one spot would tell us we HAD to check out another, so we did! Also, bars that were in our hotel did very well. Convenience wins!
While at home, we still spent a lot of time at Marvel. Considering we got engaged and legally married there, it will always be our “Winchester.” Despite being a 15-minute-walk away, we didn’t make our first visit to newcomer Hodges Bend until April. Even so, they managed to jump to second place. Republic stays high in the list because they have an amazing beer list and a great happy hour burger.
Being Social Media Coordinator for the USBGMSP impacted my drinking destinations quite a bit. We hosted our annual fundraising competition, Iron Bartender, in October and I did a lot of running around to photograph (and drink) cocktails.
I continue to have a great passion for the hospitality industry both at home and around the world. Very rarely am I heading into a bar or restaurant thinking “I can’t wait to have a drink,” instead it’s usually “I can’t wait to see my friend!” And even in the places we’ve never been or travel to, we seem to make an impression by being kind, respectful, curious, and excited – when we went to the Little Red Door in Paris for the first time, one of the bartenders there remembered us from our visit to Happiness Forgets in London, over a year before!
Here’s to another year of adventuring…and spreadsheets!
I’ve now been tracking my bar visits in my Bullet Journal for a full year! I’ve also started a spreadsheet so I can run more stats on my bar habits, because I like data. Chris has actually nudged me into learning Python in the hopes of really upping my data analytics game. I hear these things are useful for non-drinking related information as well…but where’s the fun in that?
Do you want to drink more cocktails? Do you want to visit some of the best bars in the city? Do you like getting great deals on things?
