Ghostie is a 1 Year Old!

Yes it's my first birthday. And no, I'm not an incredibly talented toddler, but a beer loving maniac.

It was one year ago today, on the 13th of November, that I posted my first post and Ghost Drinker was born. I guess a little reflection is called for then. Looking back at my first post, I thought about how it was full of punctuation and spelling errors and quite rubbishly written, but the sentiment still held true. (I'm still not much better on the spelling and punctuation, and writing well, these days. oh well...)

I thought about what I've learned, about the beers I've drunk and the places I've been in the search for said beer. But most importantly I thought about all the people I've met, talked and chatted to, read blogs from, and been inspired by, all from the love of a simple yet amazing drink; Beer.

Here is a little list of some of the people, some I've met and some not, who through reading their blogs about beer, I've come to respect and admire. I'd like to think I can call them all mates, and would happily by any one of them a pint of their favourite beer. After all it takes a special sort of person with a big passion to write blogs about beer ;)

Dredge - A man who loves to put beer cans in chicken arses.

Leigh - Cannot stop eating Pork Belly.

Rob - Makes some unusual facial expressions in his Hopzine video reviews.

Curmudgeon - For someone who doesn't smoke he's pretty obsessed with the subject.

Tandleman - Loves to argue with Dave Bailey about beer on Twitter.

Dave Bailey - Hates CAMRA.

Cooking Lager - Has an equal love of squeezing beer cans, and squeezing his squeeze. (or at least we thought he loved beer cans...)

Stuart - Is a biologist not a brewer.

Broadford - Will Re-Tweet anything you write about beer.

Pete Brown - Loves a bit of self promotion.

Neil - Is more of a ghost than me for the amount of beers he reserves at the shop.

Nick - Is a Leeds man and proud of it, and loves to put a "corsenDONK" on it!

I still don't know why Ron Pattinson has a beef with Barclay Perkins.

Martyn - Loves the 'Z' word.

It doesn't seem like Simon Johnson ever stops drinking beer.

Fuggled - Has a massive Pilsner lust.

Ormskirk Baron - Can't say no to a free beer. (and actually is a stand up gent who helped me sort out technical issues of my blog, so thanks Baron)

Andy - Nearly killed Tom Fozzard with some lethal Bombay Mix.

Rabid Bar Fly - Loves to run around terrorising shopping centers whilst drinking cans of Special Brew.

Mark - Prefers his beer straight from a 9 pint metal container rather than a glass.

And last but not least, the boss man, Zak Avery. To be fair I think I've worked with him long enough now to know what makes him tick. He might not like to admit it, but this blog was started because of him. When I started reading his blog a couple of years back, it was because of the so called 'blogaratti' and reading his and all of your blogs which made me want to write my own.

That's my list then. Of course in some cases I jest... maybe...

There are quite a few more that I've not had chance to mention, but this list got a bit bigger than 'little' fast, so if I missed you out my apologies. This blog goes out to everyone in my blog roll really. While it may be my blogBday I will be raising a glass to all of you tonight.

It's been a hell of a year, and one one I see as just the start of my online beer journey, so here's to many more.

Now where did I put that special reserve Imperial Stout I was saving for my first Birthday celebrations drink?... oh yeah, the fridge.

Cheers!