Had a good couple of hours today talking beer with Jordan who was in town visiting family. I am starting to think that I live in a town where people's people live. When I lived in Truro, NS a pal from neighbouring Pictou, NS said Truro was where grandparents lived. [I got my own people to move here, too, now that I think of it.] Anyway, he and his were a treat to meet and we talk a lot of things that could be and some that shouldn't. Which sort of echoed in my head later in the day when I read Ding's Christmas wish list this evening as part of my Yuletide beer blog catch up. What would my own wish list for 2012 look like?

1. I wish Canadian brewers had more... daring, insight, common sense and inventiveness. It is sad that the stash is filled with northeastern US craft beer that's cheaper and better.

2. That being said, I still wish Wegman's would open a mega store at the very southern most footing of the Thousand Island Bridge so that I could pop over every Saturday and not every third or fourth. That extra two and a half hours on the round trip would be great.

3. Like Ding, I wish "I could find a bar that PERMANENTLY has at least one cask of well kept, low-hopped, sub 4% beer pouring." Jordan and I talked particularly about how this is still one of the big gaps in the market.

4. I want more people to ask why. About everything they are told about beer. Especially from self-appointed gurus and celebrities.

5. I wish the next big thing was saison - except not the ones that remind me of "good canned fruit salad". Tonight, I want more Saison Dupont and dates. Who knew?

6. I wish that the construct of the beer discourse would shift. I wish for heated debate. I wish for what Mr. B called "the accolades and the criticism and the controversy."

7. I want to drink a 1780s beer from John Stuart's tankard in my backyard.

8. I want the buying power of the drinker to have more say.

That is only eight. I am sure there are more. I might add some later and so might you. Enjoy your Boxing Day Tuesday if you get one. It's the holiday you get when Christmas is Sunday and Boxing Day is Monday so you are due another holiday that stands for not so much but, like Easter Monday, is a great time to not be at work.