Untappd is yet another social application, this one aimed at beer drinkers. It allows you to check in what you are drinking and where and note what you thought of it. The social features always feel a bit basic, or maybe it’s just me, but I do find it a useful way of keeping track of beers that I have tried — especially the ones that I drink infrequently and which I can never remember what I thought of.

The app also comes up with an annual year in beer which summarises what I’ve been up to over the year. I could get more data by getting a paid account, but the simple stats are enough for someone as cheap as me.

These tell me that I checked in 153 times in 2020, getting through 31 unique beers. As for preferred beers Brugse Zot Dubbel and Chimay Red top the list for me, with 21 check ins each. Unsurprisingly, the style of beer I drank most is Belgian Dubbel.

It’s when we get to venues that 2020 really shows it’s hand. My most frequented venue this year is “at home”, with a total of 112 check ins and most of the beers I drank came from the local drink shop.

None of this really tells me I didn’t already know. Most of my drinking in the summer was in the garden, either after weeding or during a barbecue, or both; and most of my drinking more recently has been at home with pizza, or a film, or both. I have probably gone through a much more limited selection of styles because I haven’t spent much time in restaurants, and none in bars this year.

It will be interesting to see what my year looks like when Covid is behind us.

Untappd is yet another social network, this one for beer drinkers, and I have been on here for a while. Yesterday they emailed me an overview of my year in beer: what I’ve been drinking and where I’ve been drinking it. It’s interesting, to me at least.

But first a disclaimer. I don’t check in every beer I drink — this is especially true if we go out and I’m drinking the same beer at the same location, in which case one check in can account for several beers. It’s also true that there are occasions when looking at an app on my phone would be inappropriate. So I don’t.

On the other hand, I do try to check in any beers that I haven’t tried before, mainly so that I can keep track of what I did or didn’t like when I find myself looking at the same beer six months later.

Consequently, Untappd will overstate the number of new beers I have tried and understate the numbers of beers that I know I like. And this is apparent in the results.

Normally, I prefer darker beers (Stouts, Belgian Dubbels, Dark Ales) but will happily switch to IPAs when summer rolls around and I want something a bit more refreshing after a day in the garden.

If asked, I would tell you that my preferred beers are Chimay Blauw, Westmalle Donker and Tongerlo Donker and, in summer, I tend to drink St. Martin’s IPA unless I can get hold of Bass Pale Ale. According to Untappd, however, I have worked my way through 18 unique beers from 16 breweries representing 14 dinstinct styles. I had no idea my drinking was so varied.

From these, however, Untappd thinks that my preference is for Belgian strong golden ale, specifically Duvel. Tellingly, my most checked in location is the Middle-Eastern restaurant from which I buy takeaway pizzas every Wednesday.

Duvel is my most checked in beer and, of the rest of my top five check ins, Westmalle, Chimay and Tngerlo occupy positions two, four and five respectively. I suspect the Chimay Blauw would rank higher if more bars and (especially) restaurants sold it.

I was a bit surprised to see Palm Special ranked third most checked in beer until I noticed that the nearby cinema is my third most checked in location. Guess what they sell.

The rest of my check in locations are a variety of restaurants and bars and I was mildly amused to note that the app has decided that England and Wales are a single country.

I’m not really sure where I’m going with this but, based on the information I have given it, Untappd thinks that I do most of my drinking when sitting alone and waiting for a pizza.

If nothing else, this does show how easy it is to skew a data set and why, when you see a survey, it’s always worth asking about how the data was gathered and what methodology was used to analyse it. And if the survey relies on self-reporting of data, you can be sure that the errors and omissions will be glaring.

And finally, if you are on Untappd, drop by and say hello.