After four separate reviews I’d begun to worry that I’d written all there was to write about ginger beer. But during the second half of 2011 my luck began to change as I stumbled upon a handful of new varieties. A chance discovery at Mission Cheese Shop, a couple overlooked gingers, and a bountiful trip to Seattle led to a full cooler of five beverages yet to face the gauntlet that is a ginger beer tasting.
With the product lineup established, an esteemed panel of tasters gathered in San Francisco’s Noe Valley. Representing a cross section of experience, our judges, seven in total included veterans William Lavery, Beatrice Leung, and yours truly along with rookies Andrew Stewart, Peter Rive, Natasha Dvorak, and Wendy Wallin. In order to calibrate each judge’s palette a pre-tasting was undertaken to establish where previous ginger beers had been ranked. The criteria remained the same as our first tasting two years. Each ginger would be sampled solo and next mixed into a Dark ‘n’ Stormy – dark rum and ginger beer over ice. Judges then assigned a score between 1 and 10. Finally, an average score was computed to arrive at an overall total. After weeks of hype we settled down to the task at hand and a couple hours later the results were in.
My design expertise lies in the digital realm, creating experiences that unfold as web sites, iPhone apps, or video games, so it’s rare that I see my work in a tangible format like print. But in the past few months we’ve had the opportunity at Kiva to release a few high profile print advertisements that appeared in Variety Magazine, USA Today, as well as one of our own mailers. These pieces not only increased Kiva’s exposure outside the digital medium, but they’ve also helped establish one of our core design principals: story telling.
Another year has come and gone faster than I imagined. As I reflect, there were many more good memories than bad. Most significant of all was marrying my wonderful wife. The rest, however, makes for a good list in any year: a new job at Kiva, the launch of Farmanac – my first iPhone app, a trip to Bali, three visits to British Columbia, and a great year of skiing in Tahoe and surfing at Ocean Beach. With so much of our attention constantly focused forward it’s great to take a minute and look back. Here is a brief recap of my 2011.
2 Out of Three is the website of Abraham Wallin. It serves as a design canvas, photography repository and home to occasionally coherent scribblings. more →
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