Some of my favorite search terms of 2015

Last year I had fun looking at the search engine terms that brought people to my blog so I thought I’d give this year’s searches a look and see how people found me in 2015 and what they were looking for. There were thousands of search engine terms this year so I pulled out the most common terms, the most frequently searched and of course a few fun or odd searches that came through.

I would estimate that about 90% of the breweries in Maine were in search engine terms that found my blog this year but a few of them stood out as popular searches in 2015. Orono Brewing Company was the most commonly searched brewery to find my page followed by Mason’s Brewing, Marshall Wharf, Liquid Riot and Geaghan Brothers Brewing.

Besides my own name, which was was fun to see how often it was misspelled, my friend and fellow beer writer Josh Christie was a popular search but Josh fell second to Matthew Rideout, the Chef at Geaghan’s Pub and Brewery who passed away in March. Matthew was included in a blog post my wife wrote about a Girls Pint Out beer dinner that was hosted by Geaghan Brothers Brewing, obviously he touched many people and will be missed.

I love seeing informational blog posts leading the search engine terms and this year growler information, growler care and clean glassware (also popular last year) were the big three. People want to bring beer home but they want it to be as fresh as possible when they open their growler and learning about proper care and cleaning are a great start, the next step is pouring and “Beer Clean” glassware is the step often overlooked at home, it can also be overlooked at the bar so knowing the telltale signs is important.

Portland, Maine is a craft beer destination, it’s making “Best Of” lists and people are travelling to experience all the craft goodness that Portland has to offer, I know this because they are planning their trip by searching for Portland Maine Pub Crawls which I just happened to have done and wrote about and is one of my most frequently searched posts. Proof for those who don’t trust the lists.

I was also happy to see my post about beer quality was high on the search list, this goes hand in hand with the Growler and Glassware education, if it’s important to you to know your receptacle for transporting beer is clean and that the glass you drink out of is clean then it’s extra important to know that the beer is top quality. People are increasing their beer knowledge, understanding flavors, off flavors and starting to differentiate personal preference from technical flaws, all good things for craft beer.

Now for those other search terms, the ones that just make no sense, for instance someone found my site by searching “Antique Vintage Alcohol Mash Paddle” which probably brought them to one of my homebrew posts because I don’t deal in antiques, but now I kind of want one.

Marshall Wharf was a popular brewery in the searches but this one threw me for a loop, “Marshall Wharf Growler Lost and Found” which sort of toes the line between brewery info and growler care, I toured Marshall Wharf but I don’t remember them having a lost and found for growlers, I’m pretty sure they’d just clean and reuse them if they found a growler laying about.

“How to use a whole pig, tail to snout” was obviously direct at the beer dinner I attended at Blaze in Bangor, a snout to tail beer dinner paired with Allagash. It was good but I still don’t have any tips for using a whole pig, snout to tail, sorry.

I’m a happily married man, I have a gorgeous, beer loving wife so this I definitely don’t have any advice for the person who searched “Coasting on Tinder”, I did review Tinder from Uinta Brewing Company but that’s probably not what they were looking for.

One person was looking for gambling advice when they searched “Kentucky derby picks” and I did write a blog post about bourbon and mint juleps that included my picks but nobody should take my advice on horse racing.

“If Liquor Could Talk” would have been a good alternative name but I don’t do as much with Spirits as I do with beer, only from time to time. I also liked the term “BeerBeard” but that would be a better name for a Metal Band than a beer blog.

Then there was this one “is Foundation brewery part of Gearys?” and the answer is no. I’m not sure what game of telephone went wrong for someone to think that Foundation Brewing Company was part of Gearys Brewing Company but no, two separate breweries.

2015 has been a fun year, thanks to everyone who searched and found me and to those who follow along throughout the year, have a Happy New Year and we’ll see you in 2016.

Cheers,

Chaddah

Chad Lothian

About Chad Lothian

Chad Lothian lives in Old Town, Maine. He is a craft beer enthusiast and homebrewer. Chad has travelled to brewpubs, breweries and brewfests all over New England.