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In the run up to Christmas, Brouwerij West posted on social media that, barring a miracle, they would be shutting down early in 2025.
That “so there’s a chance” led me to check their feed more regularly and the news is still up in the air as of the end of the year. There is a GoFundMe that you can access HERE.
We are in the heart of football action both in the U.S. and abroad. So when I see a beer with Irish football connections, it is right up my alley. And we have seen some Lough Gill beer here in SoCal so there is a teeny tiny chance that we might see this.
The sorta official beer of the Bit O’ Red – Sligo Rovers, 1928 Lager where 50 cents from each can goes to improving the club and jump up a level.
It is not only the Brewers Association making changes at the top. The California Craft Brewers Association (CCBA), has announced the choice of a new Executive Director in Kelsey McQuaid-Craig.
McQuaid-Craig is a Certified Association Executive and has over a decade of association management experience most recently with the California Chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians which will hopefully help her navigate the political waters of Sacramento and help out the Golden State’s breweries in the coming years.
Craft beer fans will recognize the name of Bart Watson as the pragmatic numbers guys for the Brewers Association. But he is currently the vice president of strategy and membership after his stint as the chief economist of the group, Watson becomes president and CEO on January 6, 2025 two days after the retirement of Bob Pease on January 3.
You can get the full scoop HERE.
It is a challenging time in the beer industry but Watson knows the group from the ground up so I expect that good changes and good growth are on the horizon.
I am usually wary of brand extensions but I do think that what Yakima Chief Hops does with their annual blend to benefit the Pink Boots Society fits into a brand extension slot but with benefits.
This year the blend features a harmony of Simcoe®, Mosaic®, Chinook, and Krush™. That last one seems to be quite en vogue at the moment.
The other cool thing about the 2024 blend is that YCH “partnered with women-owned farms within its network of growers to assist in creating the blend. Jessica Riel of Double ‘R’ Farms, Reggie Brulotte of Brulotte Farms, and Erica Lorentz of Lakeside Ranches each hand-selected their favorite lots from this year’s harvest, which the YCH sensory team used to craft three compelling blends for the Pink Boots Society membership to vote on.”
A third cool thing is that YCH will donate $1 from each pound sold to the Pink Boots Society.
She’s The Brewer is a new collaborative IPA brew with “bold flavors for bold women.” from the combined force of Stone Brewing and the Pink Boots Society using the 2024 editions of the Pink Boots Malt (Odyssey Barley) and Pink Boots Hop Blend (Mosaic, Simcoe, Chinook and Krush).
Each and every year, I start the blogging calendar with a disclaimer. As a beer blogger, I feel it is important to be clear about my rules and morals.
Every beer, brewery, event, restaurant reviewed on this site whether paid for or complimentary will get the same treatment when reviewed. If I don’t like the beer, it will be described as a beer that I did not like, even if it was handed to me by the brewer and I like the brewer.
If I forget, (which probably will happen, because it has before) to mention how I got a beer or a pass to an event, then go back and read the previous paragraph.
I clearly want the Los Angeles local beer scene to continue to flourish and I want craft beer in general to do so as well. So, my reviews will also take that into consideration. Some points in 2025 once past the doom of Orange Mussolini and their “project 2025 loss of rights” will require cheerleading and others require harsh sentences. I am not subtle in any way, so I am sure you will figure it out quickly.
I will be as impartial and truthful as I can be while also staying as opinionated as usual.
Strap in folks, there is gonna be some turbulence in 2025. I have mentioned, just yesterday in fact, that economics are going to be bad and the now annual Dry January will not help the beer world so be kind and helpful to counteract the bad vibes that are sure to be spinning.
~ e-visits to (3) breweries from Hop Culture’s Best of List
~ special featured reviews
~Heads-Up on Los Angeles Beer Events
~ Three suggested beers to buy this month. One light, one medium and one dark
~ A Book & A Beer reads Knife by Salman Rushdie
~ A Podcast & A Beer listens to Sherlock Holmes Short Stories
~ Sports & A Beer returns with teams that are easy to hate
~ New Beer Releases and Best Beers of the Month
~ I will tap the Firkin and give my no holds barred opinion on the craft beer world.
I am not inclined to doom and dread when it comes to the New Year. Perhaps because the bar of past years is not the highest of hurdles.
But I do feel mighty trepidatious about our breweries in Los Angeles and this country overall. Zooming out, it is clear that most voting Americans have no idea of the deleterious effects of tariffs and how they are best used in tiny, targeted doses. It is also clear that the ultra religious right cannot stay in church and rather enjoy pushing their twisted morality onto anyone and alcohol is one of their targets.
On a local scale, breweries here are closing or are in trouble. Will that balance out naturally with the remaining breweries getting the dollars? Perhaps. And I do think that turnkey breweries and cheaper kit may lead to a new set of exciting beer but that may not come to fruition until 2026. Until then, we may be looking at a lot of light lagers as draws since slushies and seltzers are fading fast.
The one thing that I will be tracking in 2025 are beer prices. I routinely purchase mixed 4-packs and I used to be able to get them at the $20 mark but in the last half of the year it has been more $24 to $25 and I am looking at barrel-aged beer prices with a sharp eye and substitute a hoppy pils for them. And I don’t even look at big bottles.
However this year turns out, I hope you all have a great beer year and I urge you to visit local and also travel to beer. It might make a difference.
Some months, the best of is better than others. This month, I had three beers that just bowled me over. And they were not one style, they were all over the spectrum. I will go in order of drinking them and not rank since they are within a hair of each other.
First was the 2024 version of Topa Topa Brewing’s Howler DIPA. No ordinary hop attack, this is a coffee DIPA with beans from Dune Coffee and it was a two-pronged attack of coffee and hops in equal measure.
Second is a three way collaboration from Brewyard Beer Co., Ambitious Ales and Five Point Five Brewing. The beer is a fruited pastry beer. No stout, no sour just a Filipino driven ode to JolliBee named Jolli beer and it was spot on. Crust and mango combined.
Finally, Long Beach Beer Lab had an excellent winter ale named Amburana for the wood the beer was aged in. Spiced up with cinnamon and hearty without being overly heavy. A great example of a winter warmer.