Category: Opinion

my humble and correct opinion

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Heart

I have not written about the terrible fires that popped up seemingly everywhere earlier this month in the Los Angeles area. Mostly because it is so sad and disheartening to see such catastrophe some of it closer to where I reside in Glendale than wildfire has ever been.

And Los Angeles was already barely able to build enough as it was, especially when it comes to affordable housing for all economic levels. Now rents and home prices will push even higher than they already were.

But this is not a housing blog, though it kind of is, because the more people that can find housing at a price point that isn’t 75% of take-home pay, the more people will go out and buy good craft beer.

Anyway, the preceding paragraphs are prelude to the actual point of the fact that Common Space Brewery has stepped up to rally our remaining L.A. breweries into a special beer to help the rebuild cause, We Love LA will be showing soon up from over 50 California breweries participating and close to 10 from out of state as well, and I will be grabbing from wherever in financial support. I strongly suggest that we make this beer a complete sell-out.

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Follow Z Star

American breweries have done nationwide charity beers but maybe the next evolution as craft beer goes back to basics is for a nationwide Zoigl.

Interested to see if you are near one or do you need to know more of this Z word. Then head HERE first Then follow AmericanZoigl on Instagram for updates.

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Maybe # 3

Over the latter half of 2024, I have been checking Instagram because of the curious case of the account for Monkish Brewing in Echo Park (see below).

I looked again at the start of the new year and still no activity at all.  Perhaps a hoax? Not an official account? Sheer hopefulness and jumping the gun?  

Rest assured that if anything does come to pass, there will be a post about it unless Project 2025 and their neo-prohibition nazi goons take away my right to blog about beer.  (that went from positive to dark quick, didn’t it?)

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Rate No More

The long and winding saga of RateBeer will come to a close as of February 1st. I was a user of the website as many in the halcyon days were. It was a great way to find craft beer information and to hear scuttlebutt about a rapidly growing industry.

Then came Untappd which scratched the itch of those who just wanted to tick and go. That and the sale of rating site to the “disrupter” arm of SABInBev really took the steam out of RateBeer from which it never quite recovered.

Now that story could have been different if said disrupter had put even a tiny bit of effort and money into the site, it could have flourished as a clearinghouse of information from across the globe. But that is not how SABInBev treats the companies that it purchases. It tolerates them at first, then ignores them, then lets them die on the vine and then claim that it was the customer speaking and not their purposeful neglect.

There are still those attempting to resurrect the brand but, to them, I say just start anew. RateBeer has too much baggage at this point. I say find a solid beer pun and let RateBeer be remembered fondly for the good times.

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Bleak San Pedro MidWinter

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.

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Also Starting

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.

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Starting Today

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.

photo courtesy of the Brewers Association

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.

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YCH and PBS 2024

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.

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The Firkin for December 2024

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.

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Across the Pond Day – Splitting the G

I do not know if as a youngster with internet if I would have participated in viral challenges with either ice water or cinnamon or whatnot but I may have tried my hand at this…

Is it silly, yes. Will it be tremendously uncool come 2025? Most certainly. But it is causing supply line havoc as Guinness gets more pours and as noted drinks writer, Pete Brown has theorized, it may cause a knock-on effect of when he Guinness is gone, stout drinkers may look for other stouts to try.