My better half asked me before 2024 finished up its run if I had any resolutions for 2025 and I cheekily responded that I would try to be less great this year to give others a chance.
When it comes to craft beer, I do not really have resolutions either just what I call mindfulness.
With that in mind, here is what I will be paying attention to this year…
buy more direct at the brewery cans
buy more 4-packs at those taprooms
visit the farther flung L.A. breweries that I have not been to at least once
keep spreading the style love and not just buy IPA
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.
I do not think that I will ever get tired of the mysteries and deductions of Sherlock Holmes and Arthur Conan Doyle. And now the Noiser podcast team have indulged me with readings by actor Hugh Bonneville of the short stories starting with The Speckled Band.
Since the short stories are brief, it takes about two or three episodes to crack the case in nice half-hour chunks and Bonneville brings the stories to life without getting too theatrical with the line readings.
To pair with mystery, dare I suggest you find your own Watson to cover up labels or pour beers blind so that you can deduce hops, terroir or even the brewery who made it. If Watson is away, then find yourself a nice mild or English IPA.
I recently had the Winter Welcome from Samuel Smith and then I saw their Yorkshire Stingo (with a super classy logo) which I have not had in many moons and decided it was high time to review to see if I get the same notes of “fruit, raisin, treacle toffee, Christmas pudding and slight oaky flavours”.
The last item on that list certainly comes through but the rest, not so much but despite that adjective failure, this is a real classic of a beer. There is a slight hint of future souring in the taste in the amber coloured ale. I taste grass and wheat and pea shoots myself. Complex and strange for sure.
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.
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.
