CH-CH-CHANGES

Three years ago, my favorite beer store, 99 Bottles, closed after ten years of business. It was a sad day when the doors were shut for good because they were relatively close to me, they carried beers I enjoyed, they really knew their beer, and they hosted some rather fun and imaginative beer tasting events. Their demise was partly fueled by "big box" beer stores moving into the region—BevMo and Total Wine—as well as a state that has a lot of regressive and/or convoluted laws when it comes to alcohol.

And I guess I've been in a state of mourning for the past three years.

In addition to my favorite beer store closing, there have been a lot of changes in the beer industry over the past three years. Some favorite longtime breweries have closed (Bridgeport) and others have come and gone within a few short years (Puyallup River Brewing). New beer stores have opened (CRFT Beers of Auburn, Pint Defiance of Tacoma) but they are quite the drive, especially when distance and amount of traffic is factored in. Craft breweries are selling out to industry giants like AB-InBev (Budweiser) and Heineken International; Elysian, Goose Island, and others have been swallowed up by the giant multinationals. Beer shelf space once dedicated to craft beers has been increasingly stolen and compromised by AB InBev due to their practice of flooding the same space with the brands they bought. New beer styles (such as Hazy IPAs) have likewise taken up space that would have gone to barleywines and sours and other styles of beers.

In other words, a lot of what brought me joy in the exploration of craft beers disappeared and died. To cope, my world shrunk down to mostly what I could still find on the shelves of my local Fred Meyer, with the occasional trip to The Red Hot or CaskCades to try something new. I tended to stick with a few favorites—Iron Horse's Cand Hannon, Bale Breaker's Top Cutter, and favorites from Deschutes and 7 Seas.

But recently, I started to once again build up the stock in my mostly depleted beer cellar. I discovered an Advent calendar of canned German beers that I am really looking forward to enjoying. I cleaned out bottle caps and beer coasters I had collected over the years and reminisced, while also letting go of some of those memories to make room for new ones.

So here is to some new adventures, explorations, and enjoyment of craft beer: Cheers!