Ken Weaver, Author at Craft Beer Blog from The Beer of the Month Club

Beyond the Bottle: When This is All Over

December 15, 2020 by Ken Weaver

I’ll refrain from any form of 2020 recap. Pretty sure we all agree it could’ve gone better.

We’re still in purple Tier 1 (the worst tier) here in Sonoma County, with a little over 2% of the county having been tested positive for COVID thus far—such that we’re still pretty far away from bringing certain elements of daily life back safely. After feeling low during a large portion of this year, it feels especially good to know that it’s almost over. 2021 will likely do its best to make me regret typing that, but it’s hard not to look forward to this all being past.

On the beer front: I’m looking forward to having a pint at a bar again someday… INSIDE, even. Without a mask on, or in my pocket. Without constantly worrying about distances and others’ nose coverage. Presuming we find a vaccine that sticks, our bartender also won’t feel scared just to come to work. Brewery owners won’t be wondering if they’re shoveling money into a pit, adjusting to the latest reopening requirements, only for a new, different lockdown to emerge. Essential workers will be able to raise a pint more easily. We’ll be able to properly mourn all of this past year’s losses, with people we haven’t seen in way too friggin long.

It’s really, really hard not to look forward to these things. Here’s to a better 2021.

Beyond the Bottle: One Long-Ass Year

November 15, 2020 by Ken Weaver

Typing this in late October, I have no clue where anyone’s headspace will be when the club newsletter actually goes out. I’ll assume it’s been a really long year for everyone reading this. We’re still gonna be a long ways off from a widespread functional COVID vaccine (fingers crossed for 2021…), and most of our friends and fam—myself included—have been relying on our normal coping mechanisms way more than usual to get through 2020. Our kegerator has been getting a workout. We’ve been playing video games, or brewing, or working out, or doing chores, or doomscrolling way more than we normally might. What a friggin year.

I’ve definitely become more aware of my limits. After we hit a recent peak in wildfire season, I finally reached out to a therapist here in Sonoma County—something I’d been meaning to do back in February before this all started. Energy-wise, I’ve been scraping bottom, and that seems a pretty common vibe around here. We rely on the people around us for support, and when everybody’s going through months and months of shit together, it helps to try and be aware of when we’re hitting an unsustainable gear. Personally: my coping mechanisms were no match for 2020. Wherever you’re at, just remember you deserve a strong support system helping you through whatever the world’s throwing this week. Here’s to a better year ahead.

Beyond the Bottle: Beer and Survival

September 1, 2020 by Ken Weaver

In recent months I’ve been checking in on how breweries here in Sonoma County have been handling COVID-19 complications, including California’s statewide closure of indoor dining on July 13^th. With that pitch-perfect 2020 timing: we now have wildfire season upon us. Here in Petaluma (20-ish minutes south of Sonoma County’s biggest city, Santa Rosa) we’ve only seen ash and smoke thus far, but there are 500+ fires and 750,000+ acres burned statewide. Hazy skies. Scary-ass sunsets. Regularly checking our local air-quality numbers. Got our bug-out bags repacked. My wife just sent me over a Google spreadsheet of our “What would we grab in 20 minutes?” list. The house is prepped, in case friends need to evacuate here again.

For our local breweries, which had been finding COVID-19 workarounds like outdoor beer gardens, it means one more step backwards. All of the Santa Rosa breweries I mentioned last month—Russian River, Moonlight, and Cooperage—have had to temporarily suspend their outdoor operations due to air-quality issues, all switching to take-out only for the moment. Here’s hoping air-quality levels improve soon and fire season won’t be as bad as it looks.

That said… this is familiar turf. We’ve endured wildfires, and everything 2020’s thrown so far. We had N95 masks way before COVID. We’ll get through this too. Here’s hoping you are holding up ok through everything. Support the small businesses you want to stay open. Stay strong. I’m gonna go crack an apocalypse beer and fall asleep on our bug-out bag.

Beyond the Bottle: Re-Re-Reopenings

August 20, 2020 by Ken Weaver

Last month, I mentioned how the beer scene was looking out here in Sonoma County, with the particularly troubling sidebar that we could be losing 40+% of the restaurants in Santa Rosa as a result of the pandemic. Santa Rosa’s the biggest city in Sonoma County—home to breweries like Russian River, Moonlight, Cooperage, and HenHouse, among others. With a recent uptick in COVID-19 cases across the state, California closed indoor dining statewide as of July 13^th. The new restrictions, while addressing the fact that indoor transmission is way more problematic, impose a pretty curious handicap on places like breweries, brewpubs, and distilleries—all of which can serve beer outdoors, but only in the same transaction as a meal.

Wineries and tasting rooms, in a move that pokes the most cynical buttons in my brain, have no such restriction. <dramatic villain music>

I’ll focus on how our local folks have been responding. Lagunitas here in Petaluma already had most of its seating outdoors, and is open for curbside pickup and outdoor dining, with the restriction of one household per seating area. Moonlight, Cooperage, and Russian River (the latter getting a boost from Santa Rosa’s decision to shut down 4^th Street in downtown for businesses to operate outdoors) have all been creating makeshift beer gardens, satisfying the meal requirements through either an existing kitchen (RR) or rotating food trucks. And the two HenHouse locations, with smaller outdoor spaces, have been curbside pickup only.

Hope you’re holding up ok through this. How are breweries adjusting to things in your area? Have things reopened, or re-reopened? Get in touch on Twitter via @RareBeerClub.

Beyond the Bottle: Venturing Out

June 26, 2020 by Ken Weaver

It’s tough to imagine having COVID-19 under control in this country anytime soon, so, like everybody else right now, my wife and I have been making adjustments for the long haul. As local restaurants and breweries reopen for on-site business up here in Sonoma County, we’re finally faced with the option of venturing out. For the past few months, we’ve been focused on curbside pickup at the handful of local breweries we really want to have around when this is all over—which seems dire, but probably isn’t. Our biggest city here is Santa Rosa, known to many as home to Russian River Brewing Co., and the hospitality industry is a very big part of life. In a recent CBS article, the CEO of the Santa Rosa Metro Chamber mentioned we’d be lucky to lose only 40% of the city’s restaurants. But he expected most to shut for good.

Deep breath.

The next year is going to be super challenging, even more so for small businesses relying on in-person interactions at the heart of their business model. Things are just now reopening as I’m typing this from Sonoma County, and one of the main things we’re discussing with our friends is how to balance these new options with keeping the folks in our pod (or bubble, or whatever quaranteam term you prefer) safe. Our pod includes our closest friends’ parents, so we’ve been erring on the side of caution. Curbside, delivery, masks, meet for beers outside… But dear god do I want to sit at a bar and drink beer and chat random shit with strangers.

How’s reopening been going in your area? Have you been venturing out to local breweries or restaurants yet? Folks masking up? Get in touch on Twitter via @RareBeerClub.

Beyond the Bottle: Shoutout to the Beer Artists

May 15, 2020 by Ken Weaver

I’m really digging the label art featured on Sudwerk’s Microfauna, created by the brewery’s in-house label artist Gregory Shilling and featuring, I think, a tardigrade (aka ‘moss piglet’) double-fisting some beer cans, surrounded by microbial drinking buddies. It’s super weird, evocative, scientifically questionable… but I think it’s great, and it nails the overall surreal and world-building vibe that permeates so many beer labels and beer artworks these days.

I love this creative space. And, while we’re all bunkered down for the indeterminate future, now seems an ideal time to shout out some of the folks contributing a ton within the space of label design and beer-related artwork. First off, AJ Keirans with @16ozCanvas has been rounding up a bunch of us for podcasts and features, and his archive of podcasts very likely has your favorite artist in there somewhere, going into detail about process, influences, and inspiration. Em Sauter’s been creating daily educational beer drawings and comics over at @pintsandpanels. And Nicolas Fullmer (@beyondtheale) has been sharing his increasingly detailed beer illustrations on the regular—predominantly in his label designs for Monkish.

I’ve missed a ton of folks. In Cali: the labels of HenHouse, Cooperage, and Modern Times all come to mind. Who do you find inspiring in the world of beer art? Whose label artwork do you think deserves some attention? Let us know on Twitter at @RareBeerClub.

Beyond the Bottle: Beer in Quarantine

April 15, 2020 by Ken Weaver

It’s hard to know where the world will be when this newsletter lands, but at the moment my wife and I and our cats have been bunkered down for just over 11 days. We both work from home usually, so we’re focused on worrying about the family we’ve got working through the outbreak (one a pharmacist; another working on a crisis-response team). We’ve been keeping in touch with peeps, via online happy hours and the like… But this is super tough—even for introverts, where this should be our Olympics. We miss our friends and our shared spaces.

Until things go back to anything resembling normal, here’s hoping that you’re staying safe, isolated, virtually connected, and properly stocked. Your favorite small businesses are almost for sure having a terrible time figuring out how they’re going to weather this pandemic, so now’s the best time to support them if you’re able to. The local breweries here in NorCal are offering options like no-contact home deliveries, curbside pickup, and online shops. Merch, gift cards, and employee fundraisers are other great ways to help folks get through this.

How are you making it through the downtime? What beers did you quarantine impulse-buy? Did you find a way to support your local brewery? Connect on Twitter at @RareBeerClub.