The Year in Review: Timeline

This is the week when I begin, during the doldrums between Christmas and New Year's, to toss a glance backward to see what happened over the past year. I'll look at some of the trends from this year, and of course, name a Satori Award for the best debut beer. But to kick things off, here's a timeline of the events we enjoyed. It's not exhaustive, but gives you a sense of how much happens in the world of beer in just a single year.

January
  • Alworth to Hawaii in celebration of his own decreptitude; misses most of the month
  • Fears about the hop shortage spread

February
  • It's Pub Night blog debuts
  • First annual Firkin Fest
  • Block 15 Brewpub opens in Corvallis

March
  • Lucky Lab Barleywine Fest
  • Hopworks Urban Brewery opens in Portland
  • Spring Beer Fest
  • Steve Novick offers "Left Hook Lager" as a fundraiser in his senate campaign
  • Weinhard releases an IPA--the first craft-style beer ever in the Henry's family

April
  • Cheers to Belgian Beers Fest
  • Pyramid/McTarnahan's merges with Magic Hat

May
  • Deschutes opens a brewpub in Portland
  • Oregonians recommend IPA to Barack Obama when he visits
  • FredFest

June
  • Columbia, Mt. Hood, and Gold River Distributors merge and become CoHo Dist.
  • InBev announces intention to acquire Anheuser-Busch
  • Organic Beer Festival

July
  • Widmer-Redhook officially merge
  • Moortgat (Duvel) buys Liefmans
  • Sagebrush Classic in Bend
  • Portland International Beer Festival
  • Three Creeks Brewing opens in Sisters
  • Oregon Brewers Festival

August

September
  • Fresh hop season begins--Oregon breweries will release more than forty fresh hop beers

October
  • Oregon breweries win 8 gold, 3 silver, and 7 bronze medals at the GABF
  • Brewpublic blog launched
  • Fresh Hop Tastivals tour Oregon

November
  • I believe there was some kind of election--tears of joy and sadness spilt in beers across America
  • Rogue buys the Green Dragon pub
  • Inbev officially purchases Bud--becomes AmBev

December
  • Holiday Ale Fest
  • Fourth Street Brewing opens in Gresham
  • Winter Beer Fest at Amnesia, Oregon gets hammered with the great storm of 2008--a record 19 inches of snow fall in Portland.
For those not keeping score, that's four brewery openings, 12 beer fests, five merger/consolidation/buyouts, three new blogs, and two faux micro releases. The number of new beers released is unknowable, if not uncountable. I'd say it's somewhere north of 200, but that's just a retrospective eyeball calculation. Let's put it this way: more than any person could conceivably drink. Or this way: another year in Beervana.

Cheers--
Jeff Alworthyear in review2 Comments