Good morning and happy Friday to all!
This weekend we'll be backpacking the Grand Canyon, and you best believe we'll be having whatever the opposite of a summit beer is when we arrive at the river! What's the coolest place you've enjoyed a well-earned beer?
In this week's issue:
Our hottest take yet (gasp)
Dinosaurs and DIPAs in Houston
The secret to beating the nationwide beer slump
[ 01 // THE FLIGHT ]
Our faves from this week
🛍️ Finally, a proper solution for all those abandoned Macy's stores: turn them all into taprooms like Big Grove Brewery.
🎪 Neshaminy Creek Brewing brings craft beer to the big top with their upcoming circus-themed anniversary party.
🥒 Our hottest take yet: Pickle makes everything better, even PBR. Get the limited-edition collab with Grillo’s Pickles and let us know if we're crazy.
🦕 Brewsology Beer Fest hits the Houston Museum of Natural Science. A rare opportunity to drink world-class beers in a world-class museum.
🤝 Nothing brings Swifties and beer fans together like Travis Kelce chugging a Garage Beer courtside at the Cavs game.
[ 02 // THE PINT ]
The state that's beating the beer slump
Interest in craft beer is shrinking nationwide.
If you're reading this, you're probably not the problem. Those of us who love craft beer, LOVE craft beer. And we show this love by supporting our local breweries and taprooms. Trivia nights, new releases and collabs, live music. You name it, we're down.
For the past few years, the craft beer headlines have been a bit sad. Closures, shrinking sales, less people drinking period.
Then 2026 showed up, and we’re seeing a better pulse check than expected. Vibes are surprisingly high again. Not 2014, new-brewery-every-week good. But genuinely decent.
Take the stat everyone loves to print: 481 breweries closed last year. This is real, and it does sting.
But nobody mentions that for every 5 breweries that closed, 92 kept on pouring and 3 brand-new ones opened their doors. "Craft Beer is Actually Kinda Fine" just doesn't get the same clicks.
There are still 9,578 craft breweries in the US. That's up 66% from a decade ago, and up 656% from 20 years ago. Closures hurt, but all is not lost.
In fact, the Brewers Association got so curious about the mood that they tried to measure the vibes.
At this year's big industry conference, not one single person said they'd "definitely not" come back. And sentiment overall seems to be improving year-over-year.
And then there's Colorado, which apparently never got the memo that we're all supposed to be sad.
While the rest of the nation decreased craft beer production by about 5.7%, Colorado brewers increased by about 10% in 2025.
What’s their big secret? Leaning into the exact thing you already love them for: The taproom. The trivia night, the run club, the live music, the reason to stay for one more round and keep coming back.
Turns out the onsite experience has evolved from a nice bonus to a whole survival strategy.
Which means the thing keeping craft beer alive in 2026 is, more or less… you! The real MVP who shows up to the release and brings a friend.
So no, craft beer isn't dying. It's just getting better at remembering what it was always supposed to be: a place worth showing up for, and a story worth retelling.
Go hit your local spot, then go tell somebody about it. (Including us, we read every reply;)