Now that our zoning variance is out of the way, there won’t be many bits of exciting news in the near future. Thankfully, Blue Monk has us covered: they finally — finally! — got their licensing this week. They’ve been the unfortunate poster child of everything that can go badly with trying to get licensed by New York State, and we look forward to many a night spent there, now that we’re able. I’m drinking a saison tonight in celebration and I hope you’ve got something similarly Belgian in your glass.

If good things come to those who wait, MAN is this gonna be awesome

Other beery news is slightly less cheery: by now you’ve no doubt heard about the brouhaha regarding the California Beer and Beverage Distributors’ fight against CA Prop 19, which would legalize marijuana in the state. The CBBD represents breweries like Sierra Nevada, Stone, New Belgium, Boston Beer Co… well, at least, they did represent those breweries: many have publicly come out against the proposition. Stone pointed out that they’re a nonvoting member and had no influence in the decision, while Sierra Nevada went one step farther and actually asked to be removed as a member.

What I found most amusing was a series of tweets from Maureen Ogle, author of Ambitious Brew: she posted a quote from a New York Times article: ‘Pot “spells disaster to the liquor trade. If they ever legalize it, the liquor business is dead.”‘ In her next tweet, she gave the citation for it: it was from 1970. She finished with this: ‘Put another way: the more things change, the more they don’t.’

But back to the happy! Much as the process has begun to put t shirts on your back, this week e also began discussing the best way to put glasses in your hand. CBW swag: coming to a house near you, soon enough!