As more and more breweries have been forced to shorten/alter their hours, or stay closed for a day or two (or even longer, in the case of Taos Mesa, which has gone back to takeout only), it is starting to become a bit risky to venture out again thanks to the Omicron variant of COVID-19. So how is the Crew going to handle things going forward? The short answer is carefully and cautiously.

Just about all of us have dealt with a recent COVID scare. I won’t speak of the respective situations for everyone else, but in my case I was at a small New Year’s Eve party where someone else in attendance tested positive afterwards. My rapid test came back negative on Wednesday, but I still await a PCR test, just in case. No symptoms so far, unless what feels like allergies is something more.

What this has done is force me to stay home all week, which means no interviews, which means no stories. Others in the Crew have interviews done, and they are starting to type them up, but eventually those will run out. We are trying to see if breweries will agree to go back to Zoom/phone/email interviews, but those can be tough to schedule with the staffing shortages going on right now at just about every place in our primary coverage area.

In other words, there may be a drop-off in stories over the next few weeks, both because we cannot get out there, and because breweries simply don’t have the time/ability to connect with us in-person or remotely.

We will do our best to keep everyone informed, especially as closings/delays continue to happen, but for the most part we will be doing it from the safety of home. We are all vaccinated and boosted, but we have to think of others, especially anyone with children under 5 (which includes one member of the Crew).

Anyway, have a happy and safe weekend. If you do go out, wear your mask, and be as careful as you can. Grab a patio seat if one is available, or just grab your beer and/or food to go.

— Stoutmeister