Happy Holidays! In just 36 hours we bid our current year adieu, and welcome in 2025. If you're planning to celebrate out of your home, make sure to be safe. The New Year's Eve roads are more than twice as dangerous as they are on regular nights.

The end of the year marks the start of January, or as we hope you'll call it, "Pub January," our month-long effort to encourage people to get out and support their friendly neighborhood breweries. As a part of this campaign, this newsletter will come out every week for the month, so check in for suggestions about how to participate.

If you are looking for more news and conversation between these emails, visit our feeds at Instagram, Facebook, or Bluesky.

News

There's never a lot of news at the end of the year, but we did have one opening to report, along with a sobering look at the hop industry.

Ruse Crust Collective Ruse Brewing has opened their third pub and second Detroit-style pizzeria in Portland's Slabtown neighborhood at 1505 N.W. 21st Ave. More details here

Major Hop Decline The American hop harvest dropped 16% in 2024. Oregon's decline was only 8%, but that followed a steeper drop in 2023. See the numbers

New at the Website

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January has always been a tough year for breweries. People drink the most beer in the summer and the least in the winter–and January is the worst month of all. The holidays are over, but the weather remains bad and the nights are long. But in the past decade, a social movement called “Dry January” has gained momentum. It's a healthy inspiration, but January is unfortunate timing, coming as it does when the pubs are already quiet.

We have a solution: Pub January!

Designed to complement Dry January, Pub January is an effort to get people out of the house to connect with other people and beat the January blues--and you can do it with a nonalcoholic beer or mocktail in your hand. We need to support our local breweries, and what better way than joining friends for a night out? This coming month, don't hole up--get down to the pub!

When you do go out, please let others know what a good time you're having. Tag us on social media, and be sure to hashtag #Dry January. We'd love to create as much buzz as possible.

Upcoming Events

Please send us all your #PubJanuary events at the following email so we can include them in our weekly roundups: events@celebrateoregonbeer.com

New Year's Parties You can kick off #PubJanuary in style at breweries like 7 Devils, Away Days, Double Mountain, Weekend Beer, Xicha--the list is too long to list everyone. Consult your local brewery and beer bars to see what's shaking.

New Year's Brunch Monkless (Bend) is hosting a feast from 10a-1p on New Year's Day featuring Belgian French toast, huevos rancheros, ham & cheese croissant & more. Reservations here

Rose Bowl Viewing The top-seeded Oregon Ducks start their College Football Playoffs in Pasadena on Jan 1 at 2pm. Breweries are a great place to quack along with your fellow Duck fans--but be sure to get there early!

Spotlight

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Keeping Up

For everything Oregon, please visit the Celebrate Oregon website. On it you’ll find information about the state’s brewing heritage, breweries (including region by region travel guides), the state’s unique hop regionand characteristic varieties, and info about our amazing fresh hop beer and season. We have a searchable, sortable database of all Oregon’s breweries and taprooms (though the full information for each brewery is not fully completed) as well as a map so you’re never far away from a tasty pint. In the coming year, new features will appear at least as often as this newsletter, where you can stay informed. Next time, we'll have a look at Oregon's ten most unusual breweries.

Celebrate Oregon Beer is supported by the Oregon Brewers Guild and Oregon Hop Commission.

Excellent journalism is of the many ways Oregon is so special. In between newsletters, be sure to check out these sites for the latest happenings:

• ​The New School​
• ​The Oregonian​
• ​Brewpublic​
• ​Beervana Blog​

See you again in two weeks!