American Craft Beer Remembers People We Lost In 2016

Mortality sucks and it always resonates to look back and reflect on the many we’ve lost in 2016 that marked our lives in different ways. So many times you don’t realize how much they mattered to you until they’re suddenly gone. And here are some people who will be missed…

David Bowie – Such a loss…David Bowie was a creative genius and his impact on music immense. As we wrote the day that he died, he was a true artist who continued his musical journey long after he stepped away from the limelight. Blackstar, his last album was recorded under the radar and released the day after he passed. And, not surprisingly, it’s one of the best albums of 2016.

 

Prince – Another musical genius who will be missed. Much younger than Bowie he lived (and died) for the stage. It was his private addiction to the painkillers he used to mask the pain brought on by of years of constant touring that was his end. He was an outspoken anti-drug advocate who wouldn’t even condone his travelling troupe getting high…so it must have destroyed him to realize that he had succumbed …making it all the harder to get the help he so desperately needed.

Muhammad Ali – Muhammad Ali, one of the world’s greatest sporting figures and certainly history’s most iconic boxer died in Phoenix last June. Like David Bowie, and Prince (in his own way), Muhammad Ali was an enormous presence in the world. But unlike Bowie, who spoke through his music but hid behind many personas, or Prince, who lived and died for the stage, but otherwise lived in cloistered privacy, Ali seemed to thrive in the national spotlight. As we wrote at the time, Muhammad Ali was a force of nature, both as a boxer and as a man…He lived a life “that mattered” and will be missed.

Glen Frey – Leave to a Detroit city boy to re-define California in the 70’s when he founded the Eagles (along with Don Henley) in the 70’s and helped guide the band’s rise to becoming one of the world’s best-selling bands of all time. And yes, some still blame his band for heralding in the world of arena rock and there is some truth to that, but his greatness as an American songwriter is undeniable. You write and lend your voice to songs like Hotel California, Peaceful Easy Feeling,  One of These Nights and Lyin’ Eyes to name just a very few of his classics and we can talk about it…

Leonard Cohen – Barely a singer and truly cut from an entirely different mold than most artists of his generation Leonard Cohen was a Canadian poet and writer who showcased his work through music. Though hardly as recognized as his generational peer Bob Dylan, Lenard Cohen’s music, which explored the complexities of spirituality, sexuality, politics and personal isolation, has influenced generations of contemporary musicians. And like Bowie he released one of the finest albums of his lifetime, You Want It Darker in 2016.

 

Other Notable Deaths in 2016

George Michael, Alan Rickman, Nancy Reagan, John Glen, Fidel Castro, Joe Garagiola, Gene Wilder. Anton Yelchin, Arnold Palmer, Patty Duke, Carrie Fisher Debbie Reynolds, Paul Kantnor, Antonin Svalia, Harper Lee, Vanity, Sir George Martin, Keith Emerson, Rob Ford, Garry Shandling, Merle Haggard, Robert Stigwood, Morely Safer, Buddy Ryan, Pete Fountain, Hugh O’Brian, José Fernández, Leon Russell, Gwen Ifill, Robert Vaughn, Alan Thicke, Greg Lake, Richard Adams…

Again, mortality sucks….