Over the last few days, I have struggled for a way to start an article about my trip to Maui. Do I talk about the intense tan color of the sand and the vivid blues and greens of the Pacific?

Or maybe we just talk beer? Yes let's do that.

As we cruise into 2016, ACB looks back at the most significant events of "the year that was" - and reflects upon where our industry might be heading.

So many beers - So little time... Winter is undeniably here, and with it comes the beers of the season. And we've a number of interesting offerings that you'll want to chase down...We've some new releases from Saint Arnold and Starr Hill that sounds serious as well.

We blame the industry for this... It used to be that when we wrapped up our Weekend Picks on Friday, we could coast through the weekend. There was little need to check in for updates - things were pretty much done. But clearly all that's changed.

So here's some of what's happened in the world of craft beer while you were off enjoying yourself.

As those of you who read us regularly, understand all too well - we're not geniuses - but as we do cover the craft beer industry daily. And as a result, we've got our own opinions about where things are going this year - and we might even be right about some of them!

We at American Craft Beer love to delve into the best music each year. If beer is our favorite pastime, indulging in music is a close second and often one of the best ways to pair the finest suds. Here are our picks for 2015, listed by Artist, alphabetically.

Hey, no one's perfect and we at American Craft Beer.com understand that better than anyone, having enthusiastically acted on more bad ideas than we care to think about. That said, there are some ideas out there that are so monumentally bad and so misguided as to boggle the mind, allowing us to proclaim that "at least we didn't come up with that!" So welcome to another edition of our continuing series - BAD IDEAS IN BREWING - and we're blaming Japan for these awful ideas.

Hey it's Friday... and you're ready for some fun. Well good, because we're all about it and we've got all kinds of ideas for you. From the nation's coolest beer festivals to movies, music and cutting edge TV - we've got your back big-time.  Plus we've a weekend beer pick for you too, because we know you'll be drinking!

So welcome to our awesome Weekend Picks...

Hey we get it.  You're busy and you can't possibly hang with us 24/7. But still, we don't want you to be missing all the good stuff. So as part of our ongoing commitment to bringing you the best craft beer and lifestyle coverage on the face of the planet - and to keep you plugged into our ongoing recklessness - we do a weekly compilation of our recent good, bad and ugly.

So welcome to the first Friday Wrap-Up of 2016

We, the Average Joes at ACB, may not have full-time jobs brewing, selling or judging beer, yet if you knew just how AWESOME some of our real jobs are, you'd better understand why we spend so much of our free time drinking beer. It all goes to show that we take our research quite seriously and wish to impart the wisdom we've stumbled upon, in the hopes of making your free time as rich as ours.

Without further ado, let's drink in yet another chapter in our series, "What the Hell is a Cascadian Dark Ale?"