The beer industry, much like many other industries (and as you can probably imagine), is heavily dominated by cisgender, heterosexual, male voices. Oh, the surprise! Enter Lily Waite. She is the founder of Queer Brewing and is on a mission to change all that. Up until recently, Queer Brewing as a brand was a solo effort from Lily working particularly in collaboration with other breweries. 

For me personally, it is wonderful to see small businesses like these enter industries that you wouldn't necessarily associate with the LGBTQ+ community. Sure, the LGBTQ+ community drinks beer the same way everyone else does. However, in terms of visibility and that thing I talk about a lot, representation, it is both inspiring and really important that our community has a voice, especially in those industries where LGBTQ+ people have historically been shut out. Quite often, as a result of that visibility and representation, it helps facilitate change even outside of a specific industry.

It could be said that a real "big break" for the Queer Brewing project came in the form of a ground-breaking program from Manchester brewery (and already one of my favourites), Cloudwater. Cloudwater makes fantastic beers themselves and is heavily focused on diversity and inclusion in their business. Owner and Managing Director Paul Jones is very clear on his position, "If our privilege doesn’t create a platform that we can hand over to folk with less privilege than us, I don’t think we’ll sleep easy with ourselves. Certainly not now. Nor in the years to come." The Wayfinder Program is designed to share Cloudwater resources with a new generation of visionaries and affect change both within the craft beer industry and beyond. In order to bring about that change, the program has sought to bring in talent that had previously been shut out. Lily Waite and her Queer Brewing Project are the first participants in this Wayfinder program. If you want to read a little bit more about the program, you can do so HERE. From this program, Lily has been able to double her workforce (to two) and launch the new Queer Brewing 'core range' of beers.

If you follow any of my other social media you will know that I do love a beer and more specifically a good beer. Now, I will say I am in no way an expert on beer but on the flip side of that, since downloading the Untappd app back in September 2016, I have tried just shy of 900 unique beers. That means I have certainly tried enough to know what I like and what I don't. I have also got a bit better at picking out different flavour profiles in beers and so on. I have a long way to go on that front which I hope to rectify at some point this year with some proper beer tasting courses. Nevertheless, with the launch of the Queer Brewing core range, I was pretty adamant about supporting them and trying the beers. I wouldn't class this as a review by any stretch, like I say, I'm not quite at the level of proficiency for that. However, I will share my thoughts through my 'amateur' level beer tasting, which may encourage you to give these a try for yourself. 

Flowers - 4% ABV

Tiny Dots - 4.5% ABV

Existence As A Radical Act - 5% ABV

I'm not going to lie and the statistics speak for themselves, I listened to a lot less music. In part because I didn't have Christmas music playing A LOT. I was definitely expecting the January numbers to come in lower but I wasn't expecting them to be quite this low. Whoops. That is also a big part of why the chart has no tracks that were played in December. There are no ups or down this month!

In fact, pretty much the entire chart is new entries with only three tracks having charted prior to December and one of those being the "Bluey Theme Tune" which gets played a lot for my daughter. Some of the new entries are questionable though, given that they aren't really new as much as they just existed long before I started doing these charts.

Diving into all those lovely new entries, seven of them are taken up by an album that almost slipped me by. It was released in November 2020 but after hearing one of the tracks on the radio I went searching and pretty much instantly fell in love with it. I initially 'discovered' Raye after hearing her fabulous track "Natalie Don't" last summer and it has been a favourite ever since so when I found her album "Euphoric Sad Songs" I had to give it a listen. I was not disappointed. The album as a body of work is so very good and I have played right through a few times already. I can't even pick out a top track from it because four of them all have 5 plays, but the highest 'charting' was "All Dressed Up". Honestly, go stream this album because it is just brilliant. I reckon and hope that Raye will have a lot of success with it.

Another new entry came from the Irish and very eclectic band, Wild Youth, taking number 9 with their latest offering "Champagne Butterflies". It's a throbbing, feel-good track all about that feeling you get when you first fall in love. It is upbeat, hopeful and has a real summer vibe to it. The band themselves have been around since 2016 but they have been gaining a lot of popularity since and I can totally see why. I haven't yet, but I fully intend to dig further into their catalogue so you can expect to see more of them on the charts in the future.

Damien Rice picked up a couple of song spots on the chart this month, neither of which is what you would class as new. Rice is one of those artists that I dip in and out of, very much depending on my mood haha. I find him very relaxing to listen to, very cerebral and quite often emotional. "It Takes A Lot To Know A Man", in at number 16, is a superb and epic track coming in at just over 9 minutes long. It opens with a beautiful piano solo and builds throughout, layering in brass and strings. I love it. 

The other entry from him came as a bit of a surprise when I stumbled across it as I was just poking around Apple Music to see if he had anything new out as it has been quite a while. Sadly, there is no new album or anything but I did discover that he had done a cover of the Sia track "Chandelier" in early 2020. I really enjoy the original so downloaded it out of curiosity. It is certainly a very different style to the original and is very much in that typical Damien Rice style but one thing really struck me and that was the lyrics. I had never really processed what the lyrics were or what the story of the song was in the original. It was just a great song. Hearing the Rice version really puts those lyrics front and centre in the most emotive way. I would say that, for me, it has added an entirely new dimension to the song which is why it comes in at number 3.

Continuing the trend of emotive songs, Years & Years almost took the top spot, coming in at number 2 with their cover of Pet Shop Boys "It's A Sin". The song was released in tandem with the new Russell T. Davies TV show that is currently airing on Channel 4. I'm not going to get into the TV show as this isn't the place, in fact, I keep debating writing a piece about it specifically but you have probably heard about it already. Anyway, "It's A Sin" has always been one of my favourite songs from the 1980s. It is another one of those covers that takes an upbeat song from the past and reframes it in a ballad form. Although at times I have found that trend of 'ballad versions' a little bit overdone, this one works beautifully. Olly Alexanders vocals on this stripped back track sound so pure and full of emotion. There is no full video for it sadly, but I can't resist sharing the YouTube video that does exist...

I've also been listening to a fair bit of what I would refer to as dance music this month, with highlights from Meduza, Rina Sawayama, Jax Jones (and collaborators), Cedric Gervais & Franklin, James Hype and HOLA! All of which are absolute 'bangers' but there was a real stand out this month from Bingo Players & Ida Corr. Coming in at number 1 is their track "I Know This Club" and it is most definitely a BANGER! Considering that none of us can actually get out to a club right now, this is the perfect tonic. I must confess I have had this on repeat very loud and very late on a Saturday night after drinks with friends via Skype. It is quite a 'simple' dance track but it just thumps and makes me want to dance. Lyrically it amuses me because of the line "This club feels just like home" and right now, that is because it is home! Honestly, get this on and making your living room your own nightclub for the night. Have a lyric video and enjoy... (It also just came on Gaydio as I was writing this bit so yay!)

That is going to do it for my musical musings this month with the full chart just below. As always, if you have any music recommendations or tracks you think I really should be listening to, drop me comment below or drop me a line via Twitter...