Good Beer Hunting
Award-winning interviews with a wide spectrum of people working in, and around, the beer industry. We balance the culture of craft beer with the businesses it supports, and examine the tenacity of its ideals.
info_outline
CL-141 Reverence for the Irreverent — Brewing Magic at Brujos Brewing
04/24/2024
CL-141 Reverence for the Irreverent — Brewing Magic at Brujos Brewing
Magic takes time, patience, and intention. So does brewing. The two concepts intertwine fantastically and theatrically in Jeff Alworth’s Signifier for Good Beer Hunting, titled “Long Live the Sorcery — Brujos Brewing in Portland, Oregon.” In the piece, he delves into the magical world of Brujos, a business that officially opened in March 2024, but has been percolating for a decade under the creative vision of owner and brewer Sam Zermeño. What started as a brand and hobby picked up steam on social media around 10 years ago, when Zermeño was still a homebrewer in Southern California with a penchant for making malty beers and an appreciation for what he calls “witchy shit” and the occult. Once he got some professional brewing experience under his belt—or, wizard robes, which seems more likely—and moved to the Pacific Northwest, things began to settle into place. It wasn’t an accident, and it wasn’t magic, but it was definitely a journey that deserves its own story. When Alworth decided to write about it, he says it was that slippery concept of “authenticity” that drew him to write about Zermeño’s vision and the Brujos dream finally realized. In this conversation, Alworth and I talk about how and why this story feels a lot different than much of the cynical, business-oriented beer writing that’s pervasive in media today. He talks about how, despite being in a city proudly full of weirdos, Brujos takes it to a whole new level, and how it still just works. We talk about the dichotomy of the sacred and profane, the beauty of ritual, and magical realism that serves as a foundation for the brewery. As I say later in the episode, it’s a nice story about good people doing cool things.
/episode/index/show/goodbeerhuntingpodcast/id/30953163
info_outline
EP-407 Hillary Barile of Rabbit Hill Farms & Malthouse and Craft Maltsters Guild
04/20/2024
EP-407 Hillary Barile of Rabbit Hill Farms & Malthouse and Craft Maltsters Guild
Hillary Barile isn’t sure what she’d call herself first: a farmer or a maltster. In reality, she’s both, working as a fifth generation farmer at Rabbit Hill Farms & Malthouse in Shiloh, New Jersey. There, she and members of her family produce barley and other crops, as well as run a small-scale malthouse that supplies ingredients for breweries and distilleries. And, as president of the Craft Maltsters Guild Board of Directors, she works to educate and grow the craft malt community across North America and beyond. So why, and how, did she make the jump from farming pottoes to investing in the agriculture and future of craft malt? It started with homebrewing, of course, with aspirations of opening a brewery to diversify and solidify her farm’s finances. But, as she explains in this episode, the business plan never got that far. As for what’s next, she says the breweries prioritizing local craft malt can tell unique stories that still reach the hearts of drinkers, giving them a small, but sufficient shield against difficult economic forces. We also discuss the many definitions of the word “sustainable,” and the efforts she’s making to ensure generations to come will still have the opportunity to nurture the land her family has cultivated.
/episode/index/show/goodbeerhuntingpodcast/id/30881798
info_outline
TG-012 The One About Last Year
04/18/2024
TG-012 The One About Last Year
It’s time for the Brewers Association’s annual report for 2023. Who came out on top? Who’s new to the list and how did they get there? What on Earth is going on with draft sales, and what new data is still to come from the upcoming Craft Brewers Conference? All this and more is next, on this episode of the Gist.
/episode/index/show/goodbeerhuntingpodcast/id/30881703
info_outline
EP-406 Michael Duckworth of True Anomaly Brewing Company
04/13/2024
EP-406 Michael Duckworth of True Anomaly Brewing Company
You’ve heard the joke—four scientists walk into a bar, and hilarity ensues. But have you heard the one about a few NASA employees opening a brewery? It’s not a setup. It’s how True Anomaly Brewing Company in Houston, Texas actually started, when four friends and homebrewers decided to trade in the final frontier for a shot at making their own beer. Michael Duckworth is co-founder and CEO of True Anomaly, which was recently named Brewery of the Year at the Texas Craft Brewers Cup for the second year in a row. Now in their sixth year, True Anomaly specializes in making wild and sour beers, but in a lager-focused state like Texas, they brew plenty of clean beers as well. They’ve been recognized for both with medal wins in competitions like the World Beer Cup and Great American Beer Festival. And now, they’re preparing to open a much larger second location later this year, which you’ll hear about, and plan to up their output from around 1,200 barrels to around 2,000 by the end of 2024. All this begs the question: how did a bunch of NASA nerds pull this off? Well, according to Michael, the four founders took a methodical, scientific approach to the business plan and applied an artistic sensibility to making the beers themselves. Wild beer can be unpredictable, but it’s that freedom from expectation he says makes each day a fun and unique surprise. In this episode, he also talks about the potential he sees in the Houston craft beverage scene, why they implemented inclusivity as part of their operations from day one, and why you might see an astronaut or two hanging around the brewery on the weekends.
/episode/index/show/goodbeerhuntingpodcast/id/30789423
info_outline
EP-405 Maddee McDowell of The Tasting Alliance
04/06/2024
EP-405 Maddee McDowell of The Tasting Alliance
What happens when a respected name in wine and spirits tries to make a move into the beer world? Does their experience translate into a new category, or do they have to build a reputation from the ground up? Does the beer industry welcome interlopers, or view them with skepticism and confusion? And if they’re asking to judge your beer at a new competition, does anyone show up? These are all questions I asked myself when I was invited to judge at The Tasting Alliance’s second ever beer competition in December 2023. I, like some others in and around beer, had never heard of the group, or only knew them for their wine and spirits competitions that take place in San Francisco, New York, and Singapore. In this episode, I talk to Maddee McDowell, vice president of The Tasting Alliance and the person who handles the logistical organization of their beer competition. You’ll hear about what it was like for me to participate in judging, but also what The Tasting Alliance hopes sets them apart from other competitions. Maddee shares what the biggest category of entries was (it’s shockingly not IPAs), some of the differences between running wine and spirits competitions versus beer, and how they’re trying to build relationships in the beer community to gain a wider diversity of palates at the judging table. We also talk about how the competition changed from year one to two, and how many entries she, somewhat optimistically, hopes to receive in year three. The competition doesn’t end once medals are announced, McDowell assures us. And at the very least, The Tasting Alliance’s experience is another way for us to better understand competitions and what it takes to make them happen.
/episode/index/show/goodbeerhuntingpodcast/id/30391843
info_outline
TG-011 The One With the Sincerest Form of Flattery
04/04/2024
TG-011 The One With the Sincerest Form of Flattery
It’s a consumer’s world—we’re just living in it. Maybe that’s just how it seems nowadays, based on the number of new products on shelves and who’s putting them there. In this episode of The Gist, lead Sightlines reporter Kate Bernot and Beth Demmon (that’s me) take a look at what products Tilray has released since going on a brewery-buying bonanza last August. We also talk about what sort of vibes Kate saw at the recent Illinois Craft Brewers Convention, and finally, what’s the latest buzz on BuzzBallz after Sazerac announced their plans to acquire the one-in-a-million brand success story. All this and more is coming right up, right here on The Gist.
/episode/index/show/goodbeerhuntingpodcast/id/30679053
info_outline
EP-404 Natalie Thurman of Trace Brewing
03/30/2024
EP-404 Natalie Thurman of Trace Brewing
So often, when you listen to these episodes, you hear conversations with people far along in their experience with beer, wine, spirits, or other alcoholic beverages. We’ve had our share of brewers and owners who have been in the game for a decade or more. And in this conversation, we’re invited to hear from Natalie Thurman, an up-and-coming brewer discovering what it means to go pro, create recipes, and learn all the time. Natalie was a homebrewer before she was brought on as a vocational brewer at Pittsburgh’s Trace Brewing. Over a six-month period from summer 2023 through the end of that year, Natalie worked alongside and learned from a variety of staff at Trace, picking up tips, tricks, and an education that will guide her in brewing for years to come. It’s all new—Natalie is a clinical research professional and registered nurse who’s spent more than 10 years working in healthcare—but as you’ll hear in this chat, there’s a lightness and excitement at work in her life through beer. While we talk about her beginnings in homebrewing and building an interest in beer, I invite you to really hear the way Natalie talks about finding herself through her homebrewing and her work at Trace. Spending time at a brewery and meeting industry peers has seemed to unlock something special for her, and it’s an opportunity you’ll hear she’s not taking for granted. This is a chance to hear what it sounds like to start something new and why it’s so meaningful. It’s an opportunity to hear about how the joy of homebrewing becomes the joy of professional brewing and all that’s to come for Natalie and those in her orbit.
/episode/index/show/goodbeerhuntingpodcast/id/30489888
info_outline
EP-403 Neil Fisher and Skip Schwartz of WeldWerks Brewing
03/23/2024
EP-403 Neil Fisher and Skip Schwartz of WeldWerks Brewing
Fluffernutter and Oreo Marshmallow pastry stouts. Kettle sours brewed with "obscene amounts" of fruit. A cream cheese rangoon gose. Depending on your level of curiosity and adventurousness, these beers may sound exciting or challenging, but they also have two things in common: They’ve been made by Colorado’s WeldWerks Brewing and they’re fun beers made with serious intent. In this episode, we get into some of the technical ideas, philosophies, and search for dialed-in joy with Skip Schwartz, WeldWerks’ head brewer and Neil Fisher, founder and owner of the company. What makes brewing and beer fun these days? There are lots of answers, and as you’ll hear both explain, it could be from the never-ending tweaks to make a beer as perfect as possible or finding ways to connect with new drinkers who would otherwise turn away from a beer. Some of the more wild beers created by WeldWerks have gotten attention over the years, but it’s their flagship hazy IPA, Juicy Bits, that put this brewery on the map and has allowed WeldWerks to expand into 26 different markets this year. The runaway success of Juicy Bits has helped the business gain notoriety beyond Colorado, build out its brewhouse, and set a goal of modest growth as many companies in craft beer are focused on just staying flat with their production. So, maybe you’ve tried some of WeldWerks’ outlandish beers at their taproom or during a major industry event like the Great American Beer Festival, or maybe you’ve had their signature IPA and one of its variants. Allow Skip and Neil to give you some background on what it means to connect with drinkers today and learn how their approach to beer is setting them up for 2024 and beyond.
/episode/index/show/goodbeerhuntingpodcast/id/30489783
info_outline
CL-140 Malts, Monoculture, and Money—The Future of Barley in North America
03/20/2024
CL-140 Malts, Monoculture, and Money—The Future of Barley in North America
Some people nerd out about beer in general. Others go wild for water profiles, hop varieties, or yeast strains, but in Don Tse’s experience, not enough people are paying attention to malted barley. It’s something he’s been passionate about for a decade, and a topic he finally gets to explore in-depth in his first piece for Good Beer Hunting. In that op-ed, titled “,” Don explains how the barley of today shouldn’t be the barley of yesterday. Typical crops are bred to resist disease and blight every few years. But in North America, barley that’s now widely planted has been around for three decades and is the main source of what’s used for malt in beer recipes. Why? Well, it takes time, money, and a lot of buy-in to change a monoculture crop like barley. That change is finally coming, thanks to investments from researchers at Cornell University, breweries like Allagash, and other forward-thinking farmers ready to make malt craft again. In our conversation, you’ll hear Don talk about why it took so long for him to pursue this passion project, why as a Canadian he’s focused on American farmers, why he’s so stoked on things like protein levels and output, and what sort of potential and future he sees in the North American barley industry. He doesn’t expect people to be as nuts about the subject as he is. But he hopes that we’ll all start to care, at least a little, to keep moving craft beer and our shared agricultural future looking bright.
/episode/index/show/goodbeerhuntingpodcast/id/30036063
info_outline
EP-402 Ryan Lavery, Founder & President of Widowmaker Brewing
03/16/2024
EP-402 Ryan Lavery, Founder & President of Widowmaker Brewing
The story of homebrewing and craft beer is intertwined. Ask many craft brewery owners how they got their start, and you’ll probably hear about their homebrewing days—how it sparked their love of beer and eventually led them to turn their hobby into a career. However, homebrewing is only one part of going pro, and there are many more skills needed to open and run a brewery. Ryan Lavery, owner of Widowmaker Brewing, got his start brewing beer in his garage. A series of serendipitous moments, including a Craigslist ad, eventually led him to open his own brewery in Braintree, Massachusetts in 2017, and another location in Allston-Brighton, a neighborhood in Boston in 2023. Both locations reflect Ryan’s love for music with his second location being described as a place with “intergalactic, spacey, stoner rock” vibes. In this conversation, Ryan shares how he didn’t really know anything about opening a brewery and how those first decisions—like how they set up the brewhouse—still affect him and his team today. You'll hear Ryan discuss the distinction between the opening of his first taproom and the second one, as well as how the brewery discovered its identity and how that knowledge influenced the design of both locations, starting with the second. We also spend a little time talking about the special places he’s visited in Atlanta while on business for the brewery, including a previous podcast guest, , and his brewing company, Good Word Brewing.
/episode/index/show/goodbeerhuntingpodcast/id/30391943
info_outline
TG-010 The One With The Fighting Spirit
03/13/2024
TG-010 The One With The Fighting Spirit
Modelo Especial continues to absolutely dominate as a lager, but is it so successful that we can call it the new domestic lager of choice? On this episode of The Gist, I’m joined as always by Lead Sightlines reporter Kate Bernot, along with special guest, freelance writer, and Good Beer Hunting contributor Jerard Fagerberg to talk about how Constellation Brands has grown Modelo to a 200 million case brand and what that means for the domestic beer category at large. Plus, we look at the latest c-store numbers—specifically, how cider is performing—and why combining “low” and “no” alcohol options into one group doesn’t really make much sense. I’m Beth Demmon, and you’re listening to The Gist.
/episode/index/show/goodbeerhuntingpodcast/id/30355713
info_outline
FFT-25 Matt Manthe from Odd Breed Brewing
03/05/2024
FFT-25 Matt Manthe from Odd Breed Brewing
Next up in our series of interviews from the 2023 Foeder for Thought festival, Kate Bernot is talking to Matt Manthe from Odd Breed Brewing in Pompano Beach, Florida. Most of the locations of the brewers we speak to at Foeder for Thought come from far and wide, and usually from places with more mild climates than Florida has to offer. So Matt and Odd Breed adapt their process and expectations to that reality, working with yeast strains and styles that provide the nuanced results they’re looking for. He also talks about what it takes to help grow the audience for these beers in Florida, which is a younger scene that markets like California or the Northeast. One of the methods Matt enjoys most is fresh hopping his wild ales for a somewhat hybrid style of IPA and wild and sour beer that is delighting his fans.
/episode/index/show/goodbeerhuntingpodcast/id/30240793
info_outline
FFT-24 Aaron Kleidon of Scratch Brewing
03/05/2024
FFT-24 Aaron Kleidon of Scratch Brewing
In this episode of the 2023 Foeder for Thought festival, I’m talking to Aaron Kleidon of catch Brewing in Ave, Illinois, one of the country’s most obscure and isolated brewers, that also happens to be one of the most welcoming and casual visits among the class of brewers you might consider a destination brewery. Tucked away in far southern Illinois, Scratch has made a name for itself with foraged ingredients, ancient methods of brewing, such as hot stone and campfire heating, as well as a culinary program at the brewpub that delivers a similarly-minded approach to cooking. We talk a lot more these days about the connection between agriculture and brewing, but in this conversation with Aaron, you’ll hear something more akin to a naturalist or a conservationist obsessed with his land and the surrounding forests, and how he makes world class beers from those unlikely resources.
/episode/index/show/goodbeerhuntingpodcast/id/30240758
info_outline
FFT-23 Trevor Rogers from de Garde Brewing
03/05/2024
FFT-23 Trevor Rogers from de Garde Brewing
In this episode of the 2023 Foeder for Thought festival, Kate Bernot is talking to Trevor Rogers from de Grade Brewing, a geographical outlier like many of these producers, based in Tilamook, Oregon. de Garde was part of the avant garde in American wild ales, founded in 2012 with his partner Linsey, considered by many to be one of, if not THE first producer of these styles of beer in the US. Part of the legend of de Garde comes from its methods of collecting wild yeast along multiple locations in the Pacific Northwest coastal region, and that influenced a generation of wild ale producers across the US who were looking for the courage to try these traditional Belgian methods in untested areas of the country.
/episode/index/show/goodbeerhuntingpodcast/id/30240598
info_outline
FFT-22 Brandon Boldt of Primitive Beer
03/05/2024
FFT-22 Brandon Boldt of Primitive Beer
After taking a short break for a St. Pete-style rain to pass through, the crowd at Foeder for Thought gathered in the courtyard at Green Bench again, dried off some seats and got a beer to listen to our second chat featuring Brandon Boldt from Primitive Beer in Colorado. A well-respected and novel producer of wild ales, Primitive is perhaps more widely known for their packaging style, putting uncarbonated wild ales into a bag and box serving package. These still beers provide a profoundly different drinking experience—without the carbonation, the flavors and textures move over the palate entirely differently than a beer in a thick glass bottle with those highly pressurized tiny bubbles. Since me and Brandon spoke at Foeder last year, they closed up shop in Longmont Colorado and starting making a big move to a new location—in an annex at New Image Brewing in Wheat Ridge Colorado.
/episode/index/show/goodbeerhuntingpodcast/id/30240443
info_outline
FFT-21 Zach Adams of Fox Farm
03/05/2024
FFT-21 Zach Adams of Fox Farm
We’re kicking off our 2023 Foeder for Thought episodes with Zach Adams of Fox Farm in Salem, Connecticut. Like many craft brewers, Zach was a home brewer, but unlike most home brewers, he competed at the top of the game in the Boston Beer Longshot challenge and won. Riding that boost of confidence, he and his partner bought a 1960s dairy barn and renovated it to create a humble but beautiful destination for what would quickly become one of the ties premier beer destinations. That confidence turns to some measure of humility however when we talk about his venture into wild and spontaneous brewing where he feels they’ll still finding their way and making a name.
/episode/index/show/goodbeerhuntingpodcast/id/30240283
info_outline
FFT-20 Khris Johnson of Green Bench Brewing
03/05/2024
FFT-20 Khris Johnson of Green Bench Brewing
Unless you’ve been listening to older episode of the GBH Podcast, you may not have heard my voice in awhile. I’ve been working on some new projects this past year or so that I’m excited about, but if there’s one thing that pulls me out of semi-retirement each year, it’s the festival in St Petersburgh Florida every March with Green Bench Brewing Company, and here we are again on the cusp of that annual gathering of wild and spontaneous beer producers gathering. This year its on Friday March 8th, and in the run-up to that event where I get to sit down and chat with a few leading producers in the category about their trajectory and the future the envision. I’m releasing last year’s talks as a way to sort of get people excited again and remind them of some of the aspects of Foeder for Thought that make it so special. First of all, it’s a small event but there’s some serious work and care put in that makes it fantastic. Khris Johnson and his team at Green Bench pull out all the stops for this thing. They get Web’s City Cellar, their companion bar, primed and ready to welcome fans of wild and spontaneous beer to what I consider one of the best beer bars in the country. And I’m certainly not alone in the opinion—this year the . That’s big time stuff. It’s going to be a fantastic time - and I hope to see you there. Now, let’s talk about 2023’s lineup of guests that you’ll hear in these episodes, hosted by myself and Good Beer Hunting’s Kate Bernot. We’re talking to folks from de Garde Brewing in Oregon, Fox Farm Brewery in Connecticut, Off Breed Wild Ales in Pompano Beach Florida, Primitive Beer in Colorado, and Scratch Brewing in far Southern Illinois. As per usual, it was an inspired lineup of beers and the producers behind them. All connected through their love of wild and spontaneous beer making, but also unique in their own rights—serving unique audiences and geographies, adapting to the realities of climate change and a shifting market, and finding their own way even as they hold the ancient traditions of these beers in a kind of reverent state.
/episode/index/show/goodbeerhuntingpodcast/id/30240188
info_outline
RV-002: Measurements, Bias, and Their Impact on Beer Science and Community Building
03/02/2024
RV-002: Measurements, Bias, and Their Impact on Beer Science and Community Building
This episode is one of a three-part series recorded as part of the Rare & Vintage Beer Tasting, an annual event held in Durham, North Carolina that brings brewers and beer lovers together from all over the country. Along with a beer festival, Rare & Vintage also hosts beer industry professional development conversations each January. The combo acts as a fundraising and awareness effort for the Michael James Jackson Foundation, which funds education and career advancement for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color in the brewing and distilling industries. For this year’s event, I moderated three discussions, and in this episode, you’ll hear me in conversation with three panelists talking about measurements, bias, and how these things impact the making of beer and how we bring people together for beer. Joining me are: Nicole Steinhilber, laboratory operations manager for Charleston, South Carolina’s Edmund’s Oast Brewing. April Dove, founder of Tha CommUNITY, a collaborative beer initiative that partners with breweries to offer a blueprint on how to attract Black drinkers to taprooms. Jen Currier, cellarmaster at Wicked Weed Brewing and head winemaker at its spin-off winery, Vidl Cellars. The experience between all three of these industry pros gave us fodder to get nerdy about lab work, ingredients, and more, but it also allowed us to look at big picture challenges facing beer today, most notably how to better welcome new drinkers into the fold. After you listen to this episode, make sure to check out the other two, which includes a panel discussion about bias in sensory and a keynote conversation with my Good Beer Hunting colleague and friend, Jamaal Lemon.
/episode/index/show/goodbeerhuntingpodcast/id/30154173
info_outline
RV-001: Big Ideas and Storytelling with Jamaal Lemon
03/02/2024
RV-001: Big Ideas and Storytelling with Jamaal Lemon
This episode is one of a three-part series recorded as part of the Rare & Vintage Beer Tasting, an annual event held in Durham, North Carolina that brings brewers and beer lovers together from all over the country. Along with a beer festival, Rare & Vintage also hosts beer industry professional development conversations each January. The combo acts as a fundraising and awareness effort for the Michael James Jackson Foundation, which funds education and career advancement for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color in the brewing and distilling industries. For this year’s event, I moderated three discussions, and in this episode, you’ll hear me in conversation with my Good Beer Hunting colleague, Jamaal Lemon. Jamaal has written some of the most celebrated work published at GBH, which includes a 2023 James Beard Award for his story, . He’s been a contributor to Good Beer Hunting since 2020 and also writes the blog, for us, which focuses on Jamaal’s ruminations on fatherhood and family. During our talk at Rare & Vintage, Jamaal was welcomed as a keynote speaker, so we engaged in a discussion that would inspire conversations between brewers for the whole weekend. We talked about big ideas, storytelling, innovation in beer, and more. You’ll hear us talk about where Jamaal gets his ideas, why he cares about stories of the water, and much more. After you listen to this episode, make sure to check out the other two, which include panel discussions about bias in beer sensory and science with some of the smartest minds in beer as well as a discussion of how to build inclusive language for how we talk about beer.
/episode/index/show/goodbeerhuntingpodcast/id/30154083
info_outline
RV-003: Building Inclusive Lexicons for Beer
03/02/2024
RV-003: Building Inclusive Lexicons for Beer
This episode is one of a three-part series recorded as part of the Rare & Vintage Beer Tasting, an annual event held in Durham, North Carolina that brings brewers and beer lovers together from all over the country. Along with a beer festival, Rare & Vintage also hosts beer industry professional development conversations each January. The combo acts as a fundraising and awareness effort for the Michael James Jackson Foundation, which funds education and career advancement for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color in the brewing and distilling industries. For this year’s event, I moderated three discussions, and in this episode, you’ll hear me in conversation with three panelists talking about how language and culture have built the lexicon for beer and what we can do to change and enhance it all. It’s a spiritual connection to a Good Beer Hunting published in 2022, in which Mark Dredge explored how flavor wheels and tasting tools should evolve to speak to a global collection of beer drinkers. To build on the ideas you may have read about in that story and share new ones, joining me were: Breeze Galindo, director of operations for the Michael James Jackson Foundation and founder of MiLuna Brewing. Lindsay Barr, co-founder of DraughtLab Sensory Software. Rafael D’Armas, brewer at Brookyln’s Kings County Brewers Collective, also known as KCBC. As you listen to the back-and-forth between these three, you get to hear practical, scientific, and philosophical approaches to how we can all think differently about the way we describe and talk about beer. The importance of this, as you’ll hear, is a necessary step to acknowledge how diverse beer is becoming—even if it’s been slow—but how much the language we use is going to matter next year and long after that. After you listen to this episode, make sure to check out the other two from Rare & Vintage, which includes a panel discussion about bias in measurement, brewing, and more, and a keynote conversation with my Good Beer Hunting colleague and friend, Jamaal Lemon.
/episode/index/show/goodbeerhuntingpodcast/id/30154278
info_outline
TG-009 The One with the Pivot
02/28/2024
TG-009 The One with the Pivot
If we’ve said it once, we’ve said it a thousand times—beverage companies are going to have to expand their offerings not just to grow, but to survive at all. In this episode of The Gist, lead Sightlines reporter Kate Bernot joins me, Beth Demmon, to take a big look at 2023 and what the numbers mean for 2024, why diversification is the word of the year, and what a brewery buying into CBD could signal to the rest of the industry. This is the Gist.
/episode/index/show/goodbeerhuntingpodcast/id/30151348
info_outline
EP-401 Jen Blair of Under the Jenfluence
02/24/2024
EP-401 Jen Blair of Under the Jenfluence
In my time in and around the beer industry, I’ve heard too many people underestimate the Cicerone Certification Program, a worldwide standard for recognizing people who are experts in beer sales and service. While I haven’t taken it myself, I understand the rigorous studying that’s required to pass the written and tasting exam to become a Certified Cicerone, just the second level of a four-part process to become a Master Cicerone. And even those who take the test seriously aren’t guaranteed to pass it the first time. But don’t take my word for it, let’s hear from an expert. In this episode, Jen Blair, who recently became a Master Cicerone—the highest level of certification and a title just 28 people in the world hold today—shares details from her almost decade-long journey to reach this pinnacle. If you’re interested in becoming a Cicerone, this episode is for you. But even if you’re not planning to take these tests, you’ll learn so much about what it means to explore beer, its history, and all the sensory experiences it can provide. There’s a personal side to it all, too, and you’ll hear from Jen about the importance of learning from your mistakes, honoring deadlines, and creating realistic schedules. As a straight-A student, Jen thought she knew how to study for the Cicerone tests, but realized that to pass even the first level exam she had to go beyond memorization and fully master the material. Throughout the episode, Jen shares some of the shifts in mindset she had to make to cross the Master Cicerone finish line, including relearning how to learn and strengthening her weak areas instead of ignoring them, like memorizing commercial styles despite disagreeing with the requirement. Listen in until the end to hear about the inspiration behind her , get tips on palate training and health, as well as what Jen is focused on now that she’s completed her Cicerone journey.
/episode/index/show/goodbeerhuntingpodcast/id/29975518
info_outline
EP-400 Julia Astrid Davis of Burke-Gilman Brewing
02/17/2024
EP-400 Julia Astrid Davis of Burke-Gilman Brewing
In this episode, we’re talking about process. And it’s not just in context of the brewing of beer, but everything that leads up to it, what happens during, and how a brewer can get better after. Helping us get into the detail of it all is Julia Astrid Davis, the head brewer and zygurmatrix at Burke-Gilman Brewing Company in Seattle. And if you're going to talk to a brewer about all these intimate aspects of their job, Julia is a great example of someone you should listen to. Over the course of her career she's brewed at companies small and large, from Denmark to Chicago and now Seattle. Her stops include Goose Island, Lagunitas, and Empirical Brewery, all in the Windy City, and has now been at Burke-Gilman for three years. That’s a who’s who list of barrel-aging and hop-forward breweries and in this conversation you’ll hear how Julia’s time at each place has helped build an understanding and appreciation for the process of brewing, experimentation, and constant improvement to dial-in recipes and drinking experiences. We’ll also talk about inspiration, collaboration, and why it’s important for a brewer to always think about how to get better. Through it all, is the idea of process.
/episode/index/show/goodbeerhuntingpodcast/id/29876923
info_outline
TG-008 The One with a Whiskey River
02/14/2024
TG-008 The One with a Whiskey River
It’s only February, but beverage companies are already setting the stage for the rest of 2024 with new products, big investments, and… TV ads? Today, Kate Bernot and me, Beth Demmon, recap the best and most blah Super Bowl commercials, discuss the potential of high and low ABV products, and you’ll hear from Drinkways Editor Emma Janzen about the economic outlook for spirits this year. This is the Gist.
/episode/index/show/goodbeerhuntingpodcast/id/29936558
info_outline
EP-399 Jess Griego of Bosque Brewing
02/10/2024
EP-399 Jess Griego of Bosque Brewing
When it comes to careers, longevity is hard to come by. Most surveys and job-focused websites will tell you Americans find a new job roughly every three-to-five years. The average American worker changes some aspect of their career—if not their entire professional focus—multiple times over their life. So, when you find someone who’s really committed to the people they work with and those they work for, you know something must be going right. Such is the case for Jess Griego, now the chief operations officer and co-owner of New Mexico’s Bosque Brewing, which has nine different locations in the state. A decade ago, Jess started with the brewery as a server and has worked up through a variety of jobs, also becoming an equity partner in 2019. But her roots aren’t just with the company, they’re interwoven in New Mexico itself as a native, college graduate, proud resident, and a co-lead for the state chapter of the Pink Boots Society. Jess has also taken her longtime focus on local to a national stage, where she’s a newly elected pub brewery representative to the Brewers Association’s board of directors. For as much as beer industry pros tout “local” as core to what they do, that often means locally-produced products. In this conversation, we get about as local as we can get as Jess reflects back on her years with Boseque, what inspires her as a leader, and what it takes to oversee a rapidly expanding brewery today. Growth is hard to come by for beer these days, but Jess and Bosque offer a unique example of what happens when you play the long game, in your career and in your business plan.
/episode/index/show/goodbeerhuntingpodcast/id/29441973
info_outline
EP-398 Sarah Real and Mike Dell'Aquila of Hot Plate Brewing Company
02/03/2024
EP-398 Sarah Real and Mike Dell'Aquila of Hot Plate Brewing Company
Sometimes when dreams get put on hold for too long, they can fade away and become nostalgia for what never was. But in the case of Sarah Real, her dream of starting a brewery was never far from her mind, and when she was finally able to open Hot Plate Brewing Company in Pittsfield, Massachusetts earlier this year with her husband and co-founder Mike Dell'Aquila, it had been many years in the making. As one of the few Latina-owned brewpubs amongst the nearly 10,000 total breweries in the United States, the pair is acutely aware of what representation means and what responsibilities they feel come along with it. According to a 2021 by the Brewers Association, just 2.2% of brewery owners across the country identify as “Hispanic, Latina -o, or of Spanish Origin.” In this episode, Mike talks about how they try to offer multiple access points for consumers through the beers they make and how Hot Plate cultivates a safe, welcoming community for anyone who may not feel represented or seen in the current craft beer industry. A storyteller by trade, Mike crafts the narratives and Sarah brews the beer in a unique partnership that seems to suit them both. However, Sarah and Mike both admit that while it was, at times, a struggle to start the brewery, now that it’s open, they’re ready to welcome everyone through the front door. They talk about their backgrounds, their passions, and the future they’re already building together—the dream finally realized.
/episode/index/show/goodbeerhuntingpodcast/id/29441848
info_outline
EP-397 Theresa McCulla, formerly of the Smithsonian Institution
01/27/2024
EP-397 Theresa McCulla, formerly of the Smithsonian Institution
American craft beer is old enough to have “good old days,” which means it's no stranger to or its best and brightest moving on to new careers. In October 2023, Theresa McCulla announced she’d conclude seven years of work with the American Brewing History Initiative at the Smithsonian Institution, wrapping up an effort that saw her collect artifacts, design exhibits, interview nearly 100 icons of American brewing, stories, and more. Theresa’s departure leaves a distinct void—her job was literally to trace the history of beer's ups and downs through all kinds of change–global pandemics, industry trends, demands on behalf of the marginalized, climate change, and of course the beginnings, middles, and occasional ends of important breweries and people who made American craft beer what it is. Without her and the American Brewing History Initiative, our risk of forgetting will be that much greater. So, before she could move on to her new position as curator at candy giant Mars, Incorporated, I sat down with her for one last interview. A symbolic exit interview.
/episode/index/show/goodbeerhuntingpodcast/id/29441758
info_outline
TG-007 The One with the $1 Billion Bust
01/23/2024
TG-007 The One with the $1 Billion Bust
It’s a new week with new news, but you already knew that. In this week's episode of The Gist, Sightlines reporter Kate Bernot talks with me, Beth Demmon, about Drizly’s billion-dollar bust, cider’s rising star, and… beads? BEES! Hat tip to Arrested Development for that one. This is the Gist.
/episode/index/show/goodbeerhuntingpodcast/id/29617158
info_outline
EP-396 Shanleigh Thomson of Shan.Ferments
01/20/2024
EP-396 Shanleigh Thomson of Shan.Ferments
People who work in beer arrive from all kinds of professional backgrounds and even different career trajectories. But once they’re in beer, it’s less common to find examples of those who will be true chameleons, working across businesses that make, move, or sell beer, or even for companies that just handle the raw ingredients that go into making it. That’s what makes this conversation particularly special. Shanleigh Thomson has been a food scientist, brewer, and sales rep for distributors and companies that provide malt and hops. She's worked as a consultant and analyst. She's also a beer fan, which means that this wide range of roles and expertise gives her a unique vantage point for how she does her job, shares well-informed points of view, and applies a variety of education that ranges from advanced degrees in food science to business and brewing. She splits her time between Canada and the U.S., which means the scope of her understanding and work offers us a good perspective, too, all of which she’s combined in the last two years to run her own consultancy business, Shan.Ferments. In this episode, we’ll talk about all this and how we can learn from what Shanleigh has picked up over the years. But in addition to hearing how her professional life has brought this together, there’s also time in our chat to reflect on the personal impact a changing industry has left on her. Beer in Canada is facing many of the same challenges as the U.S., as prices and competition increase and a camaraderie that was easy to find 10 years ago is harder to come by. For someone who’s spent a career focused on so many different aspects of the business of beer, what happens when the shine wears off? And what’s at stake for us should we lose professionals with an array of ideas and expertise like Shanleigh? Let’s find out.
/episode/index/show/goodbeerhuntingpodcast/id/29441938
info_outline
CL-139 Small Town Sober—Shining A Light On Arkansas’ Dry Counties
01/17/2024
CL-139 Small Town Sober—Shining A Light On Arkansas’ Dry Counties
Football and beer tend to go together without much thought. But in places like Pope County, Arkansas, alcohol is noticeably absent from tailgate coolers, plastic Solo cups, and concession stands. That’s because the area, which is home to Arkansas Tech University, is also one of the state’s 29 dry counties, where access to alcohol is restricted thanks to political influence, conservative mindsets, and tradition left from the time of Prohibition. In his first piece for Good Beer Hunting titled “,” freelance writer Brian Sorenson portrays a small, but proud slice of the American South, where sports like football dominate much of the culture. That culture, he says, lags behind the more liberal coastal areas of the United States, but that doesn’t mean it’s less worthy of attention. In our conversation, he describes his hope for readers and listeners to set aside their notions of what they think Arkansas is like, and to instead experience it through fresh eyes and open minds. You’ll hear about his background in beer, football, writing, and the state of Arkansas, where he grew up used to rowdy sports fans fueled by alcohol. For this story, he was fascinated by the idea of separating the two, and shares some of the surprises he came across while writing the piece. It’s an insider’s look at seemingly contradictory ideologies, and it’s likely you’ll walk away with a new framework from which to view a different, but beautiful, way of life.
/episode/index/show/goodbeerhuntingpodcast/id/29441703