Beer has never been “just beer.” It can divide as well as it can unite. Some efforts to use beer as a force for good have resulted in initiatives that call for an end to sexual violence, raise money for lifesaving medical research, and even promote literacy.  Among those leading the charge to use beer as a force for good are the duo behind Hana Koa Brewing Company in Honolulu, Hawai’i. Head brewer Josh Kopp and director of operations Chrissie Pinney launched Hana Koa in 2019, and from day one, focused on goals of sustainability, community building, and social good. Their most ambitious initiative, called Shine a Light, supports survivors of sexual assault and seeks proactive change to prevent sexual violence from occuring in the future. In this episode, you’ll hear from Chrissie and Josh as they outline the brewery’s origins, their own backstories, and how their upbringings led them to want to do good wherever they can, using the brewery as a conduit to make the world a better place. In the conversation you’re about to hear, we do discuss things like rape, assault, and other potentially triggering topics, so please use caution when listening. But you’ll also hear how the pair balances a responsibility to their community with self-care and where they manage to find joy, even when carrying heavy burdens of trauma and struggle. Chrissie says beer is much more than a beverage, and I tend to agree with her.  

I recently learned that California has 461 recorded Bigfoot sightings. That’s second only to Washington State, but far more than the mythical creature’s presumed home turf in British Columbia, which counts a mere 134 sightings since 1924. But how many sightings can be credited to the power of suggestion? Or were they all real instances that just so happened to occur to true believers? We may never know, but that’s not really the point. You can believe, or not believe, but staying open-minded to the possibility of unexplained mysteries is something humans should all strive for, according to freelance writer Jacqueline Kehoe.  In her piece titled “Our Wilder Selves — The Hunt for Sasquatch in Middle America,” a story published as part of our Olly Olly series in collaboration with Oskar Blues, Jacqueline documents her own quest to find the creature known as Sasquatch and Bigfoot in the woods of Iowa. You’ll hear about what she finds, what she didn’t, and what she hoped to discover in the first place. We talk about cryptids and aliens and mythical monster folklore, but also about the magic behind humanity’s connection with nature and how to find catharsis in the wilderness.  Society has tamed itself, pulling further away from what was once an untamed landscape. But there are pockets still out there, if only we look outside our own perceptions.

Today’s guest, if we’re speaking in beer years, is a lifelong friend. But what feels like a lifetime really only started around 2011 in Chicago when Good Beer Hunting, at the time just a personal hobby of mine, was basically unknown outside of a small community in Chicago. At the time, Paul Schneider was still a history teacher in the burbs homebrewing and volunteering at small start-up breweries around the area.  We met at a Goose Island First Thursday event, which was a loosely defined monthly occasion where fans got together in the Seibel Institute room in front of the Clybourn Brewpub. We would share dark Goose Island beers, home-brews, and other sought after bottles. It was truly the glory days of the 2nd wave of craft beer kind of thing.  The timeline is too full of milestones between then and now, but here’s a quick look at Paul’s career in craft beer: after volunteering around town, he got his first real gig at Solemn Oath in Naperville—as one of their first employees.  he went on to fill a broad role there between operations, special creative projects, some brewing and marketing he left to sign on as a founding brewer as a partner in a brewery in Pittsburgh that he initially consulted on and then was offered the role once they realize the multi-faceted talent and experience he brought that led me and Paul to work together in an official capacity for the first time, as GBH signed on to the project to help define the brand and trajectory of the brewery with Paul and the Warden family, for what would become known as Cinderlands  Since then Paul has become a brewer’s brewer, making precise Lagers, exquisite Saisons, as well as crowd-pleasers like their sought-after Tartshake series.  Paul’s unique perspective as a brewer, and also a student and former teacher of history, gives him a view on humanity and how beer fits into it that is uncommonly balanced. There’s an auteur in him of the finer elements of brewing. But there’s also the practical business person who knows better than to push back against the demands of the market. In fact, rather than be mutually exclusive as so many small operators often see these seemingly opposing forces—he seems to elegantly align the two to create opportunities for himself and others that are truly satisfying as a creator.  And that’s not to say that holding that line is easy. It’s a position that’s maintained through a constantly shifting, reflective, informed effort to navigate a very human marketplace that can be both high-minded, hype-driven, and incredibly fickle at times.  The history of beer is like the history of all things fashionable. And the present is no exception.  Paul was in town for a collaboration release with his friends at Solemn Oath, and a bit of a homecoming. So we took the moment to catch up on some of these threads and open some bottles for friends and peers at the studio. We were also finalizing plans for our latest collaborative project—Cindi’s Hard Mountain Tea—which is launching at PNC park in Pittsburgh as I speak.

In the runup to the American Civil War, the number one political issue on everyone’s minds was…slavery. Of course it was. But it's easy to forget that the number two issue was alcohol. Back then, like today, debates over drinking boiled down to a few key points: who should drink what—and in particular what kind of liquor—how much, when, and what that drinking said about a person’s character. When American drinkers, usually men, marched to war in the Union and Confederate militaries, the politics of alcohol enlisted with them. It’s the subject of a new book by Missouri Southern State University professor Megan Bever called “At War with King Alcohol: Debating and Drinking Masculinity in the Civil War.” Her research reveals the many ways alcohol intersected with the war: as medical cures, an escape from the whiplash of combat and boredom in military life, as big business for opportunistic civilians, as a thorn in the side of temperance reformers, and as an ongoing point of discourse among leaders on both sides. For this episode, I sat down with Megan to talk about this history and the deeper issues it laid on the table. When booze seeped into both Union and Confederate encampments—and it did by the barrel—it raised some big questions. If a soldier drinks, does that make them a coward? Can they perform their duty? Are they even a “real man”? And in civilian life, contention also raged as to whether distilling whiskey or brewing beer meant entrepreneurs provided a valuable service or acted as profiteers stealing resources from the war effort. Running through it all was the debate about whether “King Alcohol,” as some called it, was a tool for victory, or another insidious enemy to fight.

New York City is, in almost all respects, on the cutting edge, the vanguard of the very cultures we consume through fashion, art, music, and food. But when it comes to the craft beer scene, the city that never sleeps seems to have done just that—slept on the industry’s development and growth, until, of course, they joined the party, which is still going strong.   In her latest love letter to New York, titled “Vagabond Shoes Longing to Stray — Through Years and Boroughs, for the Beer Bars of New York,” writer Courtney Iseman pens more than an ode to the people (and places) that shaped the city’s craft beer bar scene. It’s an encyclopedia of knowledge, punctuated with first-person accounts, recollections, and memories, all seen through a haze of looming nostalgia from her impending move away from the area for the very first time. She taps a dozen or more voices, each lending unique insight into the city’s growth, evolution, and future as part of the country’s overall craft beer scene.  It’s a long but fascinating read, which lends itself to today’s conversation about her process, motives, emotions, and future plans as they relate to her relationship with the city and beer itself. We discuss that though there’s plenty about beer to feel discouraged about, sometimes it’s looking to the past that helps us rediscover how we got here and why we came in the first place.  

Creativity of all kinds fascinates me. I love seeing artists work and watching their final products take form. But most of all, I love to hear them talk about their processes, their frustrations, their joys. No matter the medium—design, food, or in this case beer—I like to glimpse the way their minds influence their work. Those moments of visibility bring a level of understanding of the creative process that I couldn’t get to on my own.  When I worked at Monday Night Brewing here in Atlanta, I had the pleasure of spending time with several creatives. Among them was Peter Kiley, the brewery’s brewmaster. On several occasions, a conversation about the latest beer release would turn into a deep dive into topics about life, creativity (or “producing,” as you’ll hear Peter call it), and beer culture. Earlier this year, Monday Night dropped a spirit line, including gin, vodka, bourbon, rye, and an agave spirit. Hearing about this new venture, I wanted to talk to Kiley to hear his thoughts on this new realm. How did this transition differ from when he left the wine world to pursue brewing? In our conversation, we dive into his 16-year career making alcohol, why he likes to use the word “passion” sparingly, and his views of people who think they know it all.

Sometimes, hidden gems remain hidden for a reason. Those in-the-know may jealously limit access to outsiders; other times, it’s simply because surprises can blossom in the most unexpected places. When it comes to craft beer, our hidden gems tend to be places like old-school beer bars or hyper-local destinations that remain off the radar of tourists. But occasionally, entire subcultures have been built in the most unlikely of places—and that’s what we decided to spotlight in our newest series, Gas Station Week. Gas Station Week is a celebration of the unconventional and a look into the roadside stands, convenience stores, and yes, gas stations that have influenced entire communities of beer lovers across the country. Kicking off our Gas Station Week series is the story that inspired it all. In his piece titled “The Gas Station That Changed Everything — Swett’s Tire & Auto in Bangor, Maine,” writer Nic Stevens describes how 30 years ago, craft beer wasn’t just a novelty in Central Maine. It was nonexistent—that is, until one discerning entrepreneur saw its potential. Eventually, the beer shelves at Swett’s Tire & Auto, a gas station strategically located on the Interstate 95 corridor, directly spawned a brewery, a beer bar, and helped develop a tight-knit homebrew scene and number of independent breweries, all with deep ties to the local community.  Nic stumbled across the story, literally. In today’s conversation, he describes his unorthodox approach to uncovering stories such as this by hopping on public transportation and relying on the kindness of strangers to take him in as he explores the United States in search of the next great hidden gem. Since folks in Maine aren’t typically known for embracing outsiders—that is, anyone from outside of Maine—Nic says telling this particular tale wouldn’t have been possible through conventional journalistic methods. We’ll discuss his approach, as well as his discoveries that didn’t make it into the final draft and why he thinks this story couldn’t have happened anywhere else.  

What if I told you one of the best places in the country to find the coolest, freshest craft beer is in Pasadena, California? That probably wouldn’t surprise. But what if I also told you that when you go to find the latest releases from Humble Sea or Trillium, or even a bottle of Cantillon, you could also fill up your gas tank a few dozen feet from that refrigerator door? In this episode, you’re going to meet Shibli Haddad, who owns and runs a Shell gas station that has become one of the most important beer stores in the U.S. Not only does Shibli stock some of the most sought-after beer from across America, but he brings a clear passion for connecting with people because of it. You’ll hear him describe the way he talks to customers to learn about them and what would be exciting to find in his store, how he tracks trends, and why it’s important to offer special beer at an accessible price. He came to run the store because of his dad, started stocking unique beer because of his sister, and has become a part of California beer culture because of his commitment to forming relationships with his customers. This conversation is part of Good Beer Hunting’s coverage for Gas Station Week, a series of stories, essays, and podcasts meant to highlight how people all over can find unique beer experiences in typically unexpected places. Make sure to visit goodbeerhunting.com for more voices that highlight this corner of the beer world.  

Science has always been intimidating to me. I was never good at memorizing the periodic table or combining an array of chemical compounds to get a desired—and safe—mixture. Despite the challenges that lasted from middle into high school, I still found it all fascinating, the act of testing and discovery and using specialized equipment that can provide meaningful answers to all kinds of questions. And in this episode, we’re talking about it all in relation to beer. Our guide will be Nicole Oliver, the laboratory operations manager at South Carolina’s Edmund’s Oast Brewing Company. She is an actual scientist and helps to oversee quality control at one of the Palmetto State’s fastest-growing breweries. And it’s not just her ability to help her colleagues create better beer that makes her role fascinating, but the way she’s doing it in an evolving beer market where it’s not just about making sure a Blonde Ale is brewed to perfection. Nicole has to collaborate with brewers to ensure that fruited Sours or pastry-inspired beers taste just as perfect and have the kind of shelf stability that other companies sometimes ignore, packaging beer in cans that may cause the package to swell, grow, and sometimes explode in a puree mess. If your favorite brewery cares about its beer, it should have a quality control program. Not every business has the financial ability to have a full-time scientist to lead the work, but it’s pivotal work that improves everything about the brewing process. And as you’ll hear from Nicole, it can be nerdy and fun and exhilarating and meaningful. For her, her colleagues, and drinkers.  

Non-alcoholic spirits, beer, wine, and beyond have finally graduated from punchlines to premium products in their own right, filling up store shelves and restaurant menus in greater numbers than ever before. But as writer David Neimanis explains in his latest piece for Good Beer Hunting, there’s still a long way to go for many of these products—non-alcoholic spirits in particular—to achieve their potential as legitimate and valuable alternatives to the status quo. That piece, titled “Spirited Away — The Brands, Bartenders, and Bottle Shops Paving the Way for Non-Alcoholic Spirits,” which was published on February 4, 2023, looks as some of the pioneers of the industry, including makers who aim to create an entirely new space for their fresh takes on alcohol-free spirits, as well as those attempting to recreate signature spirits, such as gin or tequila, for drinkers who seek a familiar burn without the backfire.  Both approaches have their benefits, but in today’s conversation, you’ll hear David unpack his own fascination with botanicals, who he sees as leading the NA charge, and why these developments are something to be excited about. He’ll explain some of the regulatory differences between standard spirits versus their non-alcoholic counterparts, and how he hopes that one day, consumers will perceive the value of each with equal respect. Today’s discussion is the first of what we hope will be several conversations around the rise of non-alcoholic options across beverage alcohol, so stay tuned for more discussions with other writers and explorers of the NA space.