Good Beer Hunting

Welcome to A Thousand Words, a special project by Good Beer Hunting. I'm Ashley Rodriguez. As a producer at GBH, I work with a lot of photographers and visual storytellers. And while I’m familiar with the phrase “a picture is worth a thousand words,” I’m not sure I’ve ever been challenged to consider what that 1,000 words might be like—or what it means to that visual artist. There’s a piece of advice I always come back to when I think about podcasts and audio and storytelling. When I sit down and plan an episode of the GBH podcast, or help another member of our team cut interviews and put together a script, I call upon these words of wisdom: audio is the most visual form of storytelling. Seems a little strange, right? In this special episode of the GBH podcast, we asked members of our team to enter this realm of storytelling. Many of these folks are used to bringing you very visual stories through their wonderful photography, but for the last few months during COVID-19, doing on-site photography has been impossible for many. That hasn’t stopped them from visualizing the word of beer, both past and present. With that in mind, you’re about to hear seven different stories read aloud by members of our editorial team and some are from our subscriber community, The Fervent Few. Think of each brief narrative as a snapshot of a moment, like an audio version of the b-Roll series on our website. The resulting vignettes offer a range in scope—from present-tense musings to episodes from the past that feel especially prescient now—and multiple perspectives on our shared crisis. We asked folks to talk about their current lives in the face of COVID-19, and we commissioned these audio stories just before the current wave of protests calling for racial justice after the murder of George Floyd in late May. These stories still speak to the uncertainty of this moment, and we hope to expand this series further and include more moments of reflection—both inward and outward. Each storyteller will introduce themselves before jumping into their own narrative. We hope you can visualize every anecdote, and immerse yourself in the pictures they’re painting for you. This is A Thousand Words, a collection of audio stories. Listen in.

I’m Bryan Roth, and you’re listening to the Good Beer Hunting podcast. A growing business can be a funny thing in normal times. Early years are marked by the hustle and extra effort needed just to keep up, and if you’re lucky enough, knock it out of the park. There are also lots of surprises, and for many of today’s entrepreneurs, COVID-19 has been the biggest one of all. In today’s episode, we’re talking virtually with Nick and Tania Mader, co-owners of Alma Mader Brewing in Kansas City. The company was barely one year old when the pandemic hit, and like so many of its peers, its taproom focus and the local love it had garnered were suddenly up against the unprecedented health and financial challenge that the pandemic presented, as well as the changing behaviors of drinkers. The need to adjust on the fly is not a new challenge for Nick and Tania, but you’ll hear insights about what it’s like to do so in real-time—and the brewing and logistical jiu jitsu needed to keep a business afloat. You’ll also hear anecdotes about the personal side of it all: like when the Maders decided to rent a truck to drive to Nebraska so they could get a better deal on a collection of crowler cans to fill with draft beer. Finally, you’ll hear why brewing along easy-to-understand flavor experiences is ideal in today’s climate—and what it’s like to celebrate a one-year anniversary milestone amidst a health crisis. These are strange times for everyone, and I hope that getting to know this pair and their business offers you a peek behind the curtain of the awkward pressures of growing up fast when the world around you is forced to slow down. This is Tania and Nick Mader of Alma Mader Brewing. Listen in.

Welcome to this episode of Sightlines. I’m Bryan Roth. So much has changed in the last few months because of COVID-19, and while many Americans across the country are returning to bars and breweries in limited numbers, sales at chain grocery, convenience, and big-box stores are still flourishing. For a variety of reasons—from efficiency to the ease or necessity of purchasing large quantities of food and drink all at once—chain stores have continued to remain a central location to find all the beer and hard seltzer people need. But while your King Soopers, Kroger, or Wegmans stocked their shelves with some of the biggest names in beer, locally owned bottle shops had to adjust in very different ways. These are the places where you’ll typically find beer from small and nearby breweries, and special or seasonal releases you can’t buy in a Target or Walmart. Bottle shops are among the many independent businesses impacted by the coronavirus, and in this podcast, we’re going to hear from two people who explain two different ways they adjusted to the changed environment. In a time of crisis, sometimes you respond with simplicity, and sometimes you get more complex in what you do, and how you do it. And as things slowly reopen, those survival strategies are what we’ll hear about. This is the Sightlines podcast. Listen in.

Today’s guest was one of our 2019 Signifiers: an annual list our writers compile, in which we honor people in the industry who have made a lasting impact through their work. Day Bracey is the co-founder of Fresh Fest, the first Black-culture-focused beer festival in the country. It’s also one of the best beer festivals in the country—period. Hosted in Pittsburgh for the last two years, Fresh Fest has become a shining light in the city for culture and inclusion. It’s also drawn attendees from all over the country, putting Pittsburgh on the craft beer map in a way none of its individual breweries could. This year, Bracey has working with the team to reinvent the festival amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, transitioning to an ambitious online platform of experiences for people that promises to foster a new kind of connectivity and community around the same premise. In the week following this interview, Day shared some news on his personal Facebook account about some challenges the festival is facing going forward, including a legal rift with his co-founder Mike Potter, who started the Black Beer Culture brand. That rift was unknown to me at the time, and it’s not part of this conversation. Any potential fallout from that is also unknown to me right now, and our Sightlines team is working on it as I record this intro. Regardless of that outcome, which could threaten to undermine the festival’s efforts, or even existence, this year, Day has publicly stated that he’s moving forward with the plans. The second part of the interview is about Day’s experiences in Pittsburgh as a Black man. We discuss the numerous protests in the city after the murder of George Floyd, the fight against rampant police brutality, and the Black Lives Matter movement. This experience includes some heartbreaking details. I consider this critical listening, regardless of how informed, or uninformed, you are on those issues. This is Day Bracey of Fresh Fest. Listen in.

I’m Bryan Roth, and you’re listening to the Good Beer Hunting podcast. We’ve all made lots of adjustments to our lives because of COVID-19, from working from home and missing out on concerts and movies to just not seeing our friends in person. The beer industry has also had to make a wild pivot, taking aspects of what is very much an in-person experience and transforming it into one that’s interactive and online. If you listened to a recent Sightlines podcast that included interviews with directors of brewers guilds from around the country, you heard about all the ways breweries and organizations are moving beer festivals to virtual spaces. That’s how we’re doing this for this episode of the podcast. I recently acted as a moderator for the “Fest from Home,” a Massachusetts-focused virtual beer festival organized by Kevin York Communications as a fundraiser for Project Bread, a non-profit that addresses food shortages throughout The Bay State. You’ll hear two conversations, each about 20 minutes long, where I chat with brewery owners about the state of their businesses, how they’ve been impacted by the coronavirus, and what it all means for their core plans and how they run things day-to-day. Through a shared Zoom call, these conversations took place over an afternoon, so virtual festival-goers could tune in to hear from a variety of industry pros. Here, we start with Chris Tkach, founder and president of Idle Hands Craft Ales, and Jack Hendler, co-owner of Jack's Abby Craft Lagers. Both breweries are located in the suburbs of Boston, and have a shared affinity for all things Lager. Jack’s Abby is a Lager-only brewery, though it actually created its own spinoff business called Springdale Beer Company to make non-Lager beers. Idle Hands, while making a variety of styles, also puts a special emphasis on its Lagers. Because of this, you’ll hear Chris and Jack reference the style and their love for Lager, and how that’s impacted decision-making in recent months. It also begs the larger question: “Now that people are at home, and the social aspects we love about going out and being with friends are removed, has anything changed in terms of what beer lovers want to drink?” This is the Good Beer Hunting podcast. Listen in.

Welcome to the Good Beer Hunting Collective podcast, the show where members of our team interview each other to get a behind-the-scenes look at some of our favorite articles. I’m Ashley Rodriguez, and I produce Good Beer Hunting's podcast. Lily Waite is unstoppable. She’s one of our most prolific writers at Good Beer Hunting, contributing everything from food-driven chronicles of seaside adventures and profiles of classic breweries with storied histories and crooked floors to candid essays about the importance of online community-building during the current global pandemic. Her newest long-form feature on GBH is a Signifier profiling Duration Brewing in Norfolk, England, which Lily gradually compiled over the course of several years. Along with this wonderfully revealing and intimate profile, Lily also recently launched a new blog on our website called The Pull of Joy, chronicling the pushes and pulls of beer culture. In this interview, I wanted to know what inspires Lily to tell stories, and how she thinks both about the storytelling process and the structure of her articles—you can see this really clearly in the Duration piece, which feels like a story in motion. The narrative itself swoops through time and space, and that effect is very intentional on Lily’s part. We also jump into Lily’s other endeavors. She runs the Queer Brewing Project, which is a non-profit that raises awareness of and support for LGBTQ communities in the brewing industry. She also just released a photo zine capturing the London pubs that have been closed because of COVID-19. You kind of have to throw the script out when talking about projects and getting things done during a global pandemic, and the work that Lily is putting out now is contextually tied to this current moment but also stands on its own. It’s funny that her last profile is of a brewery called “Duration,” which is a topic we touch upon during our conversation—what remains relevant, how do we decide what’s important, and how do we take time to step away from the current global situation and tell stories that still feel true to us? Here’s Lily.

Today’s guest has been a partner and friend to GBH for years. He’s a former GM for 16 on Center, a restaurant and venue group in Chicago known for its Michelin Star restaurant, Longman & Eagle, as well as music venues like The Empty Bottle and Thalia Hall. If Thalia Hall sounds familiar, that’s because it’s played host to our Uppers & Downers festival basically since its inception. So much of what the festival has become has been substantially shaped by the physical space of Thalia Hall—it’s history, and Will Duncan himself. In this conversation, we’re going to talk about some of that, but also how Will has risen through the ranks over the years, from a part-time door guy to GM, to multi-venue manager across the growing empire of bars, restaurants, and venues, and finally launching his own venue as he takes over the historic FitzGerald’s venue in Berwyn, Illinois. He happened to sign the papers for that venue—venturing into his life-long dream of being an entrepreneur in his own right—about a week before COVID-19 turn our world upside down, and places like FitzGerald’s shut down. A dream interrupted. But still kicking. I’ve learned a ton from Will over the years. Sometimes explicitly, sometimes just by following his example and experimenting with his kind of team-based leadership. I often describe Will as the most optimistic man in America. But one thing I know is that sometimes optimism comes easy and natural—and sometimes optimism is damn hard work. This conversation is about the work. This is Will Duncan of FitzGerald’s and 16 on Center. Listen in.

Welcome to this episode of Sightlines. I’m Bryan Roth. As cities and states start to reopen and the siren call of warmer weather encourages people to test the boundaries of self-isolation, the ramifications of the coronavirus linger. Much worry has been focused on our local and national economies, and while breweries have been a part of that, the impact of COVID-19 stretches further. In this episode, we’re going to find out what the last few months have been like for state and national brewers guilds—the organizations that are formed to support, represent, and promote breweries all around the country. In normal times, these groups help to lobby for updated laws or market brewery members as a way to get customers to come out and visit. Both of these tasks have taken a back seat for guilds, particularly as they find themselves fighting for financial stability like so many others. Along with every state’s own guild, the Brewers Association serves as the national body for this collection of organizations, which are meant to act collectively for the good of U.S. craft beer. But 2020 has thrown business as usual to the side. The leadership of these guilds is now focused on what they’re meant to do in a crisis, and figuring that out in real-time. What happens when the organizations meant to support you—especially during bad times—can barely support themselves?

I’m Jonny Garrett, and you’re listening to the Good Beer Hunting podcast. Today’s guest is Paul Jones, founder and sole owner of Cloudwater Brew Co. in Manchester, England. Since founding Cloudwater just five years ago Jones has, perhaps knowingly, become a spokesperson for the British beer industry. To be fair, he has plenty of right to that job. Cloudwater was previously voted the fifth-best brewery in the world by the users of RateBeer, and is one of the country’s fastest-growing beer businesses. Jones has also had a hand in many of the major developments in the U.K. beer scene—including New England-style brewing, canned beer, direct-to-consumer sales, off-site taprooms, and an emphasis on cold-chain distribution and storage. As we explore all of that, some listeners may perceive Jones’ self-championing as arrogance, but he’s the first to admit fault and is his own biggest critic, as you’ll hear throughout the interview. On the occasions I get a word in and challenge him, it’s clear he’s already asked himself the same questions a thousand times and played out all the scenarios in his mind—probably while wide awake in the middle of the night. We start the interview reminiscing about happier times, with what was perhaps a celebration of everything Cloudwater has achieved so far—the Friends & Family & Beer Festival, held in February. Bringing together an insane brewery list and a festival with charity and inclusivity at its heart it was supposed to be a signal of where beer was headed. Looking back now, it feels a bit like the last supper. After going through the highs and lows of running a fast-growing, much-hyped beer brand, I knew Paul would have some insight into how the beer scene and the beer industry—because they are very different things—will play out once the threat of COVID-19 fades. Jones has been ahead of the curve on so many occasions, and it’s worth taking note of what he says. While he’s had to change his expectations and the specifics, his approach remains the same—if you do the same thing as everyone else, you’re going to find yourself crowded out. In the face of the biggest challenge craft beer has ever faced, the fact that Jones is still excitable and upholding his admirable beliefs about beer, industry, and society is comforting—even if I don’t completely share his optimism. This is Paul Jones of Cloudwater Brew Co. Listen in.

I’m Evan Rail, and you’re listening to the Good Beer Hunting podcast. Today we’re doing things a little differently: I’m taking you along with me on a reporting trip to Germany’s Hop Research Center, where I am trying to find out more about what the institute does—and especially, to find out more about the exciting new hops, like Mandarina Bavaria and Hallertau Blanc, that have recently been developed here. How do scientists develop new hops? How long does that take? Who decides which hop varieties are going to be released? The Hop Research Center is located in Hüll: a small village in Bavaria, in Germany’s south. It’s right in the middle of one of the Old World’s most celebrated hop-growing regions, the Hallertau. All around it are commercial hop farms, with tall trellises of heavy, dark green hop bines climbing up 20 feet off the ground, as far as the eye can see. It was originally founded in 1926 to help combat hop diseases, like downy mildew. Although many industry professionals have heard about the Hop Research Center, it makes sense that the name isn’t well-recognized by most of us. It’s not exactly open to the public: there’s no visitor’s center, you can’t buy a T-shirt or really do anything here. Its goal is to help German hop farmers, many of whom are located in the surrounding region. No joke: in harvest season, the most popular vehicle on the narrow road here is a tractor. It might be hidden behind the curtain, but the work done at the Hop Research Center is truly important for the future of beer. The best-known reference to the place is probably the new flavor hop Hüll Melon, which was developed here along with other new cultivars. In addition to new flavors, the institute is doing important work on major issues for the hop industry, including climate change, saving traditional “landrace” or “land variety” hops, and developing new high-alpha varieties. In this episode, we tour the center with research director Dr. Elisabeth Seigner. Along the way, Dr. Seigner explains the lengthy, 10- to 20-year process of developing a new hop cultivar, and talks about some of the issues facing the hop industry today. It’s an insider’s view from a place most of us will probably never get to visit, let alone hear about—even if its work benefits all of us. We’re going inside the Hop Research Center in Hüll, Germany with Dr. Elisabeth Seigner. Listen in.