Good Beer Hunting

I remember the first London Craft Beer Festival like it was yesterday. It was actually six years ago, but I distinctly recall the excited atmosphere, revelatory flavor of Pressure Drop’s new foraged Hefeweizen, and the look on my friend’s face as he tried his first Saison. It’s easy to recall because it felt like the start of something—not just for the festival itself, but the beer industry. It was just one small room, a few hundred people, and a handful of volunteers, but many of the young brewers pouring beers would go on to run multi-million-pound companies. I’ll let founder Greg Wells tell the origin story himself, but it’s as organic, chaotic, and risky as any brewery launch would be. In the time since, however, the London Craft Beer Festival has grown to welcome over 9,000 people every year, and has sprouted offshoots in Edinburgh, Bristol, and Birmingham, with more destinations in the pipeline. With business partner Dan Sylvester, Wells went on to form We Are Beer, an umbrella company that is close to becoming a multi-million-pound concern itself. As the company grows, Wells has found himself fighting to keep the fresh experience of that first festival—to retain the sense of excitement and wonder for those who are new to beer, while making sure those deeper into the scene have plenty new to see, too. We talk about how he has brought in other cultures and ideas, tried to encourage diversity, and support the brewers who want to grow—all with the aim of helping good beer reach the mainstream. While doing this, Wells has had to balance his deep love of beer with making a profit, and we spend a lot of time talking about the conflict that creates, including their decision to allow breweries who sell to multinationals to still attend, and to take sponsorship from a Heineken subsidiary. All this to say, running a beer festival—indeed four of them—isn’t half as easy as many revelers might think, but it’s a vital part of beer’s battle to reach and convert new drinkers. This is Greg Wells of We Are Beer. Listen in.

This is GBH Out Loud, a new series where we invite authors and staff members to read their favorite articles out loud, and provide tidbits and secret stories about the work that went into producing them. I’m Ashley Rodriguez. Today you’ll hear Mark Spence read the first entry in his new blog, Beer is Offal called, “Fuck it, Let’s Go,” published on Good Beer Hunting on September 13, 2019. Beer is Offal is a food blog—treating life like four burners and a hot oven. And it goes beyond just talking about food. It’s emotional, it’s captivating, and it finds deep connections between ourselves and the things we choose to eat. Expect to see entries on our website monthly. This is Mark Spence, reading the first entry of his blog, Beer is Offal called, “Fuck it, Let’s Go.” Listen in.

Take it from me: Journalism, as a career, is a difficult one to hold in 2019’s socio, political, and economic climate. For some though, like today’s guest, LA-area writer and editor Sarah Bennett, it’s way more than a job. It’s how to support her community and the underrepresented voices within it. It’s a way to elevate those who really keep Los Angeles great. Sarah was formerly a beer and arts contributor to LA Weekly, the premiere Southern California alt weekly publication. But that was before the magazine was purchased by a shadowy, allegedly politically-motivated group of investors who wound up firing most of the weekly’s in-house staff. Since then, the new LA Weekly has invoked the ire of many in the independent journalism world. Quickly, a group of expat writers and editors regrouped, and created their own new home in a quarterly magazine called The LAnd, where Sarah serves as managing editor. But it’s hardly her only hustle. Sarah also works as editor at the Long Beach Post, a city publication chronicling the happenings of the large but relatively insular Long Beach community. Here, Bennett studies local restaurants, and, very importantly, beer, among a few other things. Months ago, Sarah asked me to appear at the California Craft Beer Summit to discuss beer and journalism with other beer writers and gathered brewers. A few hours before the panel was due to begin, I asked her to give me her thoughts on all things community, city life, beer, and journalism. What she said echoed part of The LAnd’s mission statement: “Angelenos deserve vigorous reporting and thoughtful writing.” This is Sarah Bennett, beer and food writer and editor. Listen in.

Welcome to another Fervent Few episode of the Good Beer Hunting podcast where myself, Jim Plachy, and GBH’s strategic director, Michael Kiser, catch up. We’ll talk about the topics and discussions that took place in our membership community in the last couple weeks. Our 500 or so subscribers are scattered all over the world. Sometimes we meet up with them when we’re on the road, or they hang out with each other, but it all comes together in our community forum on Slack. If you value the content and experiences that GBH produces, you should join. Your monthly subscription gets you access to the community, special events, and exclusive gear deigned just for members. I joined, and now I manage it all. Plus, it’s my favorite place on the Beer Internet. Visit goodbeerhunting.com/ferventfew to strike up a conversation in beer.

Hard seltzer aside, conversations around the alcohol industry still tend to circle the trio of beer, wine, and spirits. Flavored malt beverages, like those seltzers, have recently entered our lexicon, but what about cider? It feels like discussions about cider as the next big step in booze happened far in the past—it might only have been a few years ago, but that timeframe can feel far extended in beer years. While major cider labels like Angry Orchard, Crispin, Woodchuck, and others have slowly given away a little of their market share, local and regional cider brands have been on fire in recent years. “Macro” versions of the drink have shown double-digit losses around the country for a while, while the more local counterparts have seen the exact opposite, growing in the teens pretty much anywhere you might shop for the apple-based, alcoholic drink. In this episode of the podcast, we’re going down to the orchard with Amie Fields, the sales manager and a partner at Cedar Grove, North Carolina’s Botanist & Barrel, a cidery and winery. As a self-described “experimental” fermentation company, Botanist & Barrel’s business model wouldn’t sound too out of place if you transferred the idea to a brewery. The Botanist & Barrel team focuses on how one-off and specialty batches react with different fruit, and age their ciders in a variety of wooden casks as a way to lend nuance and terroir to a drink many consumers may think of in terms of a straightforward, sugary-sweet beverage. There’s a lot of ground to cover with Amie, and if you’re not a cider drinker, this conversation gives you a peek behind the curtain of what that side of the beverage alcohol industry is like right now. Amie sheds light on what it means to convince people to think differently about cider, the challenges of selling the product, and what a career in wine has provided her as she finds new ways to talk about cider, whether bottled for special occasions, or canned for more casual buyers. It’s always good to step outside our areas of expertise, and I hope you pick up insight into the cider category you didn’t know about before. Amie’s perspective was incredibly valuable to me, particularly in the context of learning about a category we don’t often consider. This is Amie Fields of Botanist & Barrel. Listen in.

For this Collective episode, I’m talking to writer Evan Rail. Evan is based in Prague, and has become more active with Good Beer Hunting as we increasingly look beyond the U.S. beer market and bring you stories from around the world. Evan has a unique perspective, having grown up in Fresno, California, and later relocated to the Czech Republic. For us he’s an essential voice: both because he has an endless curiosity about European beer history, but also because his work ethic motivates him beyond the obvious headline—and pushes him to look for the thing that’s just out of sight, around the corner, or behind the next door. His interview technique pulls out remarkable stories from people you’d otherwise rarely hear from. And in the end, he understand a story’s place in a publication like Good Beer Hunting, which is still, and probably always will be, a U.S.-minded publication to one degree or another. Not many writers can do all that. And that’s how we ended up talking today—because all those factors came together in a recent piece about the long, weird, and newly complicated story of the Budweiser trademark. It involves a tiny town in the Czech Republic, and the world’s largest-ever brewing conglomerate, AB InBev. We discuss the process of writing that piece, Evan’s approach to interviewing, and mention a couple other things coming up with Evan that you’ll want to look out for. This is Evan Rail, GBH contributor and beer writer based in Prague. Listen in.

What does beer have to do with politics?  It’s a simple enough question. And some would argue that beer has nothing to do with politics—the two should remain totally separate. Here at Good Beer Hunting, that idea has never really sat well with us. So instead of staying away from politics, we invited it in. After a particularly low day—the 2016 election, GBH founder Michael Kiser was talking to his neighbor, David Faris. David lived just above the GBH studios, then in Logan Square in Chicago, and was absolutely devastated by the results of the election. So, after a few beers, they decided they wanted to create something new.  In January of this year, David and Michael, with some help from me along the way, launched Electing to Drink, a podcast that invites progressive thinkers, writers, and elected officials to talk about the topics they’re excited about while sharing a beer with us. Part catharsis, part town hall, what makes Electing to Drink so special is David. He’s uniquely positioned to go into the depths of political discourse while still making information accessible and useful for most people. This isn’t a show where David invites progressive big wigs to yell ideological nonsense at you—it’s a show where you can sit back, grab a drink, and feel like you’re amongst friends, just discussing some of the most important ideas driving society. Here’s David Faris, host of Electing to Drink. Listen in.

Today’s episode is a bit of an ensemble cast. With the limited time I had in Austin, Texas, I wanted to get some quick and clear perspective on the city’s scene, both past and present. To that end, I collected a few fast friends along the way, and gathered them all at Pinthouse Pizza, one of the city’s more contemporary craft brewers. A recent legislative session saw some massive changes to Texas’ beer laws make it through intact, much to the shock of some Guild members and beer fans. With a couple weeks to go before the beer-to-go laws go into effect, it was the perfect time to host this roundtable of sorts. We have John Gross of the Alamo Drafthouse; Jordan Rail, director of sales for Lake Austin Ales; Grant Weckerly, head of marketing at Pinthouse Pizza; and Jacob Passey, head brewer of Pinthouse Pizza. We grabbed a picnic table and some mics—all hand-held by me for the duration, so forgive a little of my shuffling and the background noise on this one. Special thanks to our sound engineer Jordan Stalling for making this a decent listen. This is the Good Beer Hunting podcast. Listen in.

I live in Chicago, and there’s this liquor—maybe some of you have heard of it—called Malort, which is made from wormwood. If you ask anyone in Chicago what their local spirit is, they’d point to Malort, perhaps tricking their own of town friends to take a straight shot of it when they come to visit the city. And everyone knows how hard it is to drink Malort. Even the founder, Carl Jeppson, was known to be quoted saying, “'My Malort is produced for that unique group of drinkers who disdain light flavor or neutral spirits.' It is not possible to forget our two-fisted liquor. The taste just lingers and lasts – seemingly forever. The first shot is hard to swallow! Perservere [sic]. Make it past two 'shock-glasses' and with the third you could be ours... forever.”  Some would say that this—this sentiment—is a perfect encapsulation of the people of Chicago. Perhaps not for everyone on the first sip, but they grow on you with time. Other might find that comparison silly, but it’s interesting to figure out what a city’s chosen liquor says about the city’s history and spirit. In this episode of the GBH Collective, I interview Gray Chapman, a freelance writer and frequent GBH contributor. She’s launching a new series for us called, “beer and a shot,” profiling the relationship between bartenders, spirits, and their relationships to the cities they inhabit. In this six part series, made in partnership with Miller High Life, Gray will write about a different city and a different bartender, and we’ll learn about a city’s culture through its choice of spirit a couple ounces at a time. This is Gray Chapman, GBH contributor. Listen in.

Today’s guest was a must-see during our time in Austin, Texas. Josh Hare is the lone founder of Hops and Grain Brewing. He’s an avid cyclist, and a massive Lager advocate. He’s long been one of those Twitter handles that I was attracted to—his rational, skeptical voice stands out within an industry that can sometimes be an irrational, cynical place. He’s a breath of fresh air. And back in 2017, he became a member of our subscriber community, The Fervent Few. In fact, he was the very first pro-tier subscriber we ever got, and he’s been there ever since. Another thing that makes Josh interesting—particularly at a time when most craft breweries are starting with small teams, or at least co-founders with complementary skill-sets—is that he took the plunge himself. That changes a lot of the dynamics related to the kind of team he needed to build, as well as the responsibilities that fall on him in a small, growing brewery. We’re going to spend a good deal of time digging into the implications of that emotionally, psychologically, physically, and strategically. We’re also going to talk about the state of Austin beer. Josh’s next move has him looking at San Marcos for a second location as he contemplates the meaning behind, and the opportunity for, community-building in the area. And finally, we get into his wild program. As Texas laws have recently changed to allow beer to go, the opportunity for small-batch, specialty releases is a new frontier for a brewery like Hops and Grain. And the things in store there are delicious. This is Josh Hare of Hops and Grain Brewing. Listen in.