Good Beer Hunting

This week’s episode is with one of the country’s best and most-loved brewers. But unless you follow the industry closely, you probably don’t know him. He won the Brewers Association’s Russell Schehrer Award for Innovation in Craft Brewing in 2016 in recognition of his outstanding work at Allagash as their brewmaster, as well as the many committees and teams he serves on for the association itself. So much of what makes the Brewers Association a progressive, impactful part of our everyday drinking lives isn’t in the marketing campaigns or politics, but in the incremental analysis, research, goal-setting, and internal lobbying for quality, technical education, and investments in agriculture. These are the rails upon which the future of craft brewing in the U.S. will run. And Jason is working at the heart of so much of it, both through the association, but also his own brewery in Maine. Jason was in Chicago for Allagash’s Saison Day in which he brewed a collaboration beer with John Laffler of Off Color. So we set aside some time in the morning after their brew day and a night on the town in Chicago. And to his credit, despite his travel-weariness, not to mention this being probably the most boring part of his trip, Jason still showed up. I was delighted. I learned a ton. And I’m happy to share it with you all. Listen in.

This week’s guest is a fascinating one for me. I first came to know Alex Tweet, one of the founders of Fieldwork in Berkeley, California, during his run-in with Shaun Hill of Hill Farmstead over the use of the word Vermont to describe one of Fieldwork’s farmhouse-style beers. The argument that followed between the two resulted in a Sightlines story on GBH, not so much because there was a disagreement, but because it brought up really interesting thoughts about what constitutes an appellation in beer making, especially in the U.S. We’re used to thinking of Belgian beers being from Belgium, but could Vermont have a similarly important and respected origin in the future of American craft beer? Should it? To that end, so much about what makes Fieldwork interesting is the anachronistic qualities of its brand and voice, much of it coming through Alex himself. Fieldwork makes old-world styles of farmhouse-inspired, yeast-driven beers, but they also make New England IPAs and Pastry Stouts. The vibe is rustic and simple, but the business plan is ambitious and newly sprawling with a system of taprooms scattered around the Bay Area, taking advantage of California’s generous licensing for craft brewers. And, of course, there’s Alex himself, a somewhat anxious, energetic, always-thinking kind of guy wrestling with duality as many brewers do, between what he likes and what he sells, and his place in the world, trying to decide if he cares too much, or too little about a variety of aspects of brewery ownership. I admire his candor and his interest in talking it all out, which is what’s made this podcast so rewarding. And I’m glad I get to share it with you all. Listen in.

Our editorial director, Austin L. Ray, lives in Atlanta, which means I’ve had plenty of reasons to spend some time down there over the past few years getting to know the city through his perspective—its food, music and, of course, its beer. Recently, I watched as Austin’s life as a beer drinker in the state of Georgia was dramatically changed with the passage of a new law that enabled breweries to sell their beer directly to drinkers in their own taprooms, over their own bars, and out their own doors. For some breweries, it’s an opportunity for incremental sales. For others, it’s an evolution of their business plan. And for those that are in the process of opening new breweries, it’s a chance to introduce entirely new business models for making and selling beer in the state of Georgia. It’s been about six months since the laws passed, which has given everyone—brewers and drinkers alike—some time to get used to the new normal. And by all accounts, it’s been a pretty exciting time full of new opportunities and some hard lessons. It’s also inspiring new thinking about the future. Austin helped me put together a group of folks, all with a unique perspective on the state of Georgia beer, to talk about their role in the changes, and what they’re going to do next. My guests in this roundtable are: Bob Sandage from Wrecking Bar, a brewpub with its own farm who recently started can sales for the first time ever. Nick Purdy from Wild Heaven Beer, who said he wouldn’t have signed the lease for his expansion without the new laws being signed. Brian Purcell of Three Taverns in Decatur who’s now getting lines down the block for new releases and considering an off-site taproom to build the brand. And most importantly, Nancy Palmer, Executive Director of the Georgia Craft Brewers Guild, who was perhaps most responsible for getting the new legislation enacted on behalf of her constituents, and seems to have not lost a moment working on what’s next. This week, Nancy also won the prestigious F.X. Matt Defense of the Industry Award from the Brewers Association, largely in recognition of those successful efforts. It’s a helluva group to chat about the future of beer with. Listen in.

Welcome to this special edition of the GBH podcast, which forms part of our Coming to America series, brought to you in collaboration with Guinness. Before we get started today, I want to tell you how excited I am about bringing our Uppers and Downers festival of coffee, beer and coffee beers to London this May. It takes place at Mick’s Garage in Hackney Wick on Saturday May 19th and will feature over 30 exceptional brewers and roasters—including today’s guests, Boundary—each collaborating on some new and exclusive beers that you’ll only be able to try at the event. Tickets are limited and selling fast, so head over to goodbeerhunting.com and hit get tickets to secure your space. In our Coming to America series we’ve brought you stories about upstart and iconic breweries from around the world that have been impacting U.S. drinkers for generations, and those that are just beginning to make the journey. Stories like how Pilsner Urquell originally came to the US, and how young breweries like Denmark’s Alefarm are trying to find their place in the same market in the age of modern and local. Today’s guest is Matthew Dick, co-founder of Boundary Brewing Cooperative, based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. If you read our article on Boundary back in May 2016 then you’ll already be somewhat familiar with this Northern Irish upstart, which is only the second brewery to open in Belfast. Using the cooperative model as a base, which Dick will explain in detail later in this episode, Boundary began its journey in 2015, thanks to the investments made by over 1000 owner-members. It’s a model that’s relatively unique within the UK brewing industry, but its one that’s so far proved successful for this young business Before the brewery opened however, Dick spent many years living out in the United States. He met his wife in Reno, Nevada, where he lived for several years, and latterly he spent some time in Austin, Texas, where he worked for the now defunct homebrew equipment manufacturer, Brewbot. To say that the US brewing scene inspired Dick—in particular breweries working with barrels and mixed-fermentation beers like Jester King—would be something of an understatement. An American-inspired entrepreneurial spirit resonates through everything that Boundary does. With three years under its belt it’s starting to become established in its home markets of the UK and Ireland, but this isn’t without its challenges, especially with the ever-darker clouds of Brexit looming on the horizon. Now, however, Boundary is beginning to look further afield and after securing a distribution deal with Shelton Brothers it has started to export its beer to the US. Boundary had the honor of taking over the taps at DC’s Churchkey this past St. Patrick’s Day. It also recently debuted its beer in New York City with an event at The Jeffrey. In this episode we’ll learn about the value of these US exports to such a small brewery, and how it balances this alongside activity the needs of its domestic market.

I didn't expect to talk about a serial killer when I sat down with Devon Kreps recently, but sometimes life can be full of surprises. For a while, that was a recurring theme for Devon and her brewery, 7venth Sun, which she co-owns with Justin Stange. As you'll hear in our discussion, natural disasters and local tragedies played an unexpected and unfortunate role in the early story of their brewery's new production space in Tampa, Florida. But when we got together, it was in the cozy confines of their original brewery and taproom in Dunedin, a sort of golf cart community also on the western side of the state. Devon and Justin opened 7venth Sun in 2012 after meeting at Sweetwater Brewing, and her roots in beer go back to a degree in fermentation science from Oregon State University and time spent with Anheuser-Busch. You'll hear from Devon on a lot of similar topics craft brewers are facing today, from finding a niche in a local market to learning how to best run a business and, perhaps most important, overcome unexpected challenges for which you have no control. Through it all, Devon has helped run one of the flagship breweries in the greater Tampa area providing growth and excitement for her team and customers alike. Grab a Florida weisse, relax in a reclining chair and think of sandy beaches.

Welcome to another episode of The Fervent Few podcast. Every few weeks we present you with this bonus episode of the GBH podcast where we chat with members of our subscriber community. The Fervent Few subscribe to GBH like a magazine making a monthly contribution via Patreon. Members join us in a forum to talk about a wide range of topics that doesn’t just stop at beer. And every week we pick one of these topics and present the community’s answers to readers in the form of an article posted to Good Beer Hunting. You can find out more information by visiting patreon.com/goodbeerhunting On this episode we talk to Zach Rothman (an attorney and beer blogger) and Chase Brooks (a cidermaker) about the recent uptick in lagers, and Nick Yoder, a distribution sales rep, about how he plans his beer travel.

This is our second interview recorded during San Francisco beer week - and it happened to be our second interview with someone who works at HenHouse Brewing up in the north bay.  When I first contacted Sayre to come on the podcast, I didn’t even know he worked for Henhouse, which becomes part and parcel of the conversation.  Sayre Piotrkowski is a great example of someone who’s hustled their way through a variety of jobs in the beer world, from door man, to bartender to beer buyer and sales rep. The variety of his experiences comes together to form a uniquely complex and interesting take on the implications of today’s beer market - how the biggest players affect communities, and how the smallest movers motivate change.  Sayre’s also been quite vocal about his opinions. He wrote an op-ed outlining his opposition to the Golden Road pub moving into Oakland that garnered a lot of attention - and we’ll talk about that in depth here. But it’s the underlying principles at play that really drive this conversation into interesting territory for me.  And at times, Sayre and I sort of wander into the wildness together as we sort through the nuance of our own opinions and the questions we’re asking of each other. So pardon the looseness of this one if you can, and just come along for the ride. Some of the things we discuss are still haunting me a bit, as unresolved as they are. But I enjoyed every minute of it, and I hope you do too.  This is Sayre Piotrkowski of Henhouse brewing, listen in.

Our resident composer for the podcast and our commercial video work, Andrew Thiboldeaux, is writing original scores devoted to beers he finds fascinating. These are interpretations of the experience of drinking them. But they're also just great tunes.

I was lucky enough to get to the San Francisco and Bay Area for beer week earlier this year, and for the first time, I stayed on the Oakland side. Not only did this give me an entirely different perspective on the evolving scene of the East Bay, it also gave me quick access to the North Bay—and I took full advantage of it.  I needed to get up to Santa Rosa for a shoot at Russian River for the Pliny release which was just published as part of Alyssa Pereira’s first GBH story. Check that out when you get a moment—it’s a great one.  And that gave me good reason to make a stop at another brewery up that way, one I’ve been following mostly through its founder’s Twitter personality for the last couple years. HenHouse Brewing Company started in Petaluma before growing up a bit and moving North into the front of a sauerkraut production facility where they’ve been transitioning a bit. While they started as a farmhouse brewery making some fantastic Saisons and traditional styles, they're now fully embracing the Double IPA and haze craze, working to figure out if that’s an existential crisis, a business they should openly embrace, or both. Sometimes, especially in small business, existential questions make for poor business, and great business makes for a poor existence.  HenHouse co-founder Collin McDonnell seems to appreciate the duality—and works through his thoughts more openly than most. His public Twitter account is where I find some of the most intriguing and intellectually honest conversations happening in craft beer. It's a place where he argues about things like independence, the distribution system, corporate and craft beer, and a host of other gnarly discussions, and one of the reasons I think he does it so well is that he doesn’t take any of those words for granted. So often when the rest of the world hunkers down into their rhetorical trenches, Collin swings by with a reframe of the situation, and exposes the impractical flaws in both sides of the argument.  Does independence matter if everyone’s doing the same thing? Does distribution and access to market need to evolve, or should it be replaced by a new idea entirely? And in the end, who’s going to shut up and take responsibility for the beer?  This guy is an example of the kind of person who makes working in the beer industry so challenging and fulfilling. And he makes damn good beer. Listen in.

The state of wild and sour beer in America is rapidly evolving. And this year, in partnership with Green Bench Brewing in St Petersburg Florida, the GBH team hosted a series of interviews and discussions at the Foeder for Thought festival. These discussions are meant to help us all dig in to the future of this loosely-defined, but highly-sought-after category of beers. It’s also a chance to get to know some of the people and stories behind how these beers are made, sold, and enjoyed all over the country.  In this 5-part series, you’ll hear from a variety of perspectives from this niche of the industry.