Good Beer Hunting

As someone who thinks way too much about beer way too often, I’ll always consider myself lucky for the sheer fact I get to spend some of my time talking about this beverage we love so much. There have been lots of great conversations about beer shared with friends and people in the industry, with some of my favorites simply nerding out with fellow writers I meet during my travels. This fall, I made my first trip to Portland, Oregon, where I had the chance to have one of those kinds of talks with two of my favorite writers covering beer, Jeff Alworth and Jason Notte. The pair represent two brilliant sides of reporting on the same topic. Jeff has long been one of my go-to sources for cultural and historical insight and commentary, while Jason’s acumen on the business side of things makes him stand out. We met at Portland’s Wayfinder Beer and grabbed a table outside where our conversation meandered in many of the same ways it would have without microphones in front of us. We talked about our process, the latest news about the likes of Sam Adams and trends we’ve been following. This was at the beginning of October, right before the Great American Beer Festival, when the Brewers Association was set to celebrate their new seal of independence—an ideal time for Jason, Jeff, and I to share our own takes on what such a thing means and why it’s important…or not important. Whenever I sit down to record a GBH Podcast, I like to preface it as a conversation, not necessarily an interview. This talk with Jeff and Jason felt very much like that.

Welcome back to another episode of the GBH Collective, where we bring you the stories behind the stories from our writers and photographers all over the world.  This new series of episodes is made possible by our Patreon subscribers. Patreon is a way our readers and listeners can become a part of GBH with a monthly contribution, just like subscribing to a magazine. We give back to our subscribers, which we call the Fervent Few, through events, discounts, exclusive gear and art, and a host of other perks. To us, being a Fervent Few member makes you part of the team. And the 70 or so subscribers we have already are enjoying the Slack channel we set up as a direct connection with the GBH crew and each other. You can join them, too. This week we’ve got myself, Bryan Roth, and Matthew Curtis, all fresh on the heels of GABF in Denver. We discuss the North American Guild of Beer Writers awards, the value of GABF, and some of the things that make GBH tick.

Last week, GBH flew me to Aberdeen, Scotland to visit BrewDog—the fastest growing brewing company in Europe. I first visited the brewery in 2015, and what I experienced on that trip would eventually materialize as my first ever GBH story. Since then, operations at what can now only be described as BrewDog’s “campus” in the town of Ellon, around 30 minutes from Aberdeen itself, have expanded exponentially.   For starters, there’s a brand new, purpose-built brewing facility featuring a 255-barrel German brewhouse. Once fully operational, it will be brewing up to 10 times per day. Also inside this new build is a labyrinth of offices, which amongst them features a brand new lab and quality control department—the result of a $2.6 million dollar investment. There’s also Lone Wolf, BrewDog’s brand new spirits division. And the expansion doesn’t stop there. They have a standalone sour beer facility, Overworks, which is nearing completion, coolship and all. Following a comprehensive tour of these facilities, I sat down with BrewDog co-founder James Watt. You might be more familiar with his more extroverted and outspoken persona. He's prone to standing on bar tops a'la Stone's Greg Koch (a mentor of Watt’s), but on this occasion he cut a far calmer and more softly spoken figure. Over the next hour we tackle pretty much every topic BrewDog’s name has come up with over the last few months. This includes selling 22% of the company to a private equity company for £213 million, opening a brewing facility in Columbus, Ohio, and future plans to build similar operations in Australia and China. And, of course, we even discuss whether or not a multinational company with millions of dollars in investment behind it can still be considered “punk.”

This episode is something very special to us at GBH.  One of our neighbors, who literally lives above the studio here in Logan Square in Chicago, is a woman named Sheerine Alemzadeh. She's a co-founder along with Karla Altmayer of an organization called Healing to Action.  Over a few parties here in the studio, we got to know these women and the work they do, which is to help build capacity for solving gender-based violence, which so often occurs in the workplace. One of the industries that struggles with this issue the most, which includes everything from sexual harassment and intimidation to outright physical assault, is hospitality. When we think of hospitality, we rightly think of hotels, restaurants, bars, and the like.  But as a design firm devoted to breweries, we’ve become increasingly involved in hospitality as well. We’ve helped launch, on average, about a half dozen new breweries a year. And as more of them include a taproom in their concept, we’ve started to think about the hospitality environment in more depth and as Sheerine and Karla shared more of their experience fighting against workplace violence, we started to realize how pervasive and important this issue is becoming to craft breweries. And that says nothing about the male-dominated manufacturing environments that have their own history of harassment and violence.  So we decided to partner with them to bring your a unique conversation combining their important work with the context we know so well: craft brewing. We all got together at Hopewell Brewing’s taproom right here in Logan Square, along with Melissa Josephs of Women Employed, Jacyada de Oliviera of Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, and Samantha Lee of Hopewell Brewing Company.  The goal was to have an open conversation that would encourage brewery owners and taproom staff to recognize the threats to their business and their staff as they cross into he hospitality industry. But also to take a look at what a traditionally male-dominated manufacturing culture brings with it as well. These two worlds coming together create an intersection where a lot of people are at risk. And the solutions, as they usually are, start with understanding and communication—and a willingness to address the issue.

HAZED AND CONFUSED Is the New England IPA the end of the style's evolution or a resistance to a status quo? Host:  Matthew Curtis, Good Beer Hunting Guest Speakers:  Soren Parker Wagner, Dry & Bitter Brewery Wayne Wambles, Cigar City Brewing Company Patrick Ware, Arizona Wilderness Brewing Co.     Good Beer Hunting was thrilled to partner with Beavertown Brewery at their Extravaganza anniversary celebration this year to bring you some compelling discussions and presentations about the state of craft beer in 2017. A wide range of topics and personalities were available to discuss some of the more pressing, and exciting pursuits in beer. You can learn more about Beavertown's educational investments on their blog.

GROWING HORIZONTALLY Finding Ways to Expand the Beer Bubble Host:  Michael Kiser, Good Beer Hunting Guest Speakers:  Jacob Alsing, Mikkeller Brewing Jos Ruffell, Garage Project Andrew Cooper, The Wild Beer Co.     Good Beer Hunting was thrilled to partner with Beavertown Brewery at their Extravaganza anniversary celebration this year to bring you some compelling discussions and presentations about the state of craft beer in 2017. A wide range of topics and personalities were available to discuss some of the more pressing, and exciting pursuits in beer. You can learn more about Beavertown's educational investments on their blog.

UNDER THE MICROSCOPE What will it look like when yeast has its moment? Host:  Matthew Curtis, Good Beer Hunting Guest Speakers:  Yvan de Baets, Brasserie de la Senne Glenn Castelein, Brouwerij Alvinne Jamil Zainasheff, Heretic Brewing Company     Good Beer Hunting was thrilled to partner with Beavertown Brewery at their Extravaganza anniversary celebration this year to bring you some compelling discussions and presentations about the state of craft beer in 2017. A wide range of topics and personalities were available to discuss some of the more pressing, and exciting pursuits in beer. You can learn more about Beavertown's educational investments on their blog.

THERE GOES THE NEIGHBORHOOD How hyper-local changes everything Host:  Michael Kiser, Good Beer Hunting Guest Speakers:  Andrew Schwartz, Modern Times Beer Lauren Lister, Beavertown Brewery Connor Casey, Cellarmaker Brewing Co. Good Beer Hunting was thrilled to partner with Beavertown Brewery at their Extravaganza anniversary celebration this year to bring you some compelling discussions and presentations about the state of craft beer in 2017. A wide range of topics and personalities were available to discuss some of the more pressing, and exciting pursuits in beer. You can learn more about Beavertown's educational investments on their blog.

A NEW TAKE ON TERROIR How are surroundings and the environment influencing modern brewers? Host:  Matthew Curtis, Good Beer Hunting Guest Speakers:  Tom Oliver, Oliver’s Cider & Perry Mark Tranter, Burning Sky Brewery Averie Swanson, Jester King Brewery   Good Beer Hunting was thrilled to partner with Beavertown Brewery at their Extravaganza anniversary celebration this year to bring you some compelling discussions and presentations about the state of craft beer in 2017. A wide range of topics and personalities were available to discuss some of the more pressing, and exciting pursuits in beer. You can learn more about Beavertown's educational investments on their blog.

FOREVER YOUNG (PART 2) Staying Relevant in the Modern Beer Landscape, Part 2 Host: Michael Kiser, Good Beer Hunting Guest Speakers: Meghan Waites, Thornbridge Brewery Dande Bagby, Bagby Beer Company Sam Richardson, Other Half Brewing Company   Good Beer Hunting was thrilled to partner with Beavertown Brewery at their Extravaganza anniversary celebration this year to bring you some compelling discussions and presentations about the state of craft beer in 2017. A wide range of topics and personalities were available to discuss some of the more pressing, and exciting pursuits in beer. You can learn more about Beavertown's educational investments on their blog.