Good Beer Hunting

On this week’s bonus episode, we’re going to get to know some of our subscribers, a community we started called the Fervent Few. These folks subscribe to GBH like a magazine, supporting us financially each month. As part of their subscriber benefits, they join the GBH team in a community forum where we discuss a wide range of topics—a forum that includes professional retailers, brewers, distributors, and sales people with expert perspectives. But in the Fervent Few community, everyone has an equal voice, and a respect for others opinions. I’ve been thrilled to see so many genuine and intellectually honest conversations transpire.  The community is managed by Jim Plachy, and each week he hosts a weekly topic with our members. We're going to get to know him a little bit better this week, and I think you'll see why we immediately fell in love with him and put him in charge of this thing. He joined as a subscriber himself, and through his natural force of personality, started running the show. After that, we'll ring up a couple Fervent Few members and get their perspective on the community, and what they thought about this past week's topic, the new Independent logo created by the Brewers Association.

Chicago’s beer story is an historical one, full of the bawdiness that to this day continues the association of beer with the rougher parts of our civility. It’s political - in the burbs is where the temperance movement spawned, we’ve had workers riots and rallies, and our alderman would use their saloons to sway the vote. As American craft brewing brings beer back to the local, and hyperlocal level, some of these histories don’t seem so remote. Tied houses, saloon culture, and good old-fashioned bartending are newly refreshed in their relevance to our daily experience, but the ways in which history repeats itself are sometimes not what we expect.  Are breweries with taprooms the same concern as tied houses a hundred years ago? Does "local" mean the same thing in contemporary craft brewing? What’s the role of a bar when it’s not just the corner spot but some sort of craft beer concept, or a sportsbar.  And for today’s guest, a lot of that is tied to the role of the bartender themselves.  Bill Savage is a Chicago historian, writer, teacher, and long-time bartender going back some 30 years.  All of that has led to him being one of the most important voices in Chicago’s drinking culture, and that of our entire country.  His new project, The Old Time Saloon originally written by George Ade and resurrected by Bill, kicks off today’s conversation. And it serves as great window into many topics relevant to today’s craft beer drinker.

We’ve got what I consider a bucket-list interview today. In the past, I’ve been thrilled to sit down with people like Sam Calagione, Lauren Limbach (formerly Salazar), Jim Koch, Garrett Oliver, Bill Covaleski, and others who were so fundamental to the world of beer that we enjoy now with all its diversity, innovation, and re-invention of the model. These are people who made it all happen by practically rubbing two sticks together. And because of that, almost anyone willing to put in the work has the opportunity to follow in their footsteps.  But of course, for breweries like Allagash, their story isn’t all about the past. Allagash, one of my north star breweries, is a company still making big moves and leading the way on things like regional agriculture, wild ales and, more recently, within the Brewers Association.  Founder Rob Tod started Allagash in 1995 with a Belgian White Ale. But these days, his most important role is arguably his post at the Brewers Association as he helps them welcome in a new generation of brewers, sometimes referred to as the "long tail." Alongside his brewmaster, Jason Perkins, he’s also helping lead conversations on resourcing and quality that are critical to craft beer, as a niche, not missing a step on its longterm growth trajectory.  And one of the things I admire about Allagash the most is its ability to focus on what’s possible in craft brewing rather than complaining about the things that have always held it back. Beer is a competitive industry with a lot of different kind of players, but for Allagash’s part, it seems as though there aren’t enough hours in the day to devote to all the positive, impactful things that a brewery connected to its community can accomplish. And that kind of attitude comes through in every person I’ve ever met from the company. But especially this guy.

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.  This episode is devoted to Trophy Brewing Co's Trophy Wife Session IPA

At this point of the American brewing industry, it’s safe to say beer is many things to many different people. It can be nothing more than a drink or maybe something to be discussed, but at an increasing rate, it’s also become the core of serious study. J. Nikol Jackson-Beckham is many things. She’s a teacher, writer, homebrewer, community activist, and more. In many ways, beer finds itself at the center of her wide-ranging universe. As Assistant Professor of Communication Studies at Randolph College, she teaches on topics of media and technology, but she’s also long examined the connections between beer and its place in American culture, often through an analysis of people and histories that tell the beneficial and challenging sides of the industry. For generations, beer has acted as a foundation for so many other aspects of our lives. It’s not just a packaged good or something poured from a tap, but a major piece of our social structure, for good or bad. J.’s work provides context to the stories and myths that surround this beloved thing—a fermented beverage that can bring people together and, at times, push them apart. With a complex history and culture, beer is a way to better understand the psychological and social realities that surround our lives. It’s a part of who we are, and, as J. shared with me, there’s not always easy answers to the difficult questions beer can raise—as a product or focus of academic study.

Ask a beer lover, and there are plenty of cities whose names can be synonymous with the drink they love. San Diego, Grand Rapids, Portland, Fort Collins ... Portland again. In North Carolina, Asheville has long held that designation, gaining local and national attention, but part of the fun of watching beer’s growth can be the creation and explosion of cultures in new places. In recent years, that’s been the case in Charlotte, North Carolina, about two hours away from Asheville and now home to about 20 breweries and a burgeoning beer scene. One person who’s had a unique perspective of seeing this happen is Alexa Long, head brewer at Legion Brewing, an almost two-year-old business in the city’s Plaza Midwood neighborhood. After graduating from UNC-Charlotte in 2011 and working locally at a homebrew store, Long went pro at Charlotte’s Heist Brewing before joining Legion in fall 2015 and being a part of the crew that earned Legion the title of “best new neighborhood brewery” by Charlotte magazine in 2016.   Long’s connection to Charlotte provides her a unique perspective of how the city and its love of beer has changed, as drinkers have now come to expect more than just juicy IPA, even if that continues to be a bestseller for Legion and others. As Charlotte’s star continues to rise, Long has and continues to be a part of that.

In the age of hyper-local craft, we have a competing—or perhaps complementary?—narrative in the U.S., and that’s heritage brands.  You may have heard my counterpart, Matthew Curtis (who's based in London), mention the UK's traditional breweries more than once. It’s an interesting dynamic having young, upstart craft brands entering the market alongside these elder statesmen who are sometimes hundreds of years old, and both sets of companies are trying to reach drinkers with a message about quality and craftsmanship.  To U.S. ears, it’s a bit like listening in on a bizarro universe. We simply don’t have much of that traditional brewery credibility left because of prohibition. Most U.S. drinkers only rewind the tape as far as Sierra Nevada or Sam Adams. If you're from Pennsylvania like me, you might think of Yuengling (founded in 1829). Or in Minnesota, perhaps Schell’s comes to mind (founded in 1860). But those are the wonderful exceptions that prove the rule. By and large, the U.S. doesn’t have a traditional brewing scene. One other exception, this time on the west coast, is Anchor Brewing Company. Founded in 1896, it’s largely known for its Steam Beer, or the California Common, arguably the only wholly-American-invented style of beer. It even owns the trademark on that. It operated in regional obscurity for almost 100 years before Fritz Maytag bought it and saved it from closure. Without that beer, the story goes, breweries like Sierra Nevada may have never started. Anchor is still brewing its open fermentation beers, as well as many newer styles, in the location on Potrero Hill it moved to in 1979. But in 2010, it was purchased by The Griffin Group, an investment company specializing in alcoholic beverages. Shortly after, the brewery started distilling spirits.  Through all those years, the changes have been few, including the changes in brewmaster. And the latest shift in that role happened quite recently, leading to a host of new beer offerings that straddle the line between the traditional brewing approach of Anchor, and the constantly evolving craft beer industry of 2017.  Scott Ungermann has taken the weighty rings of this storied business and is combining his longstanding desire to have his own brewery with his experience at Anheuser-Busch to help bring Anchor along into the next generation ever so delicately.

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.  This episode is devoted to Foley Brothers Maple Brown.

For anyone who's gone brewery hopping in Denver, CO, you know how lively and enjoyable that experience can be in one of the country's pre-eminent beer towns. With generations of brewers all working alongside each other, Denver has a brewing history and status unlike any other.  But if you're like me, you've also noticed some common—maybe too common—themes in Denver breweries. Lots of IPAs, outdoorsiness, and that sort of early 2000s don't-try-too-hard aesthetic in the form of picnic tables and raw wood and concrete that passes for authenticity unquestioned among craft enthusiasts. And let's face it: some of it's real, some of it's not. So when TRVE Brewing Co. brewing popped up on the scene, it was a violation of the Mile High City's Pleasantville-like beer scene in more ways than one.  Founder Nick Nunns was making yeast-driven beers with a heavy metal theme in a neighborhood far from the sparkle of Denver's eye. Much has changed since then, but mostly in ways that continue to put TRVE at the edge of a still-somewhat-monoculture beer scene, as good as it is, with a few great exceptions.  And in this next phase? Nunns is going to make things even weirder.

This week we’ve got Austin Ray, our Editorial Director talking about our Wicked Weed coverage pretty much as we were writing it, and his interview with Mitch Steel about his new atlanta brewpub concept.  We’ll also check in with Bill Holland, one of our newest recruits who’ been contributing to our b-Roll section in between his hours selling beer for MillerCoors, which lends a unique perspective to our team.  As usual, a diverse range of topics from some great storytellers.