Spring has sprung and everything is covered in pollen

We attended Little Beer Fest in Duluth, GA last weekend and the Atlanta area set a record for pollen count.  The sky was a bit yellow-green hazy.  Madness.  The sneezes and itchy eyes didn't keep us from enjoying a lot of great beers, though.

You ever think about the various "eras" of craft beer?  The IBU wars, the race to be the most sour, Haze Craze.  We ponder what the various eras have been and what may be next.

The tariffs we've been talking about have finally rolled out, so we share the latest on those.  It's going to hit everything.  Buckle up.

Some big news on the buyout front this week with Anderson Valley and Great Divide being acquired.  Locally, our beloved Terrapin Brewpub at Truist Park is now a Blue Moon brewpub.  Since Terrapin was sold and Miller-Coors has rights to beer at the stadium it was kind of expected this might happen.

In other news a thirsty gentleman has invented a self-cooling beer can and we find out what each generation's favorite beers are.

Thanks for listening to Beer Guys Radio! Your hosts are Tim Dennis and Brian Hewitt with producer Nate "Mo' Mic Nate" Ellingson and occasional appearances from Becky Smalls.

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Craft beer is having some tiny victories.

Most of the news about craft beer these days, is not good. Breweries closing, being bought, layoffs. Blech. But there are some tiny rays of hope out there that shows this ol' drink still has life. In some locations craft beer is up. That's right. Up. And in others it's taking market share from wine and spirits. We'll take all the good news we can, now matter how small.

We also was poetic about being able to sell beer from your house, which is totally cool in some countries. I'm sure if we'd had this option when we were heavy into brewing we would have sold a few bottles. Imagine the utopia if every neigborhood had 4-5 pubs.

No new tarrif news, how about some tax news?

As far as we know there's nothing new to report on the tariffs this week. I'm sure there will be soon. But taxes, we got news on taxes. In the UK there's a proposed tax increase on their beloved, threatening to push the average price of a pint over £5, and the Brits aren't happy about it. In Oregon there's a proposed sales tax on beer which is double crazy since Oregon doesn't have sales tax at all right now. It's been proposed before and didn't go anywhere. Let's hope that trend continues.

In other news we reminisce on the old days when your beer didn't even have to be good for you to be a successful brewery, share some great news if you're over 90, and talk about the growing popularity of cans.

Thanks for listening to Beer Guys Radio! Your hosts are Tim Dennis and Brian Hewitt with producer Nate "Mo' Mic Nate" Ellingson and occasional appearances from Becky Smalls.

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If you enjoy the show we'd appreciate your support on Patreon. Patrons get cool perks like early, commercial-free episodes, swag, access to our exclusive Discord server, and more!

Four more beers!

We just can't get away from talking about tariffs. The ever changing topic that politicians are using to swing their johnsons around at each other. Well, it's really just one politician, but it's impacting everyone. And, it could impact your beer in a big way. 

On a lighter note we learn about the highest brewery in the world, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. Did you know the records thing was started by Guinness the brewery? Sir Hugh Beaver (seriously) got into a debate about the fastest game bird and commission a book for records and facts that eventually became the Guiness Book of World Records. They're no longer officiially connected, but they do have common heritage.

Science! The scientists say hanxiety is a real thing. That anxiety you feel a day (or two) after having one too many. We've got the details on why.

Canada is really taking a lot of heat in this political circus. Moosehead has a cure, at least a treatment, they created a Presidential Pack of 1,461 cans - one for each day of Trump's presidency. If you want to grab one you're out of luck, they sold out fast.

Cheers!

Thanks for listening to Beer Guys Radio! Your hosts are Tim Dennis and Brian Hewitt with producer Nate "Mo' Mic Nate" Ellingson and occasional appearances from Becky Smalls.

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If you enjoy the show we'd appreciate your support on Patreon. Patrons get cool perks like early, commercial-free episodes, swag, access to our exclusive Discord server, and more!

Grab a pint of Guinness and let's go!!!

As you all know, Brian and I are also cologne nerds. In the cologne world (fragcom) you have niche (craft) and designers (macro/Big Beer) but there are a few designers that get a pass by the "niche snobs" as being acceptable. Kind of like Guinness. It's really big beer, but most craft crazies don't mind and will still enjoy a Guinness. St. Patrick's Day is the perfect day for it.

You don't have to drink Guinness, there are several other great Irish stouts available. And many local breweries offer up a great Dry Irish Stout for the holiday. We share some suggestions for you to check out. Brian is also a fanboy of the "Half and Half," with the old Black and Tan being the most well known. There are a lot of other options there, too.

Outside of the beer we dive into who St. Patrick was, or might have been. Some info on the lore and legends of St. Patrick's Day, and some consumer predictions for this year's celebrations.

However you do it, have a Happy St. Patrick's Day! 

Thanks for listening to Beer Guys Radio! Your hosts are Tim Dennis and Brian Hewitt with producer Nate "Mo' Mic Nate" Ellingson and occasional appearances from Becky Smalls.

Subscribe to Beer Guys Radio on your favorite app: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | RSS
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If you enjoy the show we'd appreciate your support on Patreon. Patrons get cool perks like early, commercial-free episodes, swag, access to our exclusive Discord server, and more!

On again, off again tariffs will impact beer prices

I don't know what to say about these tariffs. We record a show and talk about them going into effect, then they're paused again. We can't keep up. However, a lot of folks aren't buying the delays and making big changes to the way they do business. In the end, if they do go into effect, it's going to impact the price of your beer, and mostly likely everything else.

Monster Beverage took a huge loss on their beer business. Good. They gobbled up some great breweries and did terrible things with them. Most of the people we cared about at these places have moved on. I don't wish ill will for any that remain, but Monster can go pound sand.

We've always said, "It's OK, if it's an a 3-way." It's kind of our motto. Monks took note and there's a 3-way Trappist collaboration brew coming out. Hopefully we can get our hands on it.

In other news... pairing beer and chocolate, Teamsters go after Boston Beer Co., and Isaac Newton's beer mug is on display in all its glory. Cheers!

Thanks for listening to Beer Guys Radio! Your hosts are Tim Dennis and Brian Hewitt with producer Nate "Mo' Mic Nate" Ellingson and occasional appearances from Becky Smalls.

Subscribe to Beer Guys Radio on your favorite app: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | RSS
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If you enjoy the show we'd appreciate your support on Patreon. Patrons get cool perks like early, commercial-free episodes, swag, access to our exclusive Discord server, and more!

The American Craft Beer Hall of Fame announces their first inductees

Recently the American Craft Beer Hall of Fame held a ceremony to announce their innaguaral group of inductees. Lots of familiar, and deserving men and women made the cut. I'm sure it wasn't easy to choose.

NA beer continues to have lovers and haters. Despite the haters, the popularity continues to grow and the NA beer category continues to break its previous sales records, most recently in January.

If you've went to a bar and had a beer that you know you love and it just wasn't hitting, it's likely the bar wasn't taken care of things properly. Storage temps, clean draft lines and glassware, and even the way a beer is poured can have a huge impact on how that beer drinks. The Colorado Brewers Guild aims to combat that by certifying bars that do everything right. We're totally behind the idea and hope it expands.

In other news... Brian shares info on the most expensive airport beers, we anxiously await the release of Beer Can Chicken Pringles, and a shift in sales to on premise? Madness.

Thanks for listening to Beer Guys Radio! Your hosts are Tim Dennis and Brian Hewitt with producer Nate "Mo' Mic Nate" Ellingson and occasional appearances from Becky Smalls.

Subscribe to Beer Guys Radio on your favorite app: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | RSS
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If you enjoy the show we'd appreciate your support on Patreon. Patrons get cool perks like early, commercial-free episodes, swag, access to our exclusive Discord server, and more!

As craft beer struggles, brewers fight for better beer laws

The battle for better beer laws is a long one. I've personally been involved in the grassroots efforts for a decade now and many of Georgia's breweries have been at it 3x that long.

Beer laws don't get changed easily. The three-tier system is lonstanding and, with one tier have the majority of power (hint: it's not the brewers) they aren't keen on change. 

This year Georgia's brewers and the Georgia Craft Brewers Guild have put forward Senate Bill 122 to fight for more change. The key elements are allowing limited self distribution, allowing breweries to donate to charities, and raising the to-go sales cap for breweries which is currently at 288 oz, or 1 case of 10 oz cans.

Schoolhouse Brewing's Thomas Monti joined us to talk about the bill, and beer laws in general. Thomas knows very well the tough times breweries are going through as he recently closed one location of his brewery. Fortunately, Schoolhouse's original location remains open. Although this bill is for Georgia this issues aren't unique to our state.

It's not likely breweries will get all they're going for with this bill, verbiage to reform franchise law has already been cut. But, hopefully some change will happen. And the people will continue to fight next year.

Thanks for listening to Beer Guys Radio! Your hosts are Tim Dennis and Brian Hewitt with producer Nate "Mo' Mic Nate" Ellingson and occasional appearances from Becky Smalls.

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If you enjoy the show we'd appreciate your support on Patreon. Patrons get cool perks like early, commercial-free episodes, swag, access to our exclusive Discord server, and more!

Big Beer doesn't love you like craft beer does.

We're back and we're ready to party.  We missed a Super Bowl show but we're recapping the game and, more importantly, the beer commercials this week.  On that note, Atlanta's Monday Night Brewing isn't happy about Coors' "Case of the Mondays" campaign.  Monday Night has been selling a mix pack with the name for many years now.  A cease and desist sent to Molson was replied with, essentially, "too bad, it's done now."  

In Presidential news... tariffs.  So hot right now.  They're on, they're off, they're back on.  We can't keep up.  If they are on, they could hit your beer prices.  Proposed aluminum tariffs will impact packaging costs for most producers.  And if all these other tariffs go into place it could hit malt, hops, and who knows what else.

Some sorta good news as one beer purchasing index shows sales aren't down as much as they have been.  It's a bummer when things been down less is good news.  With all the breweries closing their doors (this week, Alamo) we'll take any ray of sunshine we can get.

Looking ahead, the folks at Total Wine shared some of their predictions for trends this year.  What do you think will be the hot item???

Thanks for listening to Beer Guys Radio! Your hosts are Tim Dennis and Brian Hewitt with producer Nate "Mo' Mic Nate" Ellingson and occasional appearances from Becky Smalls.

Subscribe to Beer Guys Radio on your favorite app: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | RSS
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If you enjoy the show we'd appreciate your support on Patreon. Patrons get cool perks like early, commercial-free episodes, swag, access to our exclusive Discord server, and more!

Quicksand isn't nearly as prevalent as I thought it would be when I was a kid.

Have you ever been stuck in quicksand. I have. Seriously. But, I really expected my adult life to be a constant battle to dodge the killer soup and I'm pretty thrilled that's not the case.

Brewers Association and American Homebrewers Association to split

Some big news this week with the BA and AHA announcing they'll split. The two have operated together for decades but feel the split will allow both groups to focus on their members more. It seems amicable and hopefully will mean good things.

Brian shares an update on the We Love LA relief beer. The movement has a website now and more breweries are joining the cause.

San Francisco's Toronado is up for sale. After 38 years the owner is calling it a day. Sounds like his hope is someone will buy it and carry on the torch.

Sapporo news is always disappointed. In the latest punch, they've laid off 2% of their workforce. Par for the course in beer these days, but still a bummer to hear.

In other news we talk about the weirdest beer names, QuikTrip (convenienve store change) is bringing back their own beer after a long hiatus, and the states with the highest beer taxes.

Thanks for listening to Beer Guys Radio! Your hosts are Tim Dennis and Brian Hewitt with producer Nate "Mo' Mic Nate" Ellingson and occasional appearances from Becky Smalls.

Subscribe to Beer Guys Radio on your favorite app: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | RSS
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If you enjoy the show we'd appreciate your support on Patreon. Patrons get cool perks like early, commercial-free episodes, swag, access to our exclusive Discord server, and more!

Are you dry, damp, or wet this January?

We're not gonna let this one go. It's January, and folks are dry all over. It's almost done though, we'll make it through this. Nate is dry, Tim is moist, and Brian is so, so wet right now.

The folks at Pub Beer are fighting back against all this dryness with their Wet January initiative. Leonardo DiCheapio shares cheesy videos, contest, and deals on Instagram @CheapFunBeer.  Check it out.

It's not all fun and games though. The TTB is implementing some major labeling changes, and it could impact what and where we get our beer. We'll stay on top of this, but there are some huge changes proposed regarding nutrition labeling.

After news of MolsonCoors closing the Leinenkugel brewery broke the original owners offered to buy it back. MC said no, we waited for more info, after we recorded our show it was reported that they plan to use it as a pilot brewery. Sad ending for an OG.

Is pounding Guinness the key to a healthy, long life?

Probably not, but for one old Irish dude it seems to be working. He claims to down around 20 Guinness in a weekend, but he doesn't drink during the week. Docs say he's pretty healthy for his age. Rock on, old dude.

Breweries are taking the opportunity to renovate during the slow month of January. I'd say if someone is renovating that's a pretty good sign. If you're on the verge of closing you wouldn't be sinking money into upgrades, right?

Thanks for listening to Beer Guys Radio! Your hosts are Tim Dennis and Brian Hewitt with producer Nate "Mo' Mic Nate" Ellingson and occasional appearances from Becky Smalls.

Subscribe to Beer Guys Radio on your favorite app: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | RSS
Follow Beer Guys Radio: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube

If you enjoy the show we'd appreciate your support on Patreon. Patrons get cool perks like early, commercial-free episodes, swag, access to our exclusive Discord server, and more!