Oh come all ye faithful, let's have a beer!

Once again it's time for one of our most favorite shows of the year, the Interfaith Holiday Craft Beer SPECTACULAR.

A few years ago our Jewish friends Michael Syrop and Ron Mitchell of Rainy Day Brewing joined us to help sample our holiday beers. We decided that was awesome and made it a tradition. The Rainy Day crew is back this year to blind taste holiday beers and choose our favorites.

The Holiday Beer List

• Bells Christmas Ale
• Barrel of Monks Father Christmas Holiday Ale
• Breckenridge Christmas Ale
• Bronx Brewing Jingle Jangle Holiday Ale
• Delirium Noel
• Fat Bottom Noel
• Highland Cold Mountain
• N'Ice Chouffe
• Ommegang Everything Naughty
• Samichlaus Classic
• Scaldis Noel
• Shiner Holiday Cheer
• Sierra Nevada Celebration
• Sloop Brewing (No) Santa NEIPA
• Southern Tier Chestnut Praline
• St. Bernardus Christmas Ale
• Straffe Hendrik Xmas Blend (Vintage)

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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THC and CBD beverages are on the rise, and they're taking over valuable shelf space that could hold delicious craft beer. What are you thoughts? Continuing trend or fad?

Beer stats show mixed signals for the industry. The Beer Purchasers Index (BPI) offers insights into industry trends with overall beer purchasing show "cautious optism" with a neutral score of 50. However, the craft beer sector isn't looking great, with a concerning BPI score of 18, indicating contraction.

Trump Tariffs are coming for your beers.

If all the tariffs that are planned are actually put in place it could have a widespread impact on the beer you drink. We import aluminum and grain from Canada and if you're on the trend of Mexican imports you Modelo and Corona are going to cost more. It remains to be scene what comes to be, and what impact that will have. We'll hold tight, for now.nd nostalgia.

Sapporo takes Stone Brewing down another peg. They are going to cease all international distribution in January 2025, and limiting US distribution to their core beers. Sad to see Stone as such a shadow of what it once was.

We chat about farm breweries. In some areas they're growing tremendously, but other areas aren't seeing the same spike. I like the concept, and if it's better for keeping breweries alive then lets get to farming beer.

 Debunking Hangover Myths

Do you have a miracle cure for a hangover. Most of us probably do. Unless you one of the lucky 25% of the population that doesn't get hangovers. We talk about some of the myths of hangover cures, and give you the straight truth

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!

OK, we got the sound fixed! Well, we found a fix where we shouldn't have the same issues again. (fingers crossed)

Our Brewery Closure of the Week is.... Elysian! AB-InBev is shutting down the Seattle production facility of Elysian. We can't even keep up over here.

We mentioned them earlier in the year but we have more info on the annual Bourbon County Brand Stout releases with ABV info. Looks like we'll be out of luck here in Georgia as our gov-mint thanks they're too boozy for us to handle.

Big Beer or not, we appreciate the ridiculous things Miller Lite offers up at the holidays. This year, a YuleLager, a beer tower/fireplace combo. You can try to snag one at shop.millerlite.com but these kitshcy items sell out fast.

Another fun discussion from a VinePair article. Brewery Taproom red flags. We've got a few of our own.

Because we care about your health, we're sharing some info from the nerologists about what age you should totally quit drinking to protect your brain and body. We'll share the info but it's totally up to you if you follow it.

Thanks for bearing with us through the technical issues. Hope you enjoy the show. 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
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!

Keeping Beer Cold: The Physicist’s Verdict

Brazilian physicist Claudio Pellegrini found the pilsner glass—narrow at the bottom, wide at the top—keeps beer cold the longest. His research highlights how glass shape affects temperature, but he notes smaller glasses finished faster might work best in tropical heat.

Prague Bans Late-Night Pub Crawls

Prague, famous for its beer culture, has banned organized pub crawls from 10 PM to 6 AM to reduce public drunkenness and noise. Violators face fines up to $4,300, though earlier crawls remain allowed.

Historic Leinenkugel Brewery Closing

Molson Coors is shutting down the 157-year-old Leinenkugel Brewery in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, moving production to Milwaukee. The closure affects an estimated 56 employees, part of a broader effort to cut costs amid declining sales.

Brewers Call Out Overrated Trends

Brewers critiqued beer trends like negative online reviews, overly fruited sours, triple IPAs, and cold IPAs. Many argue for prioritizing balance and quality over fleeting fads.

NA and High-ABV Beers Thrive

Non-alcoholic beers (+6%) and high-ABV beers (+7.4%) continue to grow in popularity, reflecting a consumer shift toward extremes, while mid-range ABV beers lose market share.

Quit Drinking by 65 for Brain Health

Neurologist Dr. Richard Restak recommends reducing alcohol intake in your 60s and quitting by 70 to prevent neuron loss, dementia risk, and slower injury recovery.

Beer Drinkers and Poor Diets

A study shows beer drinkers score lowest on diet quality compared to wine and liquor drinkers, likely due to demographic factors like age, income, and lifestyle.

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!

No more brewery closure talk. Let's talk about drunk animals.

Did you know that animals enjoy booze, too? I'm sure we've all seen videos of some wild beast eating fermented apples and getting gazeboed. Turns out that may not just be a happy accident and animal friends may seek out the joys of alcohol. OMG, they're just like us!

So I don't want to talk about brewery closures, but there were a couple of notable announcements this week. Wicked Weed is closing their Funkatorium "indefinitely" and Revolution closed their original brewpub in Chicago. OK, moving on....

More in this week's show as we talk about French brewers and taxes, questionable beer art, and upcycled coffee beers.

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
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!

We've made it through Halloween and and the Holiday beers are already on the shelves. Here is Atlanta we're still seeing temps in the 80s. It's hard to get too excited for a Belgian quad when it's still t-shirt weather. The beers releases through the last few months of the year are some of our favorites. Let's cool it down so we can break them out!

As pseudo-foodies we were excited (mostly me) for the Michelin awards to return to Atlanta this week. We got 4 new 1-star restaurants but overall it was a bit underwhelming. I guess you just can't recreate your first time.

The American Craft Beer Hall of Fame announced their innaguaral group of nominees. So many great people in craft beer that had to be tough to come up with. You can't have everyone in the 1st year, then where do you go? Nevertheless, they've got a solid group to get things started.

Some good beer news

In light of all the closures it was nice to see New Glarus is in the process of a $55 Million expansion.  Sounds like they are doing OK. Wisconsin loves their New Glarus.

More this week...Brooklyn Brewery launches Calling All Makers program, the cost of an NBA game (including beer), and a new simulator lets you brew with monks. Neat.

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!

Sorry, Y'all! I totally spaced out forgot to upload the show! I'll keep it short and sweet.

This week.... 

• GABF recap and changes
• Coors and Wrangler collab?
• USA Curling has an official beer
• Elysian brewers plan strike
• Tilray's plans to take the craft out of craft
• Customers don't like it when their favorite breweries sell out

Cheers! Have a great week!

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!

What beer would you sip at a seance?

In preparation for Spooky Season Sam Adams has a seance kit available to help you connect with one of America's true patriots. So far, the problem there has been that it's always sold out. We'll keep trying.

As if regular life isn't spooky enough right now we are coming up on Halloween. We'll take any excuse to have some seasonal beers so we ponder what would be a good beer for Halloween. There are a few that directly target it, but several others seem like they could be appropriate.

In the category of "stupid fun" we have the latest social media trend of "Splitting the G." Grab a pint of Guinness and try it for yourself.

Big Changes at the Great American Beer Festival

Consumer expectations and beer fests have changed a lot over the last few years. Previously, as long as you had a lot of great beer, you had a great fest. That's not going to do it anymore. The Brewers Association took note and this year's GABF will see a shift. Beverages other than beer will be featured and the event and it will be a more "experience" focused fest. Hopefully it all works out for them. If you're a craft beer fan you're sure to have a good time.

In other news we're seeing more brewery mergers and acquisitions, a German company is using the waste from the hop harvest to make building materials, and New Belgium answers my prayers with their new Mini Ripper cans. Praise be.

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!

We recorded this show on 10/02 and info was current as of that time. As with any developing story additional news could have been shard since then

Asheville and Western NC was devastated as Tropical Storm Helene moved through the area last week. The town was mostly destroyed, along with many breweries, other businesses, and homes.

Updates were difficult as Asheville was cutoff from passage in or out and cell phone and electricity were out. I'm sure that posting updates to social media was not high on the priority list, but we did the best we could to find out what info was availble.

North Carolina needs you

A lot of support will be needed for everyone to recover. Now, and in the future. We curated a list of some charities that are reported as reputable, but we recommend you vet any charity you choose to donate to. If you're in the area and able to volunteer resources are needed there as well.

How you can help:

• Drink!
  • Buy and drink North Carolina beer. A simple one that doesn't require much change from your regular drinking schedule. 
  • NC Craft Brewers Guild Charity Beer | The guild is asking breweries to dedicate an existing tap to Helene recovery efforts. More info: https://drinkncbeer.org/nc-beer-helene-relief
• Donate
  • North Carolina Disaster Relief Fund | https://nc.gov/donate 
  • Red Cross Hurricane Helene Relief Fund | https://www.redcross.org/donate/dr/hurricane-helene.html/
  • New Origin Brewing GoFundMe | https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-for-new-origin-brewing-after-hurricane-helene
• Volunteer
  • Visit the North Carolina Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (NCVOAD) for info on verified volunteer organizations | https://ncvoad.org/
• Additonal Resources
  • https://www.bpr.org/bpr-news/2024-09-28/list-ways-to-donate-and-help-flood-victims-in-western-north-carolina-after-hurricane-helene

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!

12 beers, 4 guys, and a bunch of sausage and pretzels

It's hard work, but we're up for the challenge. We sat down with 12 beers Oktoberfest beers, Festbier and Marzen, sampled them blind, and picked our favorites. Some Oktoberfest fun and lore thrown in for good measure.

The Rules

We're not beer judges and don't judge like beer judges. The simple criteria here is whether or not we enjoyed the beer and it's appropriate to the style. Our favorite gets 3 points, 2nd gets 2 points, and 3rd gets 1 point then we tally up the cumulative score and pick our Top 3. Boom.

The Beers (In alpabetical order, tasting order is different)

• Ayinger | Oktober Fest-Märzen | Märzen
• Edmund's Oast | House Oktoberfest | Märzen
• Highland Brewing | Clawhammer Oktoberfest | Märzen
• Paulaner | Oktoberfest Märzen | Märzen
• Samuel Adams | Octoberfest | Märzen
• Sierra Nevada / Brauerei Gutmann | Oktoberfest | Festbier
• Six Bridges | Feierabend | Märzen
• Terrapin Beer Co. | Oktoberfest | Märzen
• Tucher | Festbier | Festbier
• Warsteiner | Oktoberfest | Märzen
• Weihenstephaner | Festbier | Festbier
• Yuengling | Oktoberfest | Märzen

Have you tried these this year?  Let us know you favorites or what else we should look out for before they get swapped out for Christmas decorations.

Prost!

Tim

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!