Beer Me!

There is a certain level of magic behind beer, in the fermentation alone. Those little yeasty cells are working hard to convert sugar to alcohol and CO2, but what else? Disco parties? 

Courtney Iseman, a Brookyn-based beer journalist, has recently published a zine: "Beer Tarot: Pulling Cards, Pouring Beer, & Discovering Self." She suggests adding a little mysticism, a little magic to the consumption side of beer; through Tarot. 

In this episode of Beer Me, she explains that while the practice of Tarot has been around for centuries, it has become more popular in recent years. Tarot has risen since the pandemic, "not as much as sourdough" Iseman jokes. People seek more introspective moments and creative outlets, and tarot answers both needs. 

To be clear, tarot is less about predicting the future and more about setting an intention, for example, "getting a vibe for the day", Iseman explains. (like bones or no bones, RIP Noodle). 

In her zine, Iseman dives into the history of Tarot and where it's surfacing in beer. For example, EJ Nunns & Max Sherman at Trve Brewing in Denver have designed a custom tarot deck. (it's stunning). 

What's in the cards? Maybe they suggest you try a new beer or branch out. Or they might suggest to stick to your favorite. Check out this zine for more details! 

Shoutouts: Trve Brewing, Brasserie l'Ermitage, Joanne Love, Noodle and the No Bones Day

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The mix of wonderful and hilarious people one meets in the beer world is a marvel. There is no better time to celebrate those friends than Thanksgiving, or a few weeks after. 

Beer Me welcomes back to the show Carl Crafts, Sam Nellis, and Grant Vaught. We all met working at Birch & Barley/Churchkey in DC and all have gone off into various directions - but still mostly in beverage. 

It is a tradition on Beer Me to gather once a year to answer the burning question: "What will you be drinking on Thanksgiving"?

 While exploring as many tangents as possible. 

While this isn't hard-hitting beer news (is it ever?), or complex topics rooted in education, it IS fun. 

Grab a beer, laugh, and enjoy some turkey! 

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Music: Funky Intro 31 by TaigaSoundProd
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"What are your hopes and dreams for the American Craft Beer Industry as a whole?"  This impossibly hard-to-answer question was asked of three beer industry veterans during a live show, in the rain, during their first hour of the Snallygaster Beer Festival. 

Beer Me Radio returned to our "recorded live" roots for one special show during Snallygaster beer festival in Washington, DC, in a podcast tent, in the rain. It was incredibly fun. 

Our host, Sarah Jane Curran, had the opportunity to interview Josh Schlesinger (Head of Sales and distribution for Bissell Brothers Brewing Company), Matt Monahan (Founder/CEO of Other Half Brewing Co), and Blake Tyers (Senior Director of Curiosity Creature Comforts). What do these three have in common? All of their respective breweries will be celebrating ten years opened throughout 2024. And with that significant anniversary coming up, why not reflect on the future? In the middle of a beer festival. 

All of these breweries have been massive contributors to the industry, in their products, and how they engage with the industry and their communities, and they will continue to grow. 

"It's exciting to be rounding out ten years" -Blake shared. At the time of recording (10/14/23) Creature Comforts was a mere two weeks away from opening its newest location in LA 

Matt shared the news that Other Half is planning the opening of their 8th location in Chicago 

As they all reflected on the collective decade of success Josh added:  "I think everyone on this panel has had a pretty sweet ride for the past 10 years" 

The conversation ranged from what changes they wanted to see in the industry as a whole (more diversity being the main theme), to what styles would be compelling. There was also a discussion about responding to trends, specifically non-alcoholic beer. Matt explained, "Don't want to ignore growth opportunities, but also (you) need to make sure that what you're doing already is working." 

Was this topic overly ambitious for a live recording at a festival? For sure. But was it worth the ask? 100% 

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Music: Funky Intro 31 by TaigaSoundProd
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License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Successful collaborations are a hallmark of the brewing industry. There are countless examples of collaborations between breweries, brewers with restaurants, and even brewers with bands. The result of these collaborations is the beer, which is formed through many (MANY!) decisions that lead to the desired result (hopefully). 

As Beer Me Radio relishes in its "cheese era", the newest episode builds on a few recent episodes surrounding cheese and beer.  Megan Vaughan, Founder/Owner of Vaughan Cheese in Chesapeake, MD recently joined the show to share about the process of beer-washed cheese (Listen HERE). She mentioned Vaughan Cheese recently worked with Joe Puttlitz, Founder/Owner of Greenspring Brewing Co. in Calvert County, MD to create a beer specifically for the cheese shop. The goal is to eventually make a beer-washed cheese specifically for the shop using this beer. 

Both Joe and Megan joined the show to share the finite details of the collaboration and what decisions Joe made during the brewing process to sculpt the perfect brew. 

Megan requested a beer that was low ABV, had little to no bitterness, and flavors that could pair with hundreds of varieties of cheeses. Joe took all of this into consideration and in the first sample, he presented, nailed it.  Megan explained "It felt like magic to me...I couldn't think of anything to change"

In a way, it was magic....and science, and art. 

Joe explains the malt, yeast, and hop considerations. He talks through the decision process on how to treat the water, and how that would reflect on the final product. This episode allows the listener to take a step into the mind of the brewer. 

Another successful brewing collaboration on the books! 

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Music: Funky Intro 31 by TaigaSoundProd
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License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

"It was just a day of horse racing" explains Andreas Krenmair, Beer Author and Historian and most recent guest on Beer Me, as he describes the first Oktoberfest. 

Austrian-based Andreas has done significant research on the Vienna Lager style and Austrian and German beer & brewing history. Most recently he joined the Beer Me podcast to begin to scratch the surface of Oktoberfest history. 

He explains how a city-wide celebration of the wedding of Crown Prince Ludwig I of Bavaria to Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen where the main attraction was a horse race has grown into the massive celebration of Oktoberfest. 

This year, the 188th Oktoberfest kicked off in Munich, Germany September 16th and ended on October 3rd. A celebration that draws numbers in the millions with additional celebrations worldwide. (Check out this recent episode to see how Jack's Abby celebrated). 

The progression is fascinating to look back on, from the different attractions throughout the year to the actual beer served. Andreas guides the listeners through his studies in the evolution of the world-famous celebration. 

A detailed map from 1843 shows the 22 publicans that served beer from Munich and the surrounding towns. These include some well-known producers, including "Hackerbräu, Pschorrbräu, Löwenbräu... Maderbräu, Knorrbräu, Oberkandler, Unterkandler, Singlspielerbräu" explains Andreas.

Andreas also explains how the regulations on which beer can be served shifted throughout the years. Oktoberfestbier has even achieved PGI (Protected Geographic Indication) status in the EU.

With 188 years of celebrations, Andreas was only able to scratch the surface of Oktoberfest history, but a worthy topic to tap into! Prost!

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Music: Funky Intro 31 by TaigaSoundProd
Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/9552-funky-intro-31
License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Jack's Abby Craft Lagers opened in 2011 in Framingham, MA by three brothers: Jack, Eric, and Sam Hendler. They set out to only produce lagers, in a world of IPAs, and have stayed true to that vision. 

Rob Day, the VP of Marketing for Jack's Abby, described how Jack Hendler studied brewing in Germany and continues his education in German brewing with an annual trip to traditional and modern brewing facilities in Germany, on this week's episode of Beer Me. 

Every year, this lager brewhouse celebrates Oktoberfest (the season we are in RIGHT NOW!) with traditions of tapping gravity kegs, stein hoisting, and a keg toss. This year, they have outdone themselves, with the release of a festbier, a collaboration with Weihenstephan called "Fest of Both Worlds". 

Rob explains "(Jack's Abby) is only the 3rd brewery in the U.S to do a collaboration" The other two being Sam Adams and Sierra Nevada. In this episode, he describes the collaboration process and what went into the beer. 

Oktoberfest is a special time for beer, as Rob describes it "beer's moment", there is no other beverage celebrated during this time. Let's hoist a stein to "one of the world's most affordable luxuries!" 

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Music: Funky Intro 31 by TaigaSoundProd
Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/9552-funky-intro-31
License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

When boiled down (pun intended) beer is an agricultural product, as is chocolate. This is one of the many similarities between the craft beer and chocolate worlds.  Chocolate is produced from the seeds of a fruit that grows on a tropical plant. As with beer, chocolate is also a fermented product, and much like beer, there is craft production and mass production. 

David Nilsen, beer writer, and educator sat down with Sarah Jane Curran, host of Beer Me! to discuss pairing beer and chocolate, inspired by these parallels. 

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Music: Funky Intro 31 by TaigaSoundProd
Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/9552-funky-intro-31
License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

After our last episode, talking beer and cheese pairings with Anne Becerra, we needed more cheese. As one does. And there are so many parallels between beer and cheese, both in the production and storytelling possibilities. 

This week we welcome to the show, Megan Vaughan, cheese expert and owner of Vaughan Cheese in North Beach, Maryland to discuss beer-washed cheese. Megan breaks down the cheese-making and aging process that involves washing cheese with beer and how that impacts the cheese during the aging as well as the final product. 

She also answers Sarah Jane's burning cheese questions: 

- What is the cheddering process? 

- Is there cheese terroir? 

- Can you wash goat cheese? 

- Should you always eat the cheese rind? 

Magan also shares why it is so important to support American Artisan Cheesemakers, for many of the same reasons we support American Craft Brewers. 

Shoutouts: 

The Culinary Institute of America, Eleven Madison Park, Jasper Hill Farms, Virtue Hard Cider, Chapel's Country Creamery, 16 Mile Brewing Company, Firefly Farm

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Music: Funky Intro 31 by TaigaSoundProd
Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/9552-funky-intro-31
License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Almost as ubiquitous as a beer and pretzel, there is the classic pairing of beer with cheese. This pairing is also an excellent gateway into the beer world for those just starting on their beer journey, so we decided to do an episode dedicated to beer and cheese. 

We welcome Anne Becerra (Cicerone, Speaker, Consultant: annelikesbeer.com) back to the show to talk through her process of pairing beer with cheese. While there are always the classic three C's for pairing beer with food (Compliment, Contrast, Cut), her approach is more organic. 

She guides us through her method of dissecting the flavors of a beer and how those flavors could act as additional ingredients to the cheese experience. The process is very approachable and easy to follow. 

In June Anne lead a seminar with cheese expert, Laura Werlin at the Aspen Food & Wine Classic, where they paired seven classic European beer styles with some stunning cheese. This was the first time beer was featured as one of the seminar options.  Anne explains her thought process for selecting these styles for attendees who are more wine drinkers and the feedback she got from them. 

We of course go down a few rabbit holes... drink more Doppelbock! But it wouldn't be Beer Me without at least one or two diversions. 

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Music: Funky Intro 31 by TaigaSoundProd
Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/9552-funky-intro-31
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Homebrewing has been a topic of discussion many times here on Beer Me, but we haven't had many opportunities to dive into what it looks like to transition from hobbyist to professional. While it is a path that requires tenacity, there are certainly rewarding moments along the way. 

This week, we welcome to the show Jason Bell, Founder of Living the Dream Brewing in Littleton, Colorado. He takes us through his path in kitchens, restaurants, beverage sales, and finally opening a brewery. 

His brewing path started with homebrew, and he describes how his mindset needed to shift from homebrewer to commercial brewer and what that entailed. He shares the challenges he constantly considers with brewing consistency, distribution, ensuring staff wellbeing, and brewing for the guest. 

The road to opening a brewery is often condensed into a quick blurb on a website, "engineer turned brewer", but the story is usually more complicated - and more exciting.  

Congratulations to the team at Living the Dream Brewing as they head into their anniversary weekend! Nine years! 

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Music: Funky Intro 31 by TaigaSoundProd
Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/9552-funky-intro-31
License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license