In this episode, Joel got together with both Small Pour Sean and Craft Beer 007 in order to flood their systems with Mikkeller San Diego Beer Geek Vanilla Shakes along with some barrel-aged variants. Basically the liquid equivalent of binge-eating a quart of ice cream and half of a chocolate cake. Listen in as their blood sugar levels spike and taste buds are forever scarred.

Show Notes:

Guests: @smallpoursean & @craftbeer007

Beers:

Mikkeller San Diego – San Diego, CA

Beer Geek Vanilla Shake – (batches 1 & 2) An Imperial Stout made with coffee and vanilla.

Beer Geek Maple Vanilla Shake – An Imperial Stout with coffee, vanilla and maple syrup.

Traeblod – An Imperial Stout with maple syrup.

Beer Geek Vanilla Shake aged in Bourbon Barrels – An Imperial Stout with coffee and vanilla aged in Bourbon barrels.

Beer Geek Vanilla Shake aged in Rum Barrels – An Imperial Stout with coffee and vanilla aged in rum barrels.

Pure Project Brewing & Abnormal Beer Co. – San Diego, CA

Carpe Noctem – Imperial Stout with Organic Vermont Maple Syrup, Organic Cacao Nibs, and Organic Hazelnuts

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In this episode, Joel spent some time learning how best to describe the fleeting and enigmatic flavors hidden within the deep recesses of fine, high-quality beers. And who better to learn from than Untappd wordsmith Chris Byerly. Seriously, go read some of his descriptions of the beers he has tasted. They’re gold. Pure gold.

Show Notes:

Guest: Chris Byerly

Beers:

Modern Times Beer Co. – San Diego, CA

Countermagic – An American IPA made with Enigma, Mosaic, Cascade, Denali, Simcoe, and finished off with lots of Citra cryo (lupulin powder)

Mikkeller Brewing San Diego – San Diego, CA

Beer Geek Maple Vanilla Shake – An Imperial Stout made with coffee, vanilla and maple syrup.

Bottle Logic Brewing – Anaheim, CA

Stronger Than Fiction (2017) – A Strong Ale brewed with coconut and coffee and aged in a combination of Bourbon and Rum barrels.

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For this episode, Joel enlisted the talents of his friend Robbie, who has a fairly selective palate and tends to use concise, superlative language to describe a beer he tastes. To that end, we lined up a small selection of hard-to-find beers (sometimes referred to as “whales” depending on the relative level of demand and rarity) and foisted them upon his tastebuds.

Show Notes:

Guest: Robbie Fernandez

Beers:

Allagash Brewing Company – Portland, ME

Farm to Face – An American Wild Ale originally brewed as a pale ale and then fermented for ten months in stainless tanks with Allagash’s house yeast. After primary fermentation, they add Pediococcus, Lactobacillus, and a whole lot of peaches. For every gallon of beer they add three pounds of peaches from Applecrest Farm in New Hampshire.

Founders Brewing Company – Grand Rapids, MI

KBS (Kentucky Breakfast Stout) – An Imperial Stout brewed with a massive amount of coffee and chocolates, then cave-aged in oak bourbon barrels for an entire year.

Mikkeller San Diego & 3 Sons Brewing Co. – San Diego, CA & Dania Beach, FL

Power Smoove – An Imperial Stout brewed with blackberries and spices.

Bruery Terreux – Placentia, CA

Rueuze (2012) – Terreux’s take on the traditional Belgian-style blend of lambics of different ages. They carefully select a number of oak barrels from their warehouse that have been aging our sour blonde ale for anywhere from several months to several years and blend the beers together to what they find to be the ideal flavor.

Monkish Brewing Co. & Omnipollo – Torrance, CA & Stockholm, Sweden

Space Cookie – A Double IPA brewed with Cookies, Milk Sugar, & Vanilla Beans.

Abnormal Beer Co. & Superstition Meadery – Rancho Bernardo, San Diego, CA & Prescott, AZ

Goodbye Tomorrow – An Imperial Honey Stout with Dates, Vanilla and Mostra Coffee.

Bottle Logic Brewing & Superstition Meadery – Anaheim, CA & Prescott, AZ

Iridium Flare – A Strong Ale brewed with honey and marionberries and aged in bourbon barrels.

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In this little bonus episode, Joel tested out some new gear at the preview tapping event for three of Abnormal Beer Co’s forthcoming bottle releases. Several familiar voices weighed in with their thoughts on the new beers.

Show Notes:

Guests: Nick Guy, Justin Dailey, Sean Hanlon, Curtis Fjelstad, & Magic Muncie

Beers:

Abnormal Beer Co. – Rancho Bernardo, San Diego, CA

| COLLABORATION | A few months back we started talks with the @9fivers crew about possibly combining our talents and working together. Early next week we will be releasing our collaboration set that includes a custom pair of sunglasses, a custom beer glass and a bottle of “95 ‘Til Infinity” our first barrel aged release which was a 11% Imperial Stout aged in Rye Whiskey barrels for one year then treated with cacao nibs and cinnamon. This is the only way to get either the bottle or sunglasses and availability will be very limited. Official details of the release will be posted on Sunday.

A post shared by ABNORMAL BEER CO. (@abnormalbeerco) on Aug 3, 2017 at 10:12am PDT

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In this episode, Joel decided to get his faithful camera man a tidbit buzzed on some gnarly Triple IPAs from Stone and Mikkeller San Diego. They tasted both 2017 variants of the storied RuinTen “Triple” IPA and discuss future podcast plans.

Show Notes:

Guest: Aaron Oquendo

Beers:

Mikkeller San Diego – Miramar, San Diego, CA

Big Hazy – an Imperial IPA brewed with Lupulin powder.

Stone Brewing Company – Escondido, CA

RuinTen Triple IPA with Orange Peel & Vanilla Bean

RuinTen Triple IPA Double Dry-Hopped with Centennial & Citra

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Joel, Matt and Sean taste a trio of berry-fruited sour beers without the aid of antacids! We all shared microphones and the result is less-than-spectacular… learn something new every day! This was a fun, free-ranging discussion with some incredibly tasty beer. Listen to us imbibe.

Show Notes:

Guests: Sean Hanlon & Matt Fireazzi

Beers:

Kent Falls Brewing Co. – Kent, CT

Blueberry Vs. Blackberry – An American wild ale. Fermented with a blend of wild cultures from fruit skins, 1200 lbs of blueberries and 300 lbs of blackberries were added to 700 gallons of beer.

The Rare Barrel – Berkeley, CA

Supermassive (Blend 2) – a dark sour beer aged in oak barrels with blackberries and black currants. Fermented with Brettanomyces and Abbey Ale yeast and soured with Lactobacillus bacteria.

Smog City Brewing – Torrance, CA

Snugglebug (batch 2) – A sour Blonde with Raspberry and Boysenberry.

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In this week’s episode, Joel is joined by Matt Ferazzi, otherwise known as “Judge Dregs” on Instagram. Matt is a Boston native with a deep, abiding love for all things craft beer. Sean also popped by.

Show Notes:

Guest: Matt Ferazzi

Beers:

Treehouse Brewing – Monson, MA

Doppelgänger – an Imperial version of their Alter Ego IPA with extra kettle and dry hop additions.

Haze – a Double IPA.

Mike Hess Brewing – San Diego, CA

Ordeum Rex – an American style Barleywine made with 100% barley (no adjunct sugars)

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It’s been a minute! Apologies for the mini hiatus. The show is back in action now!

In this episode, Joel and Curtis returned to Burgeon Beer Co. in Carlsbad, CA for their second-ever can release! Along the way, they discuss a miniature myriad of topics, from bottle shares (which you can read about in greater detail on Curtis’ new blog) to Gentlemen Broncos & beer photography.

Show Notes:

Guest: Curtis Fjelstad

Beer:

New Glarus Brewing – New Glarus, WI

R&D Champ du Blanc –  a blend of aged sour blonde ale and Chardonnay grapes. Spontaneously fermented in New Glarus’ Wildfruit Cave through the cool winters of 2015 and 2016.

Side Project Brewing – St. Louis, MO

Merci (Blend #3) – a blend of wild ales:

14% – Saison du Fermier aged in a light toast American Oak Foedre for 6 months.

31% – Saison du Fermier aged in a heavy toast American Oak Foedre for 4 months.

46% – Missouri Wild Blond Ale aged a French Oak Foedre that they have been pulling solera-style pieces from for the past 4 years.

9% – Missouri Wild Ale that was aged in Missouri Oak Chardonnay barrels for 3 years.

Burgeon Beer Co. – Carlsbad, CA

Universal Secret – a “zero IBU” IPA dry-hopped with Nelson, Galaxy and Vic Secret.

Mixed Greens – a West Coast style Double IPA brewed with a rotating selection of six different hop varieties.

Extras ~ Amazing Beer Photographers:

Beer Friends on Instagram: @beerfriends_

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Joel sat down with local San Diego home-brewer, father, real estate agent and part-time philosopher Alton Hitchcock to discuss many things. In the process, they talked about shoes, ships, ceiling wax, cabbages and kings. Just kidding… actually, they talked about: BEER! Also Saké and whiskey and much more.

Show Notes:

Guest: Alton Hitchcock

Beer:

The Lost Abbey / Port Brewing / The Hop Concept

KuraCali Saké

Setting Sun Saké

Alton’s Home-brew:

Burgeon Beer Co.

Mikkeller San Diego

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This week, a special blending session with the goal of recreating several of Firestone Walker’s Anniversary barrel-aged blends leads to an interview with the man whose idea it was: Stephen Parmley. Stephen waxes poetic on the emergent craft beer scene of the San Francisco Bay area over the last few decades, and his fascination with blending beer.

Show Notes:

Guest: Stephen Parmley

Beer:

Gordon Biersch

Steelhead

Firestone Walker – the blending components:

Modern Times Beer

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