Beervana Podcast

Nine years ago, almost to the day, we recorded our first episode of the Beervana Podcast. All things must end, and it is with deep gratitude and appreciation that we announce this is our last show. If you'd like to read a bit more of a formal obit, we have one here.

https://www.beervanablog.com/beervana/2024/5/2/old-podcasts-dont-die

Thanks for everything, you wonderful listeners!

At this year’s Central European Brewers Festival, Polish brewer Marek Kamiński gave a presentation on the briefly extinct style of Grodziskie that has been making a comeback in its homeland. Jeff and Marek later sat down to discuss this fascinating style, its history, and how it’s doing today. We have that interview, along with the news and mailbag and a Croatian beer tasting.

Today we’re going to go to Prague and Budapest, where Jeff recently spent ten days. He was there to speak at the Central European Brewers Conference, and had a chance to get caught up on the beer scenes in the region. The countries there have very diverse brewing backgrounds, from the Czechia, with local intact traditions dating back centuries, to countries like Croatia, where craft brewing dates back only a decade. He’s going to tell us what he found.

Beer Tastings: Varionica Pale, Zmajska Pils, and Maktoob IPA

Not long ago, we received a very interesting email in the mailbag. It came from Pete Hoppins of Portland’s British-influenced brewery, Away Days. It was the length of a short article and came with a color-coded graph. The essence of the email boiled down to a pithy question he posed about the viability of small breweries today. Pete asked: “Do you think we could ever see another brewery as successful as say Breakside or 10 Barrel (in Portland area)?” The email was far to detailed and meaty for a simple mailbag item, so we’re bumping it up to the main topic of this pod.

PHOTO: 10 Barrel Brewing

Beer tasting: Rogue Dead Guy IPA, Hetty Alice Belgian IPA (BIPA)

Audioblog: Singha Beer, Don't Ask No Questions by Jeff Alworth & Patrick Emerson

In September, Dublin's Guinness Brewery opened its second American site, this time in Chicago. Jeff went to the Windy City to check it out and while he was there, sat down with Ryan Wagner, who helped see the project over the finish line, and brewer Megan Schwarz.

When we think of different beers, our minds almost immediately frame them in terms of “style.” IPAs and witbiers and Czech dark lagers: this is how we’ve come to understand beer. Today we get philosophical and ask the question: what if styles aren’t the only way to think about beer? What if, rather than illuminating something essential about beer, styles actually deceive us?

Today we are joined by hop grower Max Coleman for a special edition of Beeronomics. Hops are a very unusual crop, sold only to a single industry for one purpose. How does this business relationship work? We’re going to ask Max how he knows which hops to grow and how many, and how the market for hops works.

Photo: Max enveloped by a field of Mosaic hops.

Several years ago, beer experienced its “tulip mania” moment in the form of a pumpkin ale bubble. Many of those were bad—but that was the breweries’ fault, not the style’s. These should function like fun autumnal rituals. The new crop may bring you back.

Today we are pulling out our green eyeshades and squinting at some data—it’s another episode of Beeronomics. Our intrepid economist is going to walk us through some numbers. Inflation, draft numbers, taprooms—we’re digging deep so you don’t have to.

Cover photo: Midjourney (prompt: beer economics)

Beer Tasting: Buoy Festbier