Beervana Podcast

We love good beer, finding good beer, talking about good beer. But identifying what that “good” is in beer—that’s a lot harder. Truly great beers are defined by subjective, often subtle elements of a beer. Yet they aren’t unknowable. Here’s a proposal for how to identify them.

We are delighted to be back in a brewery! On today’s show, we are visiting Unicorn Brewing with owner Zach Vestal. We’ve been impressed with the tiny brewery’s beer over the past year, and wanted to come see the operation—which includes a homebrew shop and u-brew operation.

Following each new disruption, I keep looking for a return. Normalcy can’t be that hard to restore. Yet each disruption carries darker connotations than the event itself. I feel the need to publicly acknowledge that sense of danger the small animal feels. It has been growing in me for years now.

I will tell you a secret. It’s controversial and you will resist this information, but it’s true: hazy pale ales are better and more reliably good than their bigger IPA brothers. As summer heats up, find one and see if you don’t agree.

A provocative piece in this month’s Atlantic argues that “America has a drinking problem.” But does it? The evidence paints a fuller, more prosaic picture: things have been very stable for a decade now.

Last week we spoke to Nick Harris of Berkeley Labs about the ways in which bioengineering may remake brewing. That’s the latest example of technology’s impact on brewing, but it’s far from unusual. This week we’re going to look back at some of the pivotal technologies that changed brewing forever, even working a little beeronomics into the mix.

Seltzers, canned cocktails, hard teas, flavored malt beverages: these represent a complex regulatory stew of products but may in many cases be called “beer.” Once a small enough market it didn’t matter, they are now such big business they may destabilize the entire alcohol industry.

One of the country's best breweries continues to turn out incredible beer in relative obscurity. Taste Midnight Reflection, however, and you'll see why Portland's Upright really is that good.

For Show 140 we have a fascinating discussion about the scientific frontiers of brewing. Nick Harris, one of three founders of Berkeley Yeast, joins us today. Founded by scientists from UC Berkeley, the team at this lab is busy bio-engineering beer yeast to do amazing things.

After revolutions in hop breeding and product development and micromalting, yeast is getting its moment in the sun. A proliferating number of yeast labs offer organic and genetically-modified strains that do things like ferment without diacetyl or finish in half the time.