I know that a lot of you don’t want to talk about this Pandemic anymore, and I respect that… I really do. But it’s hard not to cover it when we’re all worried about our local spots and how they’re doing during it all. We get some much needed reassurance from Garret Hickey and Steve Schmidt from Streetside Brewing Company.

To keep things happy, enjoyable and not virus-related we also down a bunch of Demogorgan and talk about their barrel-aging program and some of the fun things that are coming down the line from that.

It’s a great show, packed full of great beer, and great friends… you’ll like this one!

If you follow me on social media, you’re probably plenty sick of hearing about Oktoberfest beers by now. I’ve been drinking a TON of them. The style is at least in my top three, if not my absolute favorite, and becomes an absolute obsession for me this time of year. For the second year in a row I spend the fall seeking out as many local examples as I can get my hands on and trying to figure out which one is really the “best” for me.

This is what I call my great Oktoberfest Quest – and this year is pretty spectacular. I limited the competition to just packaged versions of Oktoberfests, because… well… it’s a lot of beers. I spent a bunch of evenings working my way through a bracket of them all, putting them head to head until we were left with the final four – which is what this episode is all about. (you can see the whole bracket here if you’d like)

I brought in some help (big thanks to Marco Penilla from Cellar Dweller for hanging out with me and making sure that things stayed fair, and to my wife for being a great tie breaker and beer pourer to keep things blind) – and we finished up the competition in epic fashion… leaving Listermann as the Grand Champion and with the title this year as the Best Packaged Cincinnati Oktoberfest.

If you’re looking for all the information about THIS year’s Oktoberfest celebration – check out this!

I have such a deep, deep love for watching the journey that different Cincinnati Breweries go on to start from an idea to opening their doors for us to enjoy. It’s definitely been a journey for these folks, too… Rebel Mettle. They have been working for years to turn an idea into reality – creating a space that captures the bit of rebellious nature in all of us, and it sure seems to me that they’re on the right track.

Their grand opening is in a matter of weeks (9/12/20) – and it seemed like perfect timing to finally sit down with them and paint a picture of what things are going to be like in their taproom. We (of course) drink a few beers along the way dive in deep to the ethos that makes it all come together!

I messed up this week… which I’ll explain when you listen to this week’s episode – but that doesn’t mean I’m going to let it stop me from sharing with you a beer that I fell in love with recently at Darkness Brewing Company. I jumped on a phone call with Eric Bosler about their Sazerac Attack, which is easily the best cocktail inspired beer that I’ve ever tried… it’s mind blowingly good.

We talked about the beer, about how they’ve been fairing during the current… weirdness. And we talked about a bunch of other stuff that isn’t in the show (we address that… again, I’m sorry). This brewery is incredible… these folks are worth more time than I can hope to give them, and this beer? It’s stunning.

Fresh of a week packed full of pumpkin-spiced happiness (in addition to last week’s show – I finally got a chance to try Braxton’s pumpkin spice seltzer, which was awesome) I am now turning my attention back to Oktoberfest beers, of which we have a TON around town. I’ve been on an eternal quest to figure out which one is my favorite – and it continues this year with a bracket-style competition with the best judge ever. Me. I explain how it will all work, and even roll through the first two matchups in this week’s episode. There’s more to come on some other formats with this idea – so stay tuned and make sure you’re following me on all my social media!

I had the chance this week to head down to Taft’s Ale House for the big tapping of their Frisch’s Pumpkin Pie Ale… which opened up a can of worms for me. Now headfirst into pumpkin thoughts, coupled up with the good timing of Braxton’s announcement of their pumpkin spiced Vive… we needed to talk about this a little bit. I got some sound from the tapping event to share with you – and then got home and made a phone call to Braxton’s Jake Rouse to talk about how this all happened.

I’m not drinking any pumpkin anything on the show… but stay tuned, anything is possible in the next few weeks – the pumpkin seal has been broken!

Nine Giant is fun. There’s no simpler way to put it than that. They took the idea of what a brewpub meant here in Cincinnati and turned it on it’s head when they opened their doors in Pleasant Ridge, and now they’re looking to do it again when they open up their expansion that is being dubbed the Fermentorium. But the nagging question from their fans has been a big, and simple… when is it going to happen?

This week on the show we look to answer not only that, but to get a good look at what it all looks like. We drink a few beers and get caught back up on things (because it’s been far, far too long between episodes) and try to understand a little deeper at why they do what they do, and how they became such a favorite place for so many people in this city.

I love these guys – I love their beer, I love their attitude and I love sitting down and having a drink or two with them whenever I get the chance. I hope you enjoy listening to this one as much as I did making it!

Alone in the basement trying to put together a quick show for you doesn’t mean that I have to really be alone. Right? I gave Sonder Brewing Company’s Danny Herold a quick phone call to talk about their latest collaboration, an easy-drinking lager called Giga Coaster that they created with Kings Island. We talk about the beer, about the collaboration and have a quick beer together before I dove into a short little episode about what has been happening in the industry.

There’s a lot of thank you’s, a couple beers… and the promise of a full episode next week!

Figleaf and March First have come together as one company since the last time that we talked to either brewery. It’s hard to describe what that means though, without sitting down with the folks behind it all to see how the relationship really plays out on a day to day basis. These are two breweries that while yes… are under the same umbrella, still operate as separate pieces of the same team. It’s special.

In order to really get a good look at how it works, we dove in deep to it via the best way we know how… a few beers. We talked about how FigLeaf has changed, about where it all goes from here, and about what things each brand brings to each other in the bigger picture of it all.

Times are tough… scary… insane. You know, it’s hectic opening a brewery. Couple that up with all the other stuff going on in the world right now – and it’s down right crazy. I sat down with a couple of the folks behind Sharonville’s Third Eye Brewing Company to get a look into not just who they are and what the place is all about, but to get an idea at how they’re navigating the process of opening their doors during unprecedented times like this.

We (of course) drank a few beers along the way to give you an idea of some of the stuff that you’ll find when you hit up the socially distanced taproom with your friends.