Cincy Brewcast

This was originally recorded as a live broadcast with Cincinnati’s GCCBS facebook group to prepare the world for the much anticipated Blue Melvin bottle release at Fifty West, but as these things tend to go, the conversation was just too fantastic to have it only live inside of a live video, I knew that eventually I’d have to let it loose as a podcast too!

We were joined by Max from Fifty West to dig into all the details about the release event, and Bobby stopped by for a minute after (during) his weekly run.  We were even graced by a one of Cincinnati’s OG bloggers, Queen City Fresh too.  We talked all things that you’d expect from a Blue Melvin show, including how the beer came to be in the first place.  Of course... we also drank both a cellared version of the original beer, as well as taste of this years version too.

Guests This Week

Jesse Folk - GCCBS

Max Fram - Fifty West

Bobby Slattery - Fifty West

Chris Stevens - Queen City Fresh

From The Beer Fridge

Quaff Brothers/Fifty West - Blue Melvin 2014

Quaff Brothers/Fifty West - Blue Melvin 2017

This was a show recorded in one of the loudest rooms that we’ve ever tried to do a show in, but the situation called for it.  Christian Moerlein Brewing Company and Maisel and Friends collaborated together with a pair of beers that exemplified the spirit of craft beer to a degree that just couldn’t be ignored!  We set up shop in the taproom during the party welcoming Maisel and Friends to Cincinnati where I picked the brains of Greg Hardman from Moerlein and Michael Konig from Maisel and Friends.  We explored not just why they came together for this beer, but really dug into what craft beer means, and what makes it so special.  To wrap things up, we found a quiet minute to have a conversation with Don Heinrich Tolzmann about his new book about John Hauck and how the current wave of craft brewery owners could learn a thing or two from the beer barons of Cincinnati’s history.

Guests This Week

Michael Konig - Maisel and Friends

Greg Hardman - Christian Moerlein Brewing

Don Heinrich Tolzmann - Author, historian

From The Beer Fridge

Maisel - Weisse

Braxton Brewing Company opened up their second location, and they did it in a way that is unheard of here in Cincinnati.  They didn’t go bigger, they went smaller, purchasing the old Ei8ht Ball space located inside the party source.  What sort of show would this be if we didn’t get them to sit down and explain why?  We learned a lot more about what makes Braxton who they are, and what the underlying philosophy of this new location actually is.  We talked a couple weeks back about the culture of innovation, and this new ‘Braxton Labs’ is that culture come to life.  Evan Rouse and Jonathan Gandalf were gracious hosts, and did a great job reminding us all what craft beer is all about.  The future for Braxton is a bright one, and it depends on remaining small and creative even as massive growth happens all throughout the brewery.

Guests This Week

Evan Rouse - Braxton Brewing Company

Jonathan Gandalf - Braxton Brewing Company

From The Beer Fridge

Braxton Labs - Blackberry Pale Ale

Braxton Labs - Vanilla Coffee Milk Stout

Braxton Labs - Cherry Saison

I was joined in “studio” (I’m working on the new version of Cincy Brewcast studios... slowly but surely) for what was supposed to be a show focusing on Sam Adams and their Longshot variety six pack that they had recently released. My guests didn’t know what was in store for this show when they signed up, though.  Joining me was:

Justin “PeePaw” Chaney - From Swine City

Amie Sandlin - From Cappy’s

Mike Stokes - From Cincy Brewbus

The changes in our plans happened when a little brewery called Wicked Weed announced that they had been purchased by another little brewery called AB-InBev.  Needless to say, it changed the course of things - though we did talk a lot about Longshot still!

From The Beer Fridge

We drank a lot of different beers... it helps with the conversation...  trust me.   Plus, we had some Wicked Weed that suddenly needed “disposed of”.

Sam Adams - Longshot - Wild Child

Sam Adams - Longshot - Barnstorm Saison

Sam Adams - Longshot - Coffeehead Imperial Stout

Wicked Weed - Montmaretto

Wicked Weed - Medora

There may or may not have been plenty of other beers being passed around too that didn’t make it onto the “air”.

Buyouts... Longshots.

It seems like it’s been a hot topic in beer ever since AB first bought out Goose Island, and changed the game around.  It only makes sense, then that at some point we tacked it on the show... and this was as good of a time as any!  We talked about them all... from Wicked Weed, to Lagunitas and tried to figure out what exactly the concerns are.  Why is this bad... is there any good that can come from it all?

And then there were the Longshots.  We talked about Sam Adams and their home brew competition, as well as ran through a tasting of all of this years offerings.

It was a fun show, full of some great friends with whom I’ve shared many beers over the last few years.  This is how I love doing a brewcast!

It's a special "mid-week" edition of Cincy Brewcast - I sat down for a quick interview with Andy Sparhawk from the Brewer's Association to talk about American Craft Beer Week, and why even now with more than 5000 breweries in the US it's more important than ever. Learn a little bit about the event, and "Beer It Forward" with this Special Edition of the show!

Guests This Week

Andy Sparhawk - The Brewer’s Association

This week I was joined by Dave Dixon and Jon Covey, two homebrewers-turned-innovation brewers for Braxton Brewing company. I wanted to try to capture a little bit of their journey, and what it means to have a brewery that operates with a culture of innovation.

It's all relevant with the recent news of Braxton's expansion into what they're calling the Braxton Labs (there will be more about that soon on the show).

We dug into some of Dave's homebrew to get a taste for what innovation and creativity might taste like (for the record, it might taste delicous.)

It was a great show, and a really special look "behind the curtain" of a side of the industry that most of us don't get to see that often.

Guests This Week

Jon Covey

Dave Dixon

From The Beer Fridge

Dave’s Barleywine

Dave’s Belgian Dubbel

Wooden Cask hasn’t been around forever, but owner and head brewer Randy has quite the story about how he ended up in Newport making some of the most sessionable and flavorful beers that you’ll find in Cincinnati.  We wanted to tackle the story of Randy, the story of Wooden Cask, and of course explore some of these beers that we’ve been hearing so much about since they opened their doors.  How do you fit into a busy craft beer marketplace?  How do you separate yourself from breweries who thrive on riding trends and making the next new thing constantly?  We explore it all!

Guests This Week

Derek Kolligian - Guest Host

Randy Schiltz - Wooden Cask Brewing Company

From The Beer Fridge

Wooden Cask - WC Cider

Wooden Cask - Pacific Time

Wooden Cask - Hell Yes

Wooden Cask - Newporter

Wooden Cask - Yorkshire Ale

Wooden Cask - Reformation

I love watching new brewery's as they open up.  It's fascinating to see the different approaches that each of them take with their opening strategies, and March First certainly had one that had everyone on their toes.  March First is a brewery that didn't put much out there until there was beer ready to leave their door - everyone was going a bit crazy trying to learn a little bit about who they were, and what they were all about.

Throughout the show, I really wanted to tackle one major topic... who is March First, and what is their plan for fitting into this community. We learned a ton from them to get us a little closer to understanding the answer. This is a brewery that's making lagers, craft ciders, they're distilling... it's all stuff that few breweries tackle, let alone from the very beginning.

They've got big plans.

Everything, from their small taproom, to their branding, it all screams a brewery that is looking to be BIG, and get their beer into a lot of different places, and that's exciting.

Guests This Week

Shae Pridemore

Garret Huber

From The Beer Fridge

Premium Lager

Bock

Dry Hopped Cider

Lime Cider

The style seems to be taking over the universe - even around Cincinnati, which always seems to be a step or two behind the trends.  NE IPAs are clearly a thing... but I admittedly didn't know a lot about them.  There's only one way to change that!  I grabbed CraftBeerJoe from CraftBeerJoe.com and we compiled as many of the local options as we could get our hands on to see if we could dissect this "Next Big Thing".

We did our best to figure out what makes a beer a NE style... is it the usage of the hops?  The flavor of the hops?  Maybe it’s all about how hazy the final product is?  It’s always fun to explore when it’s great beers that your’e exploring!  Even with the lineup of beers that we had, we didn’t even begin to scratch the surface of what’s available.  I think it’s safe to say that this style is officially a “thing”.

Guests This Week

Craft Beer Joe - from CraftBeerJoe.com

From The Beer Fridge

Streetside - Suh, Brah

Listermann - Brewer's Delight

Listermann - No Sleep Til Norwood

Listermann - Tricky

Listermann - 99 Problems But A Beer Ain't One

I have such a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that Streetside Brewing Company has only been around for six months, and are kicking as much ass as they are.  To celebrate their first ever packaged release (16oz cans of their NE IPA called Suh, Brah) I thought we should do it in the best way possible... a live Brewcast!

We set up shop right in line, bright and early, and I was joined by Garret and Luke to talk about all things Suh Brah, and Streetside.  What makes them brew NE IPAs?  Is it just to be trendy?  We tackled this, along with some of the brewery's plans for future packaging too.

It all went down in the cold morning air, with a few fun beers being passed around in line... it made for a fantastic live event, and a really great way to spend a Saturday morning if you were there!

Guests This Week

Garret Hickey - Streetside Brewing Company

Luke Shropshire - Streetside Brewing Company