Cincy Brewcast

The Cincy Brewcast team looks back on 6 months of shows! Our triumphs and failures, our favorite interviews and people, and where we want to go in the future! We have a special guest who calls in on our first phone interview and we drink some outstanding beers from Jackie O’s. Taft’s Ale House and Rhinegeist. If you’ve been a faithful listener, you’ll reminisce with us and if you’re hearing us for the first time, you’ll get a sense of where we’ve been, and where we’re going. All on this edition of Cincy Brewcast–The Voice of Cincy Craft.

From The Beer Fridge

* Taft’s – Cherrywood Amber* Rhinegeist – Chester* Jackie O’s – Matriarch

Why is a craft beer podcast doing a “LIVE” program at a Cigar Festival? Because two of the hosts of said craft beer podcast are also cigar ‘junkies’, that’s why! Add to that the fact that when it comes to food, beer, hot sauce and more, Jungle Jim’s ALWAYS knocks festivals out of the park, you begin to understand why Cincy Brewcast had to be involved with JJ’s Inaugural Cigar Festival. After being invited by, Lee Weisser, JJ’s Fairfield Humidor Manager, we just happened to run into Tom Lazuka, the “L” in CLE Cigars and driving force behind the fast-growing Asylum cigar brand. THEN, Tom breaks out the new, limited-edition Asylum/New Holland Dragon’s Milk barrel-aged cigar for us to taste, and, well, the rest is on the podcast! We discuss the cigar industry in-depth with Tom and Lee; the legal and regulatory battle the premium cigar industry faces that threatens it’s very survival, the impact of the possible influx of Cuban brands into the marketplace, the changing and sophisticated palate of the American cigar smoker, compare the craft beer market/consumer to those of the Premium Cigar market, and so much more! To our hard-core craft beer fans, we apologize–and assure you we’ll be back next week with our normal format–but give a couple of craft-beer loving cigar lovers a break one time, will, ya? And for those of you who love a tasty Puro with your favorite IPA, Stout, craft bourbon or morning coffee, you’re in for an awesome show!

Guests This Week

* Lee Wiessmann – Jungle Jims* Tom Lazuka – CLE Asylum

From The Beer Fridge

* Yuengling – Black and Tan

We are honored to be joined by one of the foremost brewers in Cincinnati, Kenny McNutt of Madtree Brewing on this edition of Cincy Brewcast. He is joined by Lauren Amos, Madtree’s Marketing and Events coordinator to discuss the Madtree Summer Bonanza, coming up on August 29, 2015. We don’t let Kenny and Lauren get away without asking about Madtree in general; from the beginning (including the original McNutt homebrew you can still get on tap), then the meteoric rise to becoming one of the premier craft brewers in the Midwest; and on to the what the future might hold for one of Cincy Craft’s most beloved brands. We also taste and comment on some tasty beers “From the Beer Fridge”, talk other upcoming events in “This Week In Beer” and much more on the next all-new Cincy Brewcast, “The Voice of Cincy Craft”.

Guests This Episode

* Kenny McNutt – MadTree Brewing* Lauren Amos – MadTree Brewing

From The Beer Fridge

* MadTree – Experimental Pale Ale Series #6* Tap and Screw – Jacked* Big Slam – Two Pug Ale

On this episode of Cincy Brewcast, we are joined by John Bent, the Craft Brands manager for Chas. Seligman Distributing Co. in Wilder, KY. John will introduce us to Wild Ginger, the first American-made alcoholic ginger beer. We taste Wild Ginger on it’s own and in cocktails like the “Kentucky Mule”. Seligman also is the sole distributor in Northern Kentucky for Cincinnati’s Bad Tom Smith brewery. We ask John about Seligman’s reasoning behind handling the controversial brewers, who have been beset by quality and consistency problems with their beers. We also discuss the ‘three tier system’, the Kentucky law which saw a brewing giant and a local craft brewery become ‘strange bedfellows’, and much more. So join Mike Cisneros, The Gnarly Gnome and Tina Cisneros on this week’s edition of Cincy Brewcast, “The Voice of Cincy Craft.”

Guests This Episode

* John Bent – Charles Seligman Distributing

From The Beer Fridge

* Wild Ginger* Bad Tom Smith – All American IPA* Bad Tom Smith – Bad Tom Brown Ale* Bad Tom Smith – CINfully Hopnotic Double IPA

We love the interactive side of the show… from our live periscope feed and interaction via social media… it’s a blast. There are few things that are more enjoyable though, than getting into a taproom and doing a show on location with our fellow craft beer fans surrounding us. This week we do another one… this time from Braxton who will always have soft spot in our hearts, from our second episode (recorded from the brew deck itself) to now… it’s been fun growing up with them.

We dove in and explored a few different sides of who Braxton is, from the brewing minded Evan, to Jake’s business leanings… there is a lot of balance in how Braxton operates, and you can see it when you see their early success. It’s crazy to think about where they’ll be in a few years time.

Guests This Episode

* Evan Rouse – Braxton Brewing Company* Jake Rouse – Braxton Brewing Company* Greg Rouse – Braxton Brewing Company

From The Beer Fridge

* Braxton – Storm (Read More About This Beer)* Braxton – Twisted Bit (Read More About This Beer)* Braxton – Crank Shaft (Read More About This Beer)* Braxton – Dead Blow w/ Coffee (Read More About This Beer)

Cincy Brewcast is "21 and legal" as we return to the scene of one of our earliest programs when we "invade" Braxton Brewing Company in Covington, Kentucky. Mike, Tina and The Gnome are joined by the founders of Braxton, Greg, Jake and Evan Rouse in front of a raucous live audience. We talk about where they were 4-and-a-half short months ago, where they are now and where they are going. We go in-depth about the beers and philosophies of the family brewery that has taken Cincy Craft by "Storm", and the products and growth which will propel them into the future.

The man, the myth, the legend… this week we are joined by Scott LaFollette the mastermind behind one of the most innovative and popular breweries in Cincinnati, Blank Slate. We taste a few of his beers and Scott gives us his “tell it like it is” take on the Cincinnati Craft brewing scene, including some of the hurdles that he had to jump to get the brewery off the ground and the unique problems that are brought about by the craft beer “boom”.

We announce a winner in our “Question of the Week” contest to name Tina’s Hopwater cocktail from last week and we discuss some Cincy Craft Beer news.

Guests This Episode

* Scott LaFollette – Blank Slate Brewing

From The Beer Fridge

* Blank Slate – Orchids Flourish* MadTree – Barrel Aged Axis Mundi* MadTree – Barrel Aged Coffee and Vanilla Axis Mundi* Rhinegeist – Glow* Urban Artifact – Clothesline

This episode of the Brewcast is all about drinking water!

Wait… What?

It’s ok, this is no ordinary water – this is Hopwater, the new craft soft-drink sensation that is developed by Cincy based 48th Parallel. Hopwater has burst onto the regional craft beverage scene with it’s unique mix of all-natural ingredients, featuring a Zeus hop tincture that gives Hopwater its distinctive hop-forward flavor. They also add ginger, lime and grapefruit flavors to their lineup and we try them all! We try them alone, but we didn’t hesitate to throw them into some beer cocktails too!

Tina made a blackberry mixture (dubbed by Hopwater’s Brandon as “3 ounce of Shade”) that featured Hopwater and MadTree’s Shade – The Gnome let loose with “The Gnarly Natty” featuring Hopwater and Little Kings (why not?), finally Mike brought out his “Hoppy Knob” which uses the Ginger topwater alongside Knob Creek bourbon and lime.

Of course we drink a few beers too to round things out.

Guests This Week

* Brandon Dawson – Hopwater* Tony Moore – Hopwater* Paul Smiley – Hopwater

From The Beer Fridge

* MadTree – Shade (Read More About This Beer)* Bad Tom Smith – All American IPA* Millersburg – French Ridge IPA

It’s a taste sensation as CincyBrewcast welcomes “Chef Tony” from Cincy Beer Brats to our first “Food and Beer” edition! You have seen (and probably tasted) Tony’s delicious wares at their “Beer ‘n’ Brat” events at some of the Cincy Craft taprooms – the next one takes place July 24 at Braxton Brewing! Chef tells us about what goes in to making a beer brat, some new and exciting products they are coming up with (including Breakfast Links) and how he went from the media business to the “brat biz”. We also drink some casual beers from Cellar Dweller, West 6th, and Madtree and we finish our interview with Dave Volkman of Ohio Valley Hops ahead of their OHGG Open House, taking place at Ohio Valley Hops in Maineville on July 25. Plus Fermented Reality “B Cups”, an all new Question of the Week (with a sweet prize) and much more on this all-new CincyBrewcast!

Guests This Episode

* Chef Tony Lange – Brew City Sausage* Dave Volkman – Ohio Valley Hops

From The Beer Fridge

* Celler Dweller – Copperhead* West Sixth – IPA* MadTree – Psychopathy (Read More About This Beer)* Christian Moerlein – Handlebar (Read More About This Beer)

This week we drink some All-Star and Baseball inspired beers from Rhinegeist, Cellar Dweller and Moerlein – all in honor of MLB’s 86th annual All-Star game which is calling Cincinnati home this week.

Not set to just drink… we also talk to Dave Volkman for the first time. Dave is from Ohio Valley Hops and he teaches us all about the hop farming movement here in Ohio along with the Ohio Hop Grower’s Guild open house which is taking place on July 25th at his farm in Maineville Ohio along with farms all across the state.

The trio (back in studio) give our picks for a Cincy vs. MLB All-Star team of craft beers with great breweries like Schlafly, Revolution, and St. Arnold representing MLB and Fibonacci, Mt. Carmel and Triple Digit representing Cincy Craft.

Guests This Week

* Dave Volkman – Ohio Valley Hops

From The Beer Fridge

* Braxton – 1957 (Read More About This Beer)* Rhinegeist – Streaker (Read More About This Beer)* Christian Moerlein – Handlebar (Read More About This Beer)* Cellar Dweller – Copperhead