Welcome to Drinking Partners Live at Barrel and Flow 2023! Ed and Day kick things off with a lively introduction, setting the stage for an exciting discussion. Proudly reminding everyone that Barrel and Flow is the number one brew festival in America—not just in Pittsburgh or among black brew festivals, but across the entire country.

Founders of Funkytown Brewing from Chicago, Illinois: Richard Bloomfield, Greg Williams, and Zach Day share their inspiring journey from childhood friends to successful brewery owners. They cover their early days of drinking beer in college, their trip to Thailand in 2017, and how it sparked their desire for financial independence and a deeper involvement in the beer industry. The Funkytown team highlighted their unique approach to brewing, focusing on low bitterness and low astringency to create palatable beers that appeal to a wide audience. They also shared their experiences with the Sam Adams American Dream initiative and the challenges they faced, including a two-year trademark battle over the word "funky."

Community involvement is a cornerstone of Funkytown Brewing. They partner with various non-profits and organizations to give back and support their local community. The episode also delved into the importance of representation and intentionality in the craft beer industry. The Funkytown founders emphasized the need to create a culture that resonates with their target demographic, using hip-hop references and familiar flavors to make their beers more accessible.

As always, the episode wrapped up with an invitation for listeners to join the festival and continue supporting the craft beer community. Cheers to Funkytown Brewing and to all the listeners for making this journey with the Drinking Partners team!

Welcome to the 262nd episode of the Drinking Partners podcast, recorded live at the vibrant Emerald City. In this episode, Ed and Day dive into the importance of homeownership and building generational wealth with special guest Mary Hester, founder of Life Venture Real Estate Solutions. Mary shares her expertise on how her advocacy firm helps individuals become successful homeowners by providing education and connecting them to valuable resources like subsidies and grants.

The discussion covers the psychological barriers and trauma related to money that many people face and how Life Venture addresses these issues through education and support. Mary emphasizes the importance of having a good credit score, consistent work history, and some savings to get started on the path to homeownership. The episode also touches on the significance of understanding equity, the dangers of predatory lending, and the necessity of post-purchase counseling to ensure long-term success. Mary highlights the collaboration with Catapult Greater Pittsburgh, which offers homebuyer education workshops and one-on-one sessions to help individuals with budgeting, credit, and financial planning.

Packed with valuable insights for anyone looking to enter the real estate market and build a stable financial future, this episode is a must-listen. Tune in to learn more about taking the first steps towards homeownership and securing your family's legacy.

Guest: Mary Hester | Live Venture Real Estate Solutions

Location: Emerald City, Pittsburgh.

Produced by: Epicast.

Watch #EdandDay in The Burgh 

Aug 10 | Barrel & Flow 2023 | barrelandflow.com

What does the name “Drinking Partners Podcast” tell you? It’s probably some guys who appreciate a stiff drink (and maybe T-Pain), chopping it up with guests. Now take “Artist Talk Mental Health”: this week’s guest, Sydney Davis began to host gatherings especially for Black artists and creatives after recognizing so many of her artist friends struggling with their mental health. “It’s giving an opportunity for artists to get up on a platform and be like, not only is this my art, but this is the story behind it,” she tells Ed and Day. ATMH prides itself on creating a safe space to allow vulnerability while fostering community, solidarity, and connecting artists with mental health resources. Davis is also the creator of Niplids: a line of nipple-printed hats, from which 20% of the proceeds go toward The Young Women’s Breast Cancer Awareness Foundation. Right on!

Guest: Sydney Davis of Artist Talk Mental Health and Niplids.

Location: Emerald City, Pittsburgh.

Produced by: Epicast.

Watch #EdandDay in The Burgh Season 2 | verylocal.com/ed-and-day-in-the-burgh-how-to-watch/

Aug 12 | Barrel & Flow 2023 | barrelandflow.com

“I’m tired of tearing shit down,” says Montae Russell. “Let me build something up.” This kind of constructive, uplifting mindset is often heard on the Drinking Partners podcast, but never quite so literally. Montae is one-half of the husband and wife duo behind Russell General Contracting (5:50). He’s lead carpenter; Alexis works as consultant. Together, they have helped to preserve Pittsburgh, and the nation’s, cultural heritage, working on both the National Negro Opera House and the August Wilson House. Not only are Alexis and Tae savvy small business owners, but they’re parents, too. (They even have some chickens.) Their personal journey is intertwined with their entrepreneurial path, and they share their one-of-a-kind tale over drinks with Day and Ed. 

Guests: Montae and Alexis Russell of Russell General Contracting.

Location: Emerald City, Pittsburgh.

Production: Epicast.

Watch #EdandDay in The Burgh Season 2 | verylocal.com/ed-and-day-in-the-burgh-how-to-watch/

Aug 12 | Barrel & Flow 2023 | barrelandflow.com

“You got a can with your face on it,” says Ed Bailey, to this week’s Drinking Partners guest, DaShawn Boring. It’s Boring’s first time on a can. The beer is from Altered Genius, where he brews. His face is next to Day’s face. And their faces are next to Daelyn’s face. It’s a “3 Day Weekend”–a highly drinkable, dark kolsch-style altered ale, perfect for MLK Day, or any other righteous occasion. Ed, Day and DaShawn talk about the beer collab, the perils of dating a vegan, and the Brighton Hot Dog Shoppe. This one’s for the Beaver Countians.

Guest: DeShawn Boring, brewer at Altered Genius Brewing Co.

Location: Emerald City, Pittsburgh.

Production: Epicast.

#EdandDay in The Burgh Season 2 | verylocal.com/ed-and-day-in-the-burgh-how-to-watch/

Thursdays in Pittsburgh | Ed & Day in The 'Burgh Season 2 Watch Party | barrelandflow.com/events

Aug 12 | Barrel & Flow 2023 | barrelandflow.com

The Drinking Partners are kind of a big deal now. Buses in their hometown have Ed and Day’s faces on the side of them. But has the fame gotten to their oversized, 6-foot tall heads? Hardly. They’re still men of the people–certainly not the types to turn down booze out of a mason jar. Which is good, because that’s how Erika Turner [4:50], co-founder and CEO of TLC Libations, has prepared some in-studio cocktails for this week’s episode.

Turner is the daughter half of the mother-daughter ownership team behind Western PA’s first Black-owned woman distillery. The interview swings from bartending for picky martini drinkers, to making sangria for First Friday art crawls, to moving cocktails by the kegful, with ingredients like tequila, pomegranate, and cranberry thyme honey syrup.

It’s a classic conversation with the Drinking Partners, proving the pair remain, as Ed puts it, “upstanding citizens who like to uplift our community and drink while we're doing it.”  All that has changed is that they’ll accept shots of Glenvlivet in lieu of Hennessy. Buy them some at the next Ed and Day in the Burgh watch party, and maybe, just maybe, Day will share his recipe for crunk juice with you.

Guest: Erika Turner, co-founder and CEO of TLC Libations.

Location: 1028 Podcast Studio, Sharpsburg, PA. 

Production: Epicast.

#EdandDay in The Burgh Season 2 | verylocal.com/ed-and-day-in-the-burgh-how-to-watch/

Thursdays in Pittsburgh | Ed & Day in The 'Burgh Season 2 Watch Party | barrelandflow.com/events

Aug 12 | Barrel & Flow 2023 | barrelandflow.com

“I feel like the best art in the world creates conversation,” says artist Corey Ochai [4:17], founder and CEO of 1028 Studios, and there’s no pair better to chop it with than the Drinking Partners. Ochai, who listeners might recognize as the creative director of America's best Black arts and craft beer festival, Barrel & Flow, reveals to Day and Ed why he briefly lost his joy for painting: “I was trying to create something that people would like, instead of creating from something that was inside me.” The comment prompts a conversation about what inspires real, meaningful artistry, no matter the form. Alongside a Black beer history month six-pack from Chicago’s Bitter Pops, these creative professionals go on to discuss everything from Basquiat, to summers at the Braddock Beach, to why you shouldn’t schedule a podcast recording on your anniversary.

Guest: Corey Ochai

Location: 1028 Podcast Studio, Sharpsburg, PA. 

Production: Epicast.

#EdandDay in The Burgh | verylocal.com/ed-and-day-in-the-burgh-how-to-watch/

March 16 | Ed & Day in The 'Burgh Season 2 Premiere Watch Party | barrelandflow.com/events

Aug 12 | Barrel & Flow 2023 | barrelandflow.com

Just when he thought he was out, they pulled him back in. “I don’t do Cajun style or Creole style,” – it’s authentic New Orleans taste in the North. Mike Barnes, aka Big Easy, tells the Drinking Partners that after 20 years working in kitchens down South, he thought his days as a chef were over. Then word of his home cooking got out among friends. A few years and $10 pans of jambalaya later, he’s got his own spice collection and catering company, Roux Orleans, where he’s making catfish, crawfish, and gumbo so good that all you can say is “fam.” Laissez les bon temps roulez. And remember: if you see the Drinking Partners out in public, tell them you love them, buy them shots of Hennessy, but please, don’t touch them.

Guest: Roux Orleans owner Mike Barnes.

Location: 1028 Podcast Studio, Sharpsburg, PA. 

Production: Epicast.

If there’s anything the Drinking Partners do, it’s drink, and celebrate Black excellence. It’s a package deal. And this episode has plenty of both. From Sharpsburg’s swanky 1028 Podcast studio, Day and Ed welcome Kenyan Hicks, owner and distiller of Pittsburgh’s Noire Expedition distillery. Theirs is a 90-proof, floral, American gin, with notes of lavender, citrus and juniper. The three take theirs neat, while they discuss the finer points of gin, the craft beverage industry’s pay-it-forward mentality, and a long-lost uncle named Lumpkin. It’s a journey and an episode so Black - it’s Blackity-black Black.

Before a studio audience at The Stacks at 3 Crossings, in Pittsburgh’s historic Strip District, the Drinking Partners are live from Barrel & Flow, the country’s premiere Black arts and craft beer festival. Before the 75 breweries and a crowd of thousands arrive, Ed and Day sit down with two New England brewers who are redefining how beer is made and who it is for. The first guest is Alisa Bowens-Mercado [7:00], CEO and brewmaster of Connecticut’s Rhythm Brewing Co. She discusses how contract brewing is “a beautiful thing,” and how hard it can be to find Black folks and “beer-flavored beer” in New England. Then, the group is joined by Sam Adams Boston head brewer, Megan Parisi [34:57]. She and Bowens-Mercado discuss representation in the craft beer industry, how the unlikely relationship between their discrepant breweries emerged, and their recent, Pink Boots-benefitting sparkling lager collab. It’s a perspective on the industry that’s not always told, and there’s no better place for this vital discussion.

Recording: Barrel & Flow Fest 8-30-22.

Production: Epicast. 

Guests: Alisa Bowens-Mercado of Rhythm Brewing Co.; Megan Parisi of Sam Adams Boston Brewery.