Last Week, we had the pleasure of sitting down over beer with Shannan Bunting, Director of Solstice Communications, Inc. and Co-organizer of Barley's Angels Chicago chapter. We talk to her about the goals of Barley's Angels, creating a comfortable environment for both men and women to learn about and experience craft beer, the role of a PR agency and what breweries should be communicating to their consumers.

We're also working with Shannan on an upcoming event! On June 19th, we will be chatting over beer and recording a live podcast with Grant Pauly ( Founder and Brewmaster at 3 Sheeps Brewing Company) and Katherine Duncan (Owner of Katherine Anne Confections), celebrating the release of 3 Sheeps' The Wolf Barrel-aged Imperial Stout and taking a deep dive into the complexities of flavor. Shannan talked to us about her history with Katherine and a little bit about the unique chocolates Katherine makes. You can find more info about our event and purchase tickets here.

In a few days, on May 26th, we're hosting a fundraiser and beer tasting called A Brew Good Men, honoring the men and women in uniform, and benefiting the Wounded Warrior Project. We're very excited to be able to support this organization as a club and wanted to spend some time chatting over beer with Jorge Lopez (co-host of this podcast) and Jason Amen (frequent collaborator) about their time in the military, the importance of an organization like Wounded Warrior Project and what it means to each of them to be a veteran.  

You can find out more information about our event and purchase tickets here. 

A couple weekends ago, we had the opportunity to sit down with a panel of four Off Color Brewing employees and chat about what it means to be a pack of strays, the forgotten styles of beer they brew, competition in the market and why stories and creating connections matter when building a brand. We had an awesome time hanging with the Off Color crew and learned a lot about what it takes to make it in the industry these days, consistent quality and the confidence to be different. Our chat was hosted in front of an audience at Sleeping Village, a great new beer/cider bar and music venue in Avondale.

The panel: 

• Andrew Tader — Sales Account Manager
• Shane Doherty — Brewer
• Ashley Hunsader — Quality Control Chemist
• Kirk Faber — Sales Account Manager

This was a special episode for us to record. We finally cracked open our 5 year vertical of Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Stout, going all the way back to 2013, and Tom White was our guest, Co-Founder of The Hop Review and Chicago's Sales and Marketing Field Manager at Collective Arts Brewing. Over five incredibly delicious years of Bourbon County Brand, we talked to Tom about his work with both The Hop Review and Collective Arts Brewing, what it takes to be a Certified Cicerone and the different advancements within the program, and how Bourbon County Stout has changed throughout the years. Crack open a stout of some sort, preferably barrel-aged, and take a listen to this fun episode. 

Cheers!

Tommy

This past Saturday, Jorge, myself and our good friend Mark Eisenman attended the second session of BeerHoptacular, deemed Chicago's original craft beer festival. The event was held in two massive stages within the Cinespace Film Studio warehouses, housing around 70 breweries, 150 beers and a whole lot of people looking for their next go-to craft beer. The three of us chatted a little bit over beer about our experiences at the festival and each of our top 3 beers tasted.

Cheers,

Tommy

After Jorge took a weekend trip to Grand Rapids, Michigan, we immediately reached out to Mitch Ermatinger, co-owner of one of the area's newest and most interesting breweries. Speciation Artisan Ales, which is also co-owned by Mitch's wife Whitney, is a wild and sour brewery focused on the evolutional process of working with wild microbes and yeast, so much so that they contract other breweries to brew their wort and focus solely on fermentation. It's a business and brewery model I was especially intrigued by and loved learning more about. 

Cheers,

Tommy

Back when it was just called the "Few Brews Podcast", one of our favorite things to do was record "sponsor" ads. To be clear, we didn't get paid to record these. We did it for the love of cheap beer and traditional podcast formatting. It was our creative outlet, and we might not be ready to let it go just yet. 

• Episode 11: Grain Belt "Go with the Grain" Ad
• Episode 12: Beck's "Most Authentic German Beer" Ad
• Episode 13: Foster's "Brand Rep" Chat
• Episode 14: Old Style "88,008 Mistakes" Ad (Remake)
• Episode 15: Bud Light "Beer Concussion" Ad 
• Episode 16: Budweiser "Scary Story" 
• Episode 17: Red Stripe "Brocation" Ad
• Episode 18: Newcastle "You're A Good Beer, Newcastle Brown" Ad
• Episode 19: Hamm's "The Beer Refreshing" Ad (Remake)
• Episode 20: Blue Moon "Put an Orange In It!" Ad 

If you're interested in listening to more, here are our sponsor ads from podcast episodes 1-10.

Beerhoptacular, Chicago's original craft beer fest, is only about a month away, with two separate tasting sessions on November 4th. At the event, there will be over 150 brews, food trucks a homebrew competition, an arcade curated by Emporium and much more! Snag your tickets here. 

I had a chance to sit down with Jared Saul, Emporium's man of many hats (Director of Development, Director of Pop-ups and Beer Director), and chat about his top 5 brewery and arcade game pairings. We also touch on his history with Emporium, why arcade bars became so popular and Emporium's amazing Logan Square pop-ups. It's always fun meeting new people tied to the industry, especially ones as hard-working and passionate as Jared.

Cheers,

Tommy

Gabe Barry is Brooklyn Brewery's Beer Education and Community Ambassador. Jorge and I were fortunate enough to chat with her for a bit over beer and learn about what it's like to work for Brooklyn Brewery, the path she took in the industry to get there and the incredible Beer Mansion events they throw all over the country. We had so much fun recording this episode and are super pumped for when Beer Mansion comes to Chicago on September 22nd and 23rd! 

Cheers!

Tommy

While at the Windy City Smokeout music and barbecue festival back in July, Matt and I had the awesome opportunity to sit down with Jared Rouben, Brewmaster at Moody Tongue Brewing Company. As you can see in the pic above, we were sitting at a picnic table along the river, right between the fest's two stages. Apologies for the background noise. Jared talked to us a little bit about how Moody Tongue got involved with Windy City Smokeout, his background in beer and food and what it means to be a culinary brewery. If you're ever in Pilsen, stop by their taproom and get a big glass of beer with a an even bigger piece of chocolate cake. 

Cheers!

Tommy