Good Beer Hunting

Hosted by Matthew Curtis — For my first episode I decided to invite one of my best friends in the UK beer industry up to my apartment, here in North London, to record an interview. These days Chris Hall works for a cool little brewery in South London called Brew By Numbers as their sales and media guy. I’ll be bringing the full story of Brew by Numbers to GBH soon, but before then I wanted to talk to Chris about how he worked his way into the beer industry   His job encompasses everything from running the brewery’s Twitter account to writing artful blog posts about forthcoming beer releases as well as developing and hosting events. On top of this he’ll often be out visiting accounts and selling beer, and on really busy days you might even see him on the back of a forklift truck moving pallets around the warehouse. Such is the way of a small business.   But Chris’ journey into the brewing industry was an unconventional one. Like me he started out as a beer blogger, which is how we met and became friends. From there he became a professional beer writer, which eventually led to his position at Brew By Numbers. This is something we’re seeing more and more of in the beer industry, people starting out as enthusiasts who are eventually turning pro, and like Chris, they’re not just succeeding but thriving.

So I'm just going to start by saying this might have been my favorite interview ever. Maybe it's the Pennsylvania connection, or maybe it's just Bill's way of giving zero fucks while also being a strong competitor in the market, or maybe it's just the lame-duck ease with which he's handling himself after the sale and partnership with a private equity group and Southern Tier Brewing, but yeah, I think this is the one. It summarizes everything I love about doing the podcast. People sit in that chair across from me, either ready to do battle, or ready to dance, and I have the utmost appreciation for how open they are about their lives and business with me for an hour. And then letting me share it with you all. I've said many times that this podcast isn't an issues-driven show — and by that I mean that I'm not looking for a hot take or new trend thinkpiece fart, or recent acquisition gossip. I'm trying to document an oral history for an industry that's changing faster than I could possibly record. It's guaranteed to fail in the sense that I'll always miss more opportunities than I get. But if I thought about that, I'd probably have a panic attack. Instead, I just get what I can and hope for the best. Bill was in town for an event at the Hopleaf alongside Sam Calagione of Dogfishead and Greg Koch of Stone Brewing when this recording took place. And while I was about to hit the road, the only timeslot I had was late on a Sunday night after putting the kids to bed and Bill was happy to oblige. I'm thankful for that. Victory Brewing, man, I don't think there's a brewery that better defines that first wave resilience of craft beer, but still adapts and riffs on its own success to remain relevant and pioneering here in 2016. And I think you'l understand why after hearing this conversation.

So I’m just going to start by saying this might have been my favorite interview ever. Maybe it’s the Pennsylvania connection, or maybe it’s just Bill’s way of giving zero fucks while also being a strong competitor in the market, or maybe it’s just the lame-duck ease with which he’s handling himself after the sale and partnership with a private equity group and Southern Tier Brewing, but yeah, I think this is the one. It summarizes everything I love about doing the podcast. People sit in that chair across from me, either ready to do battle, or ready to dance, and I have the utmost appreciation for how open they are about their lives and business with me for an hour. And then letting me share it with you all. I’ve said many times that this podcast isn’t an issues-driven show — and by that I mean that I’m not looking for a hot take or new trend thinkpiece fart, or recent acquisition gossip. I’m trying to document an oral history for an industry that’s changing faster than I could possibly record. It’s guaranteed to fail in the sense that I’ll always miss more opportunities than I get. But if I thought about that, I’d probably have a panic attack. Instead, I just get what I can and hope for the best. Bill was in town for an event at the Hopleaf alongside Sam Calagione of Dogfishead and Greg Koch of Stone Brewing when this recording took place. And while I was about to hit the road, the only timeslot I had was late on a Sunday night after putting the kids to bed and Bill was happy to oblige. I’m thankful for that. Victory Brewing, man, I don’t think there’s a brewery that better defines that first wave resilience of craft beer, but still adapts and riffs on its own success to remain relevant and pioneering here in 2016. And I think you’l understand why after hearing this conversation.

Today's guest is one of those chance encounters in the beer world where an online voice becomes a smile and and a handshake in person. Andrew Nations of Great Raft Brewing in Shreveport, Louisiana is a guy on Twitter to some. One of those lone rational voices in a literal wilderness of craft beer zealously run amok. And not long ago, he ventured to Chicago, and subsequently to the GBH Studio for a live podcast taping. That's when he and his wife stepped out of the virtual and into the physical realm for me. And we had a great time. A few months later, and a dozen or so DMs, we realized we'd both be hanging out at the Craft Brewers Conference this year. I was keen to hear a lot more detail on Andrew's backstory, the beers he was making, and certainly about his market, which I know almost nothing about. The south is a weird place for craft beer in terms of sales, legal issues, and styles. And this was a great opportunity to dig in to the details with a guy who seems to have his head wrapped around it all. He also brought a case of Prima Pils for no reason other than Pennsylvania won't let you buy beer in more convenient ways.

Today’s guest is one of those chance encounters in the beer world where an online voice becomes a smile and and a handshake in person. Andrew Nations of Great Raft Brewing in Shreveport, Louisiana is a guy on Twitter to some. One of those lone rational voices in a literal wilderness of craft beer zealously run amok. And not long ago, he ventured to Chicago, and subsequently to the GBH Studio for a live podcast taping. That’s when he and his wife stepped out of the virtual and into the physical realm for me. And we had a great time. A few months later, and a dozen or so DMs, we realized we’d both be hanging out at the Craft Brewers Conference this year. I was keen to hear a lot more detail on Andrew’s backstory, the beers he was making, and certainly about his market, which I know almost nothing about. The south is a weird place for craft beer in terms of sales, legal issues, and styles. And this was a great opportunity to dig in to the details with a guy who seems to have his head wrapped around it all. He also brought a case of Prima Pils for no reason other than Pennsylvania won’t let you buy beer in more convenient ways.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, the American transcendentalist, has an interesting way of describing what progress looks like — he paints a picture of a boat, tacking back and forth with the wind, as it makes its way across the ocean. From a distance, it appears to go in a straight arching line towards its pre-determined destination. But of course, up close, it's a thousand little zigs and zags, working with the momentum of the wind in order to propel itself forward. The final destination may be determined — but it's place on the horizon is only ever approximate until those final moments when it comes closer and closer upon hitting the far shore. For me, this is the metaphor of the emergent business strategy. And for today's small brewers, it represents a way to plot a vision for the future, while also admitting that the prevailing winds of change will be something you have to grapple with, as elegantly as possible, on your way across the sea. And he summarizes all this, all these little decisions that composite big decisions by saying, "The force of character is cumulative." Today's guests are a pair that have done a good job of doing just that. Eric Hobbs and Tom Korder of Penrose Brewing Company in Geneva, Illinois, about an hour west of the city of Chicago along the metro train line, set out on the Belgian-inspired journey that began in their days together at Anheuser-Busch and Goose Island, and went forward into a future all their own. They learned some lessons early on that they adapted to quickly and with grace. Such as hitting the market early with a Belgian single and hearing "where's your IPA" a hundred times a week. And running a bottling line for the first time, and having some yeast management issues. And hosting bottle releases for their sours, and realizing just how intense that kind of crowd can be when they don't get what they want, how they want it. Through all of this — these two have tacked back and forth on their way to the brewery they always imagined. And in my opinion, they're loosening up the sails, and picking up speed.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, the American transcendentalist, has an interesting way of describing what progress looks like — he paints a picture of a boat, tacking back and forth with the wind, as it makes its way across the ocean. From a distance, it appears to go in a straight arching line towards its pre-determined destination. But of course, up close, it’s a thousand little zigs and zags, working with the momentum of the wind in order to propel itself forward. The final destination may be determined — but it’s place on the horizon is only ever approximate until those final moments when it comes closer and closer upon hitting the far shore. For me, this is the metaphor of the emergent business strategy. And for today’s small brewers, it represents a way to plot a vision for the future, while also admitting that the prevailing winds of change will be something you have to grapple with, as elegantly as possible, on your way across the sea. And he summarizes all this, all these little decisions that composite big decisions by saying, “The force of character is cumulative.” Today’s guests are a pair that have done a good job of doing just that. Eric Hobbs and Tom Korder of Penrose Brewing Company in Geneva, Illinois, about an hour west of the city of Chicago along the metro train line, set out on the Belgian-inspired journey that began in their days together at Anheuser-Busch and Goose Island, and went forward into a future all their own. They learned some lessons early on that they adapted to quickly and with grace. Such as hitting the market early with a Belgian single and hearing “where’s your IPA” a hundred times a week. And running a bottling line for the first time, and having some yeast management issues. And hosting bottle releases for their sours, and realizing just how intense that kind of crowd can be when they don’t get what they want, how they want it. Through all of this — these two have tacked back and forth on their way to the brewery they always imagined. And in my opinion, they’re loosening up the sails, and picking up speed.

Welcome to the second GBHypecast, an episode devoted to helping a brewery share an important story that deserves to be told. This episode is about Goose Island's ongoing research into the off flavors in Bourbon County Stout this year, something that's been on a lot of people's minds since January. It's an ongoing situation, but the good news is that the science is in—and there's a lot of detailed insight to share. Sometimes when we're working with our clients in a creative or strategic capacity, we have access to situations that no journalist ever would. For example, we creative directed the Goose Island BCS documentary, Grit & Grain, this year, which brings this issue a little close to our hearts. And when we witness something that we think is unique or unprecedented in our work, we often encourage our clients to consider sharing a story that, on its face, doesn't seem like something a brewery would typically share. Maybe it's complicated, or really far off in the weeds and hard to articulate, or maybe the media tends to chew things up and spit out clickbait headlines at a business' expense. So many of those stories, regardless of how badly our audience would want to hear them, or how important they might be for others in the industry to hear, never see the light of day. And that's just not good enough for me. So we conceived of GBHype as a way to solve that problem. We work with the brewery to outline what we think is the real story, figure out what a real beer audience wants and should understand, and then help them bring it to life in a post on GBHype, or here—a special GBHypecast. It's a way of creating unprecedented transparency between a brewery and its fans. And we're proud to offer our platform and expertise to serve that need. GBHype is not unbiased. Like I said, these are our clients. I care deeply about their business, and I work with them in a strategic and creative capacity from time to time. Having said that, this interview is unscripted. My only goal is to get an important story straight and into the hands of the GBH audience as directly and truthfully as possible.

Welcome to the second GBHype Cast, and episode devoted to helping a brewery share an important story that deserves to be told. This episode is about Goose Island’s ongoing research into the off flavors in Bourbon County Stout this year, something that’s been on a lot of people’s minds since January. It’s an ongoing situation, but the good news is, that the science is in. And there’s a lot of detailed insight to share. Sometimes when we’re working with our clients in a creative or strategic capacity, we have access to situations that no journalist ever would. For example, we creative directed the Goose Island BCS documentary called Grit & Grain this year, which brings this issue close to or hearts. And when we witness something that we think is unique, or unprecedented in our work, we often encourage our clients to consider sharing a story that on its face, doesn’t seem like something a brewery would typically share. Either because it’s complicated, or really far in the weeds and hard to articulate, or because the media tends to chew things up and spit out clickbait headlines at a business’ expense. So many of those stories, regardless of how badly our audience would want to hear them, or how important they might be for others in the industry to hear, never see the light of day. And that’s just not good enough for me. So we conceived of GBHype as a way to solve that problem. We work with the brewery to outline what we think is the real story, figure out what a real beer audience wants and should understand, and then help them bring it to life in a post on GBHype, or here, on a special Hype cast. It’s a way of creating unprecedented transparency between a brewery and its fans. And we’re proud to offer our platform and expertise to serve that need. GBHype is not unbiased - like I said, these are our clients. I care deeply about their business, and I work with them in a strategic and creative capacity from time to time. Having said that, this interview is unscripted and my goal is to get an important story straight, and into the hands of the GBH audience as directly and truthfully as possible.

Today's guest is one of those people that many industry folks know and love. As for the drinkers, well, depending on who you rub elbows with online, it's quite possible you've encountered Lisa Zimmer on Twitter from time to time. She has a beer job that only exists at a large brewery. At one time, it was called "digital and consumer outreach specialist." But her influence is so much broader than the title implies. In Chicago, she's known as the woman who started the Brewers Unleashed series where brewers from across the MillerCoors family come together downtown to share some of their latest and most interesting beers. She's used that event as a way to bring together beer geeks, brewers, and other professionals for a good time. She's known as one of the most visible personalities on "beer twitter," where she converses with colleagues and competitors, makes fun of the more absurd parts of beer culture, and generally tries to keep everybody looking up in a place where it's just so damn easy to get down. In larger industry circles, she's known as an innovator for the unique ways she's helped shape the culture at Tenth & Blake, MillerCoors import and craft division. She has a key role there, helping the team stay connected and engaged in beer through education, hands-on home brewing challenges, and ensuring they get out into the world and experience the ruckus of craft beer first hand. I've had the pleasure of getting to know a number of folks that Lisa has brought in to the beer-loving fold. Finally, in 2014 Lisa was named one of 26 innovators making a difference in beer by All About Beer magazine, alongside people like Ray Daniels of Cicerone, Mariah Calagione of Dogfishhead, and Bob Pease, who is now President of the Brewers Association. So while Lisa has been a friend for some time now, we had yet to dig in and record an interview. As she transitions from her current role at Tenth & Blake to a new one at MillerCoors, this seemed like the perfect time to look back on a greta start in a new industry for her, and what she'll be up to next.