Good Beer Hunting

A reoccuring theme we've had here on the audio version of GBH is one of partnerships. Marriages, siblings, friendships — the full gamut. The guests on this episode are another example. Ryan Witter-Merithew and Mahalia Breen have traveled the world together for the sake of beer as Ryan's job has taken him around the country and abroad. As far as they've gone, family has remained a connective part of who they are and how they consider business, which has led them to starting Casita Cerveceria, a brand launched at Hill Farmstead and since brought home to North Carolina. Their relationship and family are at the core of what they do. Despite a rather prolific career, Ryan has somehow managed to fly a little under the radar to beer fans. As you'll find out, he's played something of a Kevin Bacon role over the last decade, interacting and connecting with some of the biggest brewing names in the business. His dedication, talent and curiosity is what led him to start his own business, in addition to a little motivation from Mahalia, too. Contract brewing has had a strange relationship with craft beer, going back a couple decades when there was an impression anyone who didn't own their equipment and have skin in the game might have been doing it for the wrong reasons. Namely to make quick money and not care as much about the beer. But brewers like Ryan have shifted that impression, showing just how much love and attention can go into production even if you're not the one carrying debt. Throughout it all, Ryan and Mahalia have supported each other, creating stronger bonds and lasting stories which they'll share with us in this conversation.

A reoccuring theme we’ve had here on the audio version of GBH is one of partnerships. Marriages, siblings, friendships — the full gamut. The guests on this episode are another example. Ryan Witter-Merithew and Mahalia Breen have traveled the world together for the sake of beer as Ryan’s job has taken him around the country and abroad. As far as they’ve gone, family has remained a connective part of who they are and how they consider business, which has led them to starting Casita Cerveceria, a brand launched at Hill Farmstead and since brought home to North Carolina. Their relationship and family are at the core of what they do.

Despite a rather prolific career, Ryan has somehow managed to fly a little under the radar to beer fans. As you’ll find out, he’s played something of a Kevin Bacon role over the last decade, interacting and connecting with some of the biggest brewing names in the business. His dedication, talent and curiosity is what led him to start his own business, in addition to a little motivation from Mahalia, too.

Contract brewing has had a strange relationship with craft beer, going back a couple decades when there was an impression anyone who didn’t own their equipment and have skin in the game might have been doing it for the wrong reasons. Namely to make quick money and not care as much about the beer. But brewers like Ryan have shifted that impression, showing just how much love and attention can go into production even if you’re not the one carrying debt.

Throughout it all, Ryan and Mahalia have supported each other, creating stronger bonds and lasting stories which they’ll share with us in this conversation.

This is a special episode of the podcast, made possible by the underwriting of New Belgium Brewing and our collaborative series, Into the Wild. Last week, New Belgium kicked off their Sour Saison blending tour, starting in California, pulling this rad vintage trailer behind a pickup truck and parking it at bars and breweries across the country. I joined them for that leg of the journey, and again recently here in my hometown of Chicago. Right now, it's headed back to Denver and then L.A., so you still have time to link up with the tour. One of the reasons this collaboration is so special for us is because it's helping us devote a portion of our editorial, this podcast, and our design team to a category of beers we love—wild fermentation, sour, wood-aged, mixed-ferm. Those beers that are keeping alive an ancient tradition for a new generation of drinkers. In addition to the articles we're writing, we also published a print mag, which we're handing out for free at the events. And we've been able to put together some one-off podcast episodes, like this one, featuring Jay Goodwin of The Rare Barrel, and Dick Cantwell, formerly of Elysian, and now the owner of Magnolia brewing, not to mention the author of numerous books on brewing. So while the taproom at The Rare Barrel was full of people sampling and blending Sour Saison, and Dick was demonstrating how to take apart and re-build an oak barrel, we got together on the stage and struck up a conversation about the state of the category.

This is a special episode of the podcast, made possible by the underwriting of New Belgium Brewing and out collaborative series called Into the Wild.

Last week New Belgium kicked off their Sour Saison blending tour, starting in California, pulling this rad vintage trailer behind a pick-up truck and parking it at bars and breweries across the country. I joined them for that leg of the journey, and again recently here in my home town of Chicago. And right now it’s headed back to Denver and then LA, so you still have time to link up with the tour.

One of the reasons this collaboration is so special for us is because it’s helping us devote a portion of our editorial, this podcast, and our design team to a category of beers we love - wild fermentation, sour, wood-aged, mixed-ferm — those beers that are keeping alive an ancient tradition for a new generation of drinkers.

You can see the content and the event schedule at goodbeerhunting.com/intothewild

In addition to the articles we’re writing, we also published a print mag, which we’re handing out for free at the events. And, we’ve been able to put together some one-off podcast episodes, like this one, featuring Jay Goodwin of The Rare Barrel, and Dick Cantwell formerly of Elysian, and now the owner of Magnolia brewing and author of numerous books on brewing.

So while the taproom at The Rare Barrel was full of people sampling and blending sour saison, and Dick Cantwell was demonstrating how to take apart and re-build an oak barrel, we got together on the stage and struck up a conversation about the state of the category.

Today we're going to dig into a part of the beer business that's hard to crack—distribution. It's typically very difficult to talk about this part of the three-tier system because it's full of confusing laws that vary state-to-state, it's federally mandated and regulated, and probably he most important reason is that no one is incentivized to really discuss it. It's where a lot of the concentration of wealth happens in the beer industry, and when things get consolidated, there's rarely progress, innovation, or even basic transparency as to how it all works. It's a bit of a black box. But looking at it from the craft brewer's perspective, it's a box that needs opening. And in the last decade, a lot of the power dynamic has shifted due to new laws that increase access to market for brewers—things like self-distribution, dock sales, and own-premise taprooms have put producers much more in the roles of distributors and retailers than ever before. As a result, they're having ideas. They're getting ambitious about their go-to-market strategies. And they're starting to get creative. Today's guest is a catalyst for that kind of change. Kimberly Clements, a former owner of Golden Eagle distributors in Arizona, and her business partner Daniel Lust, who was a pricing analyst and territory manager at Golden Eagle, are the founding duo behind Pints LLC, a consulting company that helps brewers strategize new markets and distribution. They also work on the distribution side of things, helping align the interests of craft brewers and distributors across the country. Their insight into this part of the business is amazing. If you've ever wanted to learn how distributions really works, and what the challenges really look like, this is the episode for you. As a bonus, we get a really stark look into exactly how distribution networks, even so-called independent distributors, are controlled by AB-InBev's influence form one generation to the next. It's an amazingly candid conversation with someone who knows the ins and outs, both historical and contemporary. And before we begin, a quick shoutout to On Tour brewing for hosting us for this talk. As some of you know, we're moving to a new studio space just down the street from On Tour, but it's not ready until next week, so they were really gracious in hosting us so we had a temporary place to record this episode. I certainly didn't want to miss my chance to talk to these folks. So thanks to On Tour for the hospitality. And fair warning, this is a live brewery taproom environment, so it's not the quiet studio recording you're used to. But it's totally worth the listen. Thanks to Mark and the On Tour crew for helping us out. They're great neighbors.

Hey folks, before we get started today I wanted to let you know about some upcoming events with GBH that you should attend.

First up, this Sunday in Chicago we’re hanging out on the New Belgium Sour Saison blending tour. Come try their sour saison and have some fun blending your own foeder beer. That’s Sunday from 5-8p at Larry’s in Uptown. A killer patio at Larry’s. And I’ll have hard copies of our Into the Wild journal to hand out, for free. Our first print piece. So come get a copy.

Then August 3rd and 4th we’ll be at Ommegang’s Belgium Comes to Cooperstown festival. That Friday from 12-5p we’re hosting a series of panel discussions on all things Belgian and Belgian-inspired. Those will be video and audio recorded for the podcast, but if you can make it live, it should be a great time.

Then on September 7th and 8th in London, it’s time for beaverton’s annual Extravaganza — we’ll be hosting the talks again this year, and of course, with everything that’s occurred in the last couple of months with Heineken acquiring a minority stake in the business, there’s a lot to talk about. And Bob Pease of the Brewers Association, who champions small and independent breweries will be there for one of the talks. So if you’re on the fence, this is starting to seem like a can’t-miss event.

Okay, back to the present:

Today we’re going to dig into a part of the beer business that’s hard to crack - distribution. It’s typically very difficult to talk about this part of the three-tier system because it’s full of confusing laws that vary state-to-state, its federally mandated and regulated, and probably he most important reason, is that no one is incentivized to really discuss it - it’s where a lot of the concentration of wealth happens in the beer industry, and when things get consolidated, there’s rarely progress, innovation, or even basic transparency as to how it all works. It’s a bit of a black box.

But looking at it from the craft brewer’s perspective, it’s a box that needs opening. And in the last decade, a lot of the power dynamic has shifted due to new laws that increase access to market for brewers - things like self-distribution, dock sales, and own-premise taprooms have put producers much more in role of distributors and retailers than ever before. As a result, they’re having ideas. They’re getting ambitious about their go-to-market strategies. And they’re starting to get creative.

Today’s guest is a catalyst for that kind of change. Kimberly Clements, a former owner of Golden Eagle distributors in Arizona, and her business partner Daniel Lust, who was a pricing analyst and territory manager at Golden Eagle, are the founding duo behind Pints LLC, and consulting company that helps brewers strategize new markets and distribution. They also work on the distribution side of things, helping align the interests of craft brewers and distributors across the country.

Their insight into this part of the business is amazing.

If you’ve ever wanted to learn how distributions really works, and what the challenges really look like, this is the episode for you. And as a bonus, we get a really stark look into exactly how distribution networks, even so-called independent distributors, are controlled by AB-Inbev’s influence form one generation to the next. It’s an amazingly candid conversation with someone who knows the ins and outs, both historical and contemporary.

And before we begin, a quick shootout to On Tour brewing for hosting us for this talk. As some of you know, we’re moving to a new studio space just down the street from On Tour, but it’s not ready until next week, so they were really gracious in hosting us so we had a temporary place to record this episode. I certainly didn’t want to miss my chance to talk to these folks. So thanks to On Tour for the hospitality. And fair warning, this is a live brewery taproom environment, so it’s not the quiet studio recording you’re used to. But it’s totally worth the listen. Thanks to Mark and the On Tour crew for helping us out. Great neighbors.

After last week's brief layover in Colorado for a chat with WeldWorks, we're returning to Spain this week. If you haven't already, you can check out a thematic part one to this episode featuring Xavier Losada, brewer and bottle shop owner of Bee Beer Craft Beer and Cheeses. This time around, we catch up with Jeff Cioletti, a fellow writer and prolific traveler who's long covered the world's many alcoholic offerings. I've been lucky to know Jeff for some time, but we typically only see each other once or twice a year around the U.S. beer industry's big events of the Craft Brewers Conference and Great American Beer Festival. In June, however, we found ourselves In Madrid as part of a short media tour hosted by Mahou San Miguel. It was as good a time as any to chat on and off the mic. Along with writing for All About Beer and DRAFT magazines, CraftBeer.com and acting as editor at large of Beverage World, Jeff has also written multiple books, including the most recent The Drinkable Globe, also the name of his website where he tracks the wide world of booze. Needless to say, Jeff is well versed in a variety drinks, history and their global connections, and continues to explore them. He's most recently diving deep into sake. But beer is still where we can find a wheelhouse, and that's what brought us together, so I decided it would be good to pick his brain about what he's learned and continues to think about in beer and beyond.

After last week’s brief layover in Colorado for a chat with WeldWorks, we’re returning to Spain this week. If you haven’t already, you can check out a thematic part one to this episode featuring Xavier Losada, brewer and bottle shop owner of Bee Beer Craft Beer and Cheeses. This time around, we catch up with Jeff Cioletti, a fellow writer and prolific traveler who’s long covered the world’s many alcoholic offerings.

I’ve been lucky to know Jeff for some time, but we typically only see each other once or twice a year around the U.S. beer industry’s big events of the Craft Brewers Conference and Great American Beer Festival. In June, however, we found ourselves In Madrid as part of a short media tour hosted by Mahou San Miguel. It was as good a time as any to chat on and off the mic.

Along with writing for All About Beer and DRAFT magazines, CraftBeer.com and acting as editor at large of Beverage World, Jeff has also written multiple books, including the most recent The Drinkable Globe, also the name of his website where he tracks the wide world of booze. Needless to say, Jeff is well versed in a variety drinks, history and their global connections, and continues to explore them. He’s most recently diving deep into sake.

But beer is still where we can find a wheelhouse, and that’s what brought us together, so I decided it would be good to pick his brain about what he’s learned and continues to think about in beer and beyond.

Today's podcast is with the folks from Colorado's WeldWerks Brewing Company—and it's a fun one. In fact I might go as far as to say that this is one of my favorite conversations I've had, since I started contributing to this podcast a couple years ago. You'll hear a number of WeldWerks voices over the next hour or so, including owners Colin Jones and Neil Fisher, Ops Director Kristin Popcheff, brewer Arne Garlick and Sales Director Jake Goodman. It's been quite the journey for WeldWerks since they set up in the town of Greeley, some 30 miles east of Fort Collins and Loveland, along the Front Range in Northern Colorado just three years ago. They exploded onto the scene thanks to beers like their New England IPA, Juicy Bits—a beer that impressed me so much I was compelled to visit, and eventually write about this fascinating brewery for GBH. In its short existence, WeldWerks has already experienced critical acclaim for beers like Juicy Bits and its pastry stouts such as Medianoche. In fact the barrel aged version of the latter picked up a coveted gold medal in the barrel-aged stout category at last years Great American Beer Festival. But this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to their repertoire. WeldWerks released 100 different beers over the past year. And amongst zeitgeisty NEIPAs and Pastry Stouts, there were also tart Gose, crispy Pilsners and much more. This brewery is far from being a one, or two, trick pony. The brewery's rapid growth and increase in popularity hasn't been without its challenges, however. They've had to deal with long lines on beer release days, and in some cases, disappointed customers—some of whom, made their feelings towards the brewery pretty explicit in these instances. Learning to balance these reactions from consumers has been as important as it has building their relationships with industry partners, as they manage strong own-premise sales with increasing demand from retailers. What's perhaps most impressive is that—along with fellow Greeley brewery Wiley Roots and local bars like Patrick's Irish Pub—WeldWerks has helped to put its hometown on the American beer map. It would have perhaps been easier (but far more expensive) to set up their brewery in say, Downtown Fort Collins or Denver's exploding River North district. But no, Greeley is where this Colorado brewery's heart is—and their efforts are helping to develop the image of a town that locally is typically associated with industrial scale agriculture.

Today’s podcast is with the folks from Colorado’s WeldWerks Brewing Company—and it’s a fun one. In fact I might go as far as to say that this is one of my favorite conversations I’ve had, since I started contributing to this podcast a couple years ago. You’ll hear a number of WeldWerks voices over the next hour or so, including owners Colin Jones and Neil Fisher, Ops Director Kristin Popcheff and Sales Director Jake Goodman. It’s been quite the journey for WeldWerks since they set up in the town of Greeley, some 30 miles east of Fort Collins and Loveland, along the Front Range in Northern Colorado just three years ago . They exploded onto the scene thanks to beers like their New England IPA, Juicy Bits—a beer that impressed me so much I was compelled to visit, and eventually write about this fascinating brewery for GBH.In its short existence, WeldWerks has already experienced critical acclaim for beers like Juicy Bits and its pastry stouts such as Medianoche. In fact the barrel aged version of the latter picked up a coveted gold medal in the barrel-aged stout category at last years Great American Beer Festival. But this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to their repertoire. WeldWerks released 100 different beers over the past year. And amongst zeitgeisty NEIPAs and Pastry Stouts, there were also tart Gose, crispy Pilsners and much more. This brewery is far from being a one, or two, trick pony. The brewery’s rapid growth and increase in popularity hasn’t been without its challenges, however. They’ve had to deal with long lines on beer release days, and in some cases, disappointed customers—some of whom, made their feelings towards the brewery pretty explicit in these instances. Learning to balance these reactions from consumers has been as important as it has building their relationships with industry partners, as they manage strong own-premise sales with increasing demand from retailers. What’s perhaps most impressive is that—along with fellow Greeley brewery Wiley Roots and local bars like Patrick’s Irish Pub—WeldWerks has helped to put its hometown on the American beer map. It would have perhaps been easier (but far more expensive) to set up their brewery in say, Downtown Fort Collins or Denver’s exploding River North district. But no, Greeley is where this Colorado brewery’s heart is—and their efforts are helping to develop the image of a town that locally is typically associated with industrial scale agriculture.