Good Beer Hunting

This episode is part of a series of interviews recorded in December at Salud Sourfest, an annual beer festival hosted in Charlotte, North Carolina. The event attracts a curated selection of skilled, sour-making breweries from around the country, with a heavy presence from the Mid-Atlantic region. Sourfest represents a kind of festival that's rapidly growing in popularity, where attending breweries often run in the same circles or share a like-minded ethos, making for a special occasion for attendees instead of an event with any and every brewery that would care to send a keg. As drinkers sipped on a variety of wild and sour beers, I was able to pull a collection of brewers and business owners aside for brief conversations about their companies, specialties and what's catching their eye in the industry. This episode and others run about 20 to 25 minutes, so we had time to dig in a little bit, but the interviews are a bit more focused than the free-ranging talks you hear most weeks here on the podcast.

This episode is part of a series of interviews recorded in December at Salud Sourfest, an annual beer festival hosted in Charlotte, North Carolina. The event attracts a curated selection of skilled, sour-making breweries from around the country, with a heavy presence from the Mid-Atlantic region. Sourfest represents a kind of festival that's rapidly growing in popularity, where attending breweries often run in the same circles or share a like-minded ethos, making for a special occasion for attendees instead of an event with any and every brewery that would care to send a keg.

As drinkers sipped on a variety of wild and sour beers, I was able to pull a collection of brewers and business owners aside for brief conversations about their companies, specialties and what's catching their eye in the industry. This episode and others run about 20 to 25 minutes, so we had time to dig in a little bit, but the interviews are a bit more focused than the free-ranging talks you hear most weeks here on the podcast.

This episode is part of a series of interviews recorded in December at Salud Sourfest, an annual beer festival hosted in Charlotte, North Carolina. The event attracts a curated selection of skilled, sour-making breweries from around the country, with a heavy presence from the Mid-Atlantic region. Sourfest represents a kind of festival that's rapidly growing in popularity, where attending breweries often run in the same circles or share a like-minded ethos, making for a special occasion for attendees instead of an event with any and every brewery that would care to send a keg. As drinkers sipped on a variety of wild and sour beers, I was able to pull a collection of brewers and business owners aside for brief conversations about their companies, specialties and what's catching their eye in the industry. This episode and others run about 20 to 25 minutes, so we had time to dig in a little bit, but the interviews are a bit more focused than the free-ranging talks you hear most weeks here on the podcast.

This episode is part of a series of interviews recorded in December at Salud Sourfest, an annual beer festival hosted in Charlotte, North Carolina. The event attracts a curated selection of skilled, sour-making breweries from around the country, with a heavy presence from the Mid-Atlantic region. Sourfest represents a kind of festival that's rapidly growing in popularity, where attending breweries often run in the same circles or share a like-minded ethos, making for a special occasion for attendees instead of an event with any and every brewery that would care to send a keg.

As drinkers sipped on a variety of wild and sour beers, I was able to pull a collection of brewers and business owners aside for brief conversations about their companies, specialties and what's catching their eye in the industry. This episode and others run about 20 to 25 minutes, so we had time to dig in a little bit, but the interviews are a bit more focused than the free-ranging talks you hear most weeks here on the podcast.

This episode is part of a series of interviews recorded in December at Salud Sourfest, an annual beer festival hosted in Charlotte, North Carolina. The entire series of interviews is here! These episodes feature: Jason Glunt, founder of the festival host, Salud Beer Shop of Charlotte ,North Carolina Barry Labendz, co-founder of Connecticut's Kent Falls Brewing Jason Pellett, founder and brewmaster of Atlanta's Orpheus Brewing Patrick Woodson, head brewer and co-founder of Raleigh, North Carolina's Brewery Bhavana Scott Shor, owner of Charleston, South Carolina's Edmund's Oast The event attracts a curated selection of skilled, sour-making breweries from around the country, with a heavy presence from the Mid-Atlantic region. Sourfest represents a kind of festival that's rapidly growing in popularity, where attending breweries often run in the same circles or share a like-minded ethos, making for a special occasion for attendees instead of an event with any and every brewery that would care to send a keg. As drinkers sipped on a variety of wild and sour beers, I was able to pull a collection of brewers and business owners aside for brief conversations about their companies, specialties and what's catching their eye in the industry. This episode and others run about 20 to 25 minutes, so we had time to dig in a little bit, but the interviews are a bit more focused than the free-ranging talks you hear most weeks here on the podcast.

This episode is part of a series of interviews recorded in December at Salud Sourfest, an annual beer festival hosted in Charlotte, North Carolina. The event attracts a curated selection of skilled, sour-making breweries from around the country, with a heavy presence from the Mid-Atlantic region. Sourfest represents a kind of festival that's rapidly growing in popularity, where attending breweries often run in the same circles or share a like-minded ethos, making for a special occasion for attendees instead of an event with any and every brewery that would care to send a keg.

As drinkers sipped on a variety of wild and sour beers, I was able to pull a collection of brewers and business owners aside for brief conversations about their companies, specialties and what's catching their eye in the industry. This episode and others run about 20 to 25 minutes, so we had time to dig in a little bit, but the interviews are a bit more focused than the free-ranging talks you hear most weeks here on the podcast.

This episode is part of a series of interviews recorded in December at Salud Sourfest, an annual beer festival hosted in Charlotte, North Carolina. The event attracts a curated selection of skilled, sour-making breweries from around the country, with a heavy presence from the Mid-Atlantic region. Sourfest represents a kind of festival that's rapidly growing in popularity, where attending breweries often run in the same circles or share a like-minded ethos, making for a special occasion for attendees instead of an event with any and every brewery that would care to send a keg.

As drinkers sipped on a variety of wild and sour beers, I was able to pull a collection of brewers and business owners aside for brief conversations about their companies, specialties and what's catching their eye in the industry. This episode and others run about 20 to 25 minutes, so we had time to dig in a little bit, but the interviews are a bit more focused than the free-ranging talks you hear most weeks here on the podcast.

When I tell people I'm originally from Upstate New York, it typically comes with a qualifier: an extra "up" tacked on as an awkward prefix to create Up-Upstate New York. If I just stick to regular, old "Upstate," there's a good chance people will assume I'm talking about some place in Westchester County. It's a never-ending discussion, trying to figure out non-specific geographic boundaries, but the real reason it has importance is because it paints the picture that there is so much more to New York than its namesake city. The area where I grew up offers plenty, and for generations, its drinking culture was based around wine produced in the Finger Lakes. Craft beer was Genny Cream Ale or Saranac Black Forest, a beloved Schwarzbier. But in recent years, the idea of what beer is and can be has rapidly changed as local production has come to be defined by small businesses. As I visited my hometown of Geneva, New York this summer, I was excited to see how the beer scene has changed. One of the more recent additions was Bottomless Brewing, barely outside Geneva's limits, built inside an old dairy barn and located amongst rolling farmland so ubiquitous for the area. Its name connects to the "bottomless" depth of nearby Seneca Lake, one of the bodies of water connected to the region's Finger Lakes name. I sat down with Jennifer Myers, head brewer, and one of the founders, Tom Thompson. Jennifer is something of a veteran of the very young Finger Lakes beer scene, having worked in beer for seven years and acting as brewer for six of them. Over the course of our interview, you'll hear Tom pop in and out - a natural part of being the one running a business - as he takes care of opening the space, welcoming customers and tending bar. It was actually a good example of what it takes to run a small business: you've got to be a jack of all trades at all times. Throughout our conversation, the three of us talk about what it takes to open a brewery and, most important, change minds and succeed in a region where some people are still figuring out what "craft" beer means to them.

When I tell people I’m originally from Upstate New York, it typically comes with a qualifier: an extra “up” tacked on as an awkward prefix to create Up-Upstate New York. If I just stick to regular, old “Upstate,” there’s a good chance people will assume I’m talking about some place in Westchester County.

It’s a never-ending discussion, trying to figure out non-specific geographic boundaries, but the real reason it has importance is because it paints the picture that there is so much more to New York than its namesake city. The area where I grew up offers plenty, and for generations, its drinking culture was based around wine produced in the Finger Lakes. Craft beer was Genny Cream Ale or Saranac Black Forest, a beloved Schwarzbier. But in recent years, the idea of what beer is and can be has rapidly changed as local production has come to be defined by small businesses.

As I visited my hometown of Geneva, New York this summer, I was excited to see how the beer scene has changed. One of the more recent additions was Bottomless Brewing, barely outside Geneva’s limits, built inside an old dairy barn and located amongst rolling farmland so ubiquitous for the area. Its name connects to the “bottomless” depth of nearby Seneca Lake, one of the bodies of water connected to the region’s Finger Lakes name.

I sat down with Jennifer Myers, head brewer, and one of the founders, Tom Thompson. Jennifer is something of a veteran of the very young Finger Lakes beer scene, having worked in beer for seven years and acting as brewer for six of them. Over the course of our interview, you’ll hear Tom pop in and out - a natural part of being the one running a business - as he takes care of opening the space, welcoming customers and tending bar. It was actually a good example of what it takes to run a small business: you’ve got to be a jack of all trades at all times.

Throughout our conversation, the three of us talk about what it takes to open a brewery and, most important, change minds and succeed in a region where some people are still figuring out what “craft” beer means to them.

When I tell people I’m originally from Upstate New York, it typically comes with a qualifier: an extra “up” tacked on as an awkward prefix to create Up-Upstate New York. If I just stick to regular, old “Upstate,” there’s a good chance people will assume I’m talking about some place in Westchester County.

It’s a never-ending discussion, trying to figure out non-specific geographic boundaries, but the real reason it has importance is because it paints the picture that there is so much more to New York than its namesake city. The area where I grew up offers plenty, and for generations, its drinking culture was based around wine produced in the Finger Lakes. Craft beer was Genny Cream Ale or Saranac Black Forest, a beloved Schwarzbier. But in recent years, the idea of what beer is and can be has rapidly changed as local production has come to be defined by small businesses.

As I visited my hometown of Geneva, New York this summer, I was excited to see how the beer scene has changed. One of the more recent additions was Bottomless Brewing, barely outside Geneva’s limits, built inside an old dairy barn and located amongst rolling farmland so ubiquitous for the area. Its name connects to the “bottomless” depth of nearby Seneca Lake, one of the bodies of water connected to the region’s Finger Lakes name.

I sat down with Jennifer Myers, head brewer, and one of the founders, Tom Thompson. Jennifer is something of a veteran of the very young Finger Lakes beer scene, having worked in beer for seven years and acting as brewer for six of them. Over the course of our interview, you’ll hear Tom pop in and out - a natural part of being the one running a business - as he takes care of opening the space, welcoming customers and tending bar. It was actually a good example of what it takes to run a small business: you’ve got to be a jack of all trades at all times.

Throughout our conversation, the three of us talk about what it takes to open a brewery and, most important, change minds and succeed in a region where some people are still figuring out what “craft” beer means to them.