The Brewers Association loves to tout the ever-growing number of small and independent breweries that are popping up across the country. It’s gotten to the point where there’s really no type of geographical area that’s without some hometown beer.

In North Carolina, the number of breweries has ballooned in recent years, with businesses finding homes all over. While you might have heard of places like Asheville, Charlotte or Raleigh and Durham, the town of Hillsborough probably isn’t commonly known. But it’s this location - population of about 7,000 - where we’ll visit today for the chance to hear from Erik Lars Myers, the founder and CEO of Mystery Brewing.

In July 2010, Erik’s brewery was the first in the U.S. to successfully crowdfund a portion of its startup costs, something that seems near-ubiquitous in today’s marketplace. Since then, Erik’s business plan and Mystery Brewing have evolved rapidly. In our conversation - which is far ranging and really in-depth - you’ll hear me refer to him as something of a futurist. A lot of what Erik decided just as the American craft beer industry was really starting to take off was adventurous at the time. But now a lot of it is simply stuff people do: heavily rotating brands, focusing on bringing people to a taproom and wearing your heart on your sleeve.

This is a long conversation. But so much of what we discuss is really topical to drinkers and business owners alike. Erik’s honesty and love for beer and its industry made for one of those interviews that you just ride out. There are tips and insights that highlight how Erik and his team are doing something special, and I hope his story and point of view express something new and interesting to you, too.

Welcome to another episode of The Fervent Few podcast. Every few weeks we present you with this bonus episode of the GBH podcast where we chat with members of our subscriber community. The Fervent Few subscribe to GBH like a magazine making a monthly contribution via Patreon. Members join us in a forum to talk about a wide range of topics that doesn't just stop at beer. And every week we pick one of these topics and present the community's answers to readers in the form of an article posted to Good Beer Hunting. You can find out more information by visiting patreon.com/goodbeerhunting On this episode we talk to Matt who is about to start a new job in Georgia but as luck would have it he has to do training in the suburbs of Chicago. So we talk to him about his trip to the burbs, what his beer buying experiences are like back home, and the best $5 he spends a month. But first Michael and I talk about going to the woods, what's been going on in the Fervent Few Slack, and how terribly wrong I am about semi-dry ciders.

Welcome to another episode of The Fervent Few podcast. Every few weeks we present you with this bonus episode of the GBH podcast where we chat with members of our subscriber community. The Fervent Few subscribe to GBH like a magazine making a monthly contribution via Patreon. Members join us in a forum to talk about a wide range of topics that doesn’t just stop at beer. And every week we pick one of these topics and present the community’s answers to readers in the form of an article posted to Good Beer Hunting. You can find out more information by visiting patreon.com/goodbeerhunting

On this episode we talk to Matt who is about to start a new job in Georgia but as luck would have it he has to do training in the suburbs of Chicago. So we talk to him about his trip to the burbs, what his beer buying experiences are like back home, and the best $5 he spends a month. But first Michael and I talk about going to the woods, what’s been going on in the Fervent Few Slack, and how terribly wrong I am about semi-dry ciders.

Welcome to another episode of The Fervent Few podcast. Every few weeks we present you with this bonus episode of the GBH podcast where we chat with members of our subscriber community. The Fervent Few subscribe to GBH like a magazine making a monthly contribution via Patreon. Members join us in a forum to talk about a wide range of topics that doesn’t just stop at beer. And every week we pick one of these topics and present the community’s answers to readers in the form of an article posted to Good Beer Hunting. You can find out more information by visiting patreon.com/goodbeerhunting

On this episode we talk to Matt who is about to start a new job in Georgia but as luck would have it he has to do training in the suburbs of Chicago. So we talk to him about his trip to the burbs, what his beer buying experiences are like back home, and the best $5 he spends a month. But first Michael and I talk about going to the woods, what’s been going on in the Fervent Few Slack, and how terribly wrong I am about semi-dry ciders.

Today's episode is part of a series of talks we recorded at the Shelton Brothers festival back in August in Atlanta — a phenomenal gathering of some of the best brewers in the world, as well as a few niche cider and wine makers, all holding their own in one of the most diverse and interesting product portfolios that's ever been assembled. The folks from Shelton Brothers gave us a room, and free rein to curate talks with anyone we wanted, on any topics we wished. It's a somewhat speedy series of interviews, much shorter than you're used to on GBH, and that's because we wanted to see if a series of topics might emerge — a pattern of sorts, that might give us an indication of what's on people's minds at this point in time, in this particular portfolio of producers. And sure enough, it worked. On a few of these episodes, other folks from GBH drop in from time to time as well, so you'll also here from Blake Tyers and Kyle Kastranec

Today’s episode is part of a series of talks we recorded at the Shelton Brothers festival back in August in Atlanta — a phenomenal gathering of some of the best brewers in the world, as well as a few niche cider and wine makers, all holding their own in one of the most diverse and interesting product portfolios that’s ever been assembled.

The folks from Shelton Brothers gave us a room, and free rein to curate talks with anyone we wanted, on any topics we wished.

It’s a somewhat speedy series of interviews, much shorter than you’re used to on GBH, and that’s because we wanted to see if a series of topics might emerge — a pattern of sorts, that might give us an indication of what’s on people’s minds at this point in time, in this particular portfolio of producers. And sure enough, it worked.

On a few of these episodes, other folks from GBH drop in from time to time as well, so you’ll also here from Blake Tyers and Kyle Kastranec

Today’s episode is part of a series of talks we recorded at the Shelton Brothers festival back in August in Atlanta — a phenomenal gathering of some of the best brewers in the world, as well as a few niche cider and wine makers, all holding their own in one of the most diverse and interesting product portfolios that’s ever been assembled.

The folks from Shelton Brothers gave us a room, and free rein to curate talks with anyone we wanted, on any topics we wished.

It’s a somewhat speedy series of interviews, much shorter than you’re used to on GBH, and that’s because we wanted to see if a series of topics might emerge — a pattern of sorts, that might give us an indication of what’s on people’s minds at this point in time, in this particular portfolio of producers. And sure enough, it worked.

On a few of these episodes, other folks from GBH drop in from time to time as well, so you’ll also here from Blake Tyers and Kyle Kastranec

Today's episode is part of a series of talks we recorded at the Shelton Brothers festival back in August in Atlanta — a phenomenal gathering of some of the best brewers in the world, as well as a few niche cider and wine makers, all holding their own in one of the most diverse and interesting product portfolios that's ever been assembled. The folks from Shelton Brothers gave us a room, and free rein to curate talks with anyone we wanted, on any topics we wished. It's a somewhat speedy series of interviews, much shorter than you're used to on GBH, and that's because we wanted to see if a series of topics might emerge — a pattern of sorts, that might give us an indication of what's on people's minds at this point in time, in this particular portfolio of producers. And sure enough, it worked. On a few of these episodes, other folks from GBH drop in from time to time as well, so you'll also here from Blake Tyers and Kyle Kastranec

Today’s episode is part of a series of talks we recorded at the Shelton Brothers festival back in August in Atlanta — a phenomenal gathering of some of the best brewers in the world, as well as a few niche cider and wine makers, all holding their own in one of the most diverse and interesting product portfolios that’s ever been assembled.

The folks from Shelton Brothers gave us a room, and free rein to curate talks with anyone we wanted, on any topics we wished.

It’s a somewhat speedy series of interviews, much shorter than you’re used to on GBH, and that’s because we wanted to see if a series of topics might emerge — a pattern of sorts, that might give us an indication of what’s on people’s minds at this point in time, in this particular portfolio of producers. And sure enough, it worked.

On a few of these episodes, other folks from GBH drop in from time to time as well, so you’ll also here from Blake Tyers and Kyle Kastranec

Today’s episode is part of a series of talks we recorded at the Shelton Brothers festival back in August in Atlanta — a phenomenal gathering of some of the best brewers in the world, as well as a few niche cider and wine makers, all holding their own in one of the most diverse and interesting product portfolios that’s ever been assembled.

The folks from Shelton Brothers gave us a room, and free rein to curate talks with anyone we wanted, on any topics we wished.

It’s a somewhat speedy series of interviews, much shorter than you’re used to on GBH, and that’s because we wanted to see if a series of topics might emerge — a pattern of sorts, that might give us an indication of what’s on people’s minds at this point in time, in this particular portfolio of producers. And sure enough, it worked.

On a few of these episodes, other folks from GBH drop in from time to time as well, so you’ll also here from Blake Tyers and Kyle Kastranec