Good Beer Hunting

Welcome to another episode of The Fervent Few podcast. Every two 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

Today we’re going to call Kate Nolan a freelance social media manager from the suburbs of Chicago and Brad Redick a sales manager from the Dallas, TX area . But before we talk to them here’s Michael Kiser and I talking about what’s been going on since the last episode.

Welcome to another episode of The Fervent Few podcast. Every two 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

Today we’re going to call Kate Nolan a freelance social media manager from the suburbs of Chicago and Brad Redick a sales manager from the Dallas, TX area . But before we talk to them here’s Michael Kiser and I talking about what’s been going on since the last episode.

Whether personal or professional, there are always types of risks when starting a new business. That's often the case in the beer industry, where men and women quit their day jobs on a near daily basis to chase a dream of serving IPAs, Stouts, or Lagers to a thirsty public. These owners and brewers have a lot on the line. It's no different for the people behind Denizens brewing in Silver Springs Maryland, where family support helps to prop up very real risks of the three-year-old business. Denizens is doing just fine, by the way, having celebrated their anniversary not long ago with hundreds of friends and patrons. But it still means that checking the books at the end of every month carries a lot of weight. The public support behind the brewery, however, makes things easier for co-owners Jeff Ramirez and Julie Verratti. They're two of the three people behind Denizens, who have created a community hotspot just over the border from Washington DC. A very specifically selected location, as you'll hear, that connects deeply to the values of Jeff, Julie, and Emily Bruno, the third person behind Denizens. Among a spacious indoor and outdoor taproom, I recently sat down with Jeff and Julie to talk about all the things that they've learned in the first few years of operation. What those lessons are, and how they're being integrated in the day-to-day, are bound to be a big big part of successes for all the other ambitious homebrewers and entrepreneurs looking to enter beer.

Whether personal or professional, there are always types of risks when starting a new business. That’s often the case in the beer industry, where men and women quit their day jobs on a near daily basis to chase a dream of serving IPAs, stouts, or lagers to the thirsty public. These owners and Brewers have a lot on the line.

It's no different for the people behind denizens brewing in Silver Springs Maryland, where family support helps to prop up very real risks of the three-year-old business. Denizens is doing just fine, by the way, having celebrated their anniversary not long ago with hundreds of friends patrons. But it still means that checking the books at the end of every month still carries a of weight.

The public support behind the brewery, however, makes things easier for co-owners Jeff Ramirez and Julie Verratti. They’re two of the three people behind denizens, who have created a community hotspot just over the border from Washington DC. A very specifically selected location, as you’ll hear, that connects deeply to the values of Jeff, Julie and Emily Bruno, the third person behind Denizens.

Among a spacious indoor and outdoor taproom, I recently sat down with Jeff and Julie to talk about all the things that they've learned in the first few years of operation. What those lessons are, and how they’re being integrated in the day-to-day, are bound to be a big big part of successes for all the other ambitious homebrewer's and entrepreneurs looking to enter beer.

Whether personal or professional, there are always types of risks when starting a new business. That’s often the case in the beer industry, where men and women quit their day jobs on a near daily basis to chase a dream of serving IPAs, stouts, or lagers to the thirsty public. These owners and Brewers have a lot on the line.

It's no different for the people behind denizens brewing in Silver Springs Maryland, where family support helps to prop up very real risks of the three-year-old business. Denizens is doing just fine, by the way, having celebrated their anniversary not long ago with hundreds of friends patrons. But it still means that checking the books at the end of every month still carries a of weight.

The public support behind the brewery, however, makes things easier for co-owners Jeff Ramirez and Julie Verratti. They’re two of the three people behind denizens, who have created a community hotspot just over the border from Washington DC. A very specifically selected location, as you’ll hear, that connects deeply to the values of Jeff, Julie and Emily Bruno, the third person behind Denizens.

Among a spacious indoor and outdoor taproom, I recently sat down with Jeff and Julie to talk about all the things that they've learned in the first few years of operation. What those lessons are, and how they’re being integrated in the day-to-day, are bound to be a big big part of successes for all the other ambitious homebrewer's and entrepreneurs looking to enter beer.

"Session" is a new word to many a craft beer drinker's lexicon, but the idea of session beer far predates whatever new lingo is helping sell balanced, lower alcohol brews. You may have also seen the words "light," or "table" used in a similar context. Meaning: easy to drink, balanced, dare I say crushable? Some of you just cringed, I know, but it's been hard going for anyone looking to sell these kinds of beers in our culture of extreme flavor and high alcohol and rarity. That is, until someone decided to pair it with IPA. They need a pitch, a hook, to get people interested in what really, for most people around the world, defines normal everyday great beer. I mean, you don't see Pilsner Urquell going around pitching itself as light or sessionable. But this is America—it all needs a qualifier of some sort. One brewery in Salem, Massachusetts has done more than just pitch their beer with the word "session" in the title—they've gone all in on the concept, referring to their entire portfolio as American Session Beer. Notch Brewing—under founder Chris Lohring—started out as a contract brand, largely because he couldn't convince anyone that these styles would ever be in favor. That's hard to imagine in 2017 when it seems every craft brewer is gunning for the easy-drinking Lager, Hoppy Pilsner, and Golden Ale. So he took a hard road, scraping together support from fellow brewers with capacity, building his brand and base, and finally, just last year, got the investment he needed to open his own small brewery with a taproom and take another step into the future of his idea. Oh, and the beers are absolutely delicious. When I was there recently, I had the Pilsner, which was clearly more refined and delicate than most you'll have in the U.S., and we'll dig in to the reasons why in this episode. I also had the smoked Grodziskie, which was layered and balanced and just sang on the palate. I also enjoyed his take on the hazy IPA which, when viewed through the lens of session beer, makes a whole lot of sense.

Session is a new word to many craft beer drinkers’ lexicon, but the idea of session beer far predates whatever new lingo is helping sell balanced, lower alcohol beers. but until session was paired with the term IPA, it was a bit of an obscure word - you may have also seen the words light, or table used in a similar context to basically mean easy to drink, balanced, dare I say crushable. Some of you just cringed, I know. But it’s been hard going for anyone looking to sell these kinds of beers in our culture of extreme flavor, high alcohol, hard to get beers until someone decided to pair it with IPA. They need a pitch, a hook, to get people interested in what really, for most people around the world, defines normal every day great beer. I mean, you don’t see Pilsner Urquell going around pitching itself as light, or sessionable. But this is America. It all needs a qualifier of some sort. 

One brewery up in Salem, Massachusetts has done more than just pitch their beer with the word session in the title, they’ve gone all in on the concept, referring to their entire portfolio as American Session Beer. Notch Brewing under founder Chris Lohring, started out as a contract brand, largely because he couldn’t convince anyone that these styles would ever be in favor. That’s hard to imagine in 2017 when it seems every craft brewer is gunning for the easy-drinking lager, hoppy pilsner, and golden ale. So he took a hard road, scraping together support from fellow brewers with capacity, building his brand and base, and finally, just last year, got the investment he needed to open his own small brewery with a taproom and take another step into the future of his idea. 

And the beers are absolutely delicious. 

When I was there, I had the pilsner, which was clearly more refined and delicate than most you’ll have in the US, and we’ll dig into the reasons why in this episode. I also had the smoked Grodziskie which was layered and balanced and just sang not he palate. And even his take on the hazy IPA, which when viewed through the lens of session beer makes a whole lot of sense.

Session is a new word to many craft beer drinkers’ lexicon, but the idea of session beer far predates whatever new lingo is helping sell balanced, lower alcohol beers. but until session was paired with the term IPA, it was a bit of an obscure word - you may have also seen the words light, or table used in a similar context to basically mean easy to drink, balanced, dare I say crushable. Some of you just cringed, I know. But it’s been hard going for anyone looking to sell these kinds of beers in our culture of extreme flavor, high alcohol, hard to get beers until someone decided to pair it with IPA. They need a pitch, a hook, to get people interested in what really, for most people around the world, defines normal every day great beer. I mean, you don’t see Pilsner Urquell going around pitching itself as light, or sessionable. But this is America. It all needs a qualifier of some sort. 

One brewery up in Salem, Massachusetts has done more than just pitch their beer with the word session in the title, they’ve gone all in on the concept, referring to their entire portfolio as American Session Beer. Notch Brewing under founder Chris Lohring, started out as a contract brand, largely because he couldn’t convince anyone that these styles would ever be in favor. That’s hard to imagine in 2017 when it seems every craft brewer is gunning for the easy-drinking lager, hoppy pilsner, and golden ale. So he took a hard road, scraping together support from fellow brewers with capacity, building his brand and base, and finally, just last year, got the investment he needed to open his own small brewery with a taproom and take another step into the future of his idea. 

And the beers are absolutely delicious. 

When I was there, I had the pilsner, which was clearly more refined and delicate than most you’ll have in the US, and we’ll dig into the reasons why in this episode. I also had the smoked Grodziskie which was layered and balanced and just sang not he palate. And even his take on the hazy IPA, which when viewed through the lens of session beer makes a whole lot of sense.

On this week's episode of the Fervent Few podcast, we'll talk with a couple of members of the community about taprooms, social media, what they find exciting about the Fervent Few and whatever else comes up. The Fervent Few is our subscriber community who 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. 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 Today we're going to call Chris Koentz a brewer at Pollyanna brewing in the suburbs of Chicago.

On this week’s episode of the Fervent Few podcast, we’ll talk with a couple of members of the community about taprooms, social media, what they find exciting about the Fervent Few and whatever else comes up. The Fervent Few is our subscriber community who 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. 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

Today we’re going to call Chris Koentz a brewer at Pollyanna brewing in the suburbs of Chicago and Kate Nolan a freelance social media manager also from the suburbs of Chicago. Before we talk to them let’s have a chat with Michael Kiser and see what he’s been up to since the last Fervent Few podcast.