Grit & Grain Podcast

That’s right!  Our best bud R.J. is back on the mic this week! Ron and Phaedra were busy picking some fresh hops in over in Yakima, but R.J. hung out and caught us up on his wonderful and spontaneous trip to the motherland of crispy boys — the Czech Republic!

Tune in to hear about his amazing, guided tour at Pilsner Urquell (including the cave-dwelling beer sage that serves guests unfiltered pours from the barrel), the impact Urquell has on the local beer scene around Prague, and which American beer trends are finding their way to places like Poland.

Crack a pilsner if you’ve one and hang out with us!

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Alright, Grit & Grainers! Email us at [email protected] with your comments, opinions, and the last time you Czech yourself. You can subscribe to GGP on Amazon, Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play, and iHeartRadio, and please leave us a review. Be sure to also follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

If this podcast is not what you expected, please alter your expectations. No such thing as a bad time to visit Tacoma. No such thing as too much barleywine. Tune in next Friday for more sweet chatter. Cheers!

The post Episode 113: The Birthplace of Pilsner with R.J. Adler appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.

Happy Friday, Grit and Grainers!

We’re back with a banger this week. There’s been tons of talk around town about the new creole-concept bar and restaurant, Chez Lafayette, in downtown Tacoma. We figured it was a great time to bring in owner and operator, Mikey De Alwis, to discuss his project, his time in the industry, and his nerdy love of all things liquid — including beer!

Mikey walks us through how he connects with customers, creates a captivating restaurant space, and why he chooses high quality options across the board — from his food menu to his tap list. If you just want some background on some of the newest hotness in Tacoma’s food and drink scene or just want to hear him gush out loud about Matt, we have you covered.  Crack a beer, check the vibes, and tune in!

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Alright, Grit & Grainers! Email us at [email protected] with your comments, opinions, and your reviews of Chez Lafayette. You can subscribe to GGP on Amazon, Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play, and iHeartRadio, and please leave us a review. Be sure to also follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

If this podcast is not what you expected, please alter your expectations. No such thing as a bad time to visit Tacoma. No such thing as too much barleywine. Tune in next Friday for more sweet chatter. Cheers!

The post Episode 112: Vibe Checks with Mikey De Alwis of Chez Lafayette appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.

Happy September, Grit and Grainers!

Fresh Hop season is upon us, we’ve recovered from all the Tacoma Beer Week festivities, and Ron is out of town this week on a west coast adventure … so we figure it’s a perfect time to talk about our beer beef!

Everyone has pet peeves in the industry so let’s talk about ’em!  What bugs us and what bugs you!  We get into why some pet peeves are totally legit and why some are bullsh*t.

Crack a beer and get ready for the gripes.  And let us know what bugs you most about beer.  It definitely won’t be our only beer beef episode so if you’ve got any, send it our way!

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Alright, Grit & Grainers! Email us at [email protected] with your comments, opinions, and your beer beef. You can subscribe to GGP on Amazon, Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play, and iHeartRadio, and please leave us a review. Be sure to also follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

If this podcast is not what you expected, please alter your expectations. No such thing as a bad time to visit Tacoma. No such thing as too much barleywine. Tune in next Friday for more sweet chatter. Cheers!

The post Episode 111:  Beer Beef appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.

It’s that time of year, folks!  Fresh Hop season is upon us, so the Grit & Grain thought it was a perfect time to bring back our good buddy Kirby Redman, director at Wyckoff Farms.  But, this time, we wanted to get extra nerdy so Kirby trucked over Wyckoff’s chief agronomist Gracen Gonzalez; an absolute powerhouse of encyclopedic hop knowledge. We get into wild hops, fresh hops, hop harvest, hop genetics, hop pests, and hop farm operations — basically everything you need to know to walk away a certified hop nerd ready to tackle the upcoming fresh hop season.

Tune in, crack your favorite hoppy beer, and level up with us!

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Alright, Grit & Grainers! Email us at [email protected] with your comments, opinions, and your favorite hop. You can subscribe to GGP on Amazon, Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play, and iHeartRadio, and please leave us a review. Be sure to also follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

If this podcast is not what you expected, please alter your expectations. No such thing as a bad time to visit Tacoma. No such thing as too much barleywine. Tune in next Friday for more sweet chatter. Cheers!

The post Episode 110: Through the Hop Bine with Kirby and Gracen of Wyckoff Farms appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.

Welcome back to part 2 pairing beer and Tacoma iconic bites with Kris Hay of Tacoma Aroma Flavor.

The journey continues with three new bites this week: Pao’s Glazed donuts, potato perogies from Zaya Cafe, and the classic sea salt caramel chocolates from Johnson Candy Co. We get into which beers pair with them and why.

Between bites, Kris expands on a few of her favorite Tacoma food spots, and we all get into our favorite types of food in the area. There are way more than six iconic bites in our wonderful city so we also talk about a few that could’ve easily been a part of this series (and may be in the future ).

Crack a beer and, if you can, grab a bite from one of these spots, while you listen in. 

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Alright, Grit & Grainers! Email us at [email protected] with your comments, opinions, and your favorite Tacoma iconic food paired with beer. You can subscribe to GGP on Amazon, Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play, and iHeartRadio, and please leave us a review. Be sure to also follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

If this podcast is not what you expected, please alter your expectations. No such thing as a bad time to visit Tacoma. No such thing as too much barleywine. Tune in next Friday for more sweet chatter. Cheers!

The post Episode 109: Iconic Bites of Tacoma with Kris Hay, Part 2 appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.

That’s right!  It’s about time we had ourselves a proper food episode, and it’s a double-header. And, who better to join us than Kris Hay of Tacoma Aroma Flavor.  Kris has been collaborating with local chefs for years on her fabulous book project and helped us choose six iconic bites of food from around our city.  And, of course, we let Grit & Grain co-host Matt McLaren pair each bite with a beer of his choice. The first three bites are a Frisko Freeze burger, a pambazo from Tortas Locas, and some extra crispy lumpia from Northwest Lumpia.

We get into the principles of pairing food and beer, the story of Hay’s history in the Tacoma food scene, and the scoop on her upcoming book. Tune in, and don’t miss part 2 next week.

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Alright, Grit & Grainers! Email us at [email protected] with your comments, opinions, and your favorite Tacoma iconic food paired with beer. You can subscribe to GGP on Amazon, Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play, and iHeartRadio, and please leave us a review. Be sure to also follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

If this podcast is not what you expected, please alter your expectations. No such thing as a bad time to visit Tacoma. No such thing as too much barleywine. Tune in next Friday for more sweet chatter. Cheers!

The post Episode 108: Iconic Bites of Tacoma with Kris Hay, Part 1 appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.

It’s a special midweek episode!  The Grit & Grain team had the privilege of recording a live show from the grass of the fantastic Brew Five Three Beer & Music Festival. If you missed the festivities, we give shout-outs to the breweries and ciders that poured on the sunny Saturday at Chambers Creek Regional Park, the highlight beers of the day, and a big sloppy info dump of all the wonderful Tacoma Beer Week events coming up this week!

A big thanks to Tacoma Arts Live for the invite, and friend of the show Gini Sommer for her constant support. See you all out there!

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Alright, Grit and Grainers! Email us at [email protected] with your comments, opinions, and pretzel necklace variations. You can subscribe to GGP on Amazon, Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play, and iHeartRadio, and please leave us a review. Be sure to also follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

If this podcast is not what you expected, please alter your expectations. No such thing as a bad time to visit Tacoma. No such thing as too much barleywine. Tune in next Friday for more sweet chatter. Cheers!

The post Episode 107: Live from Brew Five Three! appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.

Chris Chappell digs sustainability, Arizona Wilderness Brewery, social media, and Pacific Northwest watersheds. Brian Antonio Muegge digs Gonzaga, wildlife conservation, Nickelback, and keeping salmon safe. Chappell works to protect wild lands and rivers in our state via Washington Wild and directs their Brewshed Alliance. Muegge is the Farm Program manager with Salmon-Safe, which works to keep urban and agricultural watersheds in the Pacific Northwest clean enough for native salmon to spawn and thrive. For the last 12 years, Chappell has worked with breweries to protect wild lands and waters, as well as climate-resilient beer ingredients, in the name of craft beer. For three and a half years, Muegge has worked with hop farms to monitor agricultural runoff, wetland disruption, erosion, and irrigation that can make it difficult for salmon to get past third base. Together, the two environmentally minded badasses help the Pacific Northwest breweries brew delicious beer.

Chappell and Muegge sat down with the Grit & Grain Podcast to share their education and conservation knowledge, share their friendship, and share their laughter on Episode 106. Yes, we had a blast with the two big brains that run the Brewshed Alliance and Salmon-Safe programs. No doubt you’ll have a blast listening, too. Cheers!

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Alright, Grit and Grainers! Email us at [email protected] with your comments, opinions, and the best spot to watch salmon scrupulously struggle upstream, have sex, then die. You can subscribe to GGP on Amazon, Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play, and iHeartRadio, and please leave us a review. Be sure to also follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

If this podcast is not what you expected, please alter your expectations. No such thing as a bad time to visit Tacoma. No such thing as too much barleywine. Tune in next Friday for more sweet chatter. Cheers!

The post Grit and Grain Episode 106: Washington Wild and Salmon-Safe appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.

Year 3 is off and running!  And what better way to get it rolling than catching up with our best buddy, Sean Jackson.

Producer Doug let us commandeer his super-secret studio for an hour to hang out, pop a few fancy beers, and get a little silly.  We chatted Tacoma Beer Week festivities including the live “Um … Actually” game show Sean will host at the historic Blue Mouse Theatre.  We dive into a few party pet peeves.  And, of course, some fuck-up stories.  Also, Ron did a cartwheel … over Sean … inside the studio … and didn’t even break anything.

So anyway!  It was a hoot-and-a-half, and you should absolutely tune in for this one.  We have some amazing upcoming episodes so keep your eyes peeled and be sure to join us at Peaks & Pints Wednesday, Aug. 14, when Tacoma Aroma Flavor founder Kris Hay helps us pair Tacoma iconic food with beer during Tacoma Beer week 2024.

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Alright, Grit and Grainers! Email us at [email protected] with your comments, opinions, and, um … actually Tacoma icon food suggestions. You can subscribe to GGP on Amazon, Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play, and iHeartRadio, and please leave us a review. Be sure to also follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

If this podcast is not what you expected, please alter your expectations. No such thing as a bad time to visit Tacoma. No such thing as too much barleywine. Tune in next Friday for more sweet chatter. Cheers!

The post Episode 105: Super-Secret Barleywine Brunch with Sean Jackson appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.

Welp!  We did it guys.  Episode #104 marks 2 years in the books for us at the Grit & Grain Podcast.  We figured there was no better way to put a bow on year 2 than to hang out with our friends at Ilk Beer in their new taproom, The Ilk Lodge, and share a few pints of our amazing collaboration beer, Alter Your Expectations IPA, and a few special bottles from Ilk Beer partner, Rob Booher.

Getting to know more about Rob is a huge treat. He’s been a behind the scenes partner at Ilk in some ways but has been a huge player in their success — handling sales and distribution for their fantastic beers, and indeed made the move from a life of lawyering to do so.  Tune in to hear about the transition from the world of law to the world of beer.

Cheers to 2 years!  See you all in year 3 with tons of special episodes to come.

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Alright, Grit and Grainers! Email us at [email protected] with your comments, opinions, and ilk. You can subscribe to GGP on Amazon, Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play, and iHeartRadio, and please leave us a review. Be sure to also follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

If this podcast is not what you expected, please alter your expectations. No such thing as a bad time to visit Tacoma. No such thing as too much barleywine. Tune in next Friday for more sweet chatter. Cheers!

The post Episode 104: Leaving the Lawyer Life Behind with Rob and Abe from Ilk Beer appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.