The Beer Genome Project

Shawn, Mike, Gretchen, and John taste two different collaboratively created beers. Conflux No. 1 from Deschutes Brewery and Hair of the Dog Brewing is a blend of Deschutes Brewery’s The Stoic and The Dissident and Hair of The Dog’s Fred and Adam. These four beers were aged for 24 months in a variety of cask […]

Shawn and Mike are joined by friends Gretchen, John, and Obi. This week’s episode was an experiment. We recorded a five-person panel exploring an arrangement of Oyster Stout beers. There is no specific season for oyster stouts, as several of the examples we share in this episode are available year-round.Since we didn’t expect any beers […]

Shawn and Mike are joined this week by special guest Corey Shovein, the West Regional Market Manager for Founders Brewing Co. Corey was kind enough to share a bottle of the latest release in the Founders Back Stage Series, Bolt Cutter. Bolt Cutter is a 15% ABV barley wine brewed in celebration of the Founders […]

Special guest Jason Brizzi calls in to discuss Day Tripper by Indeed Brewing Company, the expansion of breweries in Iowa and Minnesota, where these brewers are coming from, the favored hometown beer-styles, and the shake-up around Goose Island in the Chicago beer scene.

For the Minnesota beer fan, the end of October means the arrival of Surly’s Darkness Imperial Stout. Since 2007, Surly Brewing of Brooklyn Center, Minnesota has released its 750ml bottles of the lauded Darkness. For people who are willing to make the journey, Surly celebrates the release of Darkness with food and bands on the […]

Tick, tick, tick. That’s the sound of rare. This week’s episode of the podcast was recorded almost one year ago. It was the culmination of a day filled with homebrewing and beer discussions. Shawn shared a 375ml bottle of the The Lost Abbey’s The Angel’s Share 2010 that he had procured during a trip to […]

One morning while reading The Heavy Table, Shawn learned about one of Minnesota’s newest breweries, Boom Island Brewing Company. The biggest difference between Boom Island and many other breweries that have hit the news recently, is that Boom Island was already putting its beer up for sale. I attended a quick tasting at The Four Firkins in Saint […]

We’ve reached into the archives to release a “lost” episode of The Happy Hour. Back in 2010, Jason and Mike were lucky enough to receive a bottle of Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout. This annually released beer shouldn’t be considered a simple oaked version of Founders Breakfast Stout, but is a wholly different beer. Kentucky Breakfast […]

I have to admit that I have missed our conversations through the microphone but we are at it again. Our scheduled programming returns this week with an exploration of some delicious sour beers. We delve into a comparison of a homebrew sour versus a commercial sour beer. Long overdue, Shawn and I share a bottle […]

Boulevard Brewing of Kansas City, Missouri has a wonderful series of beers that they call the Smokestack Series. The “Smokestacks” are typically limited release beers that come in 750ml bottles. For me, they represent some of the most innovative beers available in the Midwest. Last year I fell in love with the Bourbon Barrel Quad […]