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slash Cascadian beer I've left Cascadia
and ventured to Denver Colorado where I
was fortunate enough to attend the great
American Beer Festival 2017 this is my
first time at the festival and I had
such a great experience I've documented
it in this episode
welcome to the Cascadian pure podcast my
name is Erin and I'm a Cascadian I have
a background in radio and television
broadcasting I'm a music producer and
have a passion for beer I don't consider
myself an expert in beer by any means
but I do enjoy and respect the craft and
the passion of these brew masters I want
to learn from these pioneers on what
sets them apart from the rest and why
they choose to call Cascadia their home
Cascadia is a bio region in the Pacific
Northwest on the North American
continent it is made up of the US states
of Washington and Oregon as well as the
Canadian province of British Columbia in
this podcast series I profiled the
unique breweries of Cascadia a region
that has a strong presence on the
international beer scene slightly
different in this episode today I've
come to Denver to not only learn about
the trending beers from around the
country but also to see how influential
the Pacific Northwest has been to the
brewing industry to start things off
with my series of interviews from the
great American Beer Festival I spoke
with the man who started it all Oh
Charlie Papazian founder and past
president of the brewers association
american home brewers association the
great American Beer Festival author of
the complete joy of home brewing mm-hmm
and we're at the great American Beer
Festival yes they're 36 and I'm here to
talk to you because you created Pie Day
now not not a mathematical equation but
you're a lover of Pie yes I am I
established back in the late 70s when I
was a school teacher with kids I schemed
with my students to establish my
birthday is national pie day right and
it took on a life of its own after
people got they thought it was the
greatest idea since apple pie yeah have
you ever made a beer pie I've never made
a beer pie but I've had some you know
apple pie and barley wine are a really
good combination yeah in the dead of
winter like yeah so the Great American
Beer Festival a lot is owed to you for
the creation to this with the Brewers
Association everything but I really want
to know how did beer find you
how did beer find me
beer found me it was hiding in the
basement of a homebrewer in
Charlottesville Virginia and he was an
old-timer that brewed beer during
Prohibition and he was a friend of mine
I was introduced to him when I was asked
the question hey Charlie you ever had
homebrew do you want to taste homebrew I
have my neighbor makes homebrew I said I
never knew you could make homebrew sure
I'll try it went over to his home and he
went down to his basement to get the
good stuff it was so much more
interesting than the 69 cents a six-pack
Valentine ale we were drinking his
students at the University of Virginia
that we got a recipe that was four lines
on a little postcard sized piece of
paper and from there it kind of
discovered itself right do you remember
that first beer oh yeah well the first
beer yeah I did it was actually quite
good as we say in the brewing world
quite clean didn't taste old it was
smooth it had an apple cider II taste
because it has so much sugar in it yeah
not very much malt yeah but it was it
was pretty good it was made with
supermarket malt extra hop flavored malt
extract which was about all the only
thing you get in those days yeah and
lots of sugar and bread yeast and I
don't know how he made it so wood
because when I Charlie was recipe that
first beers first two batches I made I
threw out it was undrinkable but I was
just like most craft brewers and home
brewers in the world today I was pretty
persistent yes I knew it could be done
yeah so you started teaching homebrew
classes then but it was still actually
illegal at the time right was was there
like a secret code word or something to
get into your class I mean like what I
think people told us that it was illegal
but it didn't faze us one single bit it
was fun people enjoyed it and you know
it was inconceivable that you could get
busted for having a good time and
sharing beer with friends I mean so we
just pursued it a night I taught beer
classes in Boulder Colorado where I
moved after I graduated from the
University of Virginia and I know I was
just coming at
cross newspaper articles and such that
were dated 1975 1976 I was featured in
the Denver Post and the daily and that
Boulder newspapers quite a bit in those
days but never got busted I think that
if I did get busted homebrewing would
have become much more popular quick more
quickly yeah here comes that rebel I
would have I would have been a martyr so
how long from the teaching homebrew then
to you writing your book The Joy of home
brewing well I had that I had a syllabus
two or three page syllabus when I
started teaching my beer class homebrew
class came is six page syllabus so then
it became ten page document and then I
decided to write a book and
self-published it was about a 70 page
book called the joy of brewing and then
a publisher out of New York
took a little incredible leap of faith
and I signed the contract to write the
complete joy of home brewing and that
was the big pot that was a big volume
that most people got got started with
from the releasing of the book was that
like an instant like overnight success I
did it take a little time to gain
traction it took a little bit of time
because you know in 1984 when it came
out most home brewing was caused to 95
or 3 bucks and my book cost 895 and home
brew a lot of home brew stores wouldn't
carry it because it was too expensive
but what happened was that people were
just it was word of mouth and people
will get it at the book stores and so
there were a lot of sales through the
bookstores and then their home brew shop
stand of figured it out like they were
missing out nine dollar book yeah and
they started carrying it about it took
about a year and a half for it to really
kind of catch on in the home brewing
community of system but it went really
quickly in the in the in the book stores
and stuff I heard you refer to in a talk
that you don't consider the original
brewery craft brewery owners as pioneers
you said that you refer to them as
explorers can you kind of all you can
you kind of define that term a little
bit what you meant by that
yeah there are pioneers of crap bruit
and then there are explorers you know
explorers would go into the gin to a
jungle into a world that was totally
unmapped unchartered unknown not knowing
what was there and that's what the early
craft brewers were up to because there
was no equipment they didn't know how
there were no books there was no road
map so to speak and so the pioneers that
came afterwards not you know shortly
afterwards at least they had some kind
of sense of a road map and of you know
they learned from a few mistakes that
the other Brewers it was tough I mean it
wasn't like the pioneers were getting
into it because the original explorers
had so much success because it took them
up ten to fifteen years to get their
ball rolling they were pretty persistent
bunch of people too so how did you meet
the famous beer journalist Michael
Jackson back in nineteen I'm ette him
for the first time in 1981 when we had
invited him to our American home brewers
association conference in Boulder
Colorado
and prior to that I heard his voice on
the radio because he was doing radio
commercials for Henry wine hearts
Private Reserve which had these mystical
hops called
Cascade hops from Yakima Washington and
that was pretty legendary beer
commercials because no other brewery in
that time was advertising beer on it so
honest merits of taste and flavor and
here is this British sounding guy
talking about Henry wine Hart's private
reserve and I didn't know even though
that he lived in the UK I thought he may
have been somebody who lived in the USA
but I tracked him down and gave him a
call
somehow there was a you know beer people
kind of have a network of figuring out
stuff and he said yeah just get me a
ticket and I'll be there he's mentioned
the home brewers conference when when
did that start
and then when was the creation of the
Brewers Association well American home
brewers association was founded in 1978
with a premier publication of zymurgy
magazine in December of 78 our first
conference and get together in
competition was in February
I think our March of 1979 so that's
that's when the first event started and
when the organization American home
brewers association was founded and then
by 80 1983 there were enough people
interim brewers wanting to start
breweries that we established what we
call the Institute for Brewing studies
which was an organization that served
the needs of all these startup
microbrewers and then eventually you
know give volved into the association of
brewers and then we merged with another
organization and now it's called the
Brewers Association the American home
brewers association still exists within
the structure of what we do so then what
was the catalyst to start the Great
American Beer Festival in 1981 after I
met Michael Jackson between him and also
some contacts I had with campaign for
Real Ale I got invited to come to judge
beer at the campaign for Real Ale is
great british beer festival and i would
never been to england or the UK before
and so i went over there and visited
michael stayed with him while we
explored British pubs and then I did on
my own tour and then we went through the
great british beer festival and after
that experience I said to Michael what
do you think of the idea of a Great
American Beer Festival and he said well
great idea charlie but where would you
get the beer tell me because there
wasn't very much beer in the US in those
days and back in 82 there's 42 brewing
companies that existed most of it was
American light lager how have your
expectations changed from the first
Great American Beer Festival to what it
is today
like what surprised you most along the
way here well my expectations
fundamentally was my friends and I just
thought this was such a cool idea to
have a beer festival that celebrated the
diversity of what was left of American
beer culture and so we you know we
sought the more interesting beers that
these 20 breweries that we've that
donated beer so our expectation was
hopefully we can break even
hopefully we people will give us beer so
we can
offering a festival hopefully we can get
it the bowler hopefully people come and
it happened so expectations now I mean
your oldest is you're just spoiled for
choice at this point right I get the
number of breweries I don't have it I
never come walk into the beer festival
with expectations I never really have I
mean I was kind of being a little bit
facetious with my I answer the early
days but it's such a such an exploratory
event I mean every time I come to the
Great American Beer Festival and I've
been into all 36 years of them si I
still feel like an explorer I can walk
around and find and discover new stuff
that I never knew existed yeah there I
know there are maps and guides and
programs and there's an app I just walk
in because I know I'm gonna have a good
time just wandering around beating
people and finding beers that I never
had before and finding beers that I had
before that I want to try again I'm from
the Pacific Northwest so I have to ask
you from your observation how important
has the Pacific Northwest played in
terms of the beer culture in America mmm
I think the Pacific Northwest was the
original area that really embraced
microbrewing craft brewing Paul what you
want I mean we did our thing in Colorado
and we had a core group of people but
there was Boulder beer and it was years
before brew pubs became legal that was
in the mid 80s but Northwest had things
going on there was a community of
professional craft brewers and home
brewers Burt grant with his brew pub out
there yeah there's a lot of stuff going
on and people talk you know we had our
thing going in Colorado but Colorado
then those days had less than two
million people and we're far you know
distances I mean we had a core people in
Boulder in Denver but other than that
there wasn't much going on and we stuck
together and we love what we did and we
people I mean I have to say that if it
weren't for that volunteers and the home
brewers in the Denver Boulder area this
event would never have happen
so do you homebrew anymore I sure do
right what do you got working
moment well I got one beers lagering I
got a two IPAs two different IPAs have a
dark lager I have a Oktoberfest
thai-style beer I have a helis German
saw helis and I have a what I call he be
in style lager but it's not really met
because I put a lot of different
ingredients in it I'm always brewing a
little bit outside of the styles I mean
I would have our trouble entering
competitions so I have a listener
question for you to being such a
presence in the in the beer culture do
you feel that pressure at all from you
know being the the guy that's kind of
been the ringleader for for beer in
North America has that affected you at
all personally do I feel pressure
because I'm such a iconic kind of guy
and people look know because beer is fun
and most people I encounter are not
looking at me to make sure that they can
make an extra buck oh that's not really
the attitude that drives our
organization I mean it's part of it I
got out that stay in business and we do
a lot of stuff for businesses but it's
for the love of beer and you know we all
respect each other's tastes and beer
everybody likes different beers and even
I have my own preferences so no I don't
feel I don't feel pressure maybe if I
was CEO of a car company or uh
something like that or I would grocery
store I would but not beer I heard you
say you like to listen to your beer
would that be your number one tip for
home brewers to make to make better beer
well if you're gonna listen to your beer
keep your eyes open in your mouth open
to because those are the other two
aspects of it but Fred I cart from the
northwest he's the one that came up with
that saying listen to your beer he
taught me to listen to your beer because
you can take that in the transcendental
state of listening or you could actually
you know when you open that beer whether
it's in a can or a bottle
if you've opened up as many bottles of
beer as I have you learn
about a little bit about the quality of
the beer before you even see it or drink
it or smell it from listening to it well
thank you so much for your time I really
appreciate it so thank you
big thank you to Charlie Papazian thank
you so much for your time hope you guys
enjoyed that interview and now let's get
into the festival I was getting pretty
overwhelmed even before it started I'm
in the hallway here at the Great
American Beer Festival it's my first
time feeling a little overwhelmed and
I'm in the media holding pen because
they won't let us in just yet and I'm
with Josh Howard it focused on the beer
and Dane Skousen pokes on the beer now
how many times have you guys been I've
been here about eight times I went a
couple three years before coming in his
media so I've done this quite a few
times and multiple nights each time it's
an awesome event I won't tell you
otherwise yeah same thing for me about
eight years running now on and off but
I'd say about solid eight years okay so
this is my first time what are some
practical tips here and this is actually
my first time in Denver as well
practical tips number one you're three
to five beers in already that altitude
is gonna kick your ass no matter where
you're from no matter how much you can
drink how much you can't drink just
imagine you're three to five beers and
already and start from there and I kind
of expand on that you know I always say
take your tolerance in half it and see
how you feel because altitude basically
has your alcohol tolerance and then the
fact that it's super dry here I mean we
are a high desert you're dehydrated to
begin with just by landing here the air
is sucking the moisture out of you so
lots of water definitely something you
want to do I recommend like a one cup of
water an hour while you're here no
matter what even if you're not at the
festival a cup of water an hour but I
figure that your tolerances have just
because of the altitude it hits you that
hard alright so focus on the beer what
do you guys do we are a beer blog out of
Colorado Springs Colorado we cover all
of Colorado basically but also national
we try to make it a point to cover you
know any beer news beer releases we do
blind taste tests on our podcast you're
interested in our podcast at all you can
find us on
cloud and iTunes and Italy also our
website focus on the beer calm where we
post articles and photo recaps and
things like this so you can look for our
great American Beer Festival coverage
after the fact we did publish a couple
of guides ahead of time so we're trying
to stay on top of it as best we can
all right and what's happening in
Colorado Springs in terms in terms of
the breweries stuff lots of new
breweries opening up lots new beer halls
beer problems opening up so
congressman's is definitely booming
Denver was real big in the last couple
years Fort Collins real bait last clears
hopefully and I think more on hopeful
side but I think Colorado Springs to be
the next big thing in Colorado beer at
least in terms of breweries people went
in metals that sort of thing right so
I'm from the Pacific Northwest what do
you guys know beer wise from the Pacific
Northwest we know a few of the good ones
from Oregon boneyard is always on our
radar hub brewing and in fact the the
founder of the blog Eric's team is out
there as one of their I forget what his
role is at hub but he's managing like
their media and stuff like that out
there so we've got some ties out there
and you know the shoots and a bunch of
that stuff that's that we get out on our
way Oregon's definitely on our radar a
fantastic beer state as far as we're
concerned all right well thank you
gentlemen thank you thanks to Josh and
Dane for their practical tips that
really helped me out over the coming
days of the festival
so I hit the floor started exploring I
made a point of exploring beers that I
just can't get in the Pacific Northwest
so I visited Tennessee I visited New
England I visited Florida and as well
Southern California your name is Kat
waste
80w iesc media train I love it
so what brewery are you representing and
where are you from Sea Bright brewery in
Santa Cruz California which is your
brewery I do not own the brewery but I
do run the entire Brewing Department
so what beers do you specialize it I
like to think that I just specialize in
beer which is a ridiculous thing to say
there are a few things that I made that
are more popular than others
I've been tweaking our flagship recipes
to make them a little bit more balanced
and I've been trying to follow the
trends not be a trend chaser and still
have something for everyone and you
package your beer right where do you
ship it to i don't ship the beer I have
no distributor I do package in cans and
occasionally 22 ounce bombers but my
beer is only available where I
personally deliver it all right and
you're pouring a very unique beer here
that I had last night from you it's
called the mermaid tail what's special
about that beer the mermaid tail ill I
am incredibly proud of there's so many
special things about that particular
beer I wanted to I wanted to make a beer
for the experimental category I kind of
designed the recipe especially to get it
into Gav F and to become experimental
you either have to have something unique
in the brewing process that doesn't fit
into any other category or like a
melding of qualities that would make it
multi categories so I peeled 100 pounds
of beets and personally which didn't
suck
so I got beets in the mash tun I got
beets in the kettle I got blood oranges
in the Whirlpool I got blood orange
juice and fermentation and I've got
glitter in the cakes so it is a pink
sparkly fruit filled beer and there is
absolutely nothing like it it's very
pretty it is gorgeous and even better
it's delicious now I met you my first
night here at the pink food society
event for the rare beers how long have
you been a member I've been a member as
long as they've been brewing which is a
little over five years I'm really proud
of the organization I'm the co-president
of the SF Bay Area chapter and I
volunteer as much as I can
it's a fantastic group that's done a lot
for me and I think it does a lot for a
lot of women is your chapter growing a
lot in the Bay Area
it really is we're huge all right and
because I'm from the Pacific Northwest I
have to ask do you have a favorite from
the Pacific Northwest in terms of beer a
favorite beer from the Pacific Northwest
this might be an unpopular thing to say
but I'm gonna say it I have on the table
right here my Jasmine Pale Ale and long
before I was a beer enthusiast and even
really before I was a beer drinker I had
Alicia ins Avatar IPA and it had Jasmine
in it and as somebody who thought that
PBR was like okay but I'd rather have
tequila I loved that beer and when I
moved back to California I couldn't find
it anywhere and I thought one day I'll
make a Jasmine beer but like way before
I even knew how to make beer so now that
I'm the head brewer of a small enough
place that I have the autonomy to brew
whatever I want
the Jasmine Pale Ale that I have sitting
on this table is actually directly
inspired by the avatar IPA and I know
that Elysium is no longer independent
and therefore this might be an unpopular
statement well but they were independent
when you had it they were independent
when I had it well thank you so much for
your time
yeah thanks for coming check it out I
guess I should pour you at jasmine now
yeah Matt Parker and who do you
represent the stutes brewery and you are
in charge of woody I am indeed very big
job it is its undertaking for sure
so we're at the Great American Beer
Festival and this is the first time
Woody's been here right it is in the
first first time in nine years actually
and this makes life considerably easier
right it does a little bit we usually
bring a couple kiosks that we have to
build and we have to bring in every part
hand by eight by hand truck and it's a
lot of work woody will you pull in drop
him good to go so because this is audio
what is woody for those that don't know
yeah it's kind of hard to visualize
unless you actually see it in person but
woody is a traveling beer barrel that
opens up into a pub we have six tap
panels that we can serve beer out of on
both sides today we have six tap panels
outside woody and we have four tap
panels out of a jockey box to showcase
ten different beers so how's the
response been like how the crowds been
like it's been great you know we're in a
little different location this year than
what we have normally been you're far
removed from the Pacific Northwest yes
absolutely so that was a little bit of a
worry for us but it's been great I mean
I think this Woody's definitely an
attraction no matter where he is and he
always pulls a crowd so you go coast to
coast with him right I do I'm actually
after this festival we're on our way to
Roanoke Virginia to where we're gonna
have our new production facility all
right man and what's your favorite part
about being at the Great American Beer
Festival and how long you've been here
this is only my second year coming
personally but I think just seeing the
sheer magnitude of what this festival is
and seeing how many people are psyched
out to try all different types of craft
beer but especially for the people the
fans of Deschutes Brewery it's really
really fun thank you very much man yeah
Thank You Man
I had an opportunity to sit down with a
representative from the Brewers
Association because I wanted to learn
about their independent Co they
introduced this year as well as what
they plan to focus on in the coming year
my name is Julia hers and I'm the craft
beer program director for the Brewers
Association and how long have you been
with the Brewers Association
collectively about 14 years all right
and how long in your current role my
current role since 2007 we're at the
Great American Beer Festival with you
being at be a how many festivals in
total and did you come before you
started working at the VA my first
introduction of the Brewers Association
was volunteering at this very event in
the 90s 1994
I have only missed a few over the years
and I didn't track it so I've been to
most since 94 which is nutty so how did
how did beer find you I grew up in a
household with two big factors my dad's
a foodie he was always pushing us to try
experimental things taste outside the
box and then my brother had a beer can
collection so before I was 10 we were
going to a place called the Brix Geller
that's no longer around in DC they had a
beer list there was over 500 bottles not
even draught of the world's any beer you
could get the Brix Geller tried to get
it and carry it on their menu and so my
parents would take us there to support
my brother's beer can collection so
before I was 10 I was thinking about
different kinds of beer different styles
of beer marketing and packaging on beer
and watching my parents be in a good
mood and you know enjoy beverages around
food so that was a big seed that was
planted so as your career path always
been beer involved in some way no I
always did want to homebrew and
eventually in my 20s I was broadcast
journalism major in college I had a job
at Washington DC bureau actually in the
in out of college which my parents were
jazz I was jazzed and they didn't like
it very much it wasn't what I expected
it can be a grind yeah and I mean it
takes a certain personality type many
good people that I worked with that went
has Stiller in their careers gone very
far but it wasn't for me so I left and I
took a cross-country trip just to kind
of clear my head almost a year on the
road and on that trip we would go back
country with the Golden Eagle Pass
National Forest BLM land or national
parks then we would backcountry three or
four nights come into the towns if we
didn't know anyone in those towns
because we're on the road almost a year
we would just go to the local brew pub
and that's where we connected with the
most like-minded people and we usually
were given great advice and people kind
of the community of brew pubs took care
of us on that trip and the good places
to eat where does it get supplies and
all that yeah so it was on that trip I'm
like I want to work I want to be one of
these people I want to work in brewery
all right so did you end up working in a
brewery I tried you can't see me on the
radio I'm about a hundred pounds in a
wet towel and I'd every right to work in
a brewery I still do it shouldn't be
based on size there's many innovations
for Brewers
and women it's not based on a certain
weight requirement for what you
shouldn't shouldn't brew you should be a
Brewer because you can brew kickass
quality beer but when I did try didn't
know enough in brewing I was home
brewing but I didn't really have my game
down so when I eventually landed in
Boulder Colorado the Brewers Association
had a position and that's what I went
for
all right in the past year the
independent craft brewers mark has come
out from the VA what started that
program and what's been the uptake like
so you asked about the independent craft
brewers seal this is a new certified
mark that's on frankly most every
brewery in the hall here has signed on
to download the art we launched it on
June 27th and since then we have
twenty-three hundred plus breweries that
have accessed the art to use it in some
form representing 75% of the volume of
craft beer made so that's incredible
it's been an option for years to help
small and independent craft brewers
differentiate themselves that's actually
part of what my role at the Brewers
Association is craft beer program is all
about is to advocate and educate that
there's an important place and value for
supporting brands from small and
independent producers and so we want to
see that continue to happen and in the
last few years it's gotten a little
tougher out there there's been a lot of
acquisitions and formally independent
breweries have been purchased by big
beer and you can't tell on the label
that they're purchased a very poured
line right there yeah things are muddy
yeah from the regular consumers
perspective that may not actually be
that educated in their local market for
breweries right right things are muddy
if you pick up a beer from a brewery
that's been purchased
you wouldn't know who owns them the
parent company and so since they are big
beer is not putting their name on the
labels we decided to create a mark that
small and independent Brewers can put on
theirs and there you have it so now it's
it's out there and we'll give it a year
and I think you're gonna start to see it
everywhere so what's been the BAS role
in trying to educate the consumer or is
it done more on the local Brewers level
to get the awareness done we're still in
the adoption phase so adopting getting
breweries to adopt is where we're
focused now and all in good time if
anybody wanted to
line up as their own brewery what what
is the process and the steps that they
need to go through so if your brewery
listening I'm inside DEP and we're
calling all of you we know your lip we
know that your name and the list cuz we
want to win you over Brewers Association
org forward slash seal is the place to
download the actual art you must have an
active TTP license you must qualify as a
small and independent and traditional
craft brewer according to the Brewers
Association definition and by the way
98% of the 5700 breweries in the US are
small and independent craft brewers and
you must sign a license agreement to use
the art so a topic that came up because
we were at morning brunch event one of
the topics that was raised by Sara from
Fremont was she kind of sees this next
wave of malts being the new hops in
terms of the industry do you at the PA
also see that and what is the VA doing
to support those industries outside of
just beer sir I loved that she brought
that up and it was such a poetic
statement cuz it's been said that hops
are the soul of beer and now it's on to
malt the BA has a very prolific
technical team and committees we're a
membership driven organization we have
seven subcommittees and one of them is
focused on access to raw materials and
we have a supply chain director
Christopher Z who also runs the judges
for the great American Beer Festival and
he is focused on trying to ensure the
crappers of access to both malted barley
and hops and the like so the efforts are
deep you know we have six-figure grant
investments for grant programs for raw
materials too and so that's a that's a
big deal with your role at the be a how
much of an influence has the Pacific
Northwest in your eyes been on the
greater industry absolutely like for
example hops 30% of the world's top
supply comes from the Pacific Northwest
we know that right and so that is a huge
part of the innovations that I think has
gone on in craft brewing you know the
number one selling u.s. beer styles
still today undisputed is American lager
the second style which is craft brew
driven is an American IPA an American
IPA is centric because of the hops and
frankly the hops from this country the
hops with forest flavors the hops with
fruit and tropical notes and that is
directly a result I think of where the
Pacific Northwest has
in us you do have a history in the u.s.
where we had hops coming from all parts
of the country and that's certainly on
the rise again also super cool and I
don't know frankly for the barley
regions in the Pacific Northwest how
prolific they are but where the
maltsters are right you have maltsters
who are taking this barley and advancing
it and that is a key part and you have
some active monsters in your area yeah
yeah yeah they're doing an amazing
amazing job out there and a lot of the
local breweries there are actually
converting fully over to their malts as
well that I'm aware of so do you think
we'll see those specialty malt guy
simulated throughout the country yeah
you have a craft monsters Association
now so they're representing more than a
handful I haven't looked at the latest
numbers but you know 2040 craft monsters
and forgive me I don't have my latest
stats but that is a community that's
growing and powwowing doing that
collective powwow with each other too
and know you're there working with
heirloom malts we also just published a
book in the last year or two from John
mallet John mallet published malt the
book malt and that is an incredible book
that talks about a lot of heirloom malts
and a lot of new ingredients to kind of
chase down and have craft brewers start
to brew with we have the independent
seal which is the initiative from the
Brewers Association what are the key
things that you're going to focus on
next year we're focused on everything
from draught system maintenance is a
huge thing working with retailers beer
clean glass things on the government
affairs side is huge very very huge
working on the threats to aluminum being
shipped into the country right now
we're working on licensing and getting
craft brewers to be able to access to an
open database so they're within the laws
and actually the music they play in
their pubs and tap rooms is legal I
talked about the grant programs and the
raw material work and beer lever
education too so I mean the list is so
prolific sometimes as the National
Association it's really hard to kind of
summarize it all but I think if you look
at any angle in beer in the u.s. somehow
some way our members through the
association are working on it and
working to advance it now from the
consumers perspective is there a
resource on your website that they can
go to get better educated oh yeah craft
beer comm is our main beer lever website
we get millions of visitors a year and
is
one website talking about the stories
behind the small and independent craft
brewers we also have beer and food
resources that is unmatched untouchable
and that's another big piece of our work
of 600 culinary institutions we're not
able to get one documented that has beer
education on the same level as wine so
kind of crazy there and so we have the
the resource that they could beef up
their curriculums from it and the public
has access to that as well and finally
what is the Great American Beer Festival
mean to you
it's like a national holiday you know
these guys hanging out or volunteers
there's more than 4,000 volunteers as I
said I started as one and this is you
know I think the main super bowl of beer
we have the competition going on behind
the scenes right now at eight thousand
plus beers
number one commercial competition in the
US is the Great American Beer Festival
competition most exciting part of the
whole week is the awards and seeing
who's deemed to make the best commercial
example of certain beer styles and I
love how the hall is set out by
geography the majority of beers made in
the US aren't distributed out of their
own state of origin so I can walk in the
hall and it's like a beer lover's dream
I can go to you know the southeast and
find beers that I would not normally get
and so you really have it all in one
place for three days now I made a point
of going to like the Tennessee Brewers
and like the Texas Brewers because I
just can't get that stuff in Pacific
Northwest so it's just it's a it's a
great yeah great great one ounce of time
greatness yeah well thank you so much
for your time I mean it's very busy so I
really appreciate your time to check me
yeah thank you back big thank you to
Julia for her time so that was day one
and it was a very very overwhelming
experience for me I just wasn't prepared
for the sheer size of it I mean I knew
it was a big festival but man 16,000
people a session and it was massive
there was over 3,800 beers being poured
and over 800 breweries participating it
was insane very much enjoyed it but it
is massive so the following morning I
was fortunate enough to be invited to
the Sam Adams brunch where there was a
great panel talking about what it means
to be independent and other challenges
facing the craft brewing industry in the
coming years
after the discussion I got a chance to
interview a few of the people that were
on the panel my name is Bart Watson and
chief economist at the Brewers
Association how long you been with the
VA over four years is my 50 ABF's oh
right blown by okay so the beer industry
we had a pretty good year didn't we you
know it depends on what part of the beer
industry you're looking at overall the
beer industry was as Jim Tommy I
shouldn't say flat it was stable dollar
sales are up a little bit since we are
seeing that premium ization going on and
the craft brewing community is having a
little bit better year a 6% growth last
year and 5% growth at mid year 2017 and
overall what is the economic impact last
year 2016 the economic impact was 68
billion dollars billion with the be
pretty tremendous and a jobs impact of
more than four hundred fifty six
thousand full-time equivalent jobs and
where in the country are we seeing the
most growth in terms of like openings
well we're seeing growth everywhere you
know that's that's the simple answer you
know as you get into it one of the
interesting things is that we haven't
really seen the catch up that everyone
keeps expecting that a lot of the
openings are still happening in the
states where there are a lot of
breweries so there's still a lot of
openings in places like Washington or
California we maybe have seen a little
bit of a slowdown in some of the really
leading edge States you know Colorado
Oregon where those per capita numbers
are super high but we're still seeing a
lot of very small breweries opening and
even you know very mature markets do you
have like a percentage of breweries that
have actually closed in the last year
it's been running very low so we've
typically been running you know 7080
closings a year I think that's gonna
rise a little bit this year but you know
out of the 6,000 green companies we were
still talking about a remarkably low
percentage of the breweries closing so
what's your speculation that would drive
that increase of shut down well some of
it is just a large numbers you know we
have 6,000 breweries so even if you're
still at the same percentage you know 3%
you know I mean you're gonna get 180
that close and so that numbers gonna
rise just as we have more businesses and
you know businesses fail for a whole
variety of reasons many of which have
nothing to do with the market and have
everything to do with the difficulty of
running a small business but we're also
in a more competitive place and so some
of the closures are gonna come in
markets like Denver or Portland OR
Seattle where it's crowded out there
right 10 years ago we saw it we see
these breweries that are
well-established now they have a huge
market reach in terms of their
distribution but the breweries that I've
been speaking with and been seeing
opening
seem to be like around the 7 barrel
range are we gonna see more of a trend
of the super hyper local brewery I think
we are and and that is still the vast
majority of four reefs in the country I
mean 75% of the breweries in the country
make less than a thousand barrels yeah
which is which is pretty tremendous in
75% of the breweries in the country
making less than 1% of the beer and you
know the markets crowded out there it's
hard to get it you know on the shelves
of the supermarket it's hard to get a
new tap handle and so you know a 7
barrel of 10 barrel you know that allows
you to be local nimble you know many of
them are focusing on selling a high
percentage of their beer directly after
tasting room or in you know very limited
local distribution and you know that
might be the right size for a lot of new
breweries to see where the market is for
their beers and you can always scale up
it's much harder to scale down yeah so
we're at the same Adams brunch you were
just on the panel one thing that came up
in the panel was how malt is gonna be
the new hops so is the BA doing anything
to help and support those industries and
where is that kind of focusing in the
country well I'm glad you asked that
because I think one of the things that's
you know under noticed in a BA program
that I love and is really important is
we're doing a lot more to fund you know
basic raw materials research so we have
we're giving out about a half a million
dollars in research grants a year and a
lot of those are going on the raw
material side particularly into malting
barley thinking about malting barley in
new ways you know most of the malting
barley in this country was developed
with the large furs in mind and if
you're making an all mall beer you may
be looking for slightly different
characteristics you know different
levels of proteins so we're certainly
trying to invest there I think a lot of
the innovation too is gonna come on the
malting side of the micro Moltar side
you know that's you know we're certainly
working with them you know trying to
help them understand the market and what
brewers want yeah like an example in the
Pacific Northwest for me Skagit Valley
moulting I'm not sure if you're aware of
them up there doing a great job yeah so
are we gonna see like more of those guys
do you think you know I think we'll see
more though you know it's a tough market
and I think there's a great space out
there for specialty malts I mean they're
also doing some interesting stuff with
you know ancient grains I mean they're
purple Egyptian variety that they're
using but you know to make the economics
work they're also gonna have to find
Brewers for interesting base malts and
the cost there is a challenge I mean
they're scale and malting as well so
we'll see how many can survive I think
there's gonna be a place you know as we
moved to this local Tap Room model
brewers who are making a little bit more
margin can look for things that
differentiate themselves on the raw
material
so that all local beer is something that
drives people to their brand to their
taproom so I think that space will grow
though how big it can get I think that's
an open question so how big of an impact
does the Pacific Northwest have on the
industry as a whole well I think you're
gonna see it's more in the Pacific
Northwest in another places because so
many of the raw materials are grown
there depending early yeah pending on
how far you extend the Pacific Northwest
I mean Idaho is the leading barley
growing state in the country now you
know in Washington also grows a lot of
barley and obviously the hops are
heavily concentrated in primarily
Washington but then secondarily Oregon
and Idaho and so that economic impacts
goes more there because you're getting
that supply chain and you know the hops
industry in the u.s. is now growers or
you know I think was a half billion
dollar crop last year which is the most
all-time and you know a lot of that
money is getting reinvested in new
trellis in new hop fields do you
homebrew at all occasionally not as much
as I like being on the road so much but
you know we get to homebrew it's work
which is one of the many perks of this
job and I'll try to think about the most
recent thing we made was but we make a
lot of fun stuff we're always pushing
the envelope we did a golden kind of
scotch you know al recently that was a
lot of fun and it's always fun to play
around with the system well thank you so
much for your time
wonderful thanks for at me my name is
Sarah Nelson I work at Fremont Brewing
and you were on the same Adams panel
this morning at the brunch how exciting
was that to be asked a Parton to be a
part of the panel I was thrilled to be
asked this it's a huge honor to
represent craft brewing to so many
people in the local and national media
yeah because it was it was really
focused on the independence and the
independent Brewers yeah I think you
guys did an excellent job of just
because it was various breweries from
around the country and you touched on
something that I think is is really big
in the Pacific Northwest and that is the
drive bit towards the independent
moulting how big of a factor is that for
you guys and do you see that growing in
our region at all in the next few years
yes so we are big supporters of the
Cascadia grains conference which brings
together brewers distillers bakers
anybody that uses grains we're trying to
ultimately grow the grains economy west
of the Cascade
because before prohibition it was that
was a major crop and then didn't happen
and Kent turned into warehouses and then
tulips and whatever else in there so
there are reasons why we want to
revitalize it number one it's an
economic generator it gives it gives
farmers one more crop it fixes the soil
it's good for many reasons on an
ecological basis
it's also another way that we can
innovate
like I said mulch is the new pop you
know when you consider that the
percentage of hops in a beer glass is
much less than the malts we need to
really explore more flavor profiles of
malt it's more subtle but it's very
important and so that means supporting
local maltsters there's Skagit Valley
mulching that we work with that this
great job for us and we're seeing that
model pop up across the country it also
finally there is sustainability angle
because it means that we're not bringing
our heavy malts from long distances so
the ultimate goal for you is you'd want
to be like the hundred mile brewery
right where all your ingredients the
source within 100 miles
I think jazz borderline because a local
flavor and its people want to know where
their food comes from and they will care
more about in pain form or ingredients
or products made with ingredients that
are close by and it supports smaller
farmers instead of the big agribusiness
and I don't
I hate stereotyping but I think it does
play a role like us in the Pacific
Northwest there is a culture of we
really want to know where our food comes
and and how are we not damaging our
environment because we live in a very
precious environment do you see that
trend kind of like going across the
country as well with some other
breweries I think that it all depends on
the climate and where are these crops
can be grown but yes I do think that
well you just see the organ
gross across the country so I do think
that there is a desire for more
sustainable agricultural practices and
in some communities that's gonna take
hold faster and stronger than in other
communities it really depends on
educating the consumer and way Fremont
brewing we are not doing a very good job
of educating our consumer about why we
are using Skagit grain why that might
might be a dollar more you just like
there's so many things to do in a
brewery
sometimes the marketing and explaining
no takes backseat
and I think once the consumer does learn
the fact of like this came from Skagit
Valley which is just basically on your
doorstep in comparison to where most the
other grain comes from I think they
would be willing to pay that extra
dollar knowing that it is going back to
their local business right right and one
of our beers are coming to Canyon fresh
hop ale that was a delicious beer
salmon's sake the first salmon sake here
in Washington and you would get it
organic certified except for it should
be but the point is that those things
matter to consumers as well but you know
there is no decal for what I'm talking
about with the Skagit grain so it just
depends on you know taking the time and
putting the resources into teaching and
I have to say excellent running all the
fresh hops this year they're very
beautiful this year so how long have you
been coming to the Great American Beer
Festival gosh so max my husband has been
going ever since probably 2010 I came
two years ago and we tend to switch off
CBC and gif unless we can get grandma to
see with our two kids for several days
so it was my year to come here how
important is this festival and event
both everything surrounding it for you
as that brewery owner you know that's an
interesting question because because
people come from all over the country
and we're not distributed in a lot of
places so tasting our beer might be a
thrill but you know they might not be
able to get it into their hometown so
terms of growing our market I you know I
don't know if this is the the best venue
but it's it's great for my Brewers and
and my other staff to just meet other
people in the industry I think it's
great for our cohesiveness they learn
things and it's the informal
relationships that happen at this event
that are the highest value
have you had any collaborations come out
of it you know they're probably talking
about it at the at our booth that I
don't know but we always do the meet the
producer booth so we always want to talk
to our folks which is requires a lot of
staffing be there the whole time so it's
it's expensive and it's labor intensive
but that's what we want to do we don't
want somebody else to pour a beer we
want to pour it ourselves and interact
we've won awards I don't know if we'll
win award this time I think that you
know maybe one of our fresh hops has a
good chance but we'll see well thank you
so much for your time and I'm looking
forward to finally coming down and
visiting you and doing a proper episode
I mean I've been to Fremont before but
not in a professional capacity with the
podcast but but thank you so much for
your time thank you very much all right
day two here we go Great American Beer
Festival 2017 all right your name sir
Billy McDivitt and where are you from
Longmont Colorado
I'm with open door Brewing Company and
how long you been open our Tabram has
been open a little over six months but
we got beer out in the market for just
under two years now right and why are
you at JB uh well we have always been a
brewery that likes to get out and talk
to our our buyers the people that are
out there in the marketplace and what a
better place than to be out of GA VF and
get to talk to thousands of people at
once
so what are we boring today is this your
core lineup yes yes what we've got is
libertas which is our rye Cream Ale and
then we've got short-arm which is our
IPA and then over the moon which is a
vanilla milk stout and then later
tonight we're going to release our
citrus horse Rex which is a New England
style IPA and a little later after that
we're gonna have a chole which is a
hoppy wheat cool and you told me a
little story about over the moon what's
the key ingredient there well so it's a
vanilla milk stout and right now the
price of vanilla is shot through the
roof so it used to only cost us maybe a
few hundred dollars to do it and this
year right now if we were to redo that
beer would cost almost
teen hundred dollars just for the
vanilla you're gonna buy property
sometimes una for a vanilla plantation
I'm looking at Madagascar in Fiji
alright and anything you're looking
forward to at the festival do you if you
get a chance to go out and around yeah I
it's one of those things where everybody
comes from all over the country and so
I'd love to go to the places like the
North West in the New England area where
we don't get a lot of their beers out
here and try some of the smaller ones
where this might be the only place I
ever get to try them unless I get the
chance to travel alright well hopefully
I can come and visit you guys someday
what love it thanks Aaron all right
Thank You Kyle Sherwood and who you
representing I'm from warm Town brewery
from Worcester Massachusetts and how
long you guys been pouring out jbf so
we've been here a couple of years we've
been around since 2010 but we've been
here for the last couple of years we
started to get a little more involved as
we've gone along our brewmasters been
judging the last two years we've been
pouring for a little longer than that
right so I tried you're a bottle rocket
Pale Ale that was delicious what's
what's involved with that so it's really
cool it's a rye base Pale Ale which I
think could be a little scary for some
people cuz where I can get really
abrasive but we match it up with a
really nice hot profile with some mosaic
alvarado and flips on there she get some
really nice spice and tangy notes
upfront and then really nice grapefruit
mango and even a touch like pear pizza
to the back end of it so I'm from the
Pacific Northwest so I have to ask you
what beers do you like from the Pacific
Northwest and have you had a chance to
try any so to be honest not a lot gets
out to us out in Massachusetts there is
some awesome stuff out there and
whenever we go out there you know for
hops legs or anything we always try to
bring some delicious stuff back but I'd
be more than anything I'm just super
jealous if you guys mean so close to all
those delicious hops and obviously all
the amazing beer that comes out but just
having access to all of those hop barns
right there it's amazing and it's just
something that makes me super jealous so
we have hops we also have lots of malt
fields do you have any local malt where
you guys are yeah so we actually are a
little unofficial official slogan is a
piece of mass in every glass there's
something from Massachusetts in every
one of our viewers and so we work really
closely with a malt farm out Hadley
Massachusetts called Valley malt
which just really really has taken off
it's doing a lot of great things but we
also work with some hop farms a lot of
other local businesses farms things like
that in the area all right well thank
you very much for your your time
No thank you man have a good time okay
I'll do Danny Johnson and what is your
role and what are you showing here well
I work at Pico brew and my role I'm the
brew master and residents and so I do a
lot of our deep brewing for our products
as I'm attic and then also I run the
furry Partnership Program we have with
the Pico you have a Pico see and a picot
Pro so we worked with breweries and get
a recipe from them and scale it down and
we put it into Pico pack so people can
groom for refresh all over the world and
you guys are based out of Seattle all
right we are yes and how long have you
been a company for it I've been people
brew wait this is my this weekend
actually is my fourth anniversary of
getting to know the people pick a group
formally in January for years can't
believe it whoo so the Pico brew what is
the system and who's it for
well the cymatic that we have which is
our first product is our flagship and
those are for home brewers some Humber's
that are more advanced looking to scale
down and then also for first-time home
brewers it works really well but the
whole peekaboo technology is automating
the brew process so like a large brewery
taking at automation and scaling it down
so you can have it on your kitchen
counter you want but
automation is consistency and so that's
what we really try to do the old Pico
brew was born out of our founders the
brothers bill and Jim and there you know
there were fears are never the same and
if you're a real dedicated home brewer
that's what you're always striving for I
want to make this fair again and again
some people just can't do that or they
just can't for whatever reason there's a
variety of reasons
but this really helps him and I think
the main part that plays in that is it's
a closed system right exactly exactly
and then our other part of our new
products EcoPro and pickups II take it
down for more than thighs so that's the
one we use our brewery partners but
again people have the ability to do a
freestyle version and then make their
own beer and then we also have our
newest product which is our still which
we really like supercool works with all
of our products so these recipe packs
they you can get from coast-to-coast
right for Brewers or and what expansion
plans are at that for the recipe packs
right our picot packs are available on
our website which we call brew
marketplace and our machines are sold
all over the world so it doesn't matter
where you live you can go through the
variety of breweries that we have we
have just under 200 now each breweries
gives us about two to three recipes and
then they can use all of any of those we
make a month fresh at our factory in
redmond just south of Seattle but will
also be unveiling a program in the next
couple of weeks for home brewers where
they people that own the cymatic can
have picot packs made up and release
those to other beer enthusiasts and hers
all over the world so we have about six
hundred and eighty of them so it's
really cool awesome so how long have you
been a home brewer how long have you
been a brewer 1998 was my first lousy
batch of brown ale yeah was back why I
wasn't terrible but it wasn't it wasn't
have you worked for any breweries I have
a couple there was one in Sacramento I
did and that was called brew it up and
then also in Seattle I worked for a
little while and
bird I'm just a little too busy but
brewing hasn't always been my career out
of extensive career with the California
Legislature for 20 years but now my
hobbies might is my career so it's
pretty cool all right well thank you so
much that's awesome to see you I'm
Gordon where are you from Pittsburgh
Hill and it's it's a pretty big place so
how do you find your friends
oh I don't call them friends I am with
friend of a podcast it's always nice to
see a familiar face in the crowd
nice to see you again correct yeah nice
to see you too Erin thanks yeah so
rooftop brewing you guys aren't pouring
here you're just here for fun right well
we're here we're you know we participate
in the competition and honestly we're
just here as our first year trying to
check things out and see what it's all
about right this is my first year - so
how's your experience been we've had a
lot of fun for sure there's a lot of
beer here and there's a lot of people
here in the beer industry and it's fun
to talk to all of them and find out what
people are doing in different regions
around the country yeah I got pretty
overwhelmed when the doors open
yesterday and everybody just swarmed in
so it's a sensory overload for sure in
every facet people watching beer and
yeah it's it's pretty much non-stop so
since I spoke with you house rooftop
going rooftops going well I you know
we've had a very busy summer Seattle had
a very sunny summer which is good when
you have a rooftop deck yeah exactly
was it packed almost every night yeah I
mean when the Sun was out we had a lot
of people on the deck for sure all right
so what are the two beers that you
entered in the competition this year we
entered a few beers in the competition
are bragging which is caught the hop and
honey are our third anniversary beer
which is a barrel aged Belgian quad and
our cafe la dro inspired Pale Ale it's
infused with with cold brewed coffee
from cafe la drew so we're talking on
Friday night the awards are tomorrow so
best of luck to you for that thank you
and yes what has any beer who really
stood out for you from the festival a
lot of it has really stood out you know
it's the the problem with a festival
this large is it's hard to remember what
you have especially when there 1 ounce
pours and their unlimited
yeah I've been taking more notes on kind
of things I want to try and and and new
things I want to do the brewers lap is
really interesting
they bring brewers in we're doing some
different things yeah and so you get to
talk to them and find out what what
they're doing and how they're doing it
and you know can bring some of those
ideas back to Seattle at the rooftop and
you know especially a lot of the boots
and the marketing that goes on here it's
pretty impressive and so it gives you a
lot of ideas all right well thank you
very much great see ya Thank You Erin
alright the end of day two on the final
day of the Great American Beer Festival
I attended the award ceremony in the
morning and I have to say big
congratulations to friends of the
podcast chucking up brewing who took out
two gold medals wander brewing who also
took home the gold medal and also taking
home a medal was ground breaker brewing
so if you want to check out their
episodes go to the website at Cascadian
dot beer all right day three the final
day of the Great American Beer Festival
2017 and it was a great day and
especially since we could celebrate with
the winners from the awards with
somebody I met on Wednesday at the pink
boot Society your name is Erin Hamrick
and who are you representing I am with
dry-docked Brewing Company and you are
the odd brewery because you don't have a
significant body of water around you so
why are you called the drydock no and
actually it stems from one of the owners
really likes nautical history and
everything and when they they started
with a home brew shop and then we
started and then started making beer and
that's where it's stuck so I forgot to
ask where are you guys from
we're in Aurora Colorado and you want a
medal today we did we wanted silver for
the Pilsner and how excited were you
it's so excited and it's also good when
the owners can you know get up off their
seat that they've been on the edge of
for the whole award ceremony it's a
little sigh of relief was that a
category that you were really hoping for
yes so Pilsner we don't currently can
but it's definitely on the list so maybe
by next year it will be we never know
alright so how long have you been with
drydock just since me Wow how long have
you been with beer so I've been in
I started in the homebrew industry with
Luckman engineering for about two and a
half years and then I just came on at
dry dock in Maine so cool and what's a
favorite thing you like to brew I like
to brew let's see saison got a favorite
flavor of saison I don't I don't know
the last one I did was a pumpkin but
they'll hold it against me I did hear
that one guy in the award that the award
the pumpkin category so have you got the
chance to try anything from around the
floor yes I have had some opportunity to
get around the floor today I'll really
get to I pour first so that I can they
can go try everything but there's so
much to try it's overwhelming
so because I'm from the Pacific
Northwest I have to ask you what do you
know about the Pacific Northwest in
terms of beer and do you have a favorite
really likes ours so I definitely went
by rare barrel see try and think of a
couple other I can't even remember the
other ones but I spent a lot of time on
sours in that area and I do have to
mention friends of the podcast Chuck a
nut they won gold medal for their
kölsch
and the Dunkel lager they're pouring
over there so definitely check that out
yeah we'll go over there and in a
business gets a definitely irate well
thank you have a great night
all right thank you all right your name
sir Steve and what brewery are you
representing Gatlinburg Brewing Company
where are you guys from Gatlinburg
Tennessee this your first time at JB oh
absolutely
how's the experience been it's uh it's
been overwhelming but we're getting it
are you almost out of beer or you're
doing pretty good we're getting close
how's the response been from the people
that have been coming in trying your
beer it's been very positive what do you
guys tend to focus on really there is no
focus man we just make what people
essence to make make good beer yeah
what's your favorite that you pour in
here the Holland ooh it's a Scott chill
goal and how long have you been making
that I'm actually not very long probably
less than a month or so
all right well thank you very much for
your time and yeah thanks for it thanks
for being here your beers have been
great thanks man I appreciate it
Tim winning for the jets farm
barrelhouse and congratulations you won
we did yeah it's been awesome so far so
people loving the beer and that's one of
our kind of staple Brett beers from that
for a while so yeah what's the name of
it
fancy-pants we're on version five in the
tap room right now version four one gold
and we're gonna keep going up from here
so where are you guys based out of it
we're up in Fort Collins got em on the
east side of town we're about two years
old and one hundred thirty year old barn
so come check us out how long you been
open just going on two years in November
golden this is your first day a beer
first pouring second entering and first
metal so we're stoked congratulations
man thanks a lot dude thanks Cheers your
name sir Kyle spoon and who you
representing Sun River Brewing Company
and where are you guys located just
south of Bend Oregon Central Oregon so
you had a big day today yes we we hauled
in two gold medals and small brewery of
the year so right and what did you win
the medals for we won four plus tail
which is our American style wheat beer
with yeast as the category I think was
just over 50 entries won gold medal with
that one and then we won gold with
cinder beasts Imperial red ale big high
hops ten percent ABV 100 IV you monster
beer so and then yeah small brewery year
so how long you guys been open we're on
to year five and how long have you been
coming to jbf three years now first year
didn't win anything last year won a
silver medal in strong pale category
with rippin our North West Dale and then
this year obviously kind of exceeded our
expectations just a little bit yeah
totally totally
because yeah there's so many breweries
participating so well done for you guys
for taking the medals out and Oliver
hurry of the year as well yeah thank you
very much it's a huge honor obviously a
super humbling and I were just happy to
be here around invest industry in the
world in my opinion so Cheers yeah
absolutely thanks
my name is Ryan Heath nur and who you're
representing I am with no de barranca me
that's an Oda brewing out of Charlotte
North Carolina and how many years have
you been coming to J ABF this is my
second year at JB up we've been open for
six years on the 29th and they come in
every year since and we met each other
this morning up the awards we sat next
to each other and you had a you had a
couple beers in the categories but
unfortunately you didn't take one this
year we did not but that's okay we've
been lucky enough to medal a couple of
years this year was not our year but
we'll be back next year no problem but
your fellow statement and North Carolina
sure did a good job how many how many
how many medals went out in for North
Carolina so we have 14 medals for the
state of North Carolina this year last
year we had 17 which is by far the most
our state at ever won but to have 14
this year is still conserve the awesome
considering a couple years before that
we had six max so to see where our state
has come in such a short time is
incredible I would like to point out
that the year before our burry had
meddled in the urban spice category we
got a gold medal for that we were not
letting up to get one this year but our
good friends at new saram who are only a
couple booths out from us managed to get
the gold in that exact same category so
I'm super proud of those guys absolutely
phenomenal great beers coming out of our
state we're very happy for that so
what's the future for North Carolina
beer I think right now a lot of our
breweries are centered on a movement
against some lobbyists and the state
where we're trying to raise the amount
of beer that we can self distribute as a
brewery so but a lot of briolette around
is in all states but as far as armor is
concerned we have a 25,000 barrel cap
meaning once you hit 25,000 barrels you
can no longer self distribute meaning
if you have established yourself for
growing your own sales your own accounts
and all those leads if you go over a
certain maximum percentage of production
you have to sell out to a distributor
for what that means for us in North
Carolina it means that we have to sell
out to a distributor who's most likely
run by a BMF we don't like that as for
our brewery in particular we have our
own sales team our own delivery drivers
if we were to sell to a distributor
those guys would lose their jobs we
would then be having to rely on a
distributor to come pick up beer from us
take you to another warehouse and then
take it to the guys that are around the
corner from us so we're fighting to
raise that bar attorney attorney here in
North Carolina is Kraft freedom and it's
something we are pushing for against the
lobbyists and really helping to raise
the bar with you know I the last time I
was here was four years ago we had a
little of our hunter breweries now we
have close to 300 degrees and it's just
astounding what's going on in our state
and what's growing I mean we had guys
metal this year that I'd never even
heard of before so it's really cool to
see what we're producing in the state of
North Carolina and because I'm from the
Pacific Northwest I have to ask what's a
favorite Pacific Northwest beer my
favorite one well actually we're very
good friends as a brewery with the break
side guys and those guys metal the heck
out of this competition they killed it
they killed it this year they've done
very well years before and it was really
awesome to see them win I mean it's
stellar IPAs they've actually been
inspiration for a number of our beers
and a lot of what we do at noda Brewing
Company so very happy to see what
they're doing so break sides really
awesome we love those guys a lot all
right well thank you so much yeah Thank
You Man
- see you guys in your podcast thank you
for
all the way over here on the southeast
side it's just so great that everybody's
in the same building and we just get to
meet everybody oh absolutely very good
very cool
now let's so so we've we've had a couple
beers now yes sir I mean your beers are
delicious I'm having it for the first
time my first beer from North Carolina
actually so then oh that is that is
really touching to hear head I really
appreciate that
I loved your hurt beer man that mojito
inspired beer
yeah so that no de hito is what we call
it was not familiar nota is a community
in Charlotte that our brewery is named
after and our Brewers were like wouldn't
it be funny to make a mojito inspired
beer heck yeah let's do it
so as almost a joke and we ended it last
year in the urban spice category one
gold medal for it and just blew us away
and this year our friends at new saram
won the gold for the exact same category
for their lemon balm and beet sweet
which we just had as well just that
incredible fantastic and that's kind of
what I wanted to kind of leave on was to
say you know part of coming in this
festival it's not about winning awards
it's being enamored by the industry it's
being inspired by your your huge kind of
cohorts like we have over 800 different
companies all making the same product
and with nearly four thousand beers four
thousand beers and none of us feel like
competitors we all feel like we're here
to feed off of each other and to inspire
each other and that's one thing our head
burger talked about coming out here he
said when you go out here just be
inspired be ready to come back and say
okay now let's make this awesome thing
this was great about craft beer industry
- is there is never a run out of ideas
you're never gonna be like what we've
done it all because somebody's gonna
have something else that you've never
I had never thought that lemon bald and
beets would be an awesome thing to put
into a beer my eyes a gold medal and
look much less a gold medal and the same
thing that I never thought mint and lime
going into a witbier would do so it's
just it's absolutely astounding to be
just surrounded by all these people from
west coast to East Coast that you're
just like this is this is our nation
this is this is an industry that prides
itself by collaboration and camaraderie
and there's there's no sense of you know
malice towards anybody we're all here
for the same goal and let's just make
damn good beer and to just enjoy each
other's stuff so it's really awesome to
be out here and just meet everybody
involved yeah and like at the awards
today like I noticed like the really
small breweries ended up getting the
biggest cheers because yeah because you
know everybody knows their struggle and
everything and to pull it off I'm a
national competition and really cool on
a day like today you get to walk around
and you get to see all the beers that
metals they need to go up and meet those
birds and say hey you made a damn good
thing you kicked ass so it is a mad dash
because a lot of the gold medals are
running out so you know we're kind of
lucky enough that you know we brought a
little extra here today and we're just
uh we're just just loving being here
being a part of show all right it's time
for more beer
absolutely we're beer let's do it all
right your name sir Mack Cummings and
how long you've been a volunteer here
this is my sixth year and where are you
from I live in Bellevue Washington right
now and Denver before that so that's
that's why you volunteered because it
was the local event for you you know we
all volunteer because all of the parents
on the kids soccer team they're all here
volunteering and so it's just a very
communal event for everybody what does
it do to the city when you didn't live
here in Denver like was there a
different vibe when this was coming
in the city oh yeah so the whole city
transforms from about four or five days
before to two or three days after and
everybody just talks about local beer
and family and they bring their dogs out
and it's just really communal event so
what's your favorite part about the
festival oh my favorite part is probably
the half hour before till about three
hours in so everybody comes in they're
super excited they're all trying beer
they've never had from all over the
country everybody wears crazy outfits
and just has a really good time is there
a standout beer for you this time around
so I am very parochial about the
Colorado beers so for me it's all about
Great Divide Yeti and the whole offshoot
and left hands Milk Stout and probably
honestly like O'Dell mercenary and Scott
motors haparanda and a few of those
right well thank you so much and thank
you for volunteering as well and making
this event happen awesome thank you
what's your name
Brian and where you from black bottle
brewery and where you located Fort
Collins Colorado how long you've been
open almost five years now and what do
you specialize in sir everything
everything honestly everything we do
everything from barrel-aged hours to
cereal milk stouts to American IPAs to
Belgian triples yeah everything how long
you become to jbf as the festival is our
fifth year for myself fourth year cool
and what are you boring today because I
just had something very tasty for me
what was that we are pouring our German
style culture which won bronze two years
ago at the Great American Beer Festival
our Belgian Tripel which won silver last
year at J BIA and we also have a tart
cherry raspberry lambic and a dry hopped
Brett barrel aged sour as well as our
program which is a licked and Heiner it
won silver this year and for the program
style sweet and housework Collins
because I've actually had a lot of beer
from Fort Collins while I've been here
like what's the beer scene like in Fort
Collins the beers team is blowing up and
reaching everyday like you can't get
better you can't go anywhere else in the
country for better beer than everyday as
you what you're into get in Fort Collins
right and because I'm from this Pacific
Northwest what beers do you like for in
the Pacific Northwest
oh man you put them in the spot they're
gigantic from Portland I absolutely love
gigantic the gin barrel aids double IPA
you can't be that one so for me they go
you might go to every time if I could
well thank you very much you're welcome
John Hawkins and who are you
representing here with Bandhan Brewing
Company this your first year here huh it
is pretty exciting especially tonight as
you can hear in the background it's a
little bit off the hook so we recorded
an episode together a couple days ago
and that'll be coming out soon but just
briefly how long have you been open for
so the brewery itself we actually just
had our Grand Opening about a month and
a half ago it's been a long process I
think anybody who's been through it and
give testimony to the challenges we
certainly tried hard to meet our
deadlines but boy there's always
something that comes up that delays you
or spins you backwards for a little bit
all that overcome we had a restaurant
open a year ago and we had our brewery
grand opening so how's this festival
event for you how's it treated you
fantastic again I'm just floored by the
collaborative spirit of the whole
industry it's been a great opportunity
to meet people to get a whole lot of
feedback and even share some ideas with
some other Brewers we can do some nice
collabs it's really been a lot of fun
looking forward to coming back next year
with both guns loaded so have you had a
chance to try much what stands out for
you boy I'll tell you I fell in love
with a few showers that I probably
otherwise would not have thought to brew
myself some pretty creative folks out
there doing some on the edge brews I
look forward to experimenting a little
bit more and getting out of the shell of
it so you've only been open a month I
have you run out of beer here at the
festival funny you would ask we are
literally our last gag there is floating
now so next year
we're either gonna pour samples or bring
more beer whichever they'll let us do
and on our upcoming episode you talked a
lot about your IPA and that was the
first night that we recorded that I came
here finally found you guys near the
tonight and I said hey man what about
that beer we talked about and you said
too late yeah we're looking forward to
next year we'll see if we can get a
couple more kegs on the wagon and see if
we can carry that IPA through the end of
the session
all right so how could people find out
more about you if they want to come down
to visit you know we're down Southern
Oregon
Bandon it's a beautiful little spot
especially if you like golf our website
is pretty easy Band and Brewing Co calm
they can look that up probably about the
easiest way to find us thank you so much
yeah thank you I'm Dylan chops to brew
master of matter of a brewing and where
are you guys located we are in Humboldt
County California about five and a half
hours for San Francisco by our South to
work a border right on the coast I met
you guys last night at our hotel bar and
I did the research you're technically
part of Cascadia this is true we can
also be the easy part of Jefferson state
a food like food okay so how long do you
guys been open we were founded in 1989
Bob Smith was her family's home brewer
out of Chico moved up to Humboldt County
wanted open a brewery he bought the
original Sierra Nevada system from Ken
Grossman we started on that we've been
brewing ever since and I mean you showed
me photos of that last night and like
that's it it's a very impressive system
to say believe oh yeah most
labor-intensive tea you ever seen but it
also pays to be the best beer you've
around
we won Heinz GBF medals with that system
so how long you become into jbf
personally this is my ninth consecutive
year as a brewery we have entered for 12
years and what stands out for you a
happy I had a chance to try much around
around the festival this year yeah no
absolutely are you getting around a
little bit
what stands out for me more than just
Auto beer that's here is the Brewers and
camaraderie that we have getting to see
these guys again you know just get in
touch shop you know try to stop just
have a good time you know it's like it's
great to catch up with everybody so what
would be a quick tip for somebody that's
home brewing to make better beer keep it
clean sanitation above all y'all just
keep it clean so how can guys find you
if they want to come visit you
you take the 101 north or south we are
four door right before you hit the water
water right there right near arica as
well right yeah you read Kirk in a
humble state universities for a sexual
location to us we have a lot of students
come in but yeah we're right there and
if you're ever in Humboldt County well
just come see us we have six breweries
public ality always have a 45-minute
Drive of each other so bad River redwood
curtain six rivers Eel River Lost Coast
come on by CSR thank you so much man
absolutely thank you all right there are
way too many people to thank here so
I'll just a thank you so much to
everybody that I met during the Great
American Beer Festival in Denver it was
truly an amazing experience and I had
such a great time I want to give a
special shout out to Lindsey as well she
was looking after the media team and so
big thanks to her for keeping us all
organized and being really informative
really nice to work with you Lindsey so
thank you all so a big shout out to the
Brewers Association for putting on the
event and the hundreds of volunteers
that made it possible thank you very
much everybody
if this is your first time here why not
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while at the Great American Beer
Festival I also bring recorded a lot of
other episodes with some breweries and
those will be coming out in the coming
weeks so be sure your subscribe so you
don't miss an episode
my name is Aaron and thank you so much
again for listening I know this is the
longest episode I've done but there is
just so much to cover over three days so
thank you so much for listening until
next time remember support your local
