Host Ben Rice travels to Nixtaco Taqueria in Roseville, CA, to host Danksgiving with Nixtaco owner Patricio Wise and special guests Zak Souza and Ismael Alarcon. While sipping on some IPA's, we discuss labor laws that leave your favorite restaurants closed on Mondays, what makes a good and bad dank IPA, the importance of good labeling and logos in beer, how to properly fry a turkey, why Patricio is the Lord of Rice, and what we're dankful for in the year 2017. Enjoy! Follow Nixtaco pn social med...
Nov 25, 2017•1 hr 40 min
Host Ben Rice travels to Windsor, CA with guest Steve Ausburne of Barrel Proof Comedy Podcast to sit down with Daniel Weber and Wes Deal of Barrel Brothers Brewing Company to discuss their first year in business and their plans to expansion. We take a few sidebars down some unsavory paths before coming out clean on the other side, thanks to some double-filtered, two-ply assistants. Then we get into their bottling and canning side, how to properly and improperly barrel a beer, and what goes into ...
Nov 06, 2017•1 hr 11 min
Host Ben Rice visits the new Tilted Mash Brewing location to sit down with owners Derrick Prasad and Jonathan Martinez, along with guest Keith Lowell Jensen, to talk coffee and Tilted Mash's recent relocation. Things go sideways, as Ben chose to record during their twice-monthly comedy show Tilted Mashterpiece Theatre, as every comic on the bill (Shahera Hyatt, Diego Curiel, and Christy Farley) pops on the mic, as do Kyle and Kady, the beertenders. Keith has his first alcoholic beverage in years...
Oct 23, 2017•1 hr 46 min
Host Ben Rice travels to the 2017 California Craft Beer Summit to suss out interviews from attendees. In this episode, there are 5 separate interview segments. In segment 1, he speaks with Naiche Minor & John Hutchings from Fall River Brewing and Kyle Leddy from New Glory Brewing about their recent collaboration and their review of the first day on the expo floor for the summit, as well as the Fall River airplane. In segment 2, Ben sits down with Pat Fahey, the content director for the Cicer...
Sep 20, 2017•1 hr 14 min
Host Ben Rice sits down with beer know-it-all Dan Scott, Capital Beer and Taproom's Peter Halldorf, and YOLO Brewing's David Weiss to discuss the recent closings of Rubicon and American River Brewing Companies, plus tell their favorite stories about experiences with these breweries. We touch a little bit on causation, but this episode is about celebrating the time they were with us and our hopes for the future, should a buyer come about. Plus Ben talks about how much of an asshole he used to be ...
Aug 27, 2017•1 hr 19 min
Host Ben Rice travels to San Leandro to speak with Cleophus Quealy's owner/brewer Dan Watson, along with Bay Area comedian Chad Opitz. The man with the best beer joke in the biz talks about getting his start in high school drama, moving into the thrilling world of odd-ball music in Seattle, then taking up stand-up in the weirdo town of Santa Cruz, while Dan talks about his early love of European beers that led him to start up a small brewery in California, with a concentration on flavors pulled ...
Aug 09, 2017•1 hr 36 min
Host Ben Rice travels to Alameda, CA, to sip on suds and take in the gorgeous scenery of Faction Brewing, along with their owner/head brewer Rodger Davis and special guest, comedian DJ Sandhu. We talk about the trials of surviving in the Bay Area given the tech boom, start-up brewery costs, the band Tool, how The Grateful Dead got Rodger into brewing, and Ales for ALS, which is taking place at Faction Brewing on Saturday, July 22, 2017. This episode was also filmed and is available to view on Yo...
Jul 21, 2017•38 min
On this episode of Barley & Me, host Ben Rice visits upcoming Rocklin, CA, brewery Moksa Brewing and speaks with owners Nu Boonkham and Scott Williams, as well as head brewer Corey Meyer (previously of New Glory Brewing) and also with special guest Rebecca Steele-Wilkie, owner of Cuvee Marketing and creator of the Instagram account Art of the Jockey Box, to talk about the expectations for Moksa, the surprising difficulties in opening a brewery at a location where another brewery used to exis...
Jul 18, 2017•1 hr 8 min
Host Ben Rice travels to Nevada City with guest and renowned beer judge "Big Mike" Moore to talk shop with Jim & Simon of Ol' Republic Brewing. Ol' Republic specializes in European style ales and lagers. We talk about their early years, as they grew their brand in a world dominated by hop-heavy beer. Plus they let us know how they came up with the name for their award-winning Dortmunder Export Lager, "Dead Canary." Jim & Simon regale us for over an hour with successes both anticipated an...
Jul 03, 2017•1 hr 37 min
On episode 47, host Ben Rice visits an undisclosed location to talk about the state of the beer union. With him are Andy Armstrong of American River Brewing, his wife Lea, Kyle Leddy of Moonraker Brewing, his wife Claire, his daughter Olive, and Sacramento Beer Group founder Chris Guthrie. We talk about the Lagunitas and Wicked Weed buyouts, AB InBev's purchase of the entirety of the South African hop crop, and the future of the beleaguered 12 Rounds Brewing in Sacramento. PLUS Ben sings some me...
Jun 02, 2017•1 hr 23 min
Host Ben Rice travels to Rancho Cordova, CA, to visit its newest brewery, Fort Rock Brewing, to chat with owner/head brewer Tom Fuquay and special guest Joyce Tayag of Tommy T's Comedy Club (located in the same building, what a tie in!). We'll discuss the trials and tribulations of an upstart brewery with no commercial brewing experience, plus the resurrection of Tommy T's. Listen up as we talk beer history, as well as what beer really is, when you break it down in scientific terms (the answer.....
May 11, 2017•1 hr 46 min
We're back! Episode 45 finds host Ben Rice at Drake's Brewing in San Leandro, chatting with comedian Jason Cole and head brewer John Gillooly. This episode is a dream, as we spin off on frenzied tangents for nearly two hours, imparting opinions, stories, history lessons, and a metric ton of brewing facts and tips. Plus we talk about Drake's recent expansion into Oakland and their upcoming expansion into Sacramento. To quote a review of Drake's food selections, "it's better than it needs to be." ...
Apr 13, 2017•1 hr 53 min
Sactown Union's Quinn Gardner leads a panel discussion on Opening Night of Sacramento Beer Week 2017. featuring a panel of some of the greatest pioneers of the Northern California beer scene. Listen, as Dr. Charlie Bamforth (UC Davis), Barbara Groom (Lost Coast Brewery), Judy Ashworth (Lyons Brewery Depot), Shaun O'Sullivan (21st Amendment Brewing), John Martin (Triple Rock, Drake's Brewing), and Michael Barker (Sactown Union) discuss what craft brewing is (and isn't), what role craft beer plays...
Mar 04, 2017•1 hr 15 min
Host Ben Rice sits down with comedian Dorian Foster to test out his sound equipment, nearly 6 months before recording the first ever episode of a beer podcast that would come to be known as Barley & Me. Never intended for release, we bring this to you, because SF and Sacramento Beer Week make all brewers way too busy to take some time to talk to me about beer. So here it is: the unreleased, demo tracks you never knew you wanted! We do a bottle share in host Ben Rice's apartment and talk BUI'...
Feb 22, 2017•1 hr 14 min
Host Ben Rice makes his second appearance at the Art of Beer Invitational. This will be either episode 43 of Barley & Me or Episode 1 of BarLeddy & Me, as Moonraker's Kyle Leddy takes over co-hosting duties midway through. Join us as we chat with Serious Talk Seriously's Johnny Flores (with Kyle and his wife Claire acting as co-guests!), then we speak with Elisia Gonzales and Delayna Fitzgerald of Eat Farm To Fork, before creating an impromptu beer roundtable with Kyle and Claire (again!...
Feb 07, 2017•1 hr 37 min
Host Ben Rice sits down with event directors Jennifer Land Irwin (Art of Beer, January 27) and Kate Whelan (Sacramento Beer Week, March 2-March 12) to discuss the ins and outs of planning major beer events, while sipping on Christmas ales at Sacramento's Hideaway Bar & Grill, a lovely dive bar on Franklin Blvd. We get into the nitty gritty of event planning, the triumphs and tribulations, plus the differences in a one-night only event at one location versus a week-and-a-half long excursion a...
Jan 24, 2017•1 hr 31 min
Host Ben Rice conducts a Christmas bottle share with some comedian friends at West Sacramento restaurant Sail Inn Grotto. Guests Stephen Furey (The Comedy Store), Garrett Boatman (retired), Luke Soin (Epic Tiki and The Sexy Podcast), Emma Haney (Fem Dom Com), and Becky Lynn (Hot Drunk Sets) join us, with Stephen Furey leading the charge as we rate the best and worst of: Candy! Cookies! White Elephant Gifts! Beer! Plus Garrett and Ben beef with BevMo, Luke explains how he learned to be intolerant...
Jan 10, 2017•1 hr 5 min
Host Ben Rice and guest Becky Lynn celebrate their anniver-soury by traveling to Portland, Oregon, and visiting world-renowned sour beer brewery Cascade Brewing. So why not do a podcast? We chat with brewery manager Grant Ritchie, blender Kevin Martin, and head brewer Mike Mathis about what separates sour brewing from typical beer brewing. Plus! Beers that got us into beer, making friends through beer, and beer enthusiasm versus beer snobbery. Plus even more (sour) beer puns and we even go in de...
Dec 28, 2016•1 hr 2 min
Host Ben Rice vists East Sacramento sandwich shop The Shack with comedians Melissa McGillicuddy, Robert Omoto, and Kim Martel to discuss the art, taste, and reasons behind several non-alcoholic beers. We break down their (lack of) flavor and aroma, plus hypothesize why people would imbibe these concoctions in the first place. Plus! Melissa's diet secrets, Kim's discovery of a medical shortcut to dieting, and why certain regions of America don't have access to mangos. And if that wasn't enough, w...
Dec 13, 2016•1 hr 1 min
Host Ben Rice sits down with Cathy Johnson (owner) and Michael Johnson (brewer) of Lincoln, CA, based nano-brewery, GoatHouse Brewing, along with guest John Marcotte (Heroic Girls, The Cookie Project, #MoreThanCute, and much much more) to get political, philosphical, nerdy, funny, weird, and informative. As John sips on a honey blonde and Ben quaffs a delectable Dark Side stout, we touch on myriad topics beer-adjacent: farming, education, sustainability, community outreach, regulations and restr...
Nov 20, 2016•1 hr 20 min
Host Ben Rice sits down with Bryan Crass, brewery manager of Out of Bounds Brewing, in Rocklin, CA, along with Abel Gomez and Chris Guthrie, founders of the Sacramento Beer Group Facebook group. We talk about Out of Bounds's new Powdered Toast Man and their slowly-growing barrel program, before diving into long-winded diatribes about the evolution of the beer world and drunk adults at breweries being worse than dogs or children. This podcast also seamlessly mobilizes itself to record in a few di...
Nov 08, 2016•1 hr 50 min
Host Ben Rice travels to Elk Grove, CA, to visit with Derrick Prasad and Jonathan Martinez of Tilted Mash Brewing, along with Shane Dakan and Autumn Sky-Hall of Backyard Brews and Reviews, a beer and music videocast available on YouTube. We talk Shane and Autumn's love of music and their dabbling in the craft brew world. We also discuss Jonathan's official position as the Pimp Of Foam and all that that entails. Plus: How Tilted Mash's beers get their name - is it name first, beer second, or the ...
Oct 25, 2016•1 hr 6 min
Host Ben Rice spends yet another day at the California Craft Beer Summit, with the full intent of recording another mini-episode during the actual beer festival, featuring Herlinda Heras of the Brew HaHa Drive Time Radio Show and Patrick Rue of the Bruery/Bruery Terreux, only to have Herlinda bring along her co-host Joe Tucker, who also just happens to be the founder of the very popular RateBeer.com. Instead of 15 minutes, we spend 40 minutes discussing the Craft Beer Summit, as well as upcoming...
Oct 09, 2016•44 min
Host Ben Rice once again sits down in the middle of a massive beer conference to talk to whoever sits down! In Part Two of Three of his adventures at the Craft Beer Summit. At 5:40, Ben sits down with Kevin Cox and Bert Aguilar of Fresno's Tioga-Sequoia Brewing, to discuss Kevin's long and winding career in the beer industry (over 25 years!), plus we touch on the arduous task of brewery management and moving from contract brewing to brewing for yourself. And we close out by talking about FresYES...
Oct 06, 2016•1 hr 8 min
Host Ben Rice sits down in the middle of a massive beer conference to talk to whoever sits down! In Part One of Three of his adventures at the Craft Beer Summit. At 5:25, Ben sits down with Kevin Rhodes of Groundswell Brewing in San Diego and Ty Stevenson of Carneros Brewing in Sonoma. With a combined 25.25 years of commercial brewing experience (Rhodes 25, Stevenson 0.25), they delve into the importance of water in our beers. Then, at 15:20, Elliot Hoffman of Camino Brewing in San Jose sits acr...
Oct 03, 2016•1 hr 12 min
Host Ben Rice stands up with Ryan and Jeff of Track 7 Brewing (Sacramento, CA) and Kenny Hotchkiss, owner of Capitol Taproom (Sacramento). We talk about Track 7's recent expansion, plus their brand new canning line. We also delve deeply into the history, past, present, and future, of the NE IPA Haze Craze while sipping on Track 7 Sukahop. Kenny tells us about his own expansion plans, as he prepares to open a second location closer to the new Golden 1 Center in downtown Sacramento. Naturally, we ...
Sep 17, 2016•59 min
Host Ben Rice returns for the grand opening of Crooked Lane Brewing in Auburn, CA, to catch up with his episode 3 guests, founders Paul Schilling, Kirt Braun, Adrian Psuty, and Teresa Psuty, along with Nu Boonkham of Auburn Thai Garden. When we first spoke with this crew, the building had recently been determined and they were, hopefully, a year away from opening. We sipped on some of their soon-to-be mainstays, made on a small garage kit, and talked of hopes and dreams. And now we're back to di...
Sep 05, 2016•57 min
Host Ben Rice travels to Auburn, CA, to visit with Zack Frasher & Kyle Leddy of Moonraker Brewing, a fast-rising brewery in Auburn, CA. In tow this week is Ben's best gal, better half, and better comedian, Becky Lynn. We'll talk the haze craze, coffee porters, beer generations, and how chicken wings nearly derailed Ben & Becky's relationship. Plus a lot of talk about breweries and beers that are not Moonraker. Not to mention Ben's first foray into exhausted advertising. Enjoy! Follow Bar...
Aug 30, 2016•1 hr 23 min
Host Ben Rice travels to Flatland Brewing in Elk Grove, California, to talk to brothers-from-the-same-mother/brewers/owners Sean & Andrew Mohsenzadegan, along with special guest Dave Ross, manager of Elk Grove's Specialized Exhaust and Automotive. We talk brotherhood, cars, beer, and other specialities. The Mohsenzadegans get into their brewing history and creating a professional brewery from spare parts, plus we compare current beer fads to classic beer styles. Dave starts a discussion of h...
Aug 16, 2016•1 hr 54 min
Host Ben Rice visits Claimstake Brewing in Rancho Cordova, to talk with owner/brewer Brian Palmer, as well as founders of the Sacramento Beer Enthusiasts Facebook Group, Russell Kay and Steve Hayer. If there's one thing this episode has, it's a bunch of wonderful people sauced to the gills talking things they love. If there's two things this episode has, it's that and layers (layers). We discuss the road from home brewer to micro brewer, as well as what is needed to start your own brewery, and t...
Aug 02, 2016•1 hr 48 min
