Breaking the Beer Fast

Oh. That's good, I like that. Ooh, it's dark and rich looking.

Welcome in everybody. It's the craft beer republic. Thanks for drinking. Thanks for joining. I am Greg and I've been joined by the richest. No. Nope. Buffest guy in the Midwest. And that's Flex. What's up, big fella? A lot more accurate. Well, we'll get we'll take what we can get. That's what I was trying to say. There are, you know, beggars can't be choosers. That's that's one of my favorite lines. Yes. So accurate. So, uh, welcome in air, buddy.

Uh, I lost my train of thought I was going to say something funny, and it completely escaped me. It's been. It's been a fucking day. It's been a long day, and I'm really glad to be drinking with you. It's a good way to start off the weekend doing some, uh, early

show recording, because I've been looking forward to it all day long. Me too man. Me fucking too. I haven't I got, I gotta admit something real quick. Follow us. @CraftBeerRepublic @flex_me_a_beer underscore between. We got a voicemail to get to. We got some breaking news. But let's get to the important shit. Me and Flex just shooting the shit when we should have done this before we hit record. Uh, I haven't had a beer in, like,

over a week. Don't tell anybody. Like a real beer. Like a real beer. I've had, uh, some wines because I'm classy. And I'm trying to think. I think that might be it, but I don't think I've had a real, actual beer in over a week. And I was thinking about it as the work day was ending. I was like, oh, fuck. It was like 3:00 here. I'm like, cannot wait to crack a beer open with Flex. So it was it was four days for me. Yeah. I've been drinking some Celcius

all week. I'm getting addicted to the Chelsea train. I'm doing the math in my head. I think it's been eight days. Oh, yours is double mind, so. Congratulations. Yeah, but I've had wine. I've had wine. I haven't been sober for eight days. God, I'm not. I'm not insane. Um, still. Still proud of you, I guess. Thanks. You know, just drink another drink of wine. The wife and I got fucking shattered on some champagnes last weekend. Again? Yeah, we. I mean, not like at Deb's party where

we don't remember what happened, but. Oh, right. We had a couple bottles in the fridge, in fact, left over from Deb's party that we were supposed to wait to share with Deb and Brian. Don't worry. They've been replaced already. If you're listening. That's a classy move, by the. Way. You know, because one of them was. One of them was a shitty bottle. It was like, you know, six bucks. But one of them was actually a pretty nice bottle. It was like 20 bucks. So I was like, oh,

we can't not replace this one. So we we started cracking open

some champagne on Sunday, had a little, you know, homemade brunch and champagne. And then we got two bottles deep like I'm not done drinking champs. So I, uh, DoorDash for the first time, DoorDash, alcohol to the house and, uh, got some more shams and it was great. How much more did that cost DoorDash than it would if you just went to the store? So the bottles.

Because I've never done this and I don't think I ever will. So I'm actually curious. This is my first time. So the bot and I did it from Total Wine, I guess. And so the bottles were the actual price that they are in store. And then on top of that there was like a $3 service charge plus like a I don't remember exactly like a $6 delivery fee. Okay. And then I think I tipped them, you know, like five bucks or something like that. We'll say. Okay. So what did I say? Seven.

Three. 17. Extra dollars. Yeah. 16. 17 extra bucks. 3.95. Right. Yeah. So we ended up spending, I don't know, like 60 bucks on four bottles kind of thing. Yeah. Okay. Not the. Worst. Yeah. No, I definitely that's all right. Way cheaper than a DUI. For sure. Amen, brother. Amen. So, you know the wife enjoyed it. And happy wife, happy life. So, uh, I'll spend the extra 17 bucks if I'm not in trouble that day. Yeah. Right on, man. Yeah. So good to see if she's into it. Yeah. She was way. Oh, yeah.

That makes it even better. Yeah. She loves a good champagne buzz. I tell you what. And I tell you, you're a lucky guy. Every now and then, champagne is one of those buzzes. Like as she gets buzzy on something else, like beer.

She starts getting full and doesn't want, you know, like, oh, I'm gonna stop now. I'm getting full or I'm getting buzzy or whatever. When the champagne buzz hits, it's like she hits the nose and is like, let's keep going. So I love when she gets champagne drunk. Isn't that so weird? How drunks are different, you know, between wine and champagne and beer? Such a different drink. Like when I drink champagne, I forget the day. A whole day goes by. By I kept.

I haven't been drunk off wine in a really long time. Like. Yeah. Me neither. We did. uh, when I was 20, maybe 21, I can't remember. No. Definitely 20. We did a boxed wine beer pong

night at my place. Sounds awful. We knew. Wine. We knew it was gonna be a bad idea. Um, like, everybody was, like, already prepped for, like, the shit bag hangover day the next day. Um, but, you know, I feel like you have to do it at least once. Sure, everyone's done it once or ten times. But that means it's been like, 16 years since I've actually been wine drunk. And now, for me at least, it's way more expensive. Because wine drunk then was two buck

chuck, and now it's a little nicer. Now you're classy, Greg. No, classy. I don't know if you guys know this, I am classy. Yeah, it hurts the pocketbook a little, but. Right. Your social reputation through the roof, right? Never been higher. You can't put a price on that. No, not even the Million Dollar man could. Well, he might be able to pay you off, but that's true. I mean, everybody does have a price, so. But yeah. Good time getting getting

champagne hammered. Good for you. I went to a Brewers home opener.

Oh, nice. Which wasn't anything fun. Uh, result wise. Sure. They lost something like 11 to 3 or 12 to 3, or. They spent so much money this offseason. Well, you know, when you're the 28th highest payroll, you know, in the league, it'll. Right. It'll happen to you. But, uh, I'm. Just surprised MLB hasn't kicked him out of their stadium yet. They're gonna fix it. Okay? Yeah, just just don't worry about it. All right? We're not. We're not going anywhere. Okay.

But, no, it was fun. Uh, my best friend came down from Appleton, which is like the green Bay area in Wisconsin, so about two ish hours away. Okay. And, uh, it was used to be every year tradition. And I'd say within the last five years, we've missed two days, like two games for opening Day. Um, but it was really cool. Did a little bit of what I call simple man tailgating. Okay. Yeah. Went to Jimmy John's, picked up a couple Jimmy John's subs, Ziplocked some chips from home and.

Yeah. Packed up like 810 seltzers. And he brought some some of his own stuff, which tasted horrible, if I'm being honest. Like home brewed seltzer or something. It was Ranch Water. Oh, I've never had, I've heard of, but never had. And they were the spicy ones. Oh. I'm out.

So, uh, he let me take a sip of one because he was just talking so highly of it, and it tasted like jalapeno flavored chapstick. Like you were drinking. Like the flavor chapstick. Like it. And then it, like, wouldn't get off your tongue. Like eating chapstick, right? Yeah. It was fucking awful.

So why is it so waxy? Yeah. So he was saying that, uh, the story behind it is he went out to some get together with his sister and his sister's husband bought this variety pack, and the only one they didn't like was the spicy one, so he started drinking them. Turned out he really liked them. And now they make all spicy packs. But his wife got him for him for Christmas. But she had to, like, travel a ways away to get them.

Which is astounding, because when I had the sip of it, I'm like, who would drive out of their way for this? So you travel for this absolute insanity. But yeah, the weather held up for us. It was like a balmy 48 degrees and the sun peeked out a few times, which, uh, here in Wisconsin,

that's a super solid opening day weather forecast. Um, well, like I said, the result wasn't great, but I had a couple of beers in the stadium. Summer shandies running 13 bucks for a 16 ouncer. Ooh, that seems high for Milwaukee. I think the prices went up. Sounds like it. I think they used to be, like $11 last year. So. But hey, they got to fix the stadium somehow. And then they're. Gonna do it one at a time. Right? And then Leinenkugels also did a,

uh, one of the mascots for the brewers is the Barrelman. Okay. And if you've never seen the Barrelman. Uh, I say the Brewers have the best team name in all of sports

because they are the Brewers. Uh, so Barrelman is like a walking keg, and he's got a baseball hat on, and he carries a bat around, and he's fucking awesome. My kids love him. Uh, but Leinenkugels made a barrel man lager or barrel man ale. I can't remember which, uh, either or. Um, but it was all right. It came in like a 19.2oz can. Okay. And it was it was like 13 bucks again. So, uh, super solid for in-game beer and, uh. Yeah, just had a really good time catching up with, uh, my best friend.

Nice. That's the way to do it. I still haven't been to a Dodger game since Covid. I just. That's wild. I know we used to go multiple times a season, and there's a couple reasons. One, we just haven't. But, my parents retired a couple years ago and we always got hooked up from their boss. He had great season tickets, very near home plate, very fantastic. Oh yes. Like, you know, I would say between home plate and first base, I would say it's a quarter of the way to home or to first base.

So closer to home than, than. Oh that's really nice. Great seats. You know that middle that front section down there on the field. That's really nice. I can only imagine what those tickets go for. I yeah, they're crazy expensive and I would never sit there if they weren't free. Right. But but yeah they retired. So we don't get the hook up anymore. So now we gotta like, pay like peasants. Oh. We just haven't been.

Oh, we need to. It's been a minute. We need to go. Um. All right, before we get any further, let me, uh, let me say shout out to LA for being our top listening city. Hey, what's up LA?

Speaking of the Dodgers the undefeated as we record this Dodgers. Yeah, whatever. I don't give it a few games. They'll fall apart to someone real shitty. We'll lose to the A's or something embarrassing like that. I just say, because that's what happens when you spend $1 billion on your payroll. Except we don't know, Shohei. Any money for, like, the next 15 years or something, I. I still say that that deal should have been illegal. Should have.

I don't know, whatever. I don't know. How. I'm not a baseball.

Not a baseball show. But it is a beer show. Out of my. Out of my beer. Out of my bed. Out of my beer. Oh, yeah. I am drinking the freshly, freshly dropped and freshly picked up from my favorite bottle shop, Trader Joe's. Yeah. Made West Brewing Company collab with Shred Brewing,

and it's their short lived series. When I saw they collab with Shred, I got real excited as we remember shreds up in the Sacramento area near. The. Old Salty. Sailor area. Yeah, exactly where everything is 40 minutes away from each other, no matter where the fuck you're going. That's crazy. Uh, anyway, 7% West Coast IPA has a

396 and untapped only 187 ratings. They say short lived with our friends at Shred Beer. This West Coast IPA has a vibrant hop character loaded with berries, stone fruit, and a rich resinous finish. Hops they use are Simcoe, Simcoe, strata, strata. Hyper boost. Mosaic. Mosaic. Cryo. Crush. Crush. Cryo. Wow, that's a smorgasbord. Yeah, a lot of words. I tell you what. Sound like hops. I love when they throw the berry note on West coasts, and I love it even

more when it actually comes through. So I'm very, very intrigued to see what happens here. Here's to hoping it doesn't taste like cough medicine like last week. My fingers are crossed for you, buddy. Yeah, I'm the schnoz. You know, I do get a little buried. Just a hint. It's mostly pine and dank, but I do get a little berry miss on the nose. Okay, let me dig on in. You know what? I actually get a hint of Berry. I don't know if I've ever picked out, like, just berry before.

Oh, I love it. Doesn't taste cough medicine. And maybe it's like a placebo thing that now that I've read Berry, like, I'm gonna taste berry. Who knows? Um. But not cough medicine. Very West Coast IPA, very dank. As it should be. Um, as you can see, this baby is light and clear. See through. This is how I like my West coast. I don't like those malt bombs. I like them with the light body and lots of hoppy dankness. And this is achieving that for me. Big fat cosign over here, man. Yeah.

Uh, check or whatever. So very nice. I think 3.96 is honestly a little low for this. It's getting like the I'm not. Pretty high for a West Coast. I know. Let's. Be real. You're right. People don't rate on the merits of the style. They rate on what they like. And because it's not a haze boy, they're not excited. So anyways, I'd give this a solid four. It's exactly what it should be. It's a light, crushable, dank. Hoppy does not drink like a 7% West Coast IPA. I'd have a few of these.

In untapped West Coast terms. That's a five. That's true. This just got a six out of five from Untappd. It really is. It's. Yeah. So very nice, I like it. Uh, what else is going on? Oh, remember our friend Brian, formerly of Title Town Brewing? Oh, yeah, I do. Really nice guy. Really nice guy. He sent me some beer back in the Title Town days, and had had moved on from that and was working with some distributors or something, then moved on from that. Anyways, Brian hit us up,

left us a voicemail. Let's check in when he's up to. Hello. No one is available to take your

call. Please leave a message after the tone. Hey, Greg and Flex. This is Brian, formerly of Title Town. I'm with the distributor out in Madison. So back in the beer game, after leaving the craft side of things to focus on packaging. And then you get laid off and then you don't know what the hell's going on. So after about four months of looking for a job, I hooked up with a distributor out here in Madison. So I've been loving it and selling all kinds of things.

Domestics and craft imports, all that stuff. But I did want to call to remind Flex that he needs to come to Great taste of the Midwest this year. This will be my 10th time going. I won't be at a booth, but I know I'll get tickets, so I'll be able to hang out and not have any real responsibilities. So Flex, you need to come. It is in your backyard, not your literal backyard. But you know what I'm talking about. I was going to bring this up. Tickets go on sale in May.

If you need help getting tickets, let me know. I will help you figure out where to go. I will need help. Because. I don't do digging on anything. A little bit more now that I have some drive time. It's a lot easier to catch up with you guys. So take care and I hope everyone's doing well. Cheers. Wait, you don't do what anymore? Like, I don't, like, do digging on stuff like, oh, I find something out or like, I'm curious about something. It's like, well, yeah. Like, just to the wayside. Like.

Is it hard to get tickets for this? Like, do they sell out quickly? Yeah. It's like, uh, one of the most popular beer festivals in the entire country. Oh, okay. They do video like, you know, Instagram Reels and videos and advertisements for this. And there is a legitimate, like, ribbon cutting to the start of this. And there is a flood rush of people. It's like the Disneyland rope drop. Yes, that's exactly what it's like. And I'm not kidding.

Uh, and tickets sell out within like, an hour of them being live. It's supposed to be like one of the largest festivals around. And, uh, everybody talks about it. I just went on their website and they even have a lottery so you can enter the lottery to get tickets. So I guess it is pretty fucking popular. It's wild man. That's nuts. I would love to go. He's told he's told us both, but he's told me because I'm nowhere near there about it before.

I would love to go. I can't, you know. It was August 9th. It looks like it's always the first. Uh, I thought it was like the first weekend in August. Maybe it's the second. I guess technically it's the second. Brian, I can't commit this early, but, um, hit me back in a couple of months. I'll see if I can convince the wife to take a trip to to the Midwest for something. Yeah, Madison's a cool area, too. Yeah, and I'll definitely show up if, uh, Flex is gonna show up.

I have vacation time I could use. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. I could. All right. I can do some vacation. If you're willing to fly out to Wisconsin. How do I not. Only if I can squeeze your guns. Yeah. You know, it's like a side mirror of a car. It's like objects appear bigger, you know? Objects in mirror are closer than they appear. Yeah, that's what I meant. Yeah.

I was like. I was like, I know that's not quite right, but I can't remember the actual. It's better than mine. Okay. Yeah. Thanks for calling. Yeah, it's been a minute, man. Glad to hear you're doing good. Glad you're back in the beer game. Uh, eight. 5538. Beer. Two. Three. Three seven. Anybody else wants to call? It's good to hear from Brian. Let us know what what beer you're working with. I'm glad he's got a drive time again. Yeah. Now you can listen to my. My sweet voice.

You do have a nice voice. Oh, stop it. It ousts mine, like, tenfold. Hello, everybody. Well, I can. Do that, too. Welcome to the @CraftBeerRepublic. Welcome to the hillbilly craft beer. Republic of West Virginia, where it's the world is right in the wilderness. We eat squirrels. And, uh. I think we have beer. Bathtub gin. Yeah. Gross. Stupid West Virginia.

I forget what it was. Segway from that? No. I forget what it was. Something on the news said something about West Virginia the other day. And without even knowing what the story was, I just like stupid West Virginia. It's your fault. It could have been something great. Could have been, you. Know. Stupid. Ass. West Virginia discovered the cure to cancer. Stupid. West Virginia. Stupid. So dumb. I bet they were hiding it for years. Yeah. Oh, fuck. Fucking West Virginia. Speaking of fucking, uh,

horrible segue. I have to go to Vegas this weekend. That's exciting. I guess it's for work.

I've talked about this before. I'm not a huge like. Yeah, Vegas. I'm just old, I think. Uh, my favorite part about Vegas. Like, the Vegas part of Vegas is hitting the strip with some tallboys in my car goes right on and just people watching. I do enjoy the people watching. It's good people watching. I've only been to Vegas once, but the people watching was amazing. Yeah, we just said at Margaritaville. I know right where that is. A chip salsa drink. Margs and just watched all of

the street performers. Were you on the balcony like the. Yeah, that's exactly where we were. Great people watching spot. Yeah. We got to see, uh, the Lovely Cowgirls. I guess you would call them. Go on. Except they didn't have shirts on.

They just had painted stuff on their bosoms. I'm here for. It. Yeah. And, uh, so we were just more so ogling, ogling, ogling. Either the people that were actually paying them to take pictures. Oh, you know. That's always a crackup. Yeah, yeah. Like, that's just like, hey, like it's the boobs, you know. There's the internet. Right? Right. You know, and it's like, hey, cool. You got a picture next to chicks with painted boobs, but, you know,

that's all you're paying for, right? You're not getting more than just the picture. Definitely not getting more than the picture. Yeah. Were you with your wife when this was going on? Yeah. Does she get mad at you for watching the chicks with the painted boobs? No. Uh, in a situation like that, where it's, like, just out there, right? No, it's not like. I mean, I mean, she's people watching right with it, you know? Do you have to do the whole like. Oh, yeah. How gross. Who would do that?

Uh, maybe I would say it about like a three out of ten level. Just just like, slip it in real quick. Like, I can't believe they do that. So. Hey, boobs, huh? Nice paint. Right? Yeah, yeah. You know what I just reminded? I need to buy paint, right? Sure. Michael's around here. He's got a craft store. I hate being out of paint. Yeah, I don't want to run out of paint. Have another drink, sweetie. Oh, well, hopefully I run into some painted boobs while I'm there.

I'm going for work. I'm going for a conference. Uh, NAB conference. And so I probably won't do a lot of fun things. Um. Well, it's a. Work thing, but I feel like your stuff is only, what, like, 8 to 4? Uh, I think it's like 9 to 6. Something like that. Yeah. Plenty of time for fun things. Yeah, yeah. I mean, you know, my best friend lives out there. We'll see. I've talked to her a little bit.

I don't know if she'll be available. If she is, I'm sure we'll get some drinks, but, uh, I'm like, I'm going for work. But none of my coworkers are going, so, you know, no fun to be had there. I'm sure I'll run into at least a couple people I know I always do when I'm at this convention, so we'll see. Sometimes if you schmooze the right vendors, you get invited to their sweet ass parties. So I guess I should bring something nice to wear.

Like, just in case. Maybe. Yeah. Way back in the day, I was dating someone whose dad was in the industry, and he knew everybody. And, like, we got to go to a private concert. We got to go to this party in the kingpin suite. Was it like a real band private concert? Oh, yeah.

It was, um, Lyle Lovett. Oh, I've heard of him. Yeah. Yeah. It's not my kind of music, you know, it's country, but it was like a private concert with, you know, 300, not even 300 people. So it was pretty cool. Free drinks, free food. The kingpin suite was cool. This top of the palms. And it was a bowling alley inside of a giant room. Damn. That's cool. Yeah, and they had hired back to your painted boob. They had hired chicks with painted on tops to pass out appetizers.

Well, there you go. Yeah, that wasn't so bad. That's genius. I always had a genius business idea of, uh, like a topless, uh, pedicure. Like a nail salon. Mhm, mhm. You know, I just think that would be, uh, You know, I would go. Yeah.

You know, my buddy, uh, used to live in Utah, near ish Salt Lake. You know, like, half hour to Salt Lake. And they had this place. It was bikini haircuts. I was like, in Salt Lake. Huh? It was just. It was exactly what it sounds like. Chicks in bikinis, giving haircuts. Obviously, my hair is not hard to cut, so I don't care if people mess it up. Just give it the old buzzard. Roosky. So I went in there and sure enough, there was some pretty good looking chicks wearing bikinis, cutting hair.

Got myself a little haircut. And you know, when you're in places like Utah, it does not hurt to be from LA. It holds a little weight. Or at least it used to. Okay, I could understand that. Yeah, I didn't I didn't think it was a big deal. They're like, oh my God, you're from LA. Like yeah, get drinks later and talk about it. It's like going to Japan. Like I'm a legend in Japan, you know? Right. I'm huge in Japan, so. Exactly. Yeah. Um. But yeah, yeah. Good times. So don't quote me on this, okay?

Because I can't remember where I saw it or where it is, but there's, uh, this little coffee shop, and it's run by, like, three chicks, and it is just a drive through and. These before. And they just have, like, uh, tassels or, uh, pasties. Yes. And they just have pasties on their bosoms. Yeah, they're used to. It's not there anymore, unfortunately. There used to be one in Colorado Springs.

And every time I'd go visit my family, I'd go run through, get a couple cups of coffee if, uh, if you know what I mean. Just wild. Yeah. Uh, there was one. I think it was Seattle that I was, and there was, there was like a bikini, coffee or topless coffee, whatever it was. And, um, hit that up while I was there. It's been years and years and years. But, yeah, I've seen a couple of those here and there. Yeah, I've only seen them, uh, on shows or something like that,

but yeah, it's a real thing. Yeah. Coffees. Uh. Imagine doing, like, a drive through coffee and just having, like,

a sock on your dong, you know. Sir, do you always drive with this pillow on your lap? Yeah. I don't think that's as, uh, appeasing as chicks with pasties or pasties or tassels or bikinis, but, yeah, it could be called, like, Sock Dong coffee or something. Like something like, just put it out there, like, don't even don't sugarcoat it. Just be blunt. Yeah. What do they call I forget what they call it in the movies, when guys have to wear a little covering on their junk for, like,

a sex scene. There's a name for it. I'm gonna remember it. Like, as soon as we stop recording the show now, I'll come back to it. Oh, no. I think I'm gonna buy the trademark for Sock Dong Coffee.com after this. I think you should. And, uh. Yeah, I think I'm gonna take a loan out soon. Start your own coffee shop.

Sock Dong. Coffee? Yeah. Would you like it stirred? No shoes, no shirt, no problem. What a great tagline. That is great. Although I don't know if you could be barefoot while serving coffee. I don't know what the regulations are. You know what? No one's looking at your feet. And if they are, they're fucking creepy. I get it. All right. Maybe sock feet and sock dongs, but. Socks, coffee. All we wear is socks. The feet cost extra. How about that? Oh, yeah. I'm out. I'm out with feet. Not for me.

Oh, I'm a disgusting human being. But feet are not for me. It doesn't bother me at all. Oh. I don't I don't have, like, a kink, but I'm just like, everybody has feet. So. Yeah, you know, it's one of those things where it's like, you know, whatever. Oh, yeah. I don't want my partners to be wearing socks in bed or something like that, but like. Yeah, isn't that weird? Yeah, there is absolutely zero turn on around feet for me no matter what those feet are doing.

Uh, not at all in the slightest turned on by that. Yeah. And if you are cool. As Deb says, no kink shaming in this house. Poop stuff. Poop stuff. My favorite. Yeah. It's a legend. She really is. Great line to live by. Uh, all right, before we get on to some news, let's get on to what Flex is drinking over there. In a world where craft beer is king, a world where muscles are bigger

than growlers, only one tongue can guide us. One man, one tongue, one Tongue-jobber. In this world, we must find out what is Flex drinking? All right, so I talked a couple of weeks ago about having a buddy over for some of the March Madness games. Oh, yeah. And I bought him a stout because I knew he liked stouts. And, uh, I had one lying around in my fridge because, uh, we're recording a couple days early work schedule kind of got in the way, and I got lazy,

so I didn't go out and buy any beer. So I'm drinking Energy City Brewing. Um, I don't know how to pronounce this French word Batisserie. Batisserie Batisserie. Sure, sure. Uh, it's their peanut butter

marshmallow imperial stout. Uh, this thing weighs in at 10% ABV, and I believe it has peanut butter and marshmallow in it. Untappd has it at A415 with only 260 ratings. And, uh, they read uh, Imperial Pastry Stout, brewed with peanut butter and marshmallows. So I was correct. It does have peanut butter and marshmallows in it. There you go. Uh, on the old schnauzer. It is. Uh, it smells like fresh peanut butter. Like, not not Skippy peanut butter,

but, like, super duper fresh. Like the good stuff. Like organic. Like peanut. Like Laura Scudder's. Made from, like peanut. Actual peanuts. Peanut. And then buttered. Um, but yeah, it's it's delicious. First of all. And, uh, in case anybody's listening right now. Yeah, I'm drinking a stout. It's real. This is. You're not dreaming. It's a real show. I'm drinking a stout. Uh, it doesn't happen often,

but, uh, thought I'd dabble. So without further ado. Oh. So this isn't as thick as you would think it would be. It's not what she said. Being a 10% adjunct peanut butter marshmallow. Maybe it's just flavoring. I don't know, I didn't brew it. Um, but it does have, like, a bit of, like a medium body. Okay. Uh, tons of peanut butter. Like loads of peanut butter with a touch of sweetness on the back end, which I would attest to the marshmallow.

I'm not a scientist, but that's what I would. Uh, my mind goes. All in all, this is fantastic. Um, there's no roasty bitterness to the end of this, and I really, really, uh, am not into that. So with this smooth kind of finish, I'm super, super pleased with this. Would drink again. The 415I would say is right there. I would say, you know, 41542 super solid rating. And uh, I think if I this is my second energy brewing beer, I think I got like a pumpkin pie for a Thanksgiving a three years ago.

And that was really good. Um, but they're really, really known for their adjunct stouts. They're over fruited sours or over adjunct sours. And I don't do that a lot, but shit, this fucking tastes delicious. So cheers to them. I've been trying to look up how to pronounce that word. Yeah, and I'm pretty sure it's just not a real word.

It's like French or something, right? Yeah, well, it keeps trying to, you know, it's Batisserie or whatever with a B, as in, boy, it keeps trying to autocorrect and change it to P Batisserie and I'm like, no, no, it's with a B. And every time I tell it like no, only B, it just only finds the beer and nothing else. Oh yeah. Because isn't like the, the patisserie like, uh, like a pastry, like cafe. Like a, like. A pastry shop or something. Yeah. Isn't that what that is? That sounds right, I don't.

Sure. Why not? I don't know, I'm not a scientist, so I don't know. Right. Yes. A patisserie or however it's supposed to be said. A shop where French pastries and cakes are sold. So yes, you are correct on that, but, uh, cannot find the B version. Well, maybe it's a made up word then. It must be. Like it's like a beer cafe. Maybe it looks like it's a whole line because, uh, from a few years ago. Here's Tavour posting about it. I did look it up on Untappd, and

there's a shit ton of this series. Yeah, it's a chocolate covered orange from a few years ago, so, uh. It sounds delicious. Oh, really? It sounds awful to me. Oh, no. There used to be this candy during Christmas. Uh, and it was spherically sold spherically. And then you would unwrap the sphere shaped candy, and it would be in separate wedges, like an orange. And then you would unwrap each wedge separately and eat it. And it was fucking delicious. It was like orange flavored

chocolate. Yeah. I'm out. That's a that's a no for me. It's like the new Coke that came out recently. It's like the orange Creme Coke. Oh, God. I haven't bought it, but I really want to try it because I think it would be good. Sounds horrible. You know what? Let's try it. All right. Coke science sounds like something else. That's also. Yeah. That's a very different show.

Not a Coke show. Yeah. Hey, everybody, welcome to @CraftBeerRepublic. I'm Greg, that's Flex. Our 50 minute show turns into 50s, right? Oh, man. We finished a show like. Whew! That was a long one today. What do we got? 215 okay. Oh, man. We could record so many shows in one night. All the. Shows. Oh. Oh, that's so fucking good. How the fuck did we make out the whole year? Tonight, man. We are. Ready for one. More year to year to. 2027.

Here we go. All the beer we drank. By the time the show releases, it's sold out. Brilliant. Yeah, we should do. That'd be a fun, fun thing to do. Hey, let's drink a beer. Release it three years later and see if it's still relevant. Uh, let's do a little news. This is some breaking news out here. Stone Distributing and Classic Beverage has been acquired by hand family companies. We were just talking about Stone distribution, I think with Erica a week or two ago.

Yeah, I do remember this vaguely because I don't remember anything. Right. And you know, like out here they distribute obviously, you know, Stone and whatnot, but they were separate from the sale of stone. They distribute integrin made west.

Um, Tarantula Hill, this is all local. Stuff, right? Good stuff. Yeah. They seem to pick and choose and they pick the good stuff to distribute. And also people who can keep up with the demand in their production. And anyway, so they've sold now they are no longer independent. I guess they are owned by hand family companies, whoever the hell that is. Transaction is expected to close

around 60 days. It goes on and on with details from their press release, but I don't think people really care about that. But yeah, it's interesting to see what happens. I wonder, I sort of want to talk to, like, immigrant guys and see, like, hey, does this mean anything for you? Are you guys worried or. Yeah. Kind of, I guess. That's super weird. Yeah. So some some breaking local news. Uh, breaking news in Colorado. Great Divide just this week, a couple days ago, was acquired

by a Wilding brands platform. Great Divide one of the, you know, for runners of craft beer. They've been around. For I think maybe I've had one of their beers before. Oh, really? Yeah. We get a fairly decent, uh, core lineup of Great Divide out here in California. And then every time I'm in Denver, I always have them somewhere, if not at the brewery itself. So, uh. Anyways, they were bought by Wild Brands.

Platform Great Divide has been acquired by the parent company of Stem ciders, Denver Beer Co and several other brands. Great Divide founder Brian Dunn said in a press release that the dedication to evolving the business and passion for Colorado make Wilding and Great Divide a perfect match. I couldn't be happier knowing that Eric, Charlie, and Brad will be carrying the torch forward. The deal for Great Divide includes six Taprooms any future brick and

mortar locations, which is weird. It's like, well, yeah, you own the place. Why wouldn't you have rights to the future location, right? Uh Great Divide operates outpost in Denver's Ball Park and River North neighborhoods in the city's Lakewood, Castle Rock and Lone Tree suburbs, and concourse C at Denver International Airport. I've been to two of those locations.

Okay. Wilding Can Works production facility in Denver. Sunnyside neighborhood will assume production of the Great Divide portfolio, but the status of Great Divide production relationship with Dry Dock Brewing remains unclear. So Great Divide had already started contracting out their beer to dry dock. But now that probably won't be the case. I guess we'll find out in the coming days or weeks. So lots of, uh, shakeups in the craft world. Yeah, it's, uh, a lot of selling.

A lot of buying. Yeah. Uh, founders, those ass fucks. Yeah. I still can't drink their beer. No, because, um, they're assholes

and their beers grow, so it's. It's a win win for not drinking their beer. Um, they were partially owned by Mahou-san Miguel. Anyways, they've completed the rest of their acquisition. They took over a 90% stake in the Michigan Craft, Craft and Quotes Brewery following the 2014 deal for a 30% stake in the business. Mahou USA is the 20th largest beer category vendor in Sakana tracked off premise channels with $14.4 million in sales, holding a 0.25% share of category dollars.

It's a lot of words and a lot of numbers. A lot of words and numbers. I'm sure somebody out there is like, oh, interesting. And I'm it's not us. Yeah, just not us. Uh, last year, they. Excuse me. 2023, they produced 408,000, almost 409,000 barrels of beer just at founders alone, making a lot of beer. It's a ton of beer. Yeah. People still buying it, I guess. That's too bad. Yeah, it's not me. Um, and then continuing on this trend, Anderson Valley Brewery

sold to wine industry veteran. Oh, he must be classy. Uh. I don't know. Anderson Valley just sounds like a classy name. It does. Right. Like, let me just put that out there. So I feel like this purchase only makes sense. Yeah, yeah. Kind of par for the course, right? Like they know what they're doing. Yeah, clearly Anderson Valley Brewing Company has changed hands for the second time in a little bit. More than five years, wine industry

entrepreneur entrepreneur Jason McConnell acquired the Boonville, California based craft brewery in a deal that closed last Tuesday. Also, Boonville is like the opposite of classy sounding. Ah. It just made me think of like Boone Farms. Right? Which is like the $2 bottles of wine. So, yeah, maybe not as classy. As we were. Letting. On. Yeah. Maybe not. Yeah. Kind of evens out. Uh, the brewery was listed for sale at $7.9 million in September of 24. However, its sale price was not disclosed.

McGee told Brewbound that Jason actually approached me in mid 2024, when he heard the rumor that the brewery might be for sale. He had previously had a winery in the area and did a lot of events and hospitality, and was interested in the possibilities that the beer park had to offer. He's a local guy, in a good fit and is retaining all the staff, which was really important to us. That's nice to hear. That is nice. There's no reason to fire everybody

and get new staff. Right? They know what's going on and glad everybody gets to keep their job. Don't have to train anybody. Training's the worst. Oh, it's the fucking worst. What I hate about bringing new people on, it's. Like, oh, it's the pits, man. I gotta pretend it'd be nice to you now. That is the worst part. So pretending to be nice and then like, you have to feel that person out because you're like, all right, like, I'm a cool guy with a dark sense of humor, right?

And I'm really satirical and sarcastic. Can you handle all of this? And I gotta process this within, like, the first two minutes of meeting somebody, right? And then throughout, like, that first day, you're just dropping little, little nuggets, little breadcrumbs. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Let's see. Does he look offended? Not yet. All right. One further. Does he look offended? And then you can figure out whether or not they're going to be like, okay. Right. Are you gonna fit in around here? Right.

And there may be potential if they are okay, but it only takes about 2 to 3 minutes to figure that out. Yeah, it's pretty quick. Yeah, I'll give you that. I hired a lot of people in my day, and you can tell pretty quick. Worked with a lot of people in my day. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Um, thanks to Scott for sending this one over. Thank you. Scott. Corona has opened a private island in the Caribbean that offers unlimited free beer.

Unfortunately, all that free beer is corona. There's a tropical island off the coast of Colombia called Corona Island, and it just opened to the public. And the one and only thing you need to know staying there comes with unlimited Corona beer. I'm out. Corona Island is about 12 miles southwest of Cartagena. Yeah, it's exactly right. You've heard of that one, right? Yeah. That's how you say it. Yeah. And as a part of the Rosario Islands, basically the Maldives of Colombia.

But if the Maldives had an insane amount of cold beer. Does that mean they're cheap? No, we'll get to that. Oh, damn. Colombia sounds like a cheap place. Well. Colombia. Yes. Well, it's the Maldives of Colombia. It's gotta be cheap, right? Well, here you go. The bungalows will run you $658 a night. That's a lot. And the all inclusive day passes are 163 bucks. Oh, does it look nice? Well, I mean, it looks very tropical. It's a very small island in the middle of the Bahamas.

Because I tell you what. Here. So what was it you said? $600 a night and 188 a night. 163 a day. So we're talking 800 bucks a night? Well, I think the 163 is if you're not staying the night, like, if you want to just come to the island and have all you can drink and then go home at sunset, I think that's what the 163 is, which I'm like for 163 bucks, I could do a lot of damage. I don't think you know how much I can drink, especially fucking 4.5% Corona, right?

But also, I'm gonna pass on the corona. Well, here's what I don't know. I'm just trying to think in, like, a general vacation spot. Like, I mean, in a vacation mindset. I just went to Chicago. I also left that out. Um, went to Chicago for a day. Lakers were in town playing the

Bulls. Oh, nice. There was a huge crowd of people out in the street, down from our hotel, at the other hotel there, waiting for all the Lakers to come out and saw LeBron. Not a big deal. Um. But did you get his autograph? So we're at the. No, he didn't even look at the crowd. I thought it was kind of rude. He just kept his head down and got on the bus. So anyways, later that night, we're back in our hotel room, and I was just like, you know what? I'm gonna fucking Google that hotel.

Like, it's gotta be a really nice hotel if this is where, like, the teams stay. So I did, and it was $1,300 a night. Mhm. For just like a regular room whatever. Like their standard room was suite whatever you want to call it. Um, so I would 100% pay this money to go to the Maldives of Colombia. I'm just gonna say that on a vacation. You just like saying the Maldives of Colombia. I don't even say it right. I will say so. There was one person's review on this article.

It says from someone who apparently just stayed there commenting with his five star review. I was on the first overnight trip there. We stayed a week. I drank 155 Coronas. It was magical. I don't like the beer, but I respect this comment so much. I respect the game. That is amazing. Yeah, it makes me wish I sort of liked Coronas. I just never, ever have. It's just. It's snobbery. I never liked them. It's. I'm telling you, I don't understand why people like it.

If you're gonna drink like a Mexican import. Pacifico. Modelo. Yeah.

Dos Equis. Dos equis. Even, like. I'll. I'll fucking drink that. Yeah. Over. Corona. Absolutely. And for people who order it because they like it is fucking astounding. Lose my number. Like it has to be based off of. Like their marketing in the late 90s early 2000. Must be some big Tony Romo fans, you know. And then yeah, like the Tony Romo era. That was a couple of years ago. And uh, man, Snoop Dogg I think was in some Corona commercials. And I'm sure.

Snoop and Martha or something. No, I think it was just, uh, it was a comedian. Oh, it was Andy Samberg. Andy samberg. There you go. Yeah, those are good commercials. Still don't want to drink the beer. Right? Because it's terrible beer. It's terrible. In fact, it's so bad that back in the day when my grandma was still around, her husband preferred Corona. And she would call it piss water. What a lovely lady. Yeah, it was great.

My grandma, who didn't even really drink, was like, oh, you want another piss water? Let me get you one. If she was still alive, I'd marry her. I just want you to know that. Well, I appreciate that. Be weird having a crush on my step grandpa, though. Well, you know. We'll figure it. Out. 2025 Greg. Nobody can judge. Nobody can judge. Uh, let's end it on this one. Take a trip to Florida. Sounds about right. Yeah. Miami. Woman. Oh, by the way, this is from Vanessa. Vanessa. Vanessa. Yeah.

Thanks for sending this in. But she doesn't think we have enough Florida stories, so she started sending them to me.

Straight from the source. Or she just knows that we're gonna put one on. So she's like, well, I might as well be for me, right? Might as well filter it through. Uh, Miami woman steals police car after a night of drinks with an off duty officer. With an off duty. Wait, she steals a cop car with an off duty officer. From an off duty officer? Oh, from why is an off duty officer have a squad?

Let's see if we find out. All right. A Miami woman is facing multiple felony charges after allegedly breaking into an off duty police officer's apartment, stealing his unmarked patrol vehicle and striking him with a phone. According to the Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office, Andrea Marie Assaf, 27, was arrested early Monday morning at her residence at the Palmer Apartments in Dadeland, where she

also works as a leasing agent. Authorities said that Assaf entered the apartment of a City of Miami police officer without permission and took the keys to his official vehicle, which she later drove and photographed herself operating. That's wild. Why would you do that? Because people are dumb. The incident began on the evening of Sunday, March 30th, when she and the victim, an off duty officer who resides in the same building, went out for drinks after being

dropped off at the complex. Assaf allegedly used her leasing agent issued key fob to enter the officer's apartment without consent. Once inside, MDX was that Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office Mtso said she took the keys to the officer's unmarked city vehicle and drove it along southwest 7670 second Avenue, sending the officer a photo of herself behind the wheel. Jesus. He texted her back not to drive the vehicle. Assaf later returned it to the

parking garage. When the officer went to her apartment to retrieve the keys, Assaf allegedly threw the keys to the floor and hurled her phone at him, striking the back of his head and causing a small laceration. How hard do you have to throw a phone to cause a small laceration? I'm assuming semi-hard. I mean, like, pretty hard. I've thrown phones before. Well, I think the most important factor is you have to throw it the right way. Like you're skipping a rock.

Like. Like ninja star. Right. Well, I would say skipping a rock over a ninja star. I mean, either way, you're getting hit by the side of it. That's accurate. And I'm thinking there was no case because a case would really soften that hard edge of a phone. Unless it had a case. But part of the case was broken and there was like an edge sticking out. Yeah, could be. Because that's my phone. You need a new case, sir. Well, it's just the bottom of it.

It's fine. All right. Uh, the officer told investigators he did not authorize her to enter his apartment or use the vehicle. No shit. Assaf was arrested and charged with burglary of an unoccupied dwelling, Grand theft of a vehicle and battery on a law enforcement officer. Jeez. He was off duty, though it shouldn't count. How much you want to bet they hooked up. And you know he didn't end it right. And so she was getting back at him. You think that's what it was?

I don't know, it just seems like a lot for someone who isn't pissed off. I don't know, it just sounds like a I would just say kind of like a toxic relationship is the kid's. Call it. Sure. It just sounds a little scorned lover. But I feel like his, uh, response of don't drive, that was like a little low key, you know? Yeah. No shit. Don't drive it. It's more of just like a one and done kind of thing. And like, she's been at his house multiple times. Clearly. Clearly.

So this is like a weird on again. Off again. Yeah. She knew where those keys were. Yeah. And now he said, nah. You getting charged, girl? Yeah. Nah, it was cute before. Not this time. I don't think this is the first time she's driven it. I don't think it's the first time they've hung out. That actually crossed my mind with the first is not the first time she drove it. Yeah. They're hooking up. She does this on the regular, but she's probably.

Done it in the car. Oh, absolutely. Guaranteed with the sirens on. Um. Probably not, because you don't want to draw attention. Depends what you're into. I can't argue that. Uh, Miss Azoff, please let us know. We'd love to know the outcome of this. Anyways, I think that's it for us. It's time to wrap things up. Follow us on the socials. @CraftBeerRepublic @flex_me_a_beer. Called the Penn. Call to the Penn.

Uh @flex_me_a_beer. Underscores in between all that good shit. 853 eight beer. Leave us. We love voicemails. Thanks, Brian, for calling in. Really, it just makes us happy that people are listening. It is nice to know that people actually listen besides me editing. That's not the only listen. So, uh, let us know that you're listening. All that good shit. Hope everyone out there is staying very well hydrated. And on that note. Good night everybody.