Keeping It Wet For Dry January

Ah, fuck dry January. Terrible idea.

Oh, I'm so cool, I'm doing dry January. Idiot! (laughing) (rock music) Welcome in everybody. It's the craft beer republic. Thanks for drinking. Thanks for joining. No dry January bullshit over here. I am Greg and I'm getting real romantic tonight because it's just Flexi and I. We getting soaking wet up in this bitch. We were, we were respect I guess the people choosing to do dry January. Not that it does anything to your health.

Maybe it's like a like a mental willpower strengthening thing, but not, not for us. If anything, it makes me think you're more of an alcoholic cause you can't moderate. Yeah. Well, yeah. Yeah. It's a good way to think about it. Well, may this be the wettest January on record. Slobbering wet drip. Oh, if you're still there, make sure you follow us on the socials that craft beer public. And of course, flex me a beer underscores in between crappy republic.com. It'll five, five, three beers.

The number to call all that good stuff. We have a lot to get to. This is our first spoiler alert. First recording of the new year. We did some pre-records holiday. They're going to be busy. We knew that they fell on Mondays. So we were responsible and we pre recorded. So just in case any of this news is a little old, you know, maybe you're hearing it for the first time. Who knows? No old news today, maybe last week's, but it's all fresh today.

Finally, fresh, like the IPA I'm about to tell you about. So, so much to talk about before we talk about any of it. I'm going to talk about talking about, you stop saying talk. take a drink every time I do and discuss the show. All right. Let me converse about This delectable IPA I'm drinking. Oh, well, thanks to the horrible trips I've been having to take for work. That's terrible. But one nice thing is the beer I've been picking up.

And I am drinking Green Cheek Beer Company's Meet You Where You Are.

We love some Green Cheek. Oh, so good. And I tell you, I keep having to go down to the area where Green Cheek, one of their locations are and I'm like, I gotta go down here again. But I'm always like, well, at least I can go have dinner at Green Cheek and pick up some cans to go. Oh, food too. Oh, yeah, they got some food. They got, of course, the beers and the beers to go. And it's funny, one guy walked in when I was eating and attempted to clean them out of like all of one of the beer.

I don't know which one. And the guy's like, hey, man, like whatever it was, 10 case max or something. The guy's like, come on, man. My boss really wanted like all the beers. And he's like, we got to save some for the other people. It's like, my boss is willing to pay extra. It's like, stop it right now. Yeah, the guy's like, hey, we're just trying to tell some beer. Like I'm not trying to give you a hard time.

It was like, my boss said, come get all the beer and all the beer, but all of like one specific beer. Right. Yeah. And the guy, the guy basically was like, you can have 10 and kicked him out after that. You think that's got to be enough, right? 10 cases of one beer. Yeah. Well, what do we do it here? Pick some different flavors. Come on. Or reach out to them personally if you're looking to spend that much money or buy that much. Yeah, I'm sure they'd set something up for you.

But anyways, the beer I'm drinking 8.9% starting the wet January off right. 4.32 on untapped with over 1100 ratings. And they say layered with old fashioned oats and raw white wheat. We hit the dry hop with a super dope blend of New Zealand and Pacific Northwest hops. The beer has an awesome fruit character that comes across super juicy and lots of honeydew and a bit of orange creamsicle and even a squeeze of Sauv blanc. Oh, fancy. I'm classy as I drink this shit. Pinkies up, bitch.

On the schnauz, I'm getting tropical notes. I'm getting like, I almost want to say like a papaya mango-y vibe going on, which is not in their description at all. So maybe my nose is broken. Yeah, on the tongue jobber, I really get that orange creamsicle in a good way. Not in like a sweet popsicle kind of way. Disgusting lactose-y super sweet way. Yeah, there's no lactose in here. But yeah, that orange creamsicle really comes through.

I don't so much pick up the Sauv blanc, maybe on the back end because it's got some of that dryness that a Sauv blanc might have. But not so much on the flavor. But God damn, this is good. Their hazies are really up there with like the pure murkies and stuff like that. I dig it. I'm enjoying this quite a bit. So cheers to Green Cheek and cheers for making my shitty trips down there slightly less shitty. And I'm sure that 8.9% is going to treat you well.

It's not going to do me wrong, I tell you that. Helping to keep January wet. Would you say slobbering? Slobbering. The grossest thing I've ever heard. Dude, it's so gross.

Only thing worse than that is moist. I was just going to say that, like moist January. Does moist bother you as a word? There's not a lot of words that bother me. Me neither. So many people it bothers. It doesn't, whatever, it's moist. Yeah, like whatever. Sometimes you get moist. Yeah, it happens. Clammy? What do you want me to say? If anything, I'd be like clammy sounds even worse. That implies a smell. Do you think so? Yeah, when you say like, "Oh,

I'm a little clammy down there." I'm thinking like, "Oh man, you sweat a little hard." Oh, you're thinking clammy down there. I'm thinking like clammy palms. Yeah, even that has like a connotation to it. And then you throw up your mom's spaghetti and... Bad night in the bathroom. Yeah. So anyways, oh, beer. Hey, speaking of coming back after the holidays, how was your holidays? So work was nuts. Work, work, work,

work, work. Lots of people need your meat. Yes. I served so much meat to so many people. We had like one day off in 15 days. Jesus. Like everybody in the shop. What's the big meat, like ham or what is every coming for? Prime rib roast. Oh, makes sense. So that's like the number one Christmas meal. New Year's is just any kind of steak cut basically. So absolutely insane amount of work. I loved it every second of it though.

It's just a fucking blast just running around, helping people out, filling stuff, cutting stuff. It's like you don't even think about the day being work, especially with a bunch of guys who are essentially just all your buddies and everybody working well together. So work was stressful, but fun. The holidays themselves were extremely relaxing between Christmas and New Year's. Nice. I did get a little bit rowdy on Christmas Eve. Oh. Because we closed the shop an hour early on Christmas Eve.

So we shut down at three o'clock and me and some of the guys, we have this after work ritual of playing blackjack and having a beer. All right. I like it. Because it was Christmas, you have the long work week. Everybody puts in all the hours. We're all tired. They bust out a bottle of Elijah Craig. We took a couple, there's this IPA locally by Ray's Grain Brewing. It's called Naked Threesome. I like it. Seven and a half percent ABV. Took a couple four packs of those off the shelf.

So we're just rearing to go, gambling our hearts out. And I realized my family's coming over in 20 minutes. So I had two pours of bourbon. I had two seven and a half percenters, all in the span of about 40 minutes. Wow. So daddy's feeling good. Yeah. Drunk daddy. So I'm in, quick shower.

My folks and my brothers come over and I end up having like three or four more beers while they're there. Right. So total count now, six beers, two pours of bourbon, ship them out the house, get family Christmas pictures done, you know, with the pajamas. Cause my wife loves, you know, trendy shit. Love her to death. Put the kids to bed. And then I play Santa Claus. You know, I have to build the kids shit that they get. So it's all ready for the next morning under the tree.

So naturally while I'm doing this, I have another beer. So we're up to seven beers, two pours of bourbon. And a partridge in a can. I like that. So then the wife and I flip flop, right? I get these toys put together. She starts drinking. I head back upstairs in case the kids wake up.

She comes downstairs, you know, throws the cookies out, pours the milk out, gets, you know, our Santa stuff, you know, cause every year everybody gets one present from Santa, you know, then she went back upstairs and I went back downstairs cause there was some football game going on. No. Right. So it's just all this flip flop rotation. Yeah. Well, court naturally, I'm like, Hey, well, I'm watching end of the game. I might as well have another beer.

Oh, well, now we're at eight beers, two pours of bourbon. I wake up the next morning. I don't remember going back downstairs into the basement after building like the kids toys. I am like sweaty. My head is pounding.

I'm trying to figure out what the hell happened. My wife makes cinnamon rolls for breakfast for all of us. And I'm just taking the smallest nibbles of these cinnamon rolls because my stomach is just turning. Come on, flex. All together. Hold it. All I'm thinking to myself is you can't puke on Christmas. You just can't puke on Christmas. Everybody's going to know how drunk you actually were yesterday. You can not puke on Christmas. So long story short, I held it in.

Oh, I was waiting for a puke talk. No, I recovered through all the cinnamon rolls. We have a book. I even got a workout in. God damn. Lovely Christmas. That's awesome. Couldn't have been better. It really couldn't. And how early were you in bed for New Year's Eve? So I had hopes. Listen to this.

So you know, I'm an old man. Most people out here know, you know, I go to bed about 830 PM on a regular night and the Packers played the late game on New Year's Eve. Oh, right. So I was like, hey, 720 Packer game. The game should go to at least 1030. I'll be, I'll be golden. You'd be halfway there. I was about 930 and I don't remember 930. And then my wife yells at me at 1030 and says, just go upstairs. So technically I made it till 1030. Nice. But didn't. For those of you playing flex bingo.

Yeah. I didn't catch the Packer game. The end of it. I, you know, and they, they won, I think, you know, and yeah, but you know, it was nice. A lot of work put in that week though. So I was pretty tired. You deserved it, big boy. I did. I did. Yeah. Holidays were great. What about yours? How were they? Um, Christmas was fantastic. It was one of the easiest Christmases I've had in a long time because some family wasn't around.

Some family had COVID and I've, I think I've said this before. My wife and I both come from divorced families and Christmas and right around Christmas, we ended up at like 9 million houses or events or whatever. Right, right. My, my biggest year I counted no joke. Uh, within four days I was at nine different places. That's disgusting. Nobody deserves that. No. And I swore that off. I said, fuck everybody. I'm not doing that many ever again.

Well, between COVID and trips and all this other shit ended up at one place Christmas day. And uh, I don't like doing the traditional like, Hey, ham and Turkey or whatever. I usually do most of the cooking when I'm, when I'm doing Christmas and Thanksgiving dinners over at my mom's house. And she'd do the tri tip. So I did that for Thanksgiving. So I talked to him, I was like, what, you want to do something different?

Are you guys Jones and for some tri tip at Jones and nice Jones and for the Jones tip. Hey, oh, uh, and they were like, Hey, yeah, whatever you want to do. It was like super helpful. So I thought about it. I was like, what can I do? I think it ended up being like 14 people or something. I was like, what can I do easy for 14 people? It sounds good. Haven't done it before. I did lasagna. Interesting. Making Mel proud, had a pasta course. What an interesting choice.

Yeah. And anything fancy with the lasagna? I mean, I made the sauce myself, no store bought sauce, a homemade sauce, you know, did some sausage in there, but all the essentials were caught all that good shit. Okay. Made it a tinge spicy with the sausage. It's like a spicier sausage at a little, you know, paprika and cayenne to up the heat. Just, you know, not to like blow anybody out, but just to make it interesting. Right.

Um, you know, did some green beans with like pomegranates on them and shit like that to look best of. But yeah, the, I gotta say the lasagna came out pretty good. I like that. That's so different. Yeah. I just, you know, I'm sure Mel's like, maybe cause I'm not Italian, but right. I mean, yeah. I mean, Mel's like, that's every fucking holiday you loser. Right. You have to have like, that's probably an appetizer for that. Right. That's just one course.

Yeah. You have the pasta course and then you have the lasagna appetizer. Right. Yeah. That's just a side. It's like a main of spaghetti and meatballs and a side of lasagna. Right. The other side is bread. So yeah, so that was nice. It was easy. And then, uh, for new year's Eve, we went up to a couple of friends house, a couple, they are a couple, not just a couple of friends. We hung out at their house. They, we both like this winery a lot.

It's Austin Hope winery or vineyards or whatever the fuck. Anyways, they had three years of their caps off. Like, Hey, come on up. We'll do a vertical. So we got sciencey on new year's Eve and like with wine, vertical wine, vertical wine. Yeah. And it was actually fun. It was three years of a cab. It had a fire up there and that year was like super smoky as one might expect.

And the other years were not. And after it was open for like three hours, the smoke had completely dissipated. And so we just did a little vertical of that and you know, got our buzz on, played some games, all that shit. Did you try it? And was it, was it smoky at first? Yeah. When you first opened it, it was like, Whoa, you know, licking a burnt ashtray or something like that. Wow. Wow. And then especially on the nose, like the nose was super smoky.

And then the more it sat, the less smoky it got. It was kind of cool. Classic California. Doesn't get more California than that. Right, right. So, but Hey, not a wine show, not a wine show. But I also had a couple of days off around the holidays, had to burn some PTO, and the wife did not. And so I signed up for Uber Eats.

Don't say it, Jim Membership. Oh, no. I signed up to deliver for Uber Eats. I was like, let's see what this is all about. For real. I was like, let's see what it's about. Worst case scenario, I do it for a day and I never do it again. You know, like what's, what's the big deal? So I signed up. Honestly, it's kind of fun. Like they're not sponsoring the show. It's a lot like, um, like playing a game on your phone, except you have to drive.

You know, it's like, do this, do this, complete this picture here. You know, it's just like playing a game and you drive around and drop shit off. So I've had some really good nights where I made like 80 bucks in two hours kind of nights. I had some really shitty nights where I made like 25 bucks and you know, two hours, like not even making a minimum wage. I can't believe you actually did this. Yeah. It's fun.

So, uh, we'll see how long I actually stick with it now that I'm back to normal work and all that stuff. But, right. But, uh, yeah, it's fun. And a couple of nights the wife just went with me. I mean, like I'm not driving people. I don't want people in my car. Fuck. Yeah. You're not like a taxi. Right. Right. And just dropping out food. So sometimes she'll go with me and sit in the passenger seat. We'll just, we'll just talk and drive around and chill.

Like there's sometimes you get multiple orders from one place to like three different houses and she'll keep the orders and, and you know, tracked for me and had to get out of the car. So yeah. God, Lee, it's adorable. So that was our crazy holiday. You know, good times. Well, I'll tell you what, I'm not going to try that. Um, I know everyone I've told so far is like, you did what? I was like, I was bored. I figured see if I could make a few extra bucks while I was sitting around.

That's like bored to the next level. Well, you're not wrong. So, uh, yeah, it was fun. But Hey, you made money out of it, right? That's, yeah. Oh, you know, I think I so far made like 140 bucks or something after, I don't know, six hours work. Who knows how long I worked for. Um, last night it was, we tried to do it the other night and uh, the white was slow and the wife was reading tips online, like how to get more deliveries and this stuff.

And it was like, don't take the deliveries that are under X amount of money. That means they didn't tip. And I was like, Oh, that's like, apparently when you get the delivery, the total is the base fare plus what they've tipped. Okay. And if it's under X amount, like if it's under like $4, that means they've re they had to go in there and remove the tip. You don't put it in afterwards. It auto fills it. And so they went in there and remove the tip and made it zero cause they're assholes.

Yeah. So I appreciate the drivers more now. Cause like a lot of times people don't tip and it's like, I just drove all the way across town so you could have a fucking bean and cheese burrito. You lazy, a $4 bucks at me. Right. That that's my go-to tip for like delivery drivers is like two bucks. Yeah. I mean, it depends like how much it was and how far they had to drive.

But you know, if it's around the corner type thing and you bring me a pizza, it's like, eh, you know, here's, here's two, three bucks or everything we ever order from. Cause we don't do like Uber eats or grub hub or anything like that. Uh, but any, any place we order from, it's within like a mile and a half. Yeah. That's an easy one. Here's two extra dollars from what you're getting paid. That's Uber eats is a little like exploitative. Like the base fare barely covers gas.

So if you're not getting a tip, it's like you lose money on that trip basically. Okay. So things to keep in mind if you're out there ordering for those one dick bag or chick-fil-a and his house was in this super rich country club. Like I had to go through a gate and show my ID and all this stuff. And uh, he didn't tip. I was like, you motherfucker. Oh, we had like a $4 million house. How do you think you're so rich? Yeah. I'd like all that extra money. Right.

Yeah. Had a bunch of cars out in the front, like nice cars.

And I was like, you fucker. And then that same house popped up again a couple of days later. And I was like, oh fuck. It's the state's house. Like cancel. I'm not accepting that shit. You can go hungry, motherfucker. So get your own chick-fil-a bitch. Right. You lazy fuck. You know, good times. One first place. One of these weeks at a trivia with, with Deb and Brian. There we go. A first place story. Yeah. Another first place. All right. It was all good. Yeah. It was all good.

Uh, we went to brunch the other day on Sunday. Went to brunch with Coley and a big Dick Nick and this new spot by their house.

It's a fucking party. So around here, we have a lot of Mexican food places that like Sunday brunch, they'll have like buffet style brunch with all you can drink. Mimosas. They'll have a bunch of Mexican food, but they'll also have your gringo shit too. you know, waffles or omelets and that kind of stuff. Yeah. So they had us come to this place is closer to their house. We hadn't been before. Really, you know, good food and all that stuff.

But, uh, the best part was whenever it's someone's birthday, it's like a goddamn party in that place. It's not the typical like shitty restaurant song. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah, exactly. No, they fucking pumps though. It's different party songs every time they'll fucking jam it over the sound system. They've got people with noisemakers with signs. Some chick was on some other dude's shoulders. They were holding up a like, like skull. What do you got?

Like deadly, some where it's a skulls with fireworks coming out of it. That's awesome. It was a fucking bland. Then we were buzzed from all the mimosas do. Well, hell yeah. That was a good time. Good fucking time. Good for you. That was a lot. I feel like we just, it's been a while. Stained. Anytime anybody says that, like I'll go burn a while and now my wife does it too. So you're like, Hey, it's been a while since we've seen you. We're the worst. Um, all right, we got some news to get to.

We got to find out what flexes drinking. Uh, let's kick things off with a little bit from the news flight. Everybody grab your paddles. (futuristic music)

[beeping]

Clear. Real quick, the 2024, I figured there's probably some homebrew people out there.

2024 homebrew competition has released some important dates if you're interested in competing in that. Registration is from February 27th through March 15th. First round judging begins after that. May through June is first round shipping and drop off. July 29th through August 9th, final round shipping, August 17th through the 24th, final round judging in San Diego. And on October 10th, the winners are announced at GABF in Denver. So- Trey Lockerbie (00:05:00): Do you get anything for winning?

Preston Pysh (00:05:02): I think so. It says something about grand prizes. It just doesn't say what those grand prizes are. You have to get some medals and whatever else. Yeah. Athletic Brewing, the NA beer company- Trey Lockerbie (00:05:16):

I do know the NA beer company. Preston Pysh (00:05:18): Yeah. Has launched a moderation tool. It's an app that'll help you cut back on alcohol consumption. Trey Lockerbie (00:05:25): So it's just like a notepad, but in an app? It's like a journal. Preston Pysh (00:05:31): Yeah. Just open up your note app. I've had one beer. I've had two beers. Trey Lockerbie (00:05:40): Maybe you're supposed to talk shitty to yourself. Like, "You had one beer,

you drunken asshole." Preston Pysh (00:05:44): Oh yeah. Make yourself feel like a piece of shit. Trey Lockerbie (00:05:46): Yeah. Something like that. Who fucking needs that? Preston Pysh (00:05:49): You can be athletic and drink real beer. Trey Lockerbie (00:05:53): Yeah. Mel just ran that, what was it? The Dopey Challenge at Disney World. Preston Pysh (00:05:58): Yeah. Psychopath. Trey Lockerbie (00:06:00): Yeah. Her and Lou are fucking nuts.

I did text her one of the days. Preston Pysh (00:06:03): Lou's fucking crazy because he didn't train at all for it. Trey Lockerbie (00:06:05): Right. I texted her one of the days. I was like, "Please tell me my imagination is correct. I picture Lou running the course with turkey leg in one hand and corn dog in the other." She's like, "Oh, he's eating all the foods today." *laughter* Yeah, he's fucking street meets over there. He's got a carb up. Yeah. Carb and protein. Athletic brewing.

It's like a nice, I get it. Like some people, you know, they got problems, you know, so the NA fits for that, but you know, you could do stuff and still drink alcohol. Yeah. Especially in January. Go support your local breweries. Hell yeah. Flying fish has filed for bankruptcy.

If you remember earlier in 2023, there was a long time ago. Yeah. Now there's at least a week and a half ago. They had a proposed merger going on with Cape May brewing and Cape May pulled out of the deal. Pull out game strong. Yeah. Not a week over there. And now they are filing, they being flying fish, filing for a bankruptcy listing 9.3 million owed to secured and unsecured creditors. And they have 1.3 in assets. So we smoked. Yeah. Now looking good for flying fish.

I feel like they got their wings cut off. we're just two dudes having fun. Dang it. Yeah. You know what we didn't lose over the new year dad jokes. I was gonna say sense of humor. So,

oh, well that's we're on the same wavelength. That's a given. Uh, All right before we find out what flex is drinking quick mention. We mentioned this I don't know a few episodes ago, but Magic Mind jumping on board the show here.

Uh Magic Mind is that little uh energy drink I talked a little green bottle Uh, they're jumping on board with us. If you don't remember I was talking about how you drink it alongside your coffee Kind of helps the uh energy levels. I use it to replace a cup. So I usually have two cups Sometimes three in the morning and uh instead i'll do a cup of coffee and a and a little Magic Mind shot I like it. It's easy. It's it's small.

It definitely does not taste bad It it if you're like I said before it's kind of like that weird red bull taste like some people like it Some people don't I like it So if you if you're into it, uh, i'm all about it helps keep the energy up Uh improves the coffee effectiveness approves the energy throughout the day I don't I don't feel like I need a coffee at two in the afternoon Uh, one of my favorite parts about it is that there's no sugar I

don't do sugar except for beer beer is the only carbs I intake or alcohol That that is something i'm starting to watch again now too is that unnecessary like added sugars? Yeah It's weird how much shit has sugar in it. Oh, it's crazy. Yeah, like oh this Barbecue sauce has more sugar in it than your daily intake.

It's oh, yeah, it's so weird Uh, so yeah, so no sugar it's also like nut free vegan all that good stuff But I mainly care about the no sugar if any of this sounds like something you're into give it a shot I talked about it before they're they're all about money back if you're not into it for some reason Uh, we have a link. It's magicmind.com slash Jan beer so jan like january. It's a new link this month Have you heard our last plug? Uh, this one is jan beer And you can also use our code beer20.

So with that you get 56% off your first subscription Or 20% off your one-time purchase. It also works if you're already a subscriber, you can still use our code It's not one of those like new customer only type of things 100% money back guarantee If you if you're not a fan and on top of that for january They're giving our listeners a free month if you subscribe for three So basically three months for the price of two Nice. Uh, not too shabby.

So I told him hey up your game Let's uh, let's see what we can do for january over here. And so they came back with that. I like that. Yeah, so magicmind.com Slash jan beer all one word and discount code beer20 We'll get you hooked up with all that. So check it out. If you like it, let me know Uh, you know, like I said, I I didn't mind it at all It was it was not too shabby.

So go give it a shot and they'll give you your money back if you don't like it so nothing to lose Is it like a little shot to like keep saying give it a shot? Oh, yeah. It's it's probably like an hour Great tagline. Yeah, I think it's like an ounce. It's like a little bottle. It's green Kind of fun looking, you know, if you're a ninja turtle fan, it's very ooze like oh, I do like that looking not I should clarify you don't know how that ooze tasted. Maybe it was delicious.

That's true I mean the turtles went into it after all so right. It's got to smell somewhat decent Yeah, otherwise they'd walk away. I mean turtles are stupid. No, they're pretty smart. Yeah, pretty smart turtles. So There you go be like the ninja turtles and check out magic *laughter* Also not endorsed by the Ninja Turtles. That sounds like a lawsuit. -That would be cool. -It would be even cooler. All right, let's find out 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. -It's been a while. So today I'm having a beer from our Midwest neighbors to the West, Minnesota. I didn't know this brewery even distributed. I've heard of them before as like an underrated up and coming brewery from Minnesota. And it is Ursa Minor Brewing.

And they're in Duluth, Minnesota. And if you know anything about that, it's basically Canada. -Is that where like the Duluth Trading Company, all their clothes and stuff? -I don't know. That's a good question. I would assume so being an ignorant person. -Sure. Yeah. -We can Google it later. But yeah, Duluth is pretty far North up there in Minnesota. The first thing that actually caught my eye is the can art. -Oh, very classic.

-I like the logo with the bear and the hops and the whirly, swirly, floral, like almost Paisley print around the border. And it's a gorgeous can, great logo. Of course, I'm a haze nerd. So hazy IPA for me, 6.8%. The first thing we always look at too, Greg, it's a hazy. Right? -And it's hazy. -And it's hazy. Y'all can't see that, but it is. Untapped has this at a 4.04 out of over 2,300 ratings. -Yeah, very respectable. -Pretty respectable.

And they read, "Brewed with copious amounts of highly sought after galaxy hops, the unique hop flavors will be a galactic face slap." Forgot to mention, that's what the beer is called. "To your senses, take a sip and transport yourself to a crystal clear night in Northern Minnesota with stars blazing above." So on the old schnoz, very faint aroma.

It's grassy with really subtle hints of unripe pineapple, which is actually my favorite kind of pineapple, fun fact, because it's not as sweet and it's a lot more sour and it's just, it's the best. So we warm up the old sung jobber now. -Oh, here we go. -So wet. -Slobbery. -I mean, it follows suit as the schnoz. It's grassy, it's green, it's really slight notes of that unripe pineapple, really tiny amount of bitterness, I'd say like a 2% bitterness hitting that, that palette there.

Super crusher, 6.8%. This is, I drink it all day. This is phenomenal. Since I've never seen them in the store before, I'm going to reach out to them and see what else they have in distribution so then I can reach out to my shop and say, "Hey, if you can snag this for me, bring it in, because I really do want to try more of these guys." -Smart. -And again, this was Galactic Face Slap. And that name, that's a-- -It's a great name. -It's a great name.

Great name, -What did the five fingers say to the face? -Boom, Galactic Face Slap. And the cherry on top of this beer, Greg, $12.99 for the four pack. -Oh my god. Fits beautifully in the algorithm. -Like, basically cream my pants, though. -Sexy. -Yeah. -Slobbery wet pants. -No dry January down there.

-That'll be the name of the episode. Cut that out. I'm going to make it louder. And for those of you at home wondering, Duluth Trading Company is based in Mount Horeb, Wisconsin. So there you go. Preston Pysh (00:05:00): Yeah, maybe they're from Duluth. Trey Lockerbie (00:05:02): Maybe. Preston Pysh (00:05:02): That's like the Madison area, I think. Trey Lockerbie (00:05:04): Okay. Preston Pysh (00:05:05): I don't know. I lied. Trey Lockerbie (00:05:06): I'll take your word for it.

Wherever Mount Horeb is. Preston Pysh (00:05:09): I don't know where anything in my own state is, unless it's like Green Bay, Milwaukee, lacrosse. Yeah. You don't even know what lacrosse is. Trey Lockerbie (00:05:25): It's a sport. Preston Pysh (00:05:26): Yeah. You're not wrong. Trey Lockerbie (00:05:27): Yeah. But you know what, not a sports show. Preston Pysh (00:05:29): Not a Wisconsin show. Trey Lockerbie (00:05:30): Not yet. Half the time. Preston Pysh (00:05:33): Actually,

it's pronounced "Mee-lee-wah-kay." Trey Lockerbie (00:05:36): Now it's a Wisconsin show. Preston Pysh (00:05:37): There it is. Trey Lockerbie (00:05:39): All right. Let's do a little news before we sober up and get out of here. Asahi is going to acquire Wisconsin-based Octopi Brewing.

Preston Pysh (00:05:49): Yeah. I heard about this. Trey Lockerbie (00:05:51): Big news. Preston Pysh (00:05:52): Crazy. Trey Lockerbie (00:05:53): Yeah. Japanese brewing giant Asahi announced they have struck a deal to acquire Octopi Brewing, a Wana-Key, is that right? Preston Pysh (00:06:00): Wana-Key. Yep. Trey Lockerbie (00:06:01): Wana-Key, Wisconsin-based contract brewer. Preston Pysh (00:06:04): That's like the whole Untitled Arts, what you would call it.

Trey Lockerbie (00:06:07): Yeah. They do a ton of contract, and they also do Untitled Arts. Asahi Managing Director for EMEA and Americas, blah, blah, said, "By making this investment, we are taking a major step forward and accelerating the growth journey of our global brand, expanding awareness, reach, and access across North America through existing and new on and off trade partners." Founder Isaac Shouwake opened Octopi in 2015 with six employees.

Octopi's output grew exponentially during the pandemic with a 443% increase in volume in 2020. In the following years, Octopi sustained that growth with a 51% increase in '21 and a 38% increase in '22. They produced 220,000 barrels of beer for its contract partners and under its own brand, Untitled Art, in '22, the most recent year that they have data for. But the beer is only one piece of their business.

Last year, the company was on track to produce 7 million case equivalents of beverages, roughly 508,000 barrels, he said in an interview. He'll continue to lead the Octopi team, which will keep working with contract partners for beer and other beverages. Basically, it's how Asahi is going to brew stateside and they'll save on shipping and all that shit. Kind of like what Sapporo is doing with Stone. Right. I hope they don't fuck up their other stuff.

Yeah. Sounds like they're going to keep contract brewing for everyone else and then do a little Asahi on the side. I had no idea they were putting out that amount of liquid, 508,000 barrels. Yeah. I mean, they fucking bang it out, man. Yeah. That's huge. And what a good business model to have as the pandemic hits. It's like, "Oh, you're closing down your brewery? Well, send us your recipes. We'll make them for you." Right. Genius. A little recap from the Brewers Association for 2023.

It's craft's first volume decline outside of COVID and brewery closures tick up. Outside of unique 2020, this is the first time that independent brewers have seen such a decline. The primary culprits are slowing demand growth, competition from across beverage, alcohol, and a changing retail environment. In 2023, about 420 breweries opened and roughly 385 closed. Come on. The delta, yeah. The delta of 35 between those figures is the smallest in recent years.

Just in 2022, 9,500 breweries operate in the US and 550 breweries opened and 200 closed. In 2021, an estimated 710 breweries opened while 176 closed according to the report. So basically, we're getting a lot closer to that open close number there. It feels like the reckoning, the craft beer reckoning a little bit. Maybe it's maybe one of those things where too many is not a good thing now. Yeah. And now quality is going to matter. Right.

And the good ones are going to stand tall and you're really going to be able to recognize the ones who don't have it or maybe the guys who got too big for their britches and they start overproducing and you're like, "Hey, wow. Why am I still paying this kind of money for this when I can just go down the street and get that?" It's true. Well, and I think a lot of breweries for a while, especially in smaller towns, were operating under the notion of what else are you going to do? Right.

It's like, "There's not a lot around, so come on down and drink some shit beer." And now, so many breweries are distributing and there's also so many breweries popping up even in small towns. It's just, you got to be good now. Right. You can't just be there to be there. Exactly. So- Not a get rich quick scheme. No. Ask any brewer. That is for certain.

Here we go. Should we take a trip down to Florida? Our first Florida trip of the new year? You know what? I haven't been there in a while. Here we go. No dick hotels in this one. Shucks. Florida man threatens officers after they tell his wife about drunken pool incident.

Yeah. A Florida man's day at a community pool in the villages took a drastic turn when he was arrested after drunkenly threatening to break a police officer's throat. Oh. Yeah. You ever been punched in the jejunum? Going straight roadhouse on the guy. Yeah. His threats, however, escalated when the officer decided to inform the man's wife about the incident. "Pieces of shit," Lyle Parrott told officers according to an arrest affidavit.

Parrott, 64, was arrested and charged with simple assault on a law enforcement officer after the situation that unfolded in the Village of Deluna community swimming pool. Officers responded to the pool after people complained of a drunk person smoking in the pool area. That man, identified as Parrott, also, what a horrible name. I feel like I'm talking about a bird, became belligerent toward the responding officers and yelled profanities at them while slurring his speech.

I'm just wondering if the officers were wearing shorts. Guaranteed. Right. You get called to a pool, like... You got it. You got to put shorts on. Where's Deputy Dangle when you need him? Right. During Parrott's drunk rage, an officer tried to get Parrott's name and date of birth. The officer also noticed Parrott's Village ID card was on the table when he tried to grab "For fucking with me, I'm going to break your throat," he reportedly told officers.

"You're going to break my throat?" the officer asked. "Yup." The man also said he'd kill the officer and repeatedly asked the other to shoot him in the face. During this back and forth, an officer stepped away to make a phone call to Parrott's wife, asking her to come to the pool, pick him up, and take him home. "Shoot me in the face." Peace. Really took a turn. That's when Parrot became belligerent again and yelled more profanities at the officers.

The officer reached across the table to grab Parrot's ID card but he stood up and stepped toward him. "Give me the goddamn ID back!" he screamed. At this point Parrot got closer to the officer, made a fist with his right hand and swung it at the officer in an attempt to hit him in the face. The officer standing nearby was able to catch Parrot's arm in the air before punching the officer. Parrot was placed in handcuffs and escorted out to the officers patrol car.

While in the car he continued threatening the officers saying he was going to kill them and also calling them pieces of shit for calling his wife about the incident. A few days later on Monday the officers were tipped that Parrot's wife was asking around about them in the community. The manager of the village told officers that Parrot's wife was asking around to find out who got her husband arrested.

When officers made contact with her she said that she only made those comments to try and talk to the people who were spreading rumors about her husband. She said she didn't have any intention of causing any physical harm. She added that she was upset about comments being made about her husband and his arrest. She stated people were spreading rumors about the community making it hard for her to live in the community peacefully. "They're spreading the rumors!" She's turned into a prospector.

Officers told her not to make any more comments and to stay away from the residents who might be spreading rumors. Lord knows that she is the wildest ride in the wilderness! nothing, nothing dry about Florida. I tell you. Very slobbery. Did they get like a BAC on this guy? I'm sure through the roof. I mean, unreal. They did not report one unfortunately. It's a community pool guy. Yeah. Smoking in the community pool. What's more Florida than that?

I was probably listening to Kid Rock at the same time. And if he wasn't intoxicated, boy, I tell ya. Yeah. Keeps giving Florida people a bad name. Yeah. Oh man. What a upstanding citizen. All right. We'll end it with this. Top five, you know, end of the year, beginning of the year,

we got some lists. Top five states for beer production and tap room consumption. What states produce the most amount of beer? You might ask. I'm thinking Colorado and California are in there. Well, you're not wrong. Top five. I was actually surprised by this. Number five, California. I thought they'd be higher. Okay. Number four, Virginia. That doesn't make sense. It gets weirder. Number three, Ohio. Number two, Texas. Well, they're huge. And number one, Colorado. Yeah. That makes sense.

Yeah. Where do Americans drink the most beer inside breweries? So where do they actually do their brewery drinking? Uh, number five, New York. Number four, Florida. Number three, Colorado. Number two, Tejas. Number one, California. Okay. There you go. There you go. And which states have the most breweries per 100,000 people? That's gotta be like California and Colorado, right? That's exactly what I thought. Not even close. Number five, New Hampshire. Number four. You ready for this one? Alaska.

Weird. Let us go to the brewery per a hundred thousand. Right. I guess you have three breweries. That's all you need. You have three breweries and under a hundred thousand people. That's I was giving my 16 ounces of beer today. This is how you brew beer. Uh, number three, Maine, number two, Montana. And number one, Vermont. Montana is pretty wide open, right? Yeah. Not a huge population. Yeah. Montana and Alaska really hanging together. Yeah. So it makes sense. Lots of tundra up in Alaska.

Well, some might say tons of tundra. Oh, there it is. There it is. I missed out on a gold mine right there. You really did. And that's why we're absolutely hitting the music now. It got that bad. Hi, Vanessa. Hi, Vanessa. Or should I say happy new year, Vanessa? Uh, both. Happy new year. Hello. Yeah. Nothing like that. Uh, find us craftbeerrepublic.com on the socials, Craft Beer Republic. Of course, flex me a beer, underscores in between. And, uh, I must say some thirst traps lately.

I like that you're getting back to the sexy workout stories. Am I? You posted a couple throughout the holidays. Yeah, maybe. You know, we talked about it with Mel, I think on the last episode that we're missing those and then they started popping up and that's not all that started popping up. Let me tell you. I'll start getting back into it. Yeah. Everybody's wanting any of that. Or start your OnlyFans. What else?

Oh, mail@craftbeerrepublic.com. 805-538-beer-2337. I think I've covered it all. Hope everyone is staying very well hydrated. And on that note, good night, everybody.