Wisconsin: Where the Alcohol is Cheaper than Water - podcast episode cover

Wisconsin: Where the Alcohol is Cheaper than Water

Jun 18, 202538 minEp. 465
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Episode description

Welcome in, craft beer lovers! This week’s episode is tart, tangy, and packed full of laughs—Greg and Flex accidentally twinsies their way into a sour-off, proving once again that great minds drink alike. Greg gets VIP treatment at a local beer fest (even if he has no idea what that means), there’s a hunt for Flex in the wilds of Milwaukee, and somehow Chew Your Beer runs into Coley and BDN in the middle of a baseball circus. There’s also some family time, a little heat, and Flex has to go on a big apology tour.

Beers We’re Drinking

  • Greg is drinking Tropícal Brut from Blue Owl Brewing – A funky, fruity sour with a dry Brut finish that hits perfectly on a hot day.
  • Flex is sipping on Ooey Gooey Guy by The Brewing Projekt – Basically a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in a glass, and somehow it totally works.

There’s a full-on Flex hunt going down in Milwaukee, but Vanessa and her hubby end up at the wrong Eagle Park. Meanwhile, Greg enjoys VIP status at Topa Topa’s 10th anniversary bash and may or may not have figured out what "VIP" actually means.

Flex gets real about palate sabotage via Tex-Mex trail mix (a very specific flavor crime), and issues a heartfelt apology to the breweries he unjustly judged last week. There’s also a touching moment of family bonding—Flex celebrates a belated Father’s Day with his kids, beer shopping included, while Greg endures the mariachi madness of a boozy brunch. Plus, the guys trade stories about cheap Midwest beer, Topo Chico price hacks, and playing lawn darts like it’s 1979.

And of course, Chew Your Beer calls in with stories about his chemical engineering kids, LA Beer Week, and a wild run-in with Nicole and Big Dick Nick at a Savannah Bananas game. Peak chaos. Peak CBR.

Booze News

  • Cape Cod Beer joins the Triton Beer Avengers.
  • Wilding Brands snatches up another Denver brewery; Station 26 Brewing.
  • The Brewers Association adds new styles to the guidelines!
  • The very unofficial top 30 California Breweries list enrages Greg.

Flex: Instagram: @flex_me_a_beer

Craft Beer Republic: CraftBeerRepublic.com


Transcript

This beer is good, by the way. Damn, I miss sours. I have a sour too. Oh, look at us. What a sour. Show. Hashtag Twinsies.

CBR 465: Wisconsin: Where the Alcohol is Cheaper than Water

Welcome in everybody. It's the craft beer republic. Thanks for drinking. Thanks for joining. I am Greg, and I'm being joined by the man who's definitely built for comfort. And that is Flex. What's up, big fella? Uh, hanging on, man. Looking forward to a solid show, I hear. I don't read what you send me. I apologize, but I hear we got we got a lot of stuff to. We have tons of stuff. Like too much stuff. We're gonna jam it all in, like a impacted filling. Or. Like, so unattractive.

PB and J sour. Yeah. Yeah, it's gonna be a sour show. Oh, man. Well, welcome in everybody. Like I said, thanks for drinking. Thanks for joining. This is The Craft Beer Republic, the number one rated craft beer podcast that has never listened to by my wife. So you've you've made it. You texted me that this morning and I actually laughed after reading the message. That was hilarious.

@CraftBeerRepublic @flex_me_a_beer

I was like, if Flex laughed, maybe it's worth repeating. Yeah. Uh, and shout out to our top listing city of the week and that's Los Angeles. I'm glad you guys are listening.

Hey Los Angeles!

And I love you guys and I support you guys. An entire city full of angels. Who knew? What can I say? If you've ever had the tacos down there, you know why they put. Angels in the tacos? Wait, that. That made it sound gross. Uh, no. They're all angels. Making taco like nothing better than tacos in LA. Okay. I think. Yeah. It probably didn't come across as how I meant it to great food in Los Angeles. I would segue from that pretty quick. Find us. On. The socials. @CraftBeerRepublic @Flex_me_a_beer

@CraftBeerRepublic @flex_me_a_beer

Underscores in between. Super smooth. Great. Good job. No one noticed. Uh, like Flex alluded to. Super solid. Lots to get to, multiple voicemails. Uh, Chew was meeting up with some of our friends. There's a hunt for Flex. Apparently, he's missing some booze news to get to, some anniversary parties, some drinking. So much shit. So I should stop wasting time. And if you don't mind, I'm gonna just crack one open. I Love My Beer. I Love My Beer.

Out of my way! I Love My Beer! Ooh! Tart. I am drinking Blue Owl brewing.

Blue Owl - Tropcal Brut: Passion Fruit & Guava Sour Ale

Who we talked about a couple weeks ago in the news. Uh Tropícal Brut. Passion fruit and guava sour ale. Ooh. Who we all know how I feel about guava in my sours. Love it. 7% has a 3.81 and untapped out of 2100 ratings. Wait, you said 7%. 7%. Wow. Yeah. Which, let me tell you, I've had this beer before. We brought it back from a trip. Uh, doesn't doesn't taste like 7%. It's very, uh, very sneaky. I don't see anywhere on the can to actually back that up.

Oh, here we go. The cans is 6.7%. Okay, so the listing is a little off, but 6.7%. Uh, all it says is passion fruit and pink guava sour dry ale. So there you go. Right on. Hence the fruit. Hence the Brut. Uh, on the schnoz. Excuse me? The nose buds. You get a little bit of that fruit coming through, especially the guava. Uh, but let me tell you, it's that sour funkiness that's really coming through that I can't put my. I don't know how to explain it, but, you know, when you're drinking

a sour. It smells sour. Yeah. It's just like it smells sour. Exactly. All right, here's the Tongue-jobber. Woo! This bad boy is deliciously tart. Fruit up front. Very dry Brut like finish. Yeah. Uh, this. I can't believe this is almost 7%. I know I've had it before, but I didn't realize how strong it was. Uh, this is delicious. I picked it out. It's so funny. We. We had no idea what each other was drinking on the show. Spoiler alert, they're both sours, and, uh, I picked it out because

it's fucking balls out today. Like, summer is like, hey, I'm here, motherfucker. And, uh. It's kind of jealous.

So Damn Hot

Today was the hottest day in Milwaukee in, like, I don't know, all year so far. Like, we've had a shit ass summer. So it's not summer, technically, but. Yeah. Yeah. Close. Like a shit ass. Late spring, beginning to June. So what's hot right now? Uh, it was 82 today. Okay. Yeah, it was, uh, 89 here. Yeah. That's warm. Just sweat my balls off. I wanted something refreshing. This fucking nailed it. Uh, something else I saw about this beer on the untapped thing. It said 60 SU.

I was like, what the fuck is SU? Uh, so I looked it up. Apparently, it's souring units. Interesting.

SU = Sour Units

I've never heard of it. Yeah. Uh, so I did more souring units. Research says it's not an official thing like IBUs, but some brewers and beer lovers use Sour Units to describe how puckering a beer is. It's basically a fun way to rate sourness. Kind of like Scoville units for spicy food. The real science behind it, it's all about acidity and pH. The lower the pH, the more sour it tastes. So next time someone says a beer has high sour units, they just mean it'll

make your face do that sour face. So then it's a low pH. Yes. Lower the pH. The more sour it tastes. Okay, so there you have it. I'd never. Yeah, I'd never heard Suse before or Sour Units. So look at you getting all sciency nerd shit. Uh. All right. What's even nerdier is that you probably loved looking it up, too. A little bit. That's why I love you. Yeah. I was like, I gotta figure this out because I could have just said, ah,

Suse probably stands for Sour Units, but who cares? My little nerdy Greg. That's me. Uh. All right, like I said, lots to get to. Um, I dude, we finally had our first wakeboard trip of the season last weekend. That's exciting. Yeah. It's good. Good wakeboard sesh. New boat. Well, new to us. Boat. So that was great. Um, did a little wine tasting, as per usual. Because, um. Why wouldn't you when you're in

the area? Yeah, especially when we got all those memberships and it's usually free or close to it. Yeah, it makes sense. Yeah. Uh, no beer stops while we're up there. You know, a lot of times we'll stop at like there's not exist on the way back, but we had something to get to and time was of the essence. So. Sucks for me. Yeah. At least you had fun. Yeah. Good trip though. But I did do some beer research over the weekend. Topa Topa had their 10th anniversary party.

We talked about it on the show. Congrats. Yeah, congrats to Topa Topa. Congrats to Cambria, as well as

Happy Anniversary Topa Topa!

their, um, events coordinator, Emily. Great event. Uh, they were nice enough to put me on the VIP list, which. Well. Yeah, which was kind of funny because I was like, I don't know what that means. And so I showed up and we bought our beers, and I saw this table off to the corner after we already got our beers. And I just walked up and I said, hey, because they're handing out lanyards. And I was like, hey, um, I was told I was on the VIP list. And I'm going to be real honest,

I don't know what that means. And she goes, oh, okay. Well, you know, what's your name? She looks delicious. So yeah, sure enough, here you are. Here's your two passes. And I said, great, what is this for? And she goes, oh, you get two free beers. And I was like, oh, fantastic. Thank you so much. So yeah, it was very nice. I got a. We each got a couple of free beers out of it and uh, it was they had a 10th anniversary IPA. And look, I know I've been a bit of a haze for the last few

months this year, basically. But, um, their 10th anniversary was a Westie, and it was really good. It was really hitting the spot the other day. Single steer. Single hop. No no no no no. Like single double triple. Oh, yes. Just an IPA. Okay. Um, and then the other one I got was their single hop IPA, which was all Nelson, I thought of you. I love that. Yeah, that was good too. So that makes my heart happy. Yeah. Uh. Great event. You know, they had some bands, some food,

some vendors and that kind of stuff. We had to leave a little bit early, uh, for some family shit, but, uh, glad we got to hang out for a few hours before we had to do all that annoying stuff. So, uh, cheers to Topa Topa. Um, all right, I alluded to this before. People have been hunting for the

Where is Flex?!

great Flex. Apparently, it's all over. All over Milwaukee. Uh, Vanessa. Hi, Vanessa. Hi, Vanessa. And her husband are in the Milwaukee area, and I. I guess they went to Eagle Park looking for you. You you texted me this? Yes. Yes. You know, it's a Monday. Everybody knows Flex goes to Eagle Park on Mondays for lunch. Um, I won't give out which one they went to, but turns out they went to the wrong one. There are two. The wrong location. Absolutely.

So, uh, her husband sent me this clip while they were at the bar searching for Flex. What's your name? Nicole. Nicole. Do you recognize this person? No, I don't know who this is. All right. You don't know? I don't know. Flex me a beer. I don't you don't know him. I just I clicked off, but. That was it. Kind of ended abruptly. But I was getting messages of like, Flex says he's famous around here.

Nobody knows who he is. Yeah, so they went to the downtown Milwaukee location and I go to the, uh, Muskego location, which is out in the suburbs here, not in the city. So, um, yeah, also, I've been, you know, laying, as you know, and a lot of people don't know, I've been off the gram for like four months, almost something like that. Just kind of laying low, taking care of myself,

not really going out too much. So, uh, I know they were looking for me, and my apologies, but, you know, uh, I also did have, uh, Father's Day with my kids today since I worked all day on Father's Day. Right. So slinging. Some sausages. We. Yeah. Tons of sausages, man.

Father's Day Fun

People love my meat. It's crazy. I, for one, am a big fan. But yeah, so we took the kids, hit some golf balls. They love doing that shit. Oh, nice. Uh, got some pizza. A little Chelsea action on the side and, uh, finish it off with a little bit of pool time. Even though there wasn't a shit ton of sun today, it was warm. Not a lot of sun, but, uh, humid and hot, so. Oof! That's the. Worst. Gross. The humidity was gross. Makes me think of Florida. Yeah, not that humid.

Oh, I still have PTSD from that. Yeah, I bet your balls do, too. As I say, they're still not dry. Did you, uh, did you take the girls, uh, beer shopping for Father's Day? I actually did. It's funny you brought that up. Um. They were. They did pick, actually.

Beer Shopping w/the Girls

Kind of picked out the beer I bought. Actually, I'm drinking right now, and, uh, they found it in a four pack, and I really didn't want to buy a four pack because I got spurned a little bit last week. Right. Hashtag? No, not too much. But, uh, I did find a single can of it. They. Oh, fantastic. Yeah, they re-upped their single can section, so I was happy I could oblige. Good. We don't have to blast them all over the show for no singles. No, no.

Thank you. Consumer beverage. Well, fuck, since they picked out your beer, let's just. Let's just talk about it now. In a world where craft beer is king. A world where muscles are bigger

What is Flex Drinking?

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, well, I it's been a while since I've had one of these beers. Uh. Damn it. Uh, this brewery, I should say, since I've had this brewery, uh, the brewing project up in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. That's like four hours ish away. Three and a half. Uh, quite a jaunt northwest.

The Brewing Projekt - Ooey Gooey

Yeah, it's a little a little bit of a trip. Uh, but this is their peanut butter and jelly sour called Ooey Gooey. Guy. I know this kind of makes its way around. I think it's on the old Tavour every now and then. Um, I think kind of a flagship sour, if I'm not mistaken. And I could be mistaken, uh, because it's been a while. There we go. Uh, I like how they do their abvs, too. They get to, like, the hundredth of the decimal. So this is a 5.93% ABV. Very accurate.

Very, uh, I would say sessionable. Right. It's under six or something. So, uh, for sour, it's not not not bad. Uh, collective 407 out of 3.4 thousand ratings can't go wrong with the 407 and untapped reads, uh, peanut butter and jelly sour. Oh, yeah. Okay. Can can says, uh, Concord grape, blackberry, peanut and peanut flavoring. So I know the flavoring is always kind of scary because, you know it's going to be artificial. Is it not going to be artificial?

Is it going to taste like peanuts? Is it going to taste like peanuts? Who knows? Um, well, as Nick always says, if you don't hit the T, you get the D. He's not wrong. Yeah, think about it, everybody. It's pretty solid. Peanuts. Ben. He's a smart guy. Smart guy. All right, so on the old nose buds here. Lots of peanut. Mm. Tons. Tons of peanut aroma. Little, little fruit shining through, but definitely heavy on the nut. So, without further ado. Oh. See what the old Tongue-jobber has to

say about this? Well, he tries it. I'll tell you, this looks like grape jelly. It's like purple. Yeah, it's fucking lacing. Look at that lacing. Mhm. Gorgeous. So this is wonderful. This is like stupid. Good. The peanut and the peanut flavoring works so well with this grape and blackberry together. And there's it is legitimately like you took a bite into a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. You're not getting too much peanut. You're not getting too much of the fruit. It is just so well balanced.

I wish I would have gotten the four pack now. Mhm. Well that can go back and get a four pack. I can. But isn't it funny how it works out that way right. It's like man what the fuck. Had you gotten the four pack. It would have been garbage right? Just would have been my luck.

Go Get the 4 Pack!

Terrible shit. I gotta finish three more of these. Yeah. So, uh. Yeah. I couldn't be happier about this. I. I actually had to stop drinking it as I poured it before the show, because it was already so good. It's too bad Voltron ended up being such a shit box last week. Well, so I do. I did want to do this to Greg. I wanted to issue a public apology to

Retraction Section

4 Hands Brewing and three sheeps. Um, I kind of shit bagged that beer a little bit last week. The Voltron series eight. And I think I figured out something that happened because I had a can a day or two later because I didn't want to throw it out. I didn't want to pour it or whatever. It's wasteful. And it was super drinkable. It was like it wasn't a great beer, but it was drinkable. Okay. Much improved.

So then the next day I drank it out of the can, and it was actually significantly better out of the can than it was pouring, even though poured was still drinkable. And then I started trying to scrape my brain. Why could that first can have been so disgusting. Right? And I thought to myself, Flex got hungry in between shows last week. Flex ate some Tex-Mex trail mix. Oh no. From target in between the shows,

What Did Flex Do?!

and I'm pretty sure one of the spices or the spices got caught on my tongue and it totally wrecked my palate for the beer. That's funny. And I'm convinced that's what it was. So today, no trail mix. Sorry, target. No trail mix today. We're gonna give these beers 100% of my Tongue-jobber in love. That's so funny. Uh, well, then. Sorry. 4 Hands. I guess your beer didn't totally suck. Yeah, no it didn't. So, you know. Is it safe to say still wasn't the best of that series? I would say so.

I would say the first beer in that series was by far the best. Okay. I can't remember who they collabed with, but it was a stylized, hazy. Mm. And it was. You boner over. Those. Oh, I fucking boner so hard over stylized yeast. Um, it's like my boner gets a boner and boner. But, yeah, it was. It was like drinking guava juice, and it was seven, And a half percent, and they were selling four packs for 9.99. Like you don't forget something like that. No you don't. You just don't.

You know, speaking of four packs for 9.99. Vanessa sent me a beer menu, a picture of a beer menu from a different brewery. I forget which one in the Milwaukee area. And legit four pack she goes. Flex isn't lying.

Milwaukee Beer is Cheep!

Four packs were ten bucks and 12 bucks and she's like, he's so fucking lucky. Yeah. Oh, beer's great here. Yeah. Those of us from California, New York, Florida are like the ten bucks for an entire four pack. Even when we went to Saint Louis last year, I was, uh, we stopped in one of, like, the local grocery stores, uh, pick up a few things as we were taking, like, another trip through the state. And I took a look at the beer coolers, and I was like, Holy shit. 9.99 10.99 12.99.

Like, I think I ended up getting like four four packs and I didn't even plan to buy beer, but it was like just looking at the prices and, you know, breweries, you can't get here because of distribution issues, right? Because of Abe. And, um, yeah, we're just Midwest. Super lucky. Yeah. Why is it. That's why everyone's always so drunk in Wisconsin. The beer is cheaper than the water. That's accurate. Four pack of crafties for ten bucks. Man, I can't believe it. Here's a funny story.

So my man cave also like, I guess doubles as my wife's. There's like a hair chair down here. And she does like some family members hair. And my sister in law and her husband and their kids come over to get their haircut. And my sister in law's husband made a comment. I had some topo chicos, margaritas, seltzers in my fridge. Nice. And he asked me about them and he said, how much is a 12 pack of those? And I said, oh, it was on sale at the grocery store for 15.99. Wow.

And he said, that's funny because a 12 pack of regular non-alcoholic Topo Chicos is 15.99. It's free alcohol. So it is free alcohol. You just start putting those in your kids lunches and shit. You cheaper than a Capri Sun. You're actually stupid if you buy a

Wisconsin: Where the Alcohol is Cheaper than Water

12 pack of that shit, right? Regular. Now I know why that trashy client of your wife's thought it was the alcoholic Topo Chico and not the regulars. Shit's cheaper. They make those non-alcoholic. Now it's all tracking. It's all making sense. It does. It makes perfect sense. Wow. Well, to close the loop on the search for Flex, Vanessa also did call in and leave us a voicemail. Hey, it's Vanessa, the real beer vixen. I am here in Milwaukee.

Vanessa: Live from Eagle Park

@Flex_me_a_beer town at Eagle Park. And guess what? @Flex_me_a_beer is nowhere to be found. Where are you, Mr. Flex? We wanted to have a beer next time. Cheers. There you have it. My apologies. Yeah. He's too busy being a dad. Someone's gotta be. Someone's gotta be the dad. Your wife sure won't do it for some reason. Yeah, I don't think she's up for it. She really needs to step up her game. Yeah. It's time for her to dad a little bit. Uh. What are you gonna do? I know, well, speaking of

Father's Day, I am not a dad. Just a dog, dad, as people say. But, uh, did take the dad out for a brunch. Did did the old, uh, Mexican brunch where, you know, buffet and limitless, uh, or unlimited? Uh, I keep saying margaritas. Mimosas? Jesus Christ, this is 7%. We had, like, the best waitress

Father's Day Brunch

waitresses, you know, heavy for a serve yourself buffet. But she was the one bringing around the, uh, the mimosas the whole time. And she was hilarious. She was great. Not hard to look at. And, uh, was just cracking jokes with us talking shit about the mariachi band, because at one point, the, uh, the guy doing trumpet, like, almost took her out, like, swung over and almost knocked her in the face. And I was like, are you all right? She's like, yeah, I had to do

some matrix shit over here. So she was great. Um. Sometimes those bands are so loud. That was the problem. So, like, it's cool because, like, legit mariachis are cool and, like, they had them in the restaurant. We were out on the patio. They had them in the restaurant. I was like, oh, this is cool ambiance. And they're super talented. And the singing and the harmonizing like, it's it's great. And then they came out to the patio and they were, you know, 4.5in from our ear holes.

It was like, oh my God, what the fuck is going on? I feel like I'm under attack. I guess we'll stop having a conversation. Oh yeah. And they, you know, they kind of look around to see who's, uh, you know, into it, making eye contact, that kind of thing. And so all of us at the table were like, oh God, please don't come play at our table. Like. It is. You guys are great. It is loud enough.

We don't need the extra volume of the trumpet directly in our eardrums, so keep it to the other side of this tiny ass little patio. But then they went back inside and I was like, all right, this is perfect volume. They're back inside. Sucks. All the people inside the restaurant. Oh, that would be so much worse. Yeah, so did that. Then we had to go because we had some family thing going on. Uh, the wife's dad was in town as well, so then at night took him out and,

um, did a little dinner thing and. Yay! So much family. So much family. I know you hate that. Yeah, it's good times. Even. Even the wife was like, what are we gonna do? I was like, do you mean, what are we gonna do? It's your fucking dad. What do you want to do? And she's like, ah. Sounds like my wife. My wife sent me a text. It was last week sometime. She's like, she's bought her dad a hat and something else. And she's like, so Father's Day is done for him. She goes,

you're on your own for years. I was like, oh, so what did I do? I, I went to the local mall on lunch on Saturday before Father's Day, and I went and bought my dad a hat. Nice. Yeah. I just, you know, we just took him out. Paid for brunch slash dinner. Okay. I think we've all gotten to the point where, just, like, how much stuff can you have? And there's nothing meaningful I could buy my dad, or she could buy her dad. Um, you know, it's so just spend time

instead and have or something. Right. Well, we, uh, we went over there. I bought him a new Brewers hat, and he, of course, took it out of the bag, put it on right away. Wore it the rest of the night. Didn't even take the stickers off. That's a classic. Uh, Papa Flex move. Mr. Flex. And, uh, he all star Flex. All star Flex. Yeah, it's a long story. Really? Really fun. Uh, my my dad's Just the greatest, really. Uh, but, yeah, so we got to play me, him and my two other brothers.

We all played lawn darts. Like actual lawn darts for, like. Been sitting in the garage since the 70s, like, uh. Facebook Marketplace or something like that. They're not legal, right? No, I don't think so. I mean, these ones don't have points to them. Oh, it's a it's a blunt end. Oh, gotcha. But it's not the old school lawn darts. No, not with like, the pointed. Right where they were stabbing children and stuff. Yeah. If you're not paying attention.

Which those things fly, man, I haven't ever played. It was my first time playing actual lawn darts. Yeah, I've never played. Yeah. Them shit's fucking carry pretty good. Look out! Yeah. So I almost, you know, maybe got my foot stabbed once. Yeah. No big deal. But yeah, she's just once.

Lawn Darts Still Exist?

Just a foot. Then you start paying attention. Yeah. It's like a lizard's tail. It'll regrow. I think so, I think that's how that happens. Yeah, yeah. You lose a toe, it'll come back. It's fine. Uh, well, speaking of dad's, uh. It's funny. He actually mentioned being a dad. Chew Your Beer. Leftovers of voicemail. Everyone's favorite homey. So let's, uh, let's check in with Chew. See what's up. Hello? No one is available to take your call.

Please leave a message after the tone. Yo, what up, homies?

The Homie Chew Your Beer

It's your friendly neighborhood chulo. Chew Your Beer @CraftBeerRepublic. How you guys doing? It's been a while since I called in. I figured I'd call in and give you a little. Just a little lowdown about what's been going on. My youngest has graduated from high school and should be on his way to college. Congrats. My oldest should be graduating college and by the end of next year, both chemical engineers. I went to San Diego, actually went to Little Italy just to hang out over the weekend. Nice.

And then, uh, funny thing, I was in Anaheim to go see the Savannah Bananas perform. Oh, that's fucking cool. Actually, that is. The wifey and I decided to go get another beer. Walked out. I didn't get a beer. I ended up getting myself a double Bulleit Bourbon and Coke because I was tired of drinking beers and waiting for the wife. She's getting a michelada. And then I hear in the in the far, far background, through all the noise of the cheers and the people walking,

I hear, hey, Nicole, is that you? And I turn around and like about 25ft, I see the nickster. I see big Dick Nick staring, making sure that's me. And I'm like, Holy shit. And then he goes, hey, Nicole, it is Chew Your Beer. And they. It was hilarious. They got to see Nicole and Big Dick, Nick and I think one of Nicole's co-workers. They were out there, uh, watching the Savannah Of bananas and took a couple pictures with them. Man. So that was to be in Anaheim and

to run into these two. It was hilarious to me. I was like, I don't know where I would expect that. Maybe at a brewery or somewhere in the Valley, but all the way down in Anaheim. And then I guess we were sitting in the same zone because they came out of the same tunnel that we came out of. It's just fucking hilarious. So, uh, my hat's off to them. Was nice seeing them. Great show. If you haven't seen it. Savannah Bananas show, I highly suggest you go watch one.

And I would totally go back, homies. All right, so just give you some of that this weekend. Uh, June 14th, I'll be at the, uh, L.A. Brewers Beer Festival in Long Beach. So looking forward to hanging out out there with Mikey of the taproom, uh, podcast and some other friends and, uh. Yeah, man. So it's summer's here. Beer festivals here. LA Beer Week is coming. Looking forward to going to Temple Week. And hopefully I get to hang out with you, Greg, and have a beer.

All right homies. This is Chew Your Beer. You hate to watch. Yo. Peace out. Hey. So the Savannah bananas. They came here. Last summer. Question mark. Two summers ago. Uh, because we have this baseball stadium. Six minutes from my house. It's like the eight ABL American baseball league or some.

What is the ABL?

It's not a minor league system. It's like its own minor league. The XFL. League. Yeah, it's it's weird, but it's cool because super solid stadium. Uh, like I said, it's only like six minutes from my house. It's actually. Yeah. Next to where I go golfing when I hit like those go to the range or like golf bays. And, uh, they played there a year or two ago. Tickets sold out so fast, they added another game the next night or another show, whatever you want to call it. And then that sold out in like,

I don't know, like three minutes. Yeah, I guess there was like a lottery system for this Anaheim game he's talking about. Yeah. The popularity for these guys is like through the roof. It's like the Harlem Globetrotters of baseball, but way more entertaining. Oh, really? Because the shit they do is, I don't know, it's wild. It's like any anybody can, you know, be athletic, dunk all the alley. Oops. The dribbling. Like there's a lot of people out there that can do that.

We're talking like backflips into catching the ball and just all this crazy, goofy shit. I don't know, man. It's wild. And is it one of those things, like the Globetrotters where the bananas always win? I believe so. Okay. But like, it even got so big that, uh. Because I think they always play, like, the same team. Kind of like the Globetrotters. Others, okay. But they got so big that John Cena actually participated at one of their shows and came out

as a batter for the other team. Oh how funny. Yeah, so they're huge. I bet it's really hard for the pitcher to see him hate you. Damn, it. Must be hard to find that strike

You Can't See Me

zone when you can't see your batter. It's a wrestling joke for the for the rest of you. Hopefully people get it. Yeah. Nobody will. They've now turned off the show. I thought this was a beer show. Uh, well, cool. Yeah, I've. I've seen some clips. Seems fun. I didn't know it was like that. Popular. Didn't. Didn't the Savannah bananas used to be a legit minor league team. That I'm unaware of. I think they were actually a minor league team, and they started doing, like, some fun things,

and then it just spiraled. I think somebody will correct me. I'm sure of it. You'd have to do some research. I would, and I did not. So. All right, let's do a little news before we get out of here. Cape Cod beer has been acquired

Cape Cod Beer Acquired by Triton Beverage Group

by Triton Beverage Group. Less than two months after acquiring Plymouth based Mayflower. Mayflower Brewing, the parent company of Hog Island Brewing, has acquired Cape Cod Beer, the oldest craft brewery on the Massachusetts peninsula. Triton CEO Mike McNamara told Brewbound that this marks a major milestone for our team as we bring together three of Massachusetts most respected coastal breweries under one locally owned, independent banner.

There you have it. Classic. Yeah. Wilding brands who just bought or acquired Great Divide acquires another brewery. Wilding brands, the Colorado based craft beverage and hospitality platform, has expanded again with the acquisition of Denver's Station 26 brewery. Station 26 founder Justin Bakery will remain in his role. Roy nailed it, leading the brewery

Wilding Brands Acquires Another Denver Brewery

as it joins the collective, which also includes Stem ciders, Denver Beer Co and Great Divide, among other brands. Production and packaging of the station 26 portfolio will shift to Wilding Can Works facility in Denver's Sunnyside neighborhood. Wilding brands will be minimizing the brewing equipment at station 26, which will allow for expanded taproom seating. No cuts are planned for taproom staff, but the number of production jobs affected is yet unknown. Dang. The Brewers Association adds new

beer styles to the guidelines. They have added Mexican style light

BA Adds New Beers to Style Guidelines

lager, Mexican style amber lager, Czech style amber lager, Czech style dark lager and West Coast style pilsner. Cool. Yes! Additionally, the category Bohemian style pilsner has been renamed to Czech style pale lager. Okay. That's legit. Yeah. So there's some some nerd news for you. Let's end it on this one. It's a list, but I don't think you're gonna get angry about it. Okay. I'm okay with that. It's the top 30 breweries in

Top 30 California Breweries

California. Yeah. You know, pretty impartial. Yeah. Maybe you would get angry, I don't know. Well. We'll see. I'm not gonna go through all of them, because that would take all day. I'll talk about some notables. 30 is three Weavers brewing. 28 Emigrant Brewing. What up? Emigrant? 24 Pizza Port Brewing Company. Are they overrated? Are they decent? Uh, I like them, you know, they're real old school. So you got to be careful if you don't want that, like, you know,

multi IPA situation. Got it. Um, but you know what they do, they do really well and they have good pizza. So 23 Society brewing. Love me some society 22 Kern River. Oh see all right now I'm angry. Okay. Lay it on me. 21 Ballast Point. Gross. Fucking gross. I think listener Jay sent this in. Jay, you should have read this before you sent it. God damn it. Maybe he did. Maybe he's trying to piss me off. 20 Sierra Nevada okay, feels a little high up the list. That is kind of high.

Yeah, since it's like the number two brewery. I did see. They just released, uh, recently. A peachy little thing. It's like a hazy IPA. Oh, yeah. But I haven't had it yet. I haven't seen it yet, but I'll try. I like their hazy little things. I like the hazy little thing a lot. Yeah, it's fucking just easy. Super solid. Solid. Yeah. And when you're at a shitty bar, that happens to have it super safe. Super. Uh, number 18, Beechwood 17,

Moonraker. Here we go. Good. Yeah. Moonraker. 16. Humble. See? Finally. See? Here we go again. 14. Stone brewing. Cat. Damn it. Obviously not. Craft beer. Uh, 13 Firestone Walker 12. Alvarado Street Brewing 11. Cellar maker. Here we go. Ten Highland Park. There's a good one for you. Nine pure project. Here we go. Nine. Yeah, man, I feel like they're way better. Yeah. That's true. Eight. Green cheek. That could be higher as well. That could be. Seven.

North Park, love me some. North Park. North Park, solid. Six. Ale Smith. Yeah. Look, I like Ale Smith a lot. No, no problems with them being on the list, but, um, they should be a little higher up in my humblest of opinions. Or lower up. Lower, higher number. Lower rank. There we go. Because I think we said the other one should have been higher up. Right. Uh, talk about hype. Breweries. Number five, the brewery number four. Bottle logic. Yeah.

Another hype number three. I don't even know what this is. Sante Adairius, rustic ales. The fuck? Got me, man. Yeah. Two. You live in California? Yeah. Where is this? Capitola, California. That's nowhere near me. Uh. Number two. Monkish brewing. And, of course, number one is Russian River. I mean, monkish is super hype, but, I mean, every beer I've ever had just delicious. Yeah, yeah. I mean, look, they're good. You know, I don't think the brewery is nearly as good as their hype,

Is The Bruery Worth the Hype?

but monkish is pretty fucking good. Well, doesn't like the brewery and bottle logic. Aren't they big on barrel age stuff? Yeah, and the brewery is notorious for bottle bombs and just fucking shelf turds and whatnot. Like, sometimes you spend, you know, $30 on the whatever brewery Christmas beer and you open it and it's gone bad. Like, they're. They're bought. Especially back in the day. Their bottling practices were horrible. Got it. Yeah. And you'd have to, like, wait in line for this shit.

And I was like. Well, still. I don't think it's like it was no, no, no, but like back in the day and yeah, you know, you know who knows. Nicole. Nicole. 2025. Come on. Right. Exactly. Kohli's always getting there. Um. Black Tuesday. So I wonder if she's still getting those and if it's still, like, a line or if it's just an online. I think it's just an online like lottery, essentially. Okay. So who knows. Anyways, that's it. Let's wrap it up over here. Let's hit some music.

Tell you all to follow us on the socials. @CraftBeerRepublic @flex_me_a_beer underscore in between. Uh, 8553. Beer. 2337. If you want to leave us a voicemail.

@CraftBeerRepublic @flex_me_a_beer

I think that's just about everything. Hope everyone is a keeping their balls cool, but be staying very well hydrated. And on that note. Good night everybody.

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