A few weeks ago Vinnie Cilurzo the co-founder of Russian River Brewing Co. was on Steal This Beer and amid the hop soaked fun, he mentioned how the two breweries in the Russian River family – the pub in Santa Rosa, California and the new one in nearby Windsor – talk between each other to dial in recipes and make sure there is a united front. This is a normal practice for brewers with multiple locations, but when it comes to beers are revered as STS Pilsner and Pliny the Elder, it is easy to be i...
Feb 17, 2021•51 min
Show notes from host John Holl: "On every bottle of Maine Beer there are three words: Do What’s Right. This is an easy phrase to say, but incredibly hard to practice. It can’t just be a marketing slogan or something cooked up in a board room, slapped on a label and then forgotten. It has to mean something and what is right isn’t always the same thing for everyone, and so the person spearheading that initiative has to believe it, to practice it, and to have other believe it and practice it. Dan K...
Feb 10, 2021•48 min
It's Super Bowl week in America and the attention of the sports world has turned to Tampa, Florida where the hometown team, the Buccaneers will take on the Kansas City Chiefs. For breweries the annual big game has become a chance for some city-to-city rivalries that play out in collaboration beers, tap takeovers, and more, with the brewery from the winning city often getting the better end of the deal, but in reality there are no losers. This show is in two segments. The first features Khristoph...
Feb 03, 2021•50 min
A decade ago Drew Fox decided to take his homebrewing hobby to the next level and went pro. Since then, as founder and president of 18th Street Brewery in Gary, Indiana, he’s grown the business into multiple locations, into bigger brewing systems and has traveled the country and the world working on collaboration beers and being a force of good will to the beer industry. From recipe evolution and creation, to what he is choosing to focus on to help the brewery grow in a meaningful way, he gets i...
Jan 27, 2021•51 min
Some thoughts on this episode from host John Holl: "When I first started drinking beer, one of the breweries that opened my eyes and palate to flavor was Magic Hat. Thanks to its Number 9, the beer was a fruity pale ale with whimsical labels, clever facts and saying under the bottle cap, and at a price point that didn’t make my budget scream. Of course a lot has changed in 20 years and that brewery doesn’t dominate the conversation or even register too much for folks anymore. So, last year, I wa...
Jan 20, 2021•52 min
Before launching Heirloom Rustic Ales in Tulsa, Oklahoma a few years ago Jake Miller cut his teeth at breweries like Prairie Artisan Ales, Wolves and People, and Saint Somewhere. Along the way he picked up different brewing techniques and a sense for the aesthetics that make for a good brewery and channeled it into his own place. Today he's determined to follow a brewing path that excites him and is interesting. This means ditching his mixed fermentation program and putting a lot of focus on lag...
Jan 13, 2021•51 min
Lisa and Brandon Boldt are the owners of Primitive Beer in Colorado. They bill themselves as Colorado's first exclusively spontaneous, barrel-fermented beer blendery. And in a state that has claimed its fair share of firsts, that’s a pretty big deal, especially after you taste their beer. You kinda wonder why we had to wait so long. When they opened their doors in 2018 the made a splash on the local scene for their Méthode Traditionnelle ales, as well as the packaging – maybe you’ve seen their b...
Jan 06, 2021•1 hr 5 min
Show notes from host John Holl: “I’ve been thinking a lot about pints and specifically what I missed as I spent time at home and away from normal beer related things in 2020. I’ve really missed draft beer. I’ve missed settling into favorite tables or stools at familiar bars, scanning a list and ordering something new and exciting or flavorful and reliable. Over the course of this past year, I’ve talked with a lot of brewery owners and brewers about how COVID-19 has impacted them and changed the ...
Dec 30, 2020•1 hr 24 min
Show notes from Host John Holl: "As this year limps to a close I was thinking of what usually brings me joy in and around the beer space and It’s getting together with good friends over pints for general business chat as well as a proper bullshit session. Since we can’t get together in I thought that this could be a good format to bring together some of my favorite people for a chat about the year that was and to share some stories. So on the show this week is author Melissa Cole, her new book i...
Dec 23, 2020•1 hr 4 min
Mitch Steele is a brewmaster that everyone looks up to. He’s had a storied career in beer, worked at prominent breweries, developed some of the beers we all still know and drink today, today he is the brewmaster at New Realm Brewing, a company he helped found that operates a brewery in Georgia and one in Virginia. He is a teacher that many in the brewing industry turn to for advice and inspiration, but Mitch – he’s earned his place in the first name club of brewers – is still very much a student...
Dec 16, 2020•1 hr 1 min
Laura Ulrich is the small batch brewer at Stone Brewing Co. and is our guest today. Yes, Stone Brewing is one of the larger craft breweries in America, and has succeeded over the years with in-your-face marketing and a fondness for West Coast IPA. But like most breweries their size, there is a smaller component, experimental batches that might one day become larger releases, but that serve the pubs or speciality accounts. What’s it like, warts and all, to have a job where the beer carries a fami...
Dec 09, 2020•55 min
Show notes from host John Holl: "I’m both excited and bummed to have Hugh Sisson, the founder of Heavy Seas beer on the show today. Excited because Hugh is a thoughtful, engaging, and dynamic figure in beer who has worked tirelessly to foster and grow an industry and has been a mentor for many. Bummed because I had hoped to do this interview in person. But, you know, Covid. It’s likely better to be apart because if I was at the brewery I’d likely have one too many pints of IPA. He’s been in beer...
Dec 02, 2020•52 min
Thanksgiving is going to be different this year here in the United States but for many of us, smaller crowd sizes does not mean different foods or different beers. This week we talk with Hutch Kugeman of the Culinary Institute of America on how to plan out beer and food pairings, what to think about if you’re thinking about a cooking education, and the current state of the hospitality industry. For more Drink Beer, Think Beer or to check out Beer Edge: The Newsletter for Beer Professionals , fol...
Nov 25, 2020•47 min
Show notes from host John Holl: "I’ve known Tom Troncone since before I was writing about beer. We were competing reporters at newspapers in the New York Metro area. The nature of our jobs, covering crime and breaking news, often meant that we would be hanging out at crime scenes in the middle of the night. We were always friendly, but we’d work to beat each other’s brains out in the paper the following day. When I started writing about beer I discovered that Tom was a homebrewer as well as a bi...
Nov 18, 2020•56 min
This week, as Drink Beer, Think Beer celebrates its one year anniversary, we’re glad to welcome J.C. Tetreault of Trillium Brewing Co. to the show. Tetreault has packed a lot into the eight years his brewery has been open. He’s helped establish beer styles, he’s had tremendous growth, has been the subject of intense scrutiny where he’s had to defend the brewery and its reputation, and throughout it all he’s been tinkering, and making moves, adapting, and trying to keep his thoughts on his passio...
Nov 11, 2020•52 min
Orpheus Brewing in Atlanta is the fun, familiar story of a home brewer who wanted to go pro and did. Head brewer and CEO Jason Pellett has a background in music but fell in love with beer making and wanted to bring something special to his city when he and partners opened up the brewery seven years ago. He’s seen the brewery evolve over time and while he has come to embrace some traditions, and holds some things sacred he is also not afraid to mix things up in either of his roles. This means pus...
Nov 04, 2020•45 min
Show notes from host John Holl: "Despite being one of the largest breweries in the country, I hadn’t given Lagunitas much of a thought in recent years. I’d of course see its IPA on tap at bars, back when I went to bars, and its familiar glass bottles on shelves. It was there, I was happy to see it, but usually ordered something else. A lot of people are drinking the beer, sure, but as the beer landscape and conversation has shifted to local, some of the middle tier breweries that we’ve long know...
Oct 28, 2020•1 hr 9 min
On this show we like to get into the mind of a brewer and find out where their daydreams and creativity take them and how that ultimately winds up in our glasses. This week host John Holl is talking with Anna Jobe the innovation brewer at Night Shift in Massachusetts on how she approaches new styles, how she determines what works and what doesn't, and how she is looking for new avenues in cider, wine, and seltzer because so many of us aren’t just drinking beer exclusively anymore more. Anna is a...
Oct 21, 2020•47 min
There is good news in beer these days. Despite all the harm that COVID-19 is doing, there are businesses that are forging ahead and opening to the public. This week on the show we are talking with Mike Kraai of Drowned Lands Brewery in New York. The brewery has been making beer for a year now, but only opened its tasting room five weeks ago. The space is massive, suited for drinking apart during a pandemic. The 15,000 square-foot space sits on three acres, with a large lawn, ample patio, and eve...
Oct 14, 2020•48 min
Joining us on the phone this week is Tomme Arthur of the Lost Abbey. In the roughly 15 years that the brewery has been open it has largely focused on Belgian-inspired ales that have helped shape the course of beer in America today. Over the last months of COVID-19 he has had to look at his business model and find new ways to keep the lights on. This has been through new releases that include spritzy ales, pilsners, and a soon to be released hard tea. Tomme has long talked about the importance of...
Oct 07, 2020•39 min
Justin Stambaugh started homebrewing a decade ago and quickly decided he wanted to pursue a professional career in beer. It wasn’t as easy as he had hoped but eventually he got an internship at Rip Current Brewing Co. in 2012 where he rose though the ranks, became a brewer, and even helped start that brewery’s sour program. Eventually he decided that it was time to open his own place and didn’t even have to look too far. His new Brewery, Stave & Nail is located in the same building as Rip Cu...
Sep 30, 2020•45 min
This is a special time of year on the beer calendar. It's fresh hop beer season and if you live in the Pacific Northwest you are likely enjoying pints of vibrantly hoppy ales. The rest of us are just dreaming of what could be. Hard to define, difficult to describe, and a revelation each time, fresh hop beers are best experienced in person where the beers were made. Zach Beckwith, the head brewer of Bend Brewing Co. has some thoughts on fresh hops and what is being done right, what could be bette...
Sep 23, 2020•51 min
There is a lot going on out West right now, some of it good – like the hop harvest – and a lot of it bad, like the fires that are raging out of control. Napa Valley is often in the news when it comes to fires in California and while it is known for wine, there is also beer to be found. Nile Zacherle of Mad Fritz Beer straddles both worlds. He is both a wine maker and a brewer and is thoughtful about both. What might be most enjoyable about his beers is that they live inside of specific style but...
Sep 16, 2020•57 min
Show notes from host John Holl: "I love a good conversation over beer and these days it’s hard to do it in person, but it is alive online. One person I can always count on to get the brain cells working and to challenge the notions of beer is Brienne Allan, the production manager at Notch Brewing , in Salem Massachusetts. She’s worked at the brewery for three years and handles a variety of roles and has been instrumental in getting some of the more beloved and esoteric lager projects off the gro...
Sep 09, 2020•1 hr 1 min
Alex Lovinggood of Barn Town Brewing has been in the beer business for less than a decade but has made a lasting impact wherever he has gone. He was a teacher and a bartender before he got into brewing. He started like so many others, as a volunteer washing kegs and learning the trade from time spent in various hands on experiences. He worked at Temperance Brewing, Atlas (when it was called that), and later Brickstone, all in Illinois. He has been a major force behind The Festival of Wood and Ba...
Sep 02, 2020•46 min
D.G. Yuengling & Son is the country’s oldest operating brewery, going back 191 years now. It survived major events over the course of 6 generations, most notably Prohibition, and really hit its stride in the mid-1980s when Dick Yuengling Jr. purchased the brewery from his father and began making Yuengling Lager, which is the company’s flagship beer and accounts for 80% of overall volume. As the brewery, often referred to as just the family last name, looks to its sixth generation it is Jenni...
Aug 26, 2020•41 min
From host John Holl: "Every once in a while a beer comes your way from an unfamiliar brewery and just blows you away. It’s one of the great things about having so many breweries in the country these days – there is a lot to discover. A few months back I had a slew of beers from Crane Brewing Co. in Raytown, Missouri. The gose and Berliner Weiss were subtle, flavorful, mixed with all kinds of ingredients and layered with nuance that made me want to know more about where they came from. So I calle...
Aug 19, 2020•32 min
It really is a small world. Before Covid-19 sent us all into lockdown John Holl received an email from a listener who encouraged him to book Ethan Cox of Community Beer Works in Buffalo on the show. Alex wrote in saying that “Ethan is a big part of the craft beer culture here in Buffalo and helped take a plucky little nanobrewery and turn it into a place that represents the neighborhood and the city that is very much on a hidden gem.” So John did some digging and found out that Ethan is also a t...
Aug 12, 2020•54 min
Most people know Garrett Oliver as the globe trotting brewmaster of the Brooklyn brewery, but he is also an accomplished author , educator, and thought leader in the brewing space. His latest project is one that we can all get behind and support, it’s a foundation named after the late Michael Jackson , the writer. Its mission is funding technical education and career advancement for black, indigenous, and people of color in the brewing and distilling industries. This interview was originally rec...
Aug 05, 2020•38 min
This week's guest is Lisa Allen. She’s the head brewer of Heater Allen , the brewery her father started in 2007. He lived the classic story of a homebrewer that went pro and decided to make the beers he wanted to drink. In a hoppy landscape his beers stood out in Oregon, even if you couldn’t get them too far from the brewery itself. Lisa says she was fascinated by fermentation and brewing science from a young age but didn’t plan on joining her father’s business. Instead she went into wine making...
Jul 29, 2020•49 min
