Season 2, Episode 35 – This week, we’re drinking three vintages of the Stone Brewing Co. collaboration beer, w00tstout . This week on the show, we’re drinking three vintages of the Drew Curtis/Wil Wheaton/Greg Koch Stone Farking Wheaton w00tstout , or as it’s generally known, w00tstout . It’s origins were inspired by the touring variety show known as w00tstock , which was created by Wil Wheaton , Adam Savage , and the group Paul and Storm . w00tstout is a collaboration between Stone Brewing Co. ...
Aug 30, 2015•57 min
Season 2, Episode 34 – Natalie DeNicholas joins us for another round as we drink a variety of beers for the great state of Colorado. This week, we’re going full Colorado. Six beers from four great CO breweries. It’s no secret that Colorado is a mecca of craft beer, and this week we’re honing in on some of our favorites. Colorado Beers We kick off the show with a couple of beers brought to us by friend of the show Enrique Leyva. He recently visited Colorado and brought some beers back for Matt . ...
Aug 24, 2015•58 min
Season 2, Episode 33 – This week, homebrew from Nagel and special guest Natalie DeNicholas. Friend and fellow homebrewer, Natalie DeNicholas , joins us on the show this week with homebrew in hand. She’s been brewing for a few years now, and is a member of the famous southern California homebrew club, Maltose Falcons . Natalie DeNicholas (via Instagram ) First up are two saisons that Natalie brewed early in her homebrewing career. While she doesn’t remember the details of the recipes, she does re...
Aug 17, 2015•54 min
Season 2, Episode 32 – This week we find out if Green Flash Brewing Company’s versions of Alpine Beer Company beers are up to snuff with Alpine’s authentic brews. These days, brewery buy-outs and partnerships are becoming more and more commonplace, not only in terms of macro breweries buying out smaller craft breweries, but also larger craft breweries partnering and purchasing smaller, well known craft breweries. One example as of late is the purchase of Alpine Beer Company by Green Flash Brewin...
Aug 10, 2015•1 hr
Season 2, Episode 31 – This week, we’re drinking a variety of Belgian-style ales because why the hell not. It truly is a great time in craft beer. The beers are this week’s show exemplify it. Crooked Stave, Jester King, Highland Park Brewery…damn. We kick off the show with two beers from one of Los Angeles’ newest breweries, Highland Park Brewery. Highland Park is a local favorite of ours, and rightly so. They’re located near Eagle Rock Brewing and Golden Road Brewing Company, so making a trip s...
Aug 03, 2015•50 min
Season 2, Episode 30 – This week’s episode is all about homebrew, more specifically, homebrew from 4B super-fan Kyle Wells! Homebrew, homebrew, and more homebrew. This week it’s all about homebrew. We’ve got four on the show this week, three of which are from 4B Patron and super-fan Kyle Wells , and the from our very own Greg Nagel . Kyle gave us these brews a couple of months ago with the expectation that we’d try them on the show and give him some feedback. Spoiler alert: Kyle is a great brewe...
Jul 27, 2015•55 min
Season 2, Episode 29 – This week, we’re hanging out with Walt and Luke Dickinson from Asheville, North Carolina’s Wicked Weed Brewing. So, this show is pretty rad. We’ve got Walt and Luke Dickinson from Wicked Weed Brewing on the show, at the same time, from two different locations, one of which is a car outside of a bar. Holy. Shit. Wicked Weed Brewing Canvas Series We’re drinking six different beers from two different series from Wicked Weed. The first set of brews is from their Canvas Series,...
Jul 19, 2015•56 min
Season 2, Episode 28 – This week we’re drinking Nagel’s vacation beers! Before I ( John ) start this post, The guys and I just want to say thank you to everyone who came to our first anniversary party at Hamilton Family Brewery . It was really fun catching up with our friends and fans, and seeing some new faces. Josh (brewer and co-owner of HamFam) did an excellent job with the collaboration saison , and everyone seemed to be really impressed with it. Four Brewers with Joshua Hamilton Big, BIG t...
Jul 13, 2015•1 hr 12 min
Season 2, Episode 27 – This week we’re hanging out with author Emma Christensen and we’re drinking homebrew. We’re back in the studio! While the on-locations shows are quite a hoot for us to do, it sure is nice to be back on our home turf. We’re joined this week by Emma Christensen via Google Hangouts. She wears variety of different hats, two of which are author and homebrewer. She’s also an editor at The Kitchn , which according many people (and more specifically Matt ) is a super-rad web-based...
Jul 06, 2015•42 min
Season 2, Episode 26 – This week, we’re back in Dr. Bill’s cellar, and talking about the business side of beer. This week we’re back in Dr. Bill’s epic cellar, and we’re discussing the beer industry. We kick off the discussion with a beer that falls right in line with the discussion, Stone Brewing Co.’s Enjoy By 07.04.15 IPA . Stone is a big advocate of enjoying beer fresh, and really has led the way in bottle dating and stressing the importance of checking the freshness of beers before they’re ...
Jun 29, 2015•48 min
Season 2, Episode 25 – This week we’re at the ever-so-awesome Urge Gastropub in Rancho Bernardo, San Diego. This week, we’re still in San Diego, California at our third stop, Urge American Gastropub . This show is a bit of a deviation from our normal shows in that Urge isn’t a brewery, but rather an awesome beer-geeky pub and restaurant. Anna, Hidden Barrel Peche, and Cable Car Ale Urge [bURGEr] Gastropub was founded in 2010 by owner and proprietor Grant Tondro and Zak Higson. Grant comes from a...
Jun 22, 2015•51 min
Season 2, Episode 24 – This week, we’re visiting one of the many breweries along the Hop Highway, Belching Beaver Brewery in Vista, CA. Belching Beaver is one of many breweries along the legendary Hop Highway in San Diego, California, which is home to many other notable breweries like Stone Brewing Co. , Port Brewing Company , Toolbox Brewing Company , and Iron Fist Brewing Co. . Opening just three years ago, they’ve already set themselves apart with their unique takes on classic styles. They re...
Jun 15, 2015•54 min
Season 2, Episode 23 – This week, we’re discussing beer cellaring with the legendary “Dr. Bill” Sysak at his home in Escondido, California. This week’s blog post was provided by Yvonne England [John’s super-rad girlfriend]. You’re welcome. [Bracketed commentary supplied by John Holzer.] This week, we go see Dr. Bill Sysak , the Craft Beer Ambassador for Stone Brewing Co.. He “handles the beverage philosophy” for Stone. We’re pretty sure he made that shit up, but it’s cool [He didn’t make it up] ...
Jun 08, 2015•58 min
Season 2, Episode 22 – This week, we’re drinking the final six beers from the Ultimate Box Set, Tracks 7-12. We’re flipping the record to side B this week and sampling Tracks 7-12 from The Lost Abbey Ultimate Box Set. Be sure to check out part one where we sampled Tracks 1-6 because they were pretty killer brews. We’ve gone full Satanist at this point, mostly due to the hellish theme of the box set beer names, and of course, the alcohol. Just a reminder: The “Bonus Track”, Track #13 (Message in ...
Jun 01, 2015•50 min
Season 2, Episode 21 – This week, we crack open The Lost Abbey Ultimate Box Set and sample Tracks 1-6. This week we’re [stage] diving into what is quite possibly one of the most sought after items in the world of craft beer, The Lost Abbey Ultimate Box Set. There have been talks to open this box set on the show since the beginning of Four Brewers, and now we are finally delivering with this two part Box-Set-blowout-bonanza. Given the intensity and quantity of the 13 beers in the set, we decided ...
May 25, 2015•56 min
Season 2, Episode 20 – This week on the show, we’re back in the studio in classic Four Brewers style, drinking homebrew, craft brew, reading beer reviews, and blind tasting. BOOM! We kick off the show with a beer that’s has been 6 months in the making, John and Matt’s brettanomyces-conditioned saison. You may recall a similar beer from episode 27 of season 1 , their grisette-style saison. This is essentially the same beer, but with some corn sugar added at the end of the boil to dry out the beer...
May 18, 2015•1 hr 8 min
Season 2, Episode 19 – This week, we’re going full-throttle with the beer-geekdom and drinking beers with Brad Daniels at his awesome home brewery, Peace Brewing, the third of our three stops at three Orange County breweries. This week, we’re at one of the coolest homebreweries in southern California, Bradley Daniels ‘ Peace Brewing in Anaheim. While his place isn’t an actual “craft brewery”, his home is legendary in the Orange County beer world, and we thought it appropriate to feature his brew...
May 11, 2015•48 min
Season 2, Episode 18 – This week we’re on location at Barley Forge Brewing Co. in Costa Mesa, California, the second of our three stops at three Orange County breweries. The second of our three brewery tour is Barley Forge Brewing Co. in Costa Mesa, California. Opening just six months ago, Barley Forge is already well on their way to becoming one of Orange County’s best craft breweries with a variety of beers ranging from the super-hoppy, to rich and exotic. Owner, Greg Nylen and Head of Brewing...
May 04, 2015•46 min
Season 2, Episode 17 – This week we’re on location at Noble Ale Works in Anaheim, California, the first of our three stops at three Orange County breweries. We’re back with another round of on-location episodes and this time, we’re focusing on the Orange County beer scene. The OC is very much up and coming, in terms of the excellent beers that are being produced, with breweries sprouting up all over the place from Brea to San Clemente. Brad Kominek (left) and Evan Price (right) Noble Ale Works i...
Apr 27, 2015•49 min
Season 2, Episode 16 - We’re going back to the homebrew this week with beers from John and Greg. Also, Hite. We’re going back a couple episodes into the past with this show as we pregame for the now released Saison Showdown . We kick off the show with a brettanomyces version of Greg’s saison from episode 9 of season 2 that was fermented with brett trois yeast. Wicked Weed and…Hite… Next, we’re drinking a beer muled by Mr. Carlos Granillo , Wicked Weed Brewing’s TakéTaké Saison. North Carolina’s ...
Apr 20, 2015•44 min
Season 2, Episode 15 - The Elite 8 of The Saison Showdown, and the reveal of the big winner. We’re back with part 2 of The Saison Showdown and we’re pretty excited to announce the winner, which – SPOILER ALERT – is after the photo. We were all really happy with the results, and really taken back by how some of the beers did in the competition. The Saison Showdown Just to recap, in order of the combined average rankings of both Rate Beer and Beer Advocate, the beers we tasted on the show are as f...
Apr 13, 2015•57 min
Season 2, Episode 14 - Here it is, folks! Part 1 of The Four Brewers Saison Showdown! Hey everybody! We’re back with another showdown of whalez and whatnot, but this time, it’s a style of ale known as saison! We chose 16 saisons from around the world (that we could acquire), and ranked them in order of the average rankings of Rate Beer and Beer Advocate combined. Who will be the big winner? Well, if you really want to know, like, RIGHT NOW, you can listen to the first minute of the show where we...
Apr 06, 2015•59 min
Season 2, Episode 13 - This week, we’re drinking some pretty rad sours while John gets serious about bottle dates. Welcome to the fourth show, that is, the fourth show of session 14 of Four Brewers. In case you’re unfamiliar with how we record shows, we get together every three weeks and record three shows in a four hour session, which we broadcast live on Google Hangouts and our YouTube channel . The shows are then edited in post-production and released weekly. Due to scheduling conflicts, we h...
Mar 30, 2015•50 min
Season 2, Episode 12 - This week’s show is live from the one and only Firkfest, in Anaheim, California. The day is upon us. The time has come. Firkfest is here! Undoubtedly, you’ve heard our cute little ads before each show for Greg’s annual festival in celebration of cask ale, and for good reason–it’s a rad event. Cask ale is a style of beer that is easily overlooked and somewhat misunderstood. Is it a beer that is flat, warm, and flavorless? Is it a beer with a bunch of stuff thrown into it to...
Mar 23, 2015•41 min
Season 2, Episode 11 - This week’s show is all about our new favorite brewery from Alaska, Anchorage Brewing Company. This week it’s all about Anchorage Brewing Company . They’ve taken the beer world by storm as of late with their tasty brettanomyces saisons, IPAs, and tripels. Anchorage has a very unique take on beer that can be quite inspirational to homebrewers. The first beer up (03:05) is Galaxy , a white IPA made with Galaxy hops, corriander, kumquats, and peppercorns. The beer is fermente...
Mar 16, 2015•49 min
Season 2, Episode 10 - This week, we’re geeking out to AleSmith and Mikkeller radness. A couple episodes ago when we did the blind bourbon barrel-aged stout tasting, we got some feedback pertaining to why we didn’t include any of the barrel-aged variants of AleSmith Brewing Company’s Speedway Stout . The reason is that Speedway Stout itself is a coffee stout, and the barrel-aged variants of Speedway have flavorings added to them in addition to coffee. We wanted to keep the stout tasting as pure ...
Mar 09, 2015•46 min
Season 2, Episode 9 - This week, we’re going back to the hops with homebrew from Nagel and hoppy radness from Noble Ale Works, Alpine Brewing, and Societe Brewing Company. Now that we’re all fully recovered from last week’s epic stout tasting , we’re back with a homebrew from Greg, and some beers from some of SoCal’s best breweries: Noble Ale Works, Alpine Beer Company, and Societe Brewing Company. We kick the show off with a unique homebrew from Greg that’s kind of saison, and kind of a pilsner...
Mar 02, 2015•50 min
Season 2, Episode 8 - This week on the show, part two of our epic blind bourbon barrel-aged stout tasting, with the final rankings and results. The time has arrived! We’re drinking the final five beers of our blind tasting, adding up the scores, and announcing the big winners. Just to recap, here are the beers we’re tasting: · Firestone Walker Brewing Co. – Parabola , 2014· Goose Island Beer Co. – Bourbon County Brand Stout , 2014· Hangar 24 Craft Brewery – Pugachev’s Cobra , 2014· The Bruery – ...
Feb 23, 2015•1 hr
Season 2, Episode 7 - The time has come. The moment has arrived. This week is part one of our epic blind tasting of bourbon barrel-aged stouts from across the United States. We’ve been hyping these episodes for a few weeks now, and they have finally arrived. Here’s the premise of these shows: Episode 7 (part 1) is going to be the introduction of the blind tasting, and why the beers were selected. We’re going to drink four of the nine beers, and rate them according to aroma, appearance, flavor, m...
Feb 16, 2015•44 min
Season 2, Episode 6 - We’re starting early for this show, eleven in the morning to be exact, and were taking it easy and ramping up to the bourbon barrel-aged blind tasting with session beers from around the world. It’s all about pacing yourself and easing in. That’s what we’re doing this week. Our blind tasting, bourbon barrel-aged stout series is happening next week, so we decided to do a little beer tour and sample some session-able beers from around the world. We had a really early start for...
Feb 09, 2015•50 min
