Welcome to A Thousand Words, a special project by Good Beer Hunting. I'm Ashley Rodriguez. As a producer at GBH, I work with a lot of photographers and visual storytellers. And while I'm familiar with the phrase "a picture is worth a thousand words," I'm not sure I've ever been challenged to consider what that 1,000 words might be like—or what it means to that visual artist. There's a piece of advice I always come back to when I think about podcasts and audio and storytelling. When I sit down an...
Jul 04, 2020•32 min
I'm Bryan Roth, and you're listening to the Good Beer Hunting podcast. A growing business can be a funny thing in normal times. Early years are marked by the hustle and extra effort needed just to keep up, and if you're lucky enough, knock it out of the park. There are also lots of surprises, and for many of today's entrepreneurs, COVID-19 has been the biggest one of all. In today's episode, we're talking virtually with Nick and Tania Mader, co-owners of Alma Mader Brewing in Kansas City. The co...
Jun 27, 2020•1 hr 4 min
Welcome to this episode of Sightlines. I'm Bryan Roth. So much has changed in the last few months because of COVID-19, and while many Americans across the country are returning to bars and breweries in limited numbers, sales at chain grocery, convenience, and big-box stores are still flourishing. For a variety of reasons—from efficiency to the ease or necessity of purchasing large quantities of food and drink all at once—chain stores have continued to remain a central location to find all the be...
Jun 23, 2020•34 min
Today's guest was one of our 2019 Signifiers: an annual list our writers compile, in which we honor people in the industry who have made a lasting impact through their work. Day Bracey is the co-founder of Fresh Fest, the first Black-culture-focused beer festival in the country. It's also one of the best beer festivals in the country—period. Hosted in Pittsburgh for the last two years, Fresh Fest has become a shining light in the city for culture and inclusion. It's also drawn attendees from all...
Jun 20, 2020•1 hr 6 min
I'm Bryan Roth, and you're listening to the Good Beer Hunting podcast. We've all made lots of adjustments to our lives because of COVID-19, from working from home and missing out on concerts and movies to just not seeing our friends in person. The beer industry has also had to make a wild pivot, taking aspects of what is very much an in-person experience and transforming it into one that's interactive and online. If you listened to a recent Sightlines podcast that included interviews with direct...
Jun 13, 2020•49 min
Welcome to the Good Beer Hunting Collective podcast, the show where members of our team interview each other to get a behind-the-scenes look at some of our favorite articles. I'm Ashley Rodriguez, and I produce Good Beer Hunting's podcast. Lily Waite is unstoppable. She's one of our most prolific writers at Good Beer Hunting, contributing everything from food-driven chronicles of seaside adventures and profiles of classic breweries with storied histories and crooked floors to candid essays about...
Jun 11, 2020•35 min
Today's guest has been a partner and friend to GBH for years. He's a former GM for 16 on Center, a restaurant and venue group in Chicago known for its Michelin Star restaurant, Longman & Eagle, as well as music venues like The Empty Bottle and Thalia Hall. If Thalia Hall sounds familiar, that's because it's played host to our Uppers & Downers festival basically since its inception. So much of what the festival has become has been substantially shaped by the physical space of Thalia Hall—...
Jun 06, 2020•1 hr 6 min
Welcome to this episode of Sightlines. I'm Bryan Roth. As cities and states start to reopen and the siren call of warmer weather encourages people to test the boundaries of self-isolation, the ramifications of the coronavirus linger. Much worry has been focused on our local and national economies, and while breweries have been a part of that, the impact of COVID-19 stretches further. In this episode, we're going to find out what the last few months have been like for state and national brewers g...
May 28, 2020•37 min
I'm Jonny Garrett, and you're listening to the Good Beer Hunting podcast. Today's guest is Paul Jones, founder and sole owner of Cloudwater Brew Co. in Manchester, England. Since founding Cloudwater just five years ago Jones has, perhaps knowingly, become a spokesperson for the British beer industry. To be fair, he has plenty of right to that job. Cloudwater was previously voted the fifth-best brewery in the world by the users of RateBeer, and is one of the country's fastest-growing beer busines...
May 23, 2020•1 hr 10 min
I'm Evan Rail, and you're listening to the Good Beer Hunting podcast. Today we're doing things a little differently: I'm taking you along with me on a reporting trip to Germany's Hop Research Center, where I am trying to find out more about what the institute does—and especially, to find out more about the exciting new hops, like Mandarina Bavaria and Hallertau Blanc, that have recently been developed here. How do scientists develop new hops? How long does that take? Who decides which hop variet...
May 16, 2020•22 min
I'm Claire Bullen, and you're listening to the Good Beer Hunting podcast. When I first met up with Helena Fitzgerald to record this podcast episode, the world was a different place. It was the third week of February, and Helena—a freelance writer based in New York, who has contributed to publications like The Atlantic, Hazlitt, Catapult, and Electric Literature—was visiting London on a long-term, self-imposed writing sabbatical. Helena and I met to discuss her first article for Good Beer Hunting...
May 09, 2020•47 min
This is GBH Out Loud, and I'm Ashley Rodriguez. Today, you'll hear Mark Spence read the sixth entry of his blog, Beer is Offal, called "Stage Three Anger," published on Good Beer Hunting on February 21, 2020. There's a shift in this entry of Beer is Offal. It's an abrupt reminder that there is a person behind this blog, living this life in real-time. In this piece, Mark reflects on the death of his cousin, and the factors that contributed to his early death. This isn't a collection of lessons le...
May 07, 2020•13 min
This is part two of a two-part feature from New York City Beer Week. This was recorded at The Well in Brooklyn, just a week or so before the city announced a state of emergency because of COVID-19. We're now releasing these episodes in an entirely new context—keep that in mind as you listen. Many of the topics are timeless and will continue to be valuable long after this pandemic has passed and New York City comes back to life. This is our second year hosting these talks at The Well—and it's a g...
May 02, 2020•1 hr 33 min
This is part one of a two-part feature from New York City Beer Week. This was recorded at The Well in Brooklyn, just a week or so before the city announced a state of emergency because of COVID-19. We're now releasing these episodes in an entirely new context—keep that in mind as you listen. But many of the topics are timeless and will continue to be valuable long after this pandemic has passed and New York City comes back to life. This is our second year hosting these talks at The Well—and it's...
May 02, 2020•1 hr 18 min
Welcome to the Good Beer Hunting Collective podcast, the show where members of our team interview each other to get a behind-the-scenes look at some of our favorite articles. I'm Jonny Garrett, and I'm a staff writer for GBH. Today, I'm catching up with Anthony Gladman, a new writer at GBH. With the U.K. on lockdown, I thought this would be a great opportunity to transcend the physical distances and get some much-needed social interaction. The episode starts with a chat about how both are coping...
Apr 30, 2020•28 min
Living overseas can give you an interesting perspective on American beer culture. Although I'm originally from California, I've lived in the Czech Republic for almost 20 years now. While I miss many of the beers and breweries from back home, I really fell in love with Czech beer, dedicating a lot of my time to researching, writing about, and drinking it. In recent years I've been glad to see North American beer lovers develop much more interest in Czech beer. Since then, many U.S. and Canadian b...
Apr 25, 2020•1 hr
This is GBH Out Loud, and I'm Ashley Rodriguez. Today, you'll hear Mark Spence read an entry of his blog, Beer is Offal, called "Winner Winner Chicken Dinner" published on Good Beer Hunting on January 16, 2020. What do love and chicken have to do with one another? You might not think a lot, but as Mark illustrates, what we love most about food—making new things, tweaking a recipe, making a small change and seeing new results—doesn't always apply to the way we interact with others. The analogies ...
Apr 21, 2020•9 min
Today's guest comes to us from far northern Vermont. Eleanor is a cider maker, first known for her ice ciders, made using a process of distillation that profits from natural swings in seasonal temperatures to produce a concentrated, sweet, and acid-balanced cider. Ice cider is often thought of as a dessert wine in the U.S., but so easily replaces a bourbon or whiskey. In her region, just south of the Canadian border (and Quebec's concentration of ice cider makers), Eleanor's operation is a rare ...
Apr 18, 2020•1 hr 6 min
Welcome to this special series of the GBH Collective podcast, where we'll be checking in with members of our global team to keep you updated on unfolding events surrounding COVID-19. I'm Michael Kiser. Today's guests are special to me—both of them are media peers who I've often measured myself against. They're also just delightful humans who are always accessible and open to inquiry. Over the years, they've helped me think about Good Beer Hunting's business model, our audiences, and the ways in ...
Apr 16, 2020•44 min
Producer's Note: we're going to continue bringing you timeless stories and important interviews, some of which have newfound relevance because of COVID-19, and some that are explicitly unrelated. This episode you're about to hear was recorded during San Francisco's Beer Week in February 2020, so the context is removed a bit from what's happening in the world right now, but the information is still valuable, and we want to share it with you. Listen for an update at the end of the episode. How man...
Apr 11, 2020•1 hr 5 min
Welcome to this special episode of Sightlines, part of Good Beer Hunting's continued coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic. I'm Jonny Garrett. The U.K. is now several weeks into near-total lockdown, with everyone told to stay indoors barring medical emergencies, food shopping, and one bit of exercise a day. While internet and TV services are thriving, the high street and hospitality industry have been devastated. Over the last month, I have been writing Sightlines pieces that try to describe and ana...
Apr 09, 2020•39 min
Producer's note: we're going to continue bringing you timeless stories and important interviews, some of which have newfound relevance because of COVID-19, and some that are explicitly unrelated. This episode you're about to hear was recorded on February 19th, so the context is removed a bit from what's happening in the world right now, but the information is still valuable, and we want to share it with you. Here's a scenario for today's beer-loving entrepreneur: you want to start a brewery? The...
Apr 04, 2020•1 hr 14 min
Welcome to this special episode of Sightlines, part of Good Beer Hunting's continued coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic. I'm Bryan Roth. A month ago, millions of Americans were sitting at bars and breweries, sharing a pint or cocktail with friends and loved ones. Today, for most of the country, that's not possible, as states have issued stay-at-home or shelter-in-place guidelines, forcing the closure of what's known as "on-premise" for the alcohol industry—the bars and restaurants and places we a...
Apr 01, 2020•34 min
Welcome to this special series of the GBH Collective podcast, where we'll be checking in with members of our global team to keep you updated on unfolding events surrounding COVID-19. I'm Ashley Rodriguez. We're consuming news at a rapid rate. The front page of the New York Times is totally dedicated to COVID-19 coverage, and many other outlets have shifted to focus on the current global pandemic. I wanted to understand how folks who work in breaking news cover stories. We've shifted our editoria...
Mar 26, 2020•20 min
What happens when a guy with your exact name invites you to brew a beer with him? In this special episode of the GBH podcast, Sightlines editor Bryan Roth drives from Durham, North Carolina, to meet up with Brian Roth of Southern Brewing Co. in Athens, Georgia, to engage in a friendly competition over who can brew the best beer: Bryan or Brian? More than just a story about a beer-brewing challenge, this episode explores the ways we're all connected—either by name or otherwise—and how sometimes, ...
Mar 24, 2020•58 min
Welcome to this special episode of Sightlines, part of Good Beer Hunting's continued coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic. I'm Bryan Roth. Parts of the country are in some kind of encouraged self-isolation—if not lockdown in some locations—and in many states, bars, restaurants, and breweries have been told by governments to shutter on-site sales and restrict business to takeout or delivery services. Bottom lines are suffering as cash flow dwindles with people sheltering in homes, spending money on ...
Mar 21, 2020•40 min
Welcome to this special series of the GBH Collective podcast, where we'll be checking in with members of our global team to keep you updated on unfolding events surrounding COVID-19. I'm Ashley Rodriguez. If you have an iPhone, it probably tells you how many hours per day you've looked at your screen. According to my phone, my screentime has been up 63%—and I'm sure I'm not alone. I'm doubly sure most of us are looking at articles that make us feel a sense of dread as opposed to providing comfor...
Mar 20, 2020•19 min
I'm writing and recording this from my home office. I imagine at this point, COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, has affected your life in some way. Maybe you're quarantined at home; maybe you're a business owner who's wondering what measures like social distancing will do your business; or maybe you're just trying to navigate what is shaping up to be one of the weirdest times in our collective history. Either way, there's a lot going on. We decided to bring you a special edit...
Mar 16, 2020•48 min
I'm Jonny Garrett, and you're listening to the Good Beer Hunting podcast. Listeners in California may remember a brewery called Toolbox Brewing, which for a brief period around 2015 and 2016 was making waves with some delicious, mixed-fermentation beers. Sadly the brewery closed in 2018, about a year after the departure of its head brewer, Ehren Schmidt, who is my guest today. Schmidt gained plenty of critical acclaim for the beers he was making at Toolbox, but in 2017, he got an offer he couldn...
Mar 14, 2020•55 min
Today I'm talking to Eoghan Walsh, who just had his first article for Good Beer Hunting published. Entitled, " The Last Crusade — Rich Soriano Wants to Talk to You About Lambic, " it's essentially the story of a day with one of Belgium's most beloved beer characters, Rich Soriano. And by a day with, I really mean a bar crawl with. Eoghan's piece manages to make it feel like the reader is right there with them, and over the course of a few thousands words, we travel to a number of special Lambic ...
Mar 12, 2020•33 min
