BAOS: Beer & Other Shhh Podcast

It's that time of year again, folks. Cee and Nate sat down and did their best to figure out the best and brightest craft breweries in Ontario for the year that was 2022. With Cee's move back to Ontario in the summer of '22 giving him unlimited access to the most killer cans in the province, it's been an extra big year for the boys soaking up all the killer ON brews. The top 10 are listed in no par...

Happy 2023, y'all! Cee and Tiff sat down to look back at the year in beer that was 2022, including their favourite breweries and beers, new discoveries, trends and more. They also did a deep dive into what the future of craft beer could look like in 2023 and beyond, with a focus on some of the numbers from the big boys, brewery mergers and buy-outs from 2022, the burgeoning new beverage segments,...

Bonus drop! The fourth Link Up series saw the brewery collaborations expand south of the border, and what a way to launch in the US with Burlington, VT's Foam Brewers! Co-Founders Bob and Jon joined Tiff and Cee for an incredibly insightful chat about the state of diversity in Vermont, how breweries can deepen their connection to the community around them, their work with Pink Boots, what they've...

Brewing a Lager for Link Up requires a lot of notice and a lot of preparation, which is a testament to the dedication to the DEI mission from the legends at Caledon, ON's Sonnen Hill. Brewer and Founder Calum Hill joined Tiff and Cee to chat about the challenges of operating a diverse brewery located in a farming community, the benefits of being close to a major city, how to curate an inclusive ex...

Our final interview of 2022 goes down with a brewery making waves in Kitchener, ON. Counterpoint opened its cozy taproom a few years back to a resoundingly positive response from its community, and has gone from strength to strength ever since. Founder Graeme Kobayashi joined Cee and Nate to chat about lesser-known beer styles, the challenges of opening a brewery, the importance of focusing on com...

Finally, Link Up Series 4 takes us to Quebec! One of the newer kids on the block, Toltèk Brasseur Artisan opened in late 2020 into one of the most challenging times to open a brick-and-mortar business. Co-Founder Frédérick Bois-Chassé joined Tiff and Cee to chat about how to reach the members of your local community who don't know about beer, working with community groups, the importance of brewer...

The pendulum is swinging in the world of IPAs, and it's slowly but surely headed in the direction from whence it came. Cee and Nate recently dropped an episode focusing on all things Fall beers, and they're back with a pod exclusively exploring their deepening love for the West Coast India Pale Ale. They picked four fantastic WC IPAs from Ontario and Quebec and discussed the origin of the West Coa...

Week 4 of Link Up Series 4 brings us back to Toronto, ON with our first ever Black-owned brewery collaboration - Mascot Brewery! Founder Aaron Prothro joined Tiff and Cee to chat about the challenges of being a BIPOC craft brewery owner (and the first Black-owned brewery in Canada), the importance of standing for something as a business, how to interview for a diverse workforce, why putting himsel...

There's almost nothing we love more here at BAOS than a successful contractor-to-brick-and-mortar story, so this chat with Griffin Data of Newark Brewing was right up our alley. We connected with Griffin back in 2018/2019 when they were budding contractors, and now they've opened their own brewpub in Beamsville, ON, deep in Niagara wine country. Cee and Griffin spoke about their journey from being...

The third entry in Link Up's Series 4 sees us swing back to Ontario with the legends at Elora Brewing! Founder Jonathan Laurencic joins Tiff and Cee to chat about the challenges of finding diversity in small cities, how tourism is helping diversity in Elora, how they target larger nearby cities to tap into their diverse talent base, and how meeting people at their comfort zone with things like lan...

London, Ontario has been slowly growing its reputation for fire craft beer over the past half a decade or more, and one of the breweries leading the charge is Anderson Craft Ales. Founder Gavin Anderson joins Cee and Nathan from NathanDoesBeer to chat about the growth of the craft beer scene and industry in London, why brown ales aren't popular these days (but are so fire), how their beers have ev...

We're back! Series 4 of Link Up has kicked off, and we're leading with one of our fave Ontario breweries - Willibald Distillery & Brewery! Cam Formica joined Cee and Tiff to chat about the growing diversity in their town of Ayr, their community endeavours, the benefits of a diverse business and how breweries can be more inclusive. We crushed their fantastic Fruited Gose with mango, apricot and pea...

Beer education is a fascinating and often misunderstood topic, and it's something that we've been wanting to cover on the podcast for a while now. Advanced Cicerone Michelle Tham joined Cee for a genuinely amazing conversation alongside Jacob Barrette, Co-Founder of 5e Baron and Link Up, a non-profit (co-founded with the BAOS team) focused on diversifying the craft beer industry via Cicerone schol...

Fall is easily our favourite time of year, for weather, fashion and of course, beer. To celebrate the season, Cee linked with Nathan to go deep into all things Fall in beer. From Festbiers to Märzens, Fresh Hop IPAs to Pumpkin beers, they covered all of the greatest seasonal hits to figure out what they are, who does them best, and why you should be drinking every Fall style. They cracked open som...

Toronto's Avling Brewery have been knocking out well-crafted, approachable beers for over three years now, and since we last had them on a lot has changed. Cee hung out with the man behind the beers, Brandon Judd, to get stuck into what they've been up to the past 18 months since they last connected, they got deep into their new series of mixed fermentation sours in cans, the differences between t...

Blending barrel-aged beer is truly an art, and for the first time we dedicated an entire podcast episode to it. Max Bergeron from Quebec City's BG Brasserie Urbaine, who creates some of the best barrel-aged, blended beers in the province, and Noah Forrest of Beerism joined Cee to get down to the tiny details on barrel-aging and blending barrel-aged beers. They got into how to brew specifically for...

Have you ever heard of a brewery with a barrel-aged sour as their flagship beer? Kitchener, ON's only sci-fi punk brewery, Short Finger Brewing, is definitely one of the most unique breweries in the province, let alone the country. Founder and Brewer Rob Hern joined Cee for a hilarious and fascinating conversation about their eclectic approach to beer, how they went from a home brew shop to a full...

If you're a long-time follower of the podcast, you'll be stoked to see one of our guests this week. Michigan craft beer holds a very special place in our hearts, so we were stoked to have the fellas behind the Brew Detroit podcast on the show. Old mate Dave Cicotte and new mate Zach Clark joined Cee to chat about the work they're doing with Brew Detroit, how the Michigan beer scene is faring, thei...

After an extended summer break, the pod is back! We're kicking off with a great chat with the CEO of Junction Craft, Stuart Wheldon. Junction are celebrating their 10+1 anniversary (we were all drinking Conductor back in the day), so Cee and Stu ran through Junction's history, their reinvention and rebranding, how they conquered some financial issues over the pandemic, their move into RTDs, the ac...

The sixth and final week of Link Up's Series 3 went down in our home base of Montreal with one of our all-time faves, L'Espace Public! Co-Founder Simon Livingstone joined Tiff and Cee to chat about how their community is pivotal to their business, how they're welcoming more palates into craft beer with their offerings, the other programs they've introduced, and some advice for other breweries to b...

Five weeks deep in Series 3 of Link Up, and the latest drop comes from one of Toronto's finest, Rorschach Brewing! Co-Founder and Head Brewer Matthew Reiner and Marketing Manager Nolan Maguire joined Tiff and Cee to chat about their diversity efforts, how they craft their recipes to appeal to a wider audience, their support for the LGBTQ+ community, and how they've been approaching widening their...

Lost Craft were one of Ontario's first-ever BIPOC-owned craft breweries, and long-time listeners will know that they're close friends of the show, so it was key for us to bring them in for week 4 of Link Up's Series 3. Tiff and Cee sat down with Founder Shehan De Silva to chat about what it was like being the "only one in the room" back in 2015 when he started, whether he has faced microaggression...

Art and craft beer go hand in hand, and Vancouver, BC's Hypha Project are truly taking it to the next level. Co-Founder Cris Ohama sat down with Cee to break down how and why art has played such a huge role in the formation of their brewery, how their events are bringing in new and diverse drinkers to craft beer, their plans for their own brick-and-mortar brewery and art space, and how the scene i...

You may have seen breweries focused on low ABV beers, but have you ever seen a brewery that only knocks out killer, high-octane brews? Based in Worcester, MA, Greater Good Imperial Brewing is America's first and only brewery entirely obsessed with crafting and perfecting imperial craft beers. Cee hung out with CEO Colleen Quinn to hear all about their mission, how their unique approach to their be...

Week 3 of Link Up brings one of the GOAT breweries in Ontario to the table - Bellwoods Brewery! If you're a long-time listener, you'll know how passionate Cee is about Bellwoods, so this was an exciting episode for us. Tiff and Cee hung out with Co-Founder Luke, Head of Marketing Paige, and Marketing's Danysha to hear about their amazing CCIC (Community, Culture, & Inclusion Committee) initiatives...