Barley & Me

Host Ben Rice travels to Littleton, CO, to chat with owner/operator Jason Bell of Living the Dream Brewing about the challenges of COVID-19, plus the joys of living the dream. From his humble homebrewer beginnings to the challenges of being a commercial head brewer, to realizing his energies were better spent focused on operations, plus all the positives and pitfalls of starting your own brewery....

Host Ben Rice travels to Ft. Collins, Colorado, to talk to brewer/owner Charlie Hoxmeier of Gilded Goat Brewing and the associate director of the Colorado State University Fermentation Sciences program, Jeff Calloway. We talk coffee beers, COVID canning, the Colorado craft beer community, and more science than you can shake a stick at! Plus! Yeast culture! Sustainability! Malt testing! And watersh...

Host Ben Rice travels to Alameda, CA, to conduct Barley & Me's long-postponed 125th episode, a video episode with Almanac Beer Co's brewmaster Phillip Emerson and Admiral Maltings's co-founder Ron Silberstein. We talk maltster and brewer's pasts, presents, and futures, in three segments, recorded at The Rake at Admiral Maltings, the Almanac brewhouse, and Almanac's taproom. Running themes include...

Host Ben Rice travels to Fort Collins, CO, to continue Maltster May(hem) with Chris Schooley and Steve Clark of Troubadour Maltings and Carol & Tim Cochran of Horse & Dragon Brewing. We talk craft malt's humbling beginnings, coffee paparazzi, and hemorrhaging money in pursuit of your passion! Plus! Malt extraction processes and efficiencies, what "consistency" means in beer now, disgusting old roa...

Host Ben Rice kicks off Maltster May(hem) with Fort Collins's Root Shoot Malting founders Todd & Emily Olander and Natalie Yoder, co-owner of the brand-new Fort Collins brewery Stodgy Brewing. We talk opening a brewery in COVID and how canning could have been catastrophic for her, moving the family farming business whole-hog into the craft malt world, and the odd challenges of making truly local b...

Host Ben Rice travels to Fort Collins, CO, to talk to Purpose Brewing & Cellars's owners/brewers Peter & Frezi Bouckaert about their distinguished history in beer and world travel. We delve into beer history, personal history, and their star-making roles in the 2020 beer documentary Beer: A Love Story. They are instantly captivating, lovely, knowledgeable, and adventurous as individuals, as a coup...

Host Ben Rice travels to Denver, Colorado, to record his first on-site episode in over a year! Ben sits down with Great Divide's marketing manager Matt Sandy and multi-instrumentalist Tom Hagerman (DeVotchKa, Tom Hagerman, Post Truth Serum) to discuss the beer and music businesses and their odd overlaps, especially in the time of COVID and the early aughts and releasing new projects/beers at a tim...

Host Ben Rice sits down (virtually) with Sacramento Pink Boots Society members Paulina Olivares and Bia Hoskins (Blaker Brewing/Drake's: The Barn) to talk about the 2021 Pink Boots Society brew days and beer releases (hint: Check out Capital Taproom AKA CapTap April 17 for a tap takeover and some mixed 4 packs). In addition to the history of Pink Boots and the beer releases, we also talk about rec...

Barley & Me host Ben Rice is joined by Paulina Olivares (Sacramento Pink Boots Society) and Corky McDonnell (Dare Daniel Podcast) to review this week's beer-centric flick, Furious 7. This film was recommended by the boysz at Drink Something, Say Something Podcast! We break down this film's plot, script, acting, and beer authenticity, over a pint of Fight Me I'm Irish from Campus Brewing and some p...

We always say the best candidates are ones you want to have a beer with. So Barley & Me host Ben Rice decided to start Beer on the Ballot, conversations with candidates for state and local government over a beer brewed in their district (in this episode, we recorded at Oak Park Brewing - thank you to Becca, Geoff, Rodg, and the staff/crew of OPB for the space and time). Recordings are presented wi...

Host Ben Rice, along with Beer Talk Now!'s D Neal, travels (virtually) to Springdale, Arkansas, to talk to Core Brewing's two brewers, Rodrigo Medina and Jamie Conway. Two brewers may sound totally normal until you hear the size of Core's operations, then you'll feel sorry for the sheer volume of liquid these two have to power through. But then you realize how deep their bond and friendship are an...

In this episode of Barley & Me Presents: Leonard Malting, host Ben Rice and the crew (Paulina Olivares of the Sacramento Pink Boots Society and Corky McDonnell of the Dare Daniel Podast) discuss and review the new beer documentary, BEER: A LOVE STORY, with surprise guest, director Friedrich "Fritz" Moser. Fritz is known for his more investigative political documentaries, but decides to pursue a sh...

Host Ben Rice sits down with MaKendree VanHall of Greater Purpose Brewing (Santa Cruz, CA) and Amy Miller, comedian and host of the Who's Your God? Podcast. Greater Purpose started as a church and is now a church/brewery, so I could think of no better pairing to discuss these two seemingly-disparate things. We talk beer communion, conflicts in religious interpretations, diversity and beer and acro...

Barley & Me host Ben Rice joins up with Paulina Olivares (Sacramento Pinks Boots Society) and Corky McDonnell (Dare Daniel Podcast) to review the 2006 cinematic classic Beerfest! In addition to discussing the veritable who's-who of character/sketch comedy actors, we touch on the quality of real-life brews seen on film, and maybe devolve into some outside discussions. Things like: The Mandela Effec...

Host Ben Rice travels (virtually) to Los Angeles to talk to Common Space Brewing's first employee, brewer Josie Becker, and Molly Sanchez, comedian, wine writer, and host of The Hold Up Podcast. We talk nucleation points, shower beers, the (triumphant?) return of the black IPA, and childhood obsessions. Plus! Oh, the drama!, magical COVID relief, love in an elevator, and the joys of adults lying t...

Host Ben Rice travels (digitally) to Half Moon Bay, CA and the suburbs of Manchester, England, to chat with musician and brewer/owner Dan Littlefield of Hop Dogma Brewing and musician/musician Mike Vennart of VENNART, Biffy Clyro, British Theatre, and Oceansize. We talk the writing and recording process, Dan's new EP, Mike's new album, quarantine creativity, Brexit, an attempted American coup, nat...

Host Ben Rice recaps and winds down a hellacious 2020 over some bodacious Mexican lagers with the help of an esteemed panel of comedy friends and lovers, including Emma Haney, Becky Lynn, and Stephen Furey. With tales of debauchery, moments of clarity, big surprises, and somber memories, plus our guests' first michelada experience and beers you know and love and some you should! All in this jam-pa...

Host Ben Rice travels (virtually) to Lynn, MA, to talk to Bent Water Brewing's president and co-founder Aaron Reames, as well as their process engineering manager/technical director Jere Anderson. Joining Ben on this digital jaunt is Joe Isaacs of NRM, Inc., a provider of high-quality refrigeration products, and Dan Hale of Hale Winery Refrigeration & Consulting. If you think this episode is going...

Host Ben Rice sits down with beer journalist and author of the upcoming book, "A Woman’s Place Is In The Brewhouse" Tara Nurin, as well as Kaytlin Bailey, a comedian and host of The Oldest Profession Podcast. We discuss women's involvement in the craft beer movement, as well as the brewster's history throughout history, from the Bible to the first civilization to the Renaissance and Prohibition. A...

On this episode of our all-new beer & basketball podcast Hoops & Hops (stay tuned to the end for our re-brand!), hosts Ben Rice and Phil Webster break down the 2019-2020 NBA Finals, the 2020 NBA Draft/Free Agency free-for-all, and preview the upcoming 2020-2021 season. We get bogged down in Bogdanovic drama, re-do the Westbrook-Wall trade, compare Zion to a beer, and make our picks for the 2021 NB...

Barley & Me host Ben Rice joins co-hosts Corky McDonnell (Dare Daniel Podcast) & Paulina Olivares (Sacramento Pink Boots Society) for this beer-centric movie podcast offshoot, Leonard Malting. Today we discuss the 1977 Coors heist classic Smokey & The Bandit. Does this movie stand the test of time? Should it be remade? Can it be remade? If so, with whom? We break this film down and possibly destro...

Host Ben Rice travels (virtually) to Richmond, CA, to talk to East Brother Beer Co's brewers Rob Lightner & Paul Liszewski, along with guest Amanda Glynn, a scientist and professor at Sacramento State who also collaborates with local breweries to brew beers for charity! We talk the depressing realities of the COVID-19 shutdown on the brewing industry, how timing and good fortune helped East Brothe...

Host Ben Rice chats with Brian Moore, a comedian and former employee of Santa Clara Valley Brewing and Fort Point Brewing, and Kelly Berger, a person excited but hesitant to try comedy and former taproom manager and sales associate for Solid Ground and New Glory. Over glasses of Deschutes Fresh Haze (Ben), Hapa’s Galileo’s Dream (Brian), and a New Glory Ubahdank (Kelly), we discuss the COVID-19 sh...

Leonard Malting is the beer-focused movie review offshoot of Barley & Me Podcast, featuring B&M host Ben Rice, plus co-hosts Corky McDonnell (Dare Daniel Podcast) and Paulina Olivares (Sacramento Pink Boots Society). In this episode, we discuss the 2012 Edgar Wright sci-fi/buddy flick "The World's End." Could this episode BE more timely? Join us on the Golden Mile as we discuss this seemingly-stra...

Host Ben Rice connects with Los Angeles comedians JoAnn Schinderle and Mark Smalls to discuss their histories in the beer industry, their standup comedy, surviving the COVID-19 pandemic, side hustles, coping mechanisms, and how JoAnn nearly killed a guy! Plus! Mark guesses Ben's beer order! Enjoy! Need more?  Follow JoAnn Schinderle @jojoschinderle on IG. You can find "Dark Jeans" wherever you get...