Barley & Me

Host Ben Rice sits down with Cathy Johnson (owner) and Michael Johnson (brewer) of Lincoln, CA, based nano-brewery, GoatHouse Brewing, along with guest John Marcotte (Heroic Girls, The Cookie Project, #MoreThanCute, and much much more) to get political, philosphical, nerdy, funny, weird, and informative. As John sips on a honey blonde and Ben quaffs a delectable Dark Side stout, we touch on myriad...

Host Ben Rice sits down with Bryan Crass, brewery manager of Out of Bounds Brewing, in Rocklin, CA, along with Abel Gomez and Chris Guthrie, founders of the Sacramento Beer Group Facebook group. We talk about Out of Bounds's new Powdered Toast Man and their slowly-growing barrel program, before diving into long-winded diatribes about the evolution of the beer world and drunk adults at breweries be...

Host Ben Rice travels to Elk Grove, CA, to visit with Derrick Prasad and Jonathan Martinez of Tilted Mash Brewing, along with Shane Dakan and Autumn Sky-Hall of Backyard Brews and Reviews, a beer and music videocast available on YouTube. We talk Shane and Autumn's love of music and their dabbling in the craft brew world. We also discuss Jonathan's official position as the Pimp Of Foam and all that...

Host Ben Rice spends yet another day at the California Craft Beer Summit, with the full intent of recording another mini-episode during the actual beer festival, featuring Herlinda Heras of the Brew HaHa Drive Time Radio Show and Patrick Rue of the Bruery/Bruery Terreux, only to have Herlinda bring along her co-host Joe Tucker, who also just happens to be the founder of the very popular RateBeer.c...

Host Ben Rice once again sits down in the middle of a massive beer conference to talk to whoever sits down! In Part Two of Three of his adventures at the Craft Beer Summit. At 5:40, Ben sits down with Kevin Cox and Bert Aguilar of Fresno's Tioga-Sequoia Brewing, to discuss Kevin's long and winding career in the beer industry (over 25 years!), plus we touch on the arduous task of brewery management...

Host Ben Rice sits down in the middle of a massive beer conference to talk to whoever sits down! In Part One of Three of his adventures at the Craft Beer Summit. At 5:25, Ben sits down with Kevin Rhodes of Groundswell Brewing in San Diego and Ty Stevenson of Carneros Brewing in Sonoma. With a combined 25.25 years of commercial brewing experience (Rhodes 25, Stevenson 0.25), they delve into the imp...

Host Ben Rice stands up with Ryan and Jeff of Track 7 Brewing (Sacramento, CA) and Kenny Hotchkiss, owner of Capitol Taproom (Sacramento). We talk about Track 7's recent expansion, plus their brand new canning line. We also delve deeply into the history, past, present, and future, of the NE IPA Haze Craze while sipping on Track 7 Sukahop. Kenny tells us about his own expansion plans, as he prepare...

Host Ben Rice returns for the grand opening of Crooked Lane Brewing in Auburn, CA, to catch up with his episode 3 guests, founders Paul Schilling, Kirt Braun, Adrian Psuty, and Teresa Psuty, along with Nu Boonkham of Auburn Thai Garden. When we first spoke with this crew, the building had recently been determined and they were, hopefully, a year away from opening. We sipped on some of their soon-t...

Host Ben Rice travels to Auburn, CA, to visit with Zack Frasher & Kyle Leddy of Moonraker Brewing, a fast-rising brewery in Auburn, CA. In tow this week is Ben's best gal, better half, and better comedian, Becky Lynn. We'll talk the haze craze, coffee porters, beer generations, and how chicken wings nearly derailed Ben & Becky's relationship. Plus a lot of talk about breweries and beers that are n...

Host Ben Rice travels to Flatland Brewing in Elk Grove, California, to talk to brothers-from-the-same-mother/brewers/owners Sean & Andrew Mohsenzadegan, along with special guest Dave Ross, manager of Elk Grove's Specialized Exhaust and Automotive. We talk brotherhood, cars, beer, and other specialities. The Mohsenzadegans get into their brewing history and creating a professional brewery from spar...

Host Ben Rice visits Claimstake Brewing in Rancho Cordova, to talk with owner/brewer Brian Palmer, as well as founders of the Sacramento Beer Enthusiasts Facebook Group, Russell Kay and Steve Hayer. If there's one thing this episode has, it's a bunch of wonderful people sauced to the gills talking things they love. If there's two things this episode has, it's that and layers (layers). We discuss t...

On Episode 27 of Barley & Me, host Ben Rice turns it up to 11 with JJ Anderson of Black Vinyl Ale Project (Rocklin, CA) and Paul Burke, owner of Blacktop Comedy (Rocklin, CA). Prepare for the three of them to wax philosophical about music, beer, comedy, business, and life, as they take trips down Memory Lane, only to find out everything has changed. Plus Paul teachs us about the different formats...

Host Ben Rice sits down with Ed Mason of River Rock Brewing (formerly the controversial Special Ed's Brewing), as well as Tricia and Tim Bowden, the parties who brought the name to media attention, to discuss the thought process behind the previous brewery name as well as its beer names and catchphrases (which include "Take the short bus to great beer" and "Back of the Bus Brown"). It gets a bit h...

Host Ben Rice sits down with 21st Amendment's co-founder/head brewer Shaun O'Sullivan and comedian/pot activitist Ngaio Bealum, in episode 25 of Barley & Me. Recorded at 21st Amendment's new(ish) San Leandro location, we discuss the new location's previous history as a Kellogg's Pop Tart production facility, judging beer and weed, the slow and steady growth and expansion of 21st Amendment, plus fi...

Host Ben Rice sits down with Sacramento comedian Johnny Taylor (Stand Up! Records) over a Bucket O' Hamm's at Sacramento's Tank House BBQ. We sit down to discuss Johnny's upcoming second live album recording (taking place at Harlow's on June 18). We discuss the art and business of stand-up, Ben poorly masks his disappointment in his own shortcomings, and we talk about family, moving, early drinkin...

Host Ben Rice travels to Sacramento's Bike Dog Brewing to chat with co-founder/brewer AJ Tendick and entrepreneur/restauranteur/revitalizer Clay Nutting. It's not an understatement to say that Clay has played a major role in the re-branding and revitalization of midtown Sacramento, helping push change with the advent of live street music, the beloved German bier haus LowBrau, upscale Block Butcher...

Host Ben Rice travels to Turlock, California, with esteemed Modesto/Stockton area comedian Anthony K (short for Krayenhagen) to meet with Scott Chaffee of Turlock's Dust Bowl Brewing. In this rapid-fire, 200 WPM episode, we discuss the difference between beer snobs and beer nerds, beer festival etiquette, what a craft beer drinker is versus what a craft beer drinker is assumed to be, the history b...

Host Ben Rice visits Stacy Collins, proprietor Elk Grove pilot nanobrewery The Shop, with guest Kyle Kaylor, manager at the hot new Sacramento vinyl bar B Side. We talk at length about music, homebrewing guilds, and what exactly a nanobrewery is. Plus what words people can't say once they're drunk, how to get a bartender's attention, and how to try new drinks properly. Enjoy a verbal walking tour...

Host Ben Rice sits down with Rubicon Brewing's owner Glynn Phillips and Sacramento podcasting legend Johnny Flores of Serious Talk Seriously about starting your dreams from scratch. We also discuss how Rubicon went from trend-setter to has-been and back again, the variety of ways beers can get their names or even their recipes, brewers' superstitions, the Sacramento art scene, re-building your bra...

During the recording our our Ruhstaller episode, a wonderful old scamp named Tom popped in to see what we were up to. We gave him a mic and he regaled us with tales of hops and marijuana and world travelers and old wisdom. Meanwhile Anthony Van Hook can't get a word in edgewise. Then we discuss the importance of "laying [y]our balls on the table" when it comes to brewing. As always, follow us on F...

Host Ben Rice sits down with Tap-It Brewing's head brewer Ryan Aikens and their sales rep Paige Howery, along with Mussetter Distributor's Therese Olsen, at Dad's Kitchen on Freeport, during Sacramento Beer Week. We discussed pretty much the entirety of Tap-It's beer lineup, the sudden upswing in fruit-additive IPA's, pranks Ryan plays on drinks looking for ABV instead of taste, an ode to prior Ba...

Host Ben Rice winds up in Eugene, Oregon as part of a comedy tour with his friend Daniel Humbarger (who also co-hosts the ESPN TrueHoop Network podcast Cowbell Kingdom), so they decide, when in Rome, why not do an episode of Barley & Me? So we sat down with Oakshire Brewing's general counsel and director of human resources, Tom Moseman, to discuss the brewery's near decade in existence, as well as...

Host Ben Rice chats with Auburn Alehouse's lead brewer Jennifer Talley and also local business owner/publican Eric Nordby, co-owner of World Pub and Little Belgium Deli, in Auburn, CA. We'll talk about Jennifer's extensive brewing career, starting in the prohibitive state of Utah, then moving to large-scale brewing with Red Hook, then to Russian River, and finally to Auburn Alehouse. Brewing royal...

Host Ben Rice travels to the Art of Beer Invitational Craft Beer Festival in Sacramento and sits down with, in exact order: Greg Coll of Ales for Autism; Michael Barker of Sactown Union Brewing & Shaun O'Sullivan of 21st Amendment Brewing; Art of Beer event director Jen Irwin; Dan & Steven Murphy of 12 Rounds Brewing; and Art of Beer founding director Rawi Nanakul and Odell Brewing's Tony Rau. Con...

Host Ben Rice visits Sacramento's Ruhstaller Brewing Taproom to chat with owner/brewer JE Paino. This is the INCEPTION episode, as Ben sits down with fellow beer podcasters Anthony Van Hook and Melody Stone of Hooks & Stone. Also featuring guest appearances by patrons, both heard and unheard (thanks, editing!). Doing an episode in a taproom late Thursday night gets pretty crazy, as conversations e...