Barley & Me

Host Ben Rice sits down with Tom Karvonen, owner/brewer at Oak Park Brewing, to discuss their first year+ in business, along with plans for expansion and their wonderful layout and kitchen. They are joined by Sacramento go-getters The Bruce Twins, Laura & Kaitlin Bruce, who discuss bartending, pub quizzes, and Kaitlin's love of taxidermied animals. We also discuss the fine brews at Oak Park, as we...

Host Ben Rice travels to Applegate, CA, to chat with longtime friends Jackie Zuker (environmental biologist), Andy Zuker (owner of The Moving Crew, sole member of one-man band ThunderVision) and Nik Jacinto (jack of all trades, Renaissance man) to discuss what makes a family (spoiler: it ain't blood) over non-regional beers (Deschutes Abyss 2015, Victory Storm King, Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald)....

Host Ben Rice travels to Woodland, CA to meet with David Towne, sole owner and head brewer of Blue Note Brewing. Also in tow is John Schmidt, manager at Roseville's best beer bar, Final Gravity. We discuss David and John's history with beer, including David's initial hiring at Anderson Valley and John's work as both a beer buyer and a beer seller. As always, we discuss archaic regulations and over...

Host Ben Rice sits down with Vicent Sterne (owner/cidermaker) and Nick Vellanoweth (cidermaker) of Two Rivers Cider, along with comedian and host of Dinner and a Podcast, Jaime Fernandez, outside the Two Rivers Cidery on a chilly Sunday afternoon. This is Barley & Me's longest, most informative, most bizarre, most fun episode to date. We discuss the difference between beer and cider in both the al...

On this episode of Barley & Me, host Ben Rice stops in to Sacramento homebrew store Brew Ferment Distill (BFD) with an arm-load of 40s. It's malt liquor madness, as he, owner Tim, and comedians Emma Haney, Stephen Furey, and Dorian Foster do more than keep it 100, they keep it 800. Olde English 800, that is. While choking down some Steel Reserve, Haney ruminates her love of Budweiser. Furey enjoys...

Host Ben Rice ventures to New Glory Brewing in Sacramento, CA, to speak with owner Julien Lux and Annie Johnson, who was 2013's American Homebrewing Association's Homebrewer of the Year. We discuss Annie's newest project, PicoBrew, and its effects on both the homebrewing and industrial brewing scene. We also discuss trademarking issues and how they affect brewery opening and beer releases, as well...

Host Ben Rice sits down with Roseville's premier Belgian-style brewery Monk's Cellar's brewmaster Andy Klein and head brewer Peter York, along with hilarious comedian D Tyler, to discuss setting up a Euro-style beer pub in a California suburban setting, as well as what a difference a degree makes. We'll also talk about beer tours, beer festivals, the difference in bittering hops, how to salvage a...

On this episode, host Ben Rice speaks with Sacramento Beer Week creator Dan Scott and Device Brewing's owner/brewmaster Ken Anthony. We touch on tough, sobering current events topics before we begin our discussions on beer and the beer industry. We cover what goes into brewing a lager style using ale equipment, lessons learned at GABF, how the name and style of a beer can affect sales, how the sal...

Host Ben Rice travels to Sudwerk Brewing in Davis, CA, to speak with their new head brewer Tom Stull and film maker Tyler Kinney to discuss Sudwerk's wonderful year-round Marzen and its relationship to the worldwide Oktoberfest, as well as the brewery's roots as a lager-centric beer maker and its recent adaptations to increase market share and variety. We also talk about Tyler's upcoming documenta...

On Episode 5 of Barley and Me, host Ben Rice sits down with comedian Aaron Weaver, as well as Eric & Ethan from Chicago's Half Acre Brewing. On this episode, we answer such timeless questions as, "what is caramel?", "what is a saison?", "do all AC/DC songs sound the same?" and "what does host Ben Rice do for a living?" We also talk about Illinois's bottling and canning regulations, collaborations...

On Episode 4 of Barley & Me, host Ben Rice speaks with Sacramento writer and cartoon creator Eben Burgoon (B Squad, Eben07) about his comics, his efforts in teaching children about art and writing through charity program 916INK, and more, while sipping on and reviewing beers in the face of New Helvetia Brewing's owner, Dave Gull. Dave also chimes in with stories about his beer's history, the histo...

On Episode 3 of Barley and Me, host Ben Rice sits down with Adrian, Teresa, Paul, and Kirt of Auburn's Crooked Lane Brewing, to discuss their upcoming opening and the work they've put in to ensure their success in business and in their transition from home brewing to macro brewing. With us is Nu Boonkham, owner and chef at the award-winning Auburn Thai Garden. Nu is a renowned beer connoisseur and...

On Episode 2 of Barley & Me, host Ben Rice chats with comedian Kim Martel (also of the bad beer blog HEY MARTEL!), as well as American River Brewing's owner Dave Mathis and head brewer Andy Armstrong. We talk about ARBC's recent 3rd place finish at the California State Fair Commercial Beer Festival, utilizing their flagship Coloma Brown, as well as their thoughts on the future of their brewery and...

On the first episode of Barley & Me, host Ben Rice speaks with Rick Sellers, owner of The Owl Club, a bar in historic Old Roseville. Rick talks about owning a craft beer bar, his work with the award-winning brewery Odonata, statuesque thieves, and more! But mostly, we talk beer and the beer business. Give it a listen.