Beervana Podcast

Periodically, we have tried to visit beer-centric places and report what we’ve found. That is now out of the question, but our wanderlust is no less active. So today we start a series of virtual tours, tapping into the knowledge and experience of locals who will give us a guide to their home towns. We’ll start in one of America’s most famous beer cities, San Diego, and soon we’ll welcome the write...

We have recently been shining a light on lagers—and pilsners especially—which is all right and appropriate. But it means we have not been focusing on our other love, those glorious Northwest hops that have changed the brewing industry so profoundly. So today we plan to indulge ourselves by talking all things hops, including nerdy stuff like science, and indulgent, sensual stuff like juicy IPAs.

On Show 113 we have a special guest: Kevin Davey, the head brewer at Portland’s Wayfinder Brewery. Wayfinder specializes in lagers, and attentive listeners will recall that it won our Great Oregon Pilsner Taste-Off. We have long wanted to talk to Kevin about Wayfinder, his background, and his approach to making beer, and this seemed like a great opportunity to track him down.

In Show 111 and 112 we try something new: The Great Pilsner Taste-Off, a battle royale of all the very best pilsners in the state of Oregon. Over the course of these shows we conduct blind tastings to identify what is surely, definitively the finest example brewed here in the Beaver State. On today’s show we’re broadcasting the final round, in which we reveal the big winner. That plus news and the...

In Show 111 and 112 we try something new: The Great Pilsner Taste-Off, a battle royale of all the very best pilsners in the state of Oregon. Over the course of these shows we conduct blind tastings to identify what is surely, definitively the finest example brewed here in the Beaver State. On today’s show we’re broadcasting the preliminary round, and next week we’ll bring you the finals.

On today’s show we head to Belgian Flanders today and dig into one of the most interesting categories of beer in the world: brown ales. It is a style both changing and, surprisingly, expanding, and is as much a story of tradition and culture as style. We'll listen to one of the grand old masters of the style, along with a group of young guys embracing the ancient practice.

We have a special show for you today as we sit down to visit with Breakside founder Scott Lawrence and his brewmaster Ben Edmunds to celebrate the brewery's 10th anniversary. Jeff talks with Scott and Ben about those ten years, how Breakside, born in a different era, has grown and changed, and what is in store for them as their big celebration has been interrupted by world events.

On today’s show we’re going to play a little catch-up and offer a round table of topics. Among the issues we’ll touch on are a bit of Coronavirus Beeronomics, “entertainment” and the dubious new Netflix sitcom Brews Brothers, higher ed, new brewery initiatives—and probably a few other things along the way.

On today’s show we’re going to attempt to distract ourselves from all this pandemic business by thinking about some nice, tasty beer—but, since the virus is dominating all our attention, we thought it was high time for a “desert island” show. That is, if you found yourself on a desert island—or, say, sheltering in place—what beers would you absolutely, positively have to have stocked in the fridge...

On pod 106, Patrick and Jeff assess the ramifications to the economy and beer industry of the coronavirus sweeping across the globe in late March. Patrick offers some high-fiber macroeconomics, and Jeff discusses how it's impacting breweries on the ground.

If you step into a beer hall in Cologne, you’ll be handed a stange of kölsch. Your bitter will come in a pint glass in London. And in Brussels you might be handed a tulip glass. On today’s show, we plunge into the thorny thicket of beer glassware. We’ve got some on hand and we’ll discuss which is appropriate, as well as some of the features that serve different purposes in each.

In Show 104, we have a special guest in the studio to talk about the Oregon Beer Awards, which recently announced winners for the 2020 competition. He his Ben Edmunds, the competition director of the event and brew master at Breakside Brewing. We will talk to Ben about why this festival is different, why he and the organizers of the OBA reworked style categories, and also what constitutes excellen...

On episode 103, we take a look at a topic of some confusion: aging beer. A decade ago, everyone was doing it, and aged bottles were fetching hundreds of dollars online. Modern juicy IPAs have re-set our expectations about age, however, prompting a renewed focus on freshness. In this episode, we’ll look at the process of aging, what happens chemically inside the bottle, and which beers are suited f...

In episode 102 we look at a style that seems like a revival of something much older, but is in fact a modern invention: mixed fermentation saisons. These beers, made by regular fermentation combined with wild inoculation, have great depth and complexity, but are balanced and approachable. They may be the most accomplished beers made in the world today.

On today’s podcast, we address a trend that has changed direction of the industry and has breweries quaking in their rubber boots: seltzer. Introduced just four years ago, the segment has grown into a $3 billion behemoth. We’re going to explore the topic today with cider maker Nat West, whose Cascadia brand recently introduced a line of seltzer. We’ll talk about their impact on the market, how the...

A slightly dodgy mic didn't dampen our excitement in having John Harris join us live at his brewery, Ecliptic, for our 100th episode. The mic problem cleared up after about ten minutes, and we had a wonderful time hearing John's perspective as a veteran whose career started in 1986 at the McMenamins, took him to Deschutes, where he was the founding brewery, and Full Sail before Ecliptic.

In a special edition of Beeronomics, we’ll be welcoming Josh Lehner of the Oregon Office of Economic Analysis. Josh looks at a number of indicators affecting the state, and one of his special interests is beer. One of his recent posts caught our eye, and in this episode, he discusses some of the currents that will be affecting the brewing industry in coming years.

Today we have a special guest in studio: Ezra Johnson-Greenough, the founder and contributor at the industry website The New School. Ezra is perhaps the most well-connected voice covering beer in Oregon, and he is always the first to suss out the latest news. In this episode, we'll discuss the new brewery projects in Oregon that Ezra recently wrote about. PHOTO: Portland Business Journal

Today we’re going to look at a topic of perennial interest: good beer cities. For at least three decades, American municipalities have been heavily invested in touting themselves as great beer destinations. Over time, the competition for bragging rights has only grown as more and more places develop an interest in beer. The problem, though, is that no one can agree on the definitions. Are brewery...

As we record this podcast, it is the last day of the decade—at least as decades are popularly tracked. A lot happened in the 2010s, from changing fortunes in the craft and mass market segments, the emergence of new product categories, and lots of change and evolution in the beer itself.

We are just a few days away from the Christian celebration of Christmas—a big deal in many countries, including of course Belgium. And as with so much, this little country does things differently when it celebrates Christmas, from the steaming mugs of gluhkriek handed out in the Grand Place to the ubiquitous tradition of bière de Noël—Christmas beers. In today’s episode, we’ll discuss these wonder...

When we taste a beer and our brain tells us “chocolate” or “grapefruit,” what’s happening? Flavor is a composite of what our bodies tell us—our hardware, so to speak—and what our brains do in synthesizing that information into meaning—our software. In today's podcast, we take a look at the very complex processes involved in constructing what we call "flavor."

In episode 93 we were delighted to welcome Level Brewing's Jason Barbee. Jason has impressed us with his love of small, simple beers, and especially those from the British tradition. His brewery, Level, is known for smaller, more balanced beers--and of course the occasional hazy IPA or three. We discuss how brewers appeal to drinkers with something like a Vienna lager or mild ale when all they cla...

Portland has seen ten brewery closures or sales in the past year--and one was even announced while we were recording this podcast! In Episode 92, Patrick, our resident beeronomist, offers us ways to think about this through the lens of game theory, economies of scope, and more.

In episode 91, we conclude Jeff's travels to Europe with perhaps his most interesting stop. Lithuania has one of the most unusual beer cultures in Europe, one that emerges from the country's similarly unusual history. Jeff and Patrick discuss what makes Lithuania so interesting, and of course taste some of the beer.