Beervana Podcast

Jeff and Patrick discuss the recent spate of brewery, brew pub and craft beer bar closings in Portland Oregon and ruminate on what it portends for the rest of the country. Special attention is paid to the failure of BridgePort, a beloved Portland institution that was fundamental in Portland becoming Beervana.

Jeff and Patrick visit the Benedictine Brewery at Mt. Angel Abbey and sit down with Father Martin, the Procurator of the Abbey and the Head Brewer of the Brewery. They learn about the origins of the brewery, how the brewery fits in with the monks' vision for the Abbey and how the brewery thinks about its beer in the tradition of monastic brewing worldwide.

Jeff and Patrick discuss the ancient practice of monastic brewing and all its modern forms. They talk about the Belgian Trappists as well as brewing monasteries around the world.

Jeff and Patrick discuss Jeff's industry compensation survey and discuss the findings in the context of industry trends.

Jeff and Patrick interview Bill Shufelt, Co-Founder, and John Walker, Co-Founder and Head Brewer of Athletic Brewing in Stratford, CT. Athletic is an entirely non-alcoholic craft beer company and in the interview we discuss the origins of the company, how their beer is made, the market for non-alcoholic beer and the regulatory environment.

Jeff sits down with Michael Kiser, founder of Good Beer Hunting, the leading resource fo beer news on of off the internet. The discuss Michael's background, how he got into beer and how he has built GBH into the success that it is.

Jeff and Patrick discuss the curious case of Brewery Ommegang in Cooperstown, NY. Now owned entirely by Duvel, its association with Belgian beer and sterling reputation for high quality make it unique in the American beer scene. Jeff sits down with Master Brewer Phil Leinhart to discuss their beer, their association with other Duvel breweries and their incorporation of local ingredients.

Jeff and Patrick discuss and preview the 2018 Oregon Brewers Festival, the annual mega-beer festival held in Portland, Oregon. They highlight beers to try, single out some more adventurous offerings and mention a couple of beers to avoid. They also discuss beer trends, changes in the festival and make some suggestions about how to approach the festival and things the fest could do differently.

Jeff and Patrick discuss the complicated world of beer laws and how they are evolving from post-prohibition era laws that dealt with few large breweries to modern laws to regulate the craft beer industry. Jeff interviews Liz Murphy, beer columnist for the Capital Gazette in Maryland, about recent changes and proposed legislation in that state.

Jeff and Patrick delve deeply into weissbier, the German wheat beer that is distinctly non-German: it is an ale, cloudy, feature yeast flavors, use wheat and are distinctly rustic. The origins and history, the methods and the variants of the style are discussed and a number of examples are sampled.

Jeff and Patrick interview Sally Alworth, co-founder of Luminous Botanicals, makers of the Universal Cannabis Tonic. They discuss the origins of the business, how Oregon went about creating a legal market for cannabis and the intersection of cannabis and craft beer.

Jeff sits down for a long-form interview with John Holl, Editor of Craft Beer and Brewing. They discuss the future of beer writing, beer-themed media and what's next in the beer media world. Patrick and Jeff try some beers from Free State Brewing Co-op in Minneapolis and expound on whether George Washington actually brewed 'beer.'

Patrick and Jeff explore the field of behavioral economics and discuss how the insights from this blend of economics and psychology could translate to the craft beer world.

Jeff and Patrick discuss the recent phenomenon of glitter beer. What is it, where did it come from, what does it signal about the fate of humanity? Glitter beers are admired and tasted and verdict is reached.

Jeff and Patrick discuss the legendary British beer writer Michael Jackson: who he was, his writings and his impact on beer and the craft beer revolution.

Jeff and Patrick visit with Matt Lincecum, co-founder and co-owner of Fremont Brewing Company in Seattle, Washington. They discuss the new production brewery they recently opened in the Ballard neighborhood as well as their devotion to the triple bottom line and organic and sustainable practices. And beer.

Jeff and Patrick visit with Adam and Grace Robbings, founders and owners of Reuben's Brews in Seattle. They discuss the origins of the brewery, their approach to beer and their plans for the future.

Jeff and Patrick travel to Seattle to discover the beer scene in the Emerald City. In an exercise in beer podcast verité they live pod from the breweries themselves as well as reflect after the fact about the local scene, personalties and flavors of their neighbor to the north.

Jeff talks to Ben Love of Gigantic Brewing Company in Portland. Oregon who recently travelled to China with other North American craft brewers to collaborate with Chinese brewers and learn more about the craft beer scene in China. Patrick prattles on about taxes.

Jeff and Patrick visit Hopworks Urban Brewing in Portland, Oregon to learn about the packaging side of craft beer. Hopworks has both a canning line and a bottling line and they discuss the advantages and disadvantages of both and go deep into the details of canning - increasingly the preferred package type of craft beer.

Pod 46 - Autumn Hot Takes by Jeff Alworth & Patrick Emerson

Jeff and Patrick discuss everything Saison. What are they, where they came from, modern interpretations and the market viability and challenges of the style. They taste examples form DuPont, Fantôme and The Commons Brewery.

The full interwove between Jeff and Dan Kenary, co-founder and CEO of Harpoon Brewery in Boston, Massachusetts. (Dan is pictured on the right)

Jeff and Patrick take a closer look at Harpoon Brewery in Boston Massachusetts, one of the earliest pioneers of craft brewing. Jeff sat down with Dan Kenary, co-founder and CEO, for an interview in which they discuss the origin story of the brewery, the Boston and New England market, self-distribution, pay-to-play, and location.

Jeff and Patrick engage in a marathon of tasting, assessing, and discussing the New England IPA phenomenon. They talk about the history of New England's beers and this recent development, mention all the different ways breweries are making them, trot through a list of characteristic features, and then, importantly, tase them.