Drink Beer, Think Beer With John Holl

Notes from host John Holl: "A few weeks ago I headed down to Asheville, North Carolina for a few days to help out with photography on a new book I’ve been working on. I didn’t have a lot of time for social or other visits, but I made it a point to make my first stop in the state at Zebulon Artisan Ales.    Mike Karnowski is the man in and behind the brewery, it’s a small haven he started after a c...

This week on the show the head brewer, co-founder, and co-owner of Zillicoah Brewing in North Carolina talks about lagers, homebrewing and how the brewery survived COVID-19. John Parks talks about brewing the kind of beer he likes to drink, how the brewery fits into the greater Asheville brewing scene, and their transition into bottles. This episode was recorded on location. Briess Briess is the o...

Should beer styles be date coded? What did Europeans of the 1800s really dress like? Is there an excellent whisky we should be drinking? This week host John Holl finished the first draft of a manuscript for his next book and his mental state is... fried. So, he called up two friends to help get back into the world. Em Sauter of Pints and Panels and Don Tse , a malt enthusiast, Zoom into the show f...

Show notes from host John Holl: "There are some remarkable beers coming out of Fair Isle in Seattle, delightful farmhouse inspired ales that play heavy into culinary inspiration, time in wood or stainless, and a house culture that brings some wonderful characteristics to each beer.    Andrew Pogue and Geoffrey Barker co-founded the brewery a few years ago and have worked to bring some of the niche...

From the time he started as a professional brewer Sean Burke has been on the brewing deck spearheading some of Portland Oregon’s best and exciting breweries, including The Commons and Von Ebert Brewing Co.    He made headlines last summer when he announced that he was heading out to open his own brewery, in McMinnville, Oregon that would eventually become known as ForeLand Beer. It opened in the p...

Ryan Wibby has a passion for traditional lagers but also likes to play around in the space. Since launching Wibby Brewing Co. he has racked up medals, awards, and some top notch reviews. His vienna lager, for example, recently scored 100 points in a blind review panel from Wine Enthusiast Magazine.   Like so many small brewers he has worries but excitement about the future. He is always trying to...

Welcome to This Week in Rauchbier for April 1, 2021. Hagan and Bill of  Dovetail Brewing in Chicago are off again this week, but joining John Holl is a bevy of rauchbier guests that will warm your hearts and soul, just like properly kilned malt.   Lisa Allen of Heater Allen Brewing in Oregon is here to talk about all things rauchbier.  Franziska Weyermann of Weyermann Specialty Malts tells us abou...

Show notes from host John Holl:  Season eight of The Simpsons introduced us to Cecil Underdunk Terwilliger, the younger brother of Sideshow Bob. Our guest this week is Bill Oakley, who among many other things that we’ll tell you about, was the show runner for that season - as well as season 7 – of the long running animated series.    So, it seemed fitting to have my younger, but taller, brother on...

His brewery survived the Great Recession and will do the same with the COVID-19 pandemic, and Paul Kavulak is constantly thinking of new ways to innovate, keep the business running smoothly, and finding the right people for the right jobs. In this episode of Drink Beer, Think Beer he shares stories from his homebrewing days, and the early days of the brewery that laid the foundation to what the co...

Meet Davin and Kellan Bartosch the brothers behind Wise Acre Brewing Co. in Memphis.  From talking about their high school beer hi-jinx to how a drive to find joy in education helped them start this fast-growing brewery.  Family plays a big role in this brewery's direction and there are lessons to be learned on relying on those you love and trust.  Wise Acre has helped define and grow Memphis' bee...

Show notes from host John Holl:  "Jennifer Talley is a brewer’s brewer. I can’t count the times over the years of covering beer that her name has come up, often in awe and always in excitement, when brewers talk about who they admire in the industry.    Still, I never had the chance to interview her or have pints out in the world. When a press release from Firestone Walker arrived in my inbox this...

Show notes from host John Holl: "I’m excited to have Max Shafer on the show today. In my line of work there are breweries that pop up from time to time, that make a serious impression in the glass and then, when you dig a little deeper, also have a cool story to tell.    That’s Roadhouse Brewing for me these days. They brewery began popping up in tastings, on social media, and in my email over the...

Shyla Sheppard is our guest this week and she is the founder, president and co-founder of Bow and Arrow Brewing Co. in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The brewery just celebrated its 5th anniversary under the same circumstances that we’ve all been under over the last year, but they had some fun with it. Rather than letting the pandemic get them down, they are adapting quick and planning for the future. ...

A few weeks ago Vinnie Cilurzo the co-founder of Russian River Brewing Co. was on Steal This Beer and amid the hop soaked fun, he mentioned how the two breweries in the Russian River family – the pub in Santa Rosa, California and the new one in nearby Windsor – talk between each other to dial in recipes and make sure there is a united front.  This is a normal practice for brewers with multiple loc...

Show notes from host John Holl: "On every bottle of Maine Beer there are three words:  Do What’s Right. This is an easy phrase to say, but incredibly hard to practice. It can’t just be a marketing slogan or something cooked up in a board room, slapped on a label and then forgotten. It has to mean something and what is right isn’t always the same thing for everyone, and so the person spearheading t...

It's Super Bowl week in America and the attention of the sports world has turned to Tampa, Florida where the hometown team, the Buccaneers will take on the Kansas City Chiefs. For breweries the annual big game has become a chance for some city-to-city rivalries that play out in collaboration beers, tap takeovers, and more, with the brewery from the winning city often getting the better end of the...

A decade ago Drew Fox decided to take his homebrewing hobby to the next level and went pro. Since then, as founder and president of 18th Street Brewery in Gary, Indiana, he’s grown the business into multiple locations, into bigger brewing systems and has traveled the country and the world working on collaboration beers and being a force of good will to the beer industry.  From recipe evolution and...

Some thoughts on this episode from host John Holl: "When I first started drinking beer, one of the breweries that opened my eyes and palate to flavor was Magic Hat. Thanks to its Number 9, the beer was a fruity pale ale with whimsical labels, clever facts and saying under the bottle cap, and at a price point that didn’t make my budget scream.    Of course a lot has changed in 20 years and that bre...

Before launching Heirloom Rustic Ales in Tulsa, Oklahoma  a few years ago Jake Miller cut his teeth at breweries like Prairie Artisan Ales, Wolves and People, and Saint Somewhere. Along the way he picked up different brewing techniques and a sense for the aesthetics that make for a good brewery  and channeled it into his own place. Today he's determined to follow a brewing path that excites him an...

Lisa and Brandon Boldt are the  owners of Primitive Beer in Colorado.    They bill themselves as Colorado's first exclusively spontaneous, barrel-fermented beer blendery. And in a state that has claimed its fair share of firsts, that’s a pretty big deal, especially after you taste their beer. You kinda wonder why we had to wait so long.  When they opened their doors in 2018 the made a splash on th...

Show notes from host John Holl:   “I’ve been thinking a lot about pints and specifically what I missed as I spent time at home and away from normal beer related things in 2020. I’ve really missed draft beer. I’ve missed settling into favorite tables or stools at familiar bars, scanning a list and ordering something new and exciting or flavorful and reliable.      Over the course of this past year,...

Show notes from Host John Holl: "As this year limps to a close I was thinking of what usually brings me joy in and around the beer space and It’s getting together with good friends over pints for general business chat as well as a proper bullshit session.    Since we can’t get together in I thought that this could be a good format to bring together some of my favorite people for a chat about the y...

Mitch Steele is a brewmaster that everyone looks up to. He’s had a storied career in beer, worked at prominent breweries, developed some of the beers we all still know and drink today, today he is the brewmaster at New Realm Brewing, a company he helped found that operates a brewery in Georgia and one in Virginia.    He is a teacher that many in the brewing industry turn to for advice and inspirat...

Laura Ulrich is the small batch brewer at Stone Brewing Co. and is our guest today.  Yes, Stone Brewing is one of the larger craft breweries in America, and has succeeded over the years with in-your-face marketing and a fondness for West Coast IPA. But like most breweries their size, there is a smaller component, experimental batches that might one day become larger releases, but that serve the pu...

Show notes from host John Holl: "I’m both excited and bummed to have Hugh Sisson, the founder of Heavy Seas beer on the show today. Excited because Hugh is a thoughtful, engaging, and dynamic figure in beer who has worked tirelessly to foster and grow an industry and has been a mentor for many. Bummed because I had hoped to do this interview in person.    But, you know, Covid. It’s likely better t...