The Brewing Network Presents | The Session

Joran and Shawn - the two guys behind Halfway Crooks Beer - come from two very different backgrounds, but somehow still managed to meet up and combine their passion for lagers (and weird beer labels) into something magical. Sully and JP chat about lager beer, brewery vibes, and having an inviting brand that the sole purpose is to push lagers unto the masses. Lagers. Learn more about your ad choice...

From his early days in the craft beer scene, Dave McLean had always been interested in the malting process. Fast forward 20 years, and dave is now heading up a craft malt house in Alameda, Ca, providing freshly malted grain to brewers and distillers nationwide. How important is fresh malt? Are there any funny puns to be made in the malt world? How erotic can ice cream really be? Find out all these...

Keeping the Pacific Northwest covered in lager beer isn't an easy task. Lucky for them, there's Kevin and the folks from Wayfinder Beer! Located in Portland, Or, Wayfinder is primarily a lager house that also does a fair amount of ale brewing. But when your flagship is a Helles (with a 4-step mash), you're probably doing lagers right. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Bay Area craft beer scene is ever-growing, and today on The Session, we talk to one of the fresh faces making great beer out here - Five Suns Brewing. Jess Jackson, owner and brewer at this Martinez brewery, joined JP on this week's show to talk about his path from homebrewer to craft brewer, and how his small brewery is positioned to ride out the pandemic. Learn more about your ad choices. Vi...

Frequent guest and friend of the show Dave Marliave makes his return to The Session! Dave's history in brewing (and life) has been full of challenges, especially with the closing of Flat Tail brewing, but that didn't stop him from pushing forward and getting back into the craft beer game. New Spring, is Dave's latest project, and we were happy to catch up with him to talk about his journey to his...

Sitting in the "backpack" of Fairfield, sits Suisun City, home to True Symmetry Brewing Company. Jason, brewer and owner of True Symmetry, comes on The Session to talk about his days as a homebrewer, his move to pro, and what a small brewery has to do these days to stay open. Jason and JP are also joined by Jamil and Teresa - plus two special guests! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megapho...

As 2020 winds down, what better way to shift into a new year than to have a whole show dedicated to homebrewing? We invited Marshall Schott from Brulosophy on the show to give us the five more popular homebrewing subjects (according to brulosophy.com), and a little bit about each experiment. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joe Kesteloot is our guest today, from Peace Tree Brewing out of Knoxville, Iowa. Peace Tree is known in the area for their stubby bottles, and their best-selling Belgian Blonde Ale, of all things! We talked about his short-lived days as a homebrewer, making the jump to professional, and sample a few of his beers! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jamil and the Heretic Brewing team are known for making world-class beers. So when we realized they are also crafting some great canned cocktails, we were intrigued. The canned cocktail market is big, but the products have usually been sub-par. Today we chat with Jamil about how he approaches the cocktails Heretic makes, and how it's similar and yet different than crafting beer. Learn more about y...

Red Clay Brewing, from Alabama, Zoomed back into The Session this week. Having just been on last year, they have a lot to talk about - mainly their collaborations with Master Sommelier Emmanuel Kemijii. We chatted about using weird ingredients while still trying to adhere to some sense of beer styles. Among the usual beer chatter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mother Road Brewing Company definitely walks the walk. Located in Flagstaff, Arizona, they are a company that is committed to providing a supportive workplace for their employees, as well as including their local community in the direction of their beers. Michael's brewery is set up for success, inside and out, and we had a great time chatting with him! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit mega...

The Brewing Network got together to pay our respects to Mike "Tasty" McDole. His passing leaves a gigantic Tasty Cookie-sized hole in our hearts, both on and off the air. Tasty's impact in our lives can never be measured, but it can be celebrated, and that is what we tried to do with this social distanced foregathering. Tasty was a brother to us all, and we'll miss him. Join us as we raise a pint...

Last time Lee Bakofsky was on The Session, he was brewing beer for Eagle Rock Brewing, one of the staples of the LA craft beer scene. Now, he's moved to a brand new brewery called Party Beer Co., so we chat with him to learn all about how you transition jobs as a brewer - and open a new spot - during a pandemic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today on The Session we are joined by the fine people from Imperiale Beer Project, in Brentwood, California. Not only are they still in business during the pandemic, but they opened their doors at the height of the California shelter-in-place announcement. We chat with former homebrewer and Club D.O.Z.E. member Vito DeLucchi, and owners Brandon and Jessica Freel, on how this whole project came to...

In the age of COVID, breweries are finding it harder and harder to find their way through the shutdowns and into a survivable business model. Danville Brewing Company is no exception. We chat with brewer Matt Sager, to find out how the shutdown affected him, how they fought their way back into the marketplace, and what happened to all that beer they had to let sit in the tanks while they were clos...

Hop Revolution & Hallertau Brewery from New Zealand join the Session to talk hops, COVID-19 & more. Tune in and find out about how New Zealand's newest hop farm's first harvest went back in February & March. Also, Hallertau Brewmaster Stephen Plowman talks about what makes New Zealand hops so special. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

COVID-19 has flipped the craft beer industry on its head, but what happens when you have to move your entire brewery in 26 days during a pandemic? Dave Marliave from Flat Tail Brewing Company knows exactly how that goes, and we chat with him on this Shutdown Special. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gary Glass from the American Homebrewers Association joins The Session, along with Brian Cooper & Oleg Shpyrko, who are both running for Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) Regional Rep positions. Learn about HomebrewCon online from Gary, and how you can vote for your West Coast Regional Rep for the BJCP from Brian and Oleg. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alex Wallash and Jay Goodwin from The Rare Barrel join us on another special edition of The Session during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Natalie & Vinnie Cilurzo from Russian River Brewing Company join us for this COVID-19 Special Edition of The Session. In yet another format change (sorry folks), we have been streaming live video to Facebook a couple times a week in order to bring more content home to you. As part of that, we decided to record the audio and make it part of our Session podcast feed as well. So that is what you are...

In this COVID special edition of The Session, we are joined by Arizona Wilderness Brewing Company from Gilbert, Arizona. The brewery was hit pretty hard by the shutdown, but share their story of resilience and compassion in this candid interview. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this special, and weird episode of The Session, we change formats to meet the demands of the current global pandemic crisis. Host Justin Crossley is back in the studio, but this time all by himself to try and make a little sense of what's happening, and how The Brewing Network intends to proceed as we all attempt to get through this. As part of the process, J interviews Nico Freccia, Co-Founder...

In light of the current shelter-in-place situation we find ourselves in here in the Bay Area, we decided to postpone this weeks Session with True Symmetry Brewing, and instead have cut together a few clips from past shows. We even have a current interview from Justin and our pals down at Hop Revolution in New Zealand! It's a great mix of old BN and current topics, and we hope you enjoy it. Sully a...

Aram Cretan and Matt Hunter, two of the guys behind Federation Brewing Company, traveled from the Port of Oakland to be on The Session and to tell their story. They not only brought several beers for us to talk about, but they brought some laughs and some good stories about coming up in an industry that ebbs and flows like most others. especially with the coronavirus rapidly spreading around the w...

The Session continues as we welcome David Lin of Comrade Brewing Company out of Denver, Colorado. David won two medals at the 2019 Great American Beer Festival, as well as being named "Small brewery of the Year"! We talk about moving from homebrewer to brewery owner, making killer IPAs, and how a brewery can be responsible and take care of its employees while still being successful. Learn more abo...