Beer Edge

Denver holds a special place in my heart. I’ve watched as the local beer scene has grown and then exploded, with dozens and dozens of breweries cropping up in parts of town that didn’t even really exist, such as RiNo. Denver has long had a formidable beer scene but today it is one of the country’s best. And on this second episode of the Beer Travelers podcast, we’re going to talk with two local experts, Tristan Chan of PorchDrinking and Jonathan Shikes of the Denver Post. These two are as knowledgeable as they come and as we’ll hear, they are full of advice for planning your visit to the Mile High City. Stay tuned at the end of the episode for my personal favorite suggestion for Denver. Hint: it’s the perfect place for a nightcap or to end your trip.In this episode of Beer Travelers, we discuss all that the city has to offer in this episode so let’s start our trip to Denver, Colorado with Tristan Chan and Jonathan Shikes.This Episode is Sponsored by:Pub Culture BeercationsStop living vicariously through other people's social media posts and get out and make some memories of your own! Join Pub Culture Beercations for one of our upcoming tours and start exploring the world one pint at a time with us. Visit PubCultureBeercations.com for more information.For original articles or to read the vast archives or to check out All About Beer.  follow us on Twitter @allaboutbeer and Instagram @allaboutbeer. Support Journalism by visiting our Patreon Page.Host: Andy CrouchGuests: Tristan Chan and Jonathan ShikesSponsor: Pub Culture BeercationsTags: Denver beer, Bierstadt Lagerhaus, Avery Brewing

Welcome to the first episode of the new All About Beer podcast. In this premiere episode, co-hosts Em Sauter and Don Tse examine the Cold IPA with Kevin Davey, of Wayfinder Beer, who is credited with creating the style. From the specs and flavor, process and debunking myths, this show will explain and examine every facet of craft beer’s newest style.Subscribe to the All About Beer Podcast wherever you get your podcasts and please leave us a review. We appreciate your support.This Episode is Sponsored by:Athletic Brewing CompanyAthletic Brewing Company’s award-winning, craft, non-alcoholic beers are fit for all times. Down time, work time, game time, even gym time. Pick a time and grab an Athletic, because it’s about time you could enjoy a great-tasting brew, any time you want. Even right now. Head to athleticbrewing.com and get some fresh brews delivered. New customers can even get 20% off with code AllAboutBeer20 and free shipping on two 6-packs or more.For original articles or to read the vast archives or to check out All About Beer.  follow us on Twitter @allaboutbeer and Instagram @allaboutbeer. Support Journalism by visiting our Patreon Page.Hosts: Em Sauter and Don TseGuest: Kevin Davey of Wayfinder BeerSponsors: Athletic Brewing Co.Tags: Cold IPA, Oregon, Lager, Hops, BrewingThe following music was used for this media project:Music: Awesome Call by Kevin MacLeodFree download: https://filmmusic.io/song/3399-awesome-callLicense (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-licenseArtist website: https://incompetech.com

We’re back this week with the second part of my interview with beer writer, author, and judge Melissa Cole. Since we last heard from Melissa, I actually had the chance to have beers in person with her in Minneapolis during the Craft Brewers Conference. Along with Melissa, my Beer Edge partner John Holl and a couple of Australian beer writers hit several dive bars in Northeast Minneapolis before singing our hearts out at 1 am karaoke. As I said in the last episode, it’s never a dull day with Melissa Cole. And the second half of this interview is also unlikely to bore you. In fact, Melissa delivers a devastating indictment of BrewDog amidst all the scandals swirling around the company. These controversies, which seem to multiply week after week, involve a host of issues including allegations of an abusive and harmful corporate culture, poor treatment of workers, surveillance of employees and critics, and mistreatment of females. It can be difficult to get your arms around the issues facing BrewDog as they seem to pile on more as time goes on. For this week, we continue our chat with Melissa, who has covered BrewDog for more than a decade. And we start at the beginning, including her first memories of meeting BrewDog's co-founder James Watt and how her impressions of him and the company evolved over time. A word of warning for listeners. We discuss some sensitive issues in this episode, including physical abuse, harassment, and sexism. Listener discretion is advised. For more information on the Beer Edge Podcast, follow us on Twitter @thebeeredge. And visit Beer Edge for more articles and engaging content.Host: Andy CrouchGuest: Melissa ColeSponsors: Lallemand, All About Beer

It’s never boring with Melissa Cole. The first time we met remains a bit of a fever dream for me. We get into it in the first few minutes of this interview and, in character, Melissa manages to recall micro details of what we ate and drank that night six years ago. Melissa’s work is similarly colorful and a bit hard to characterize. She appears to have transcended the role of journalist and become somewhat of a presenter, as the Brits might say. She’s an accomplished author of several excellent books, a brewer of many collaboration beers, a widely respected international judge of beers, a frequent television guest offering both piercing and critical social commentary, related to beer, but also an accomplished speaker about food and tasting. Melissa is also a powerful advocate for classic styles, British beer excellence, but most importantly, for equality and calling out bad behavior by boorish breweries. Recently, she has been in the media quite a bit for her continuing criticism of BrewDog and its corporate culture and its treatment of workers and females. We’ll get into this subject in detail in the second part of our conversation next week.But for this week, we discuss Melissa’s background, her books, and her secrets to pairing beer and food. We conducted this interview via Zoom and I spent most of the session with a huge smile on my face or laughing. Next week’s episode concluding our interview with Melissa will be a bit more serious. But for this week, let’s get to the first half of my conversation with the indefatigable Melissa Cole.  For more information on the Beer Edge Podcast, follow us on Twitter @thebeeredge. And visit Beer Edge for more articles and engaging content.Host: Andy CrouchGuest: Melissa ColeSponsors: Lallemand

Parenting isn’t easy. And trying to manage young kids, especially during a pandemic, is incredibly hard. I don’t talk about my personal life much on these podcasts, in my work, or on social media. I prefer to keep the separation. But I also know there is value in letting others who may be similarly situated know that things are rarely the well constructed perfection reflected in smiling family Instagram photos. And that’s how I first noticed today’s guest, beer writer Eoghan Walsh. A native of Ireland, Eoghan now lives with his family in Brussels, working as a freelance writer, author, and podcaster. He is the founder of Brussels Beer City—a blog about the Belgian capital city’s beers, bars, and brewing traditions. He’s also the host of the Brussels Beer City Podcast. And he’s racked up a number of impressive awards with his work, including being named the British Guild of Beer Writers Young Beer Writer of 2018.But it is his occasional social media posts talking about the challenges of parenting his two young kids that made me feel more seen. He’s as happy to discuss the struggles as a father as he is to celebrate the successes, however big or small. And I definitely connect with that. As the father of two young kids, I’m very familiar with the ups and downs, the good and the bad, and how you can feel pulled in a million different directions, torn between the personal and the professional, all while feeling like you’re not doing well at either. Especially during times when we’ve been forced inside or away from others for so long, Eoghan’s Twitter posts about his adventures in parenting help me appreciate that others are trying to navigate the same issues and finding it exhausting all the while. So earlier this week, Eoghan put his kids to bed, climbed into this chilly attic, and joined me on an international Zoom call to chat. We talk a lot about parenting, the challenges you face as a freelancer with kids, and how easy it is to lose your identity after becoming a parent. A natural raconteur, affable and self-effacing, Eoghan also discusses his beer writing career, how he came to live in Brussels, whether Belgium’s grand beer traditions can survive hazy IPAs and the march of modernity, and whether Yvan de Baets is the most important person in the Belgian beer scene. Eoghan also uses the show to announce some news, but I’d let him talk about that. Here is my conversation with beer writer, author, and podcaster Eoghan Walsh.For more information on the Beer Edge Podcast, follow us on Twitter @thebeeredge. And visit Beer Edge for more articles and engaging content.Host: Andy CrouchGuest: Eoghan WalshSponsors: Lallemand

This week we continue our conversation with beer writer Matthew Curtis. If you missed part 1 of our discussion, I recommend you go back and give it a listen. In that episode, Matt and I discussed his work with Pellicle, his online beer, wine, and cider magazine, how he developed his voice as a writer and podcaster, and about his profile of St. Mars of the Dessert in Sheffield, England. We also discussed important and sensitive subjects such as balancing work while maintaining your mental health. In this episode, we compare the US and UK beer scenes, discuss Matt’s excellent new book, Modern British Beer, and discuss how joy is the central message and lens through which he translates the world of beer to his audiences. We also discuss how Pete Brown robbed him, his words, at the recent British Guild of Beer Writers awards and how he feels about awards generally in light of his recent experiences. We also discuss his plans for the future of Pellicle and as a writer. For more information on the Beer Edge Podcast, follow us on Twitter @thebeeredge. And visit Beer Edge for more articles and engaging content.Host: Andy CrouchGuest: Matthew CurtisSponsors: Arryved

One of the best parts of covering the craft beer industry for a while is experiencing new voices. Perspectives tend to harden over time and without the addition of new blood, they can calcify and begin to become immovable. And the industry so often feels like a singular experience, one that speaks with a too uniform voice that serves as so much retread. Matthew Curtis stands in the middle of all of this. He started writing about beer long enough ago that he has seen a few things. But he’s also not so deep in the game that he can’t see the value of supporting new voices. He started as a blogger, working on his voice and technique. He eventually parlayed that into some freelance work, including at Good Beer Hunting, where I first recall encountering his writing. He added photography to his portfolio of talents and adorned his well crafted pieces with striking photos of their subjects. His photos imbue substantial character into the tiniest of subjects, a clamp or hose in a brewery cellar, the way light lands on a dusty barrel filled with wild ale. After deciding to turn his freelance hobby into a full time gig, Matt did what I wish so many others would do. He picked his head up, looked around, and plotted an intentional path forward. He wasn’t happy writing the same old pieces for the same old publications. He wanted to express himself in new ways, new formats, and to give others the opportunity to discover and amplify their own voices. So in 2019, Matt founded the online drinks, food, and travel site Pellicle with co-founder and brewer Jonny Hamilton. Based in the UK, Matt and Johnny had a clear vision of what they wanted to capture in the worlds of beer, cider, wine, and food among other subjects. The central directional principle behind Pellicle is one that is often absent from so much similarly focused writing: finding joy with the cultures they cover. Over time, Pellicle has evolved into a website delivering weekly in-depth dives into people, places, and drinks, an occasional podcast of the same name, one that delightfully meanders between interviews and long monologues of Matt’s own thinking, and occasional events. All told, they aim to capture the “joie de vivre we so often find within our favourite cultures. This might be at a favourite bar or restaurant, adjacent to a steaming brewhouse, or within an orchard or vineyard. At Pellicle, we hope to take you there with us.”As you’ll hear me say during the interview, which we’ll present to you in two parts, I have been a Patreon subscriber of Pellicle for some time and I’d encourage others to do so as well. I support beer media and believe there should be dozens more publications bringing great beer content to a thirsty world. Pellicle remains a shining example of what can happen when two people get together with a vision and help enlist and raise up others in support of their collective mission.In our discussion, which we conducted over a long Zoom call, Matt and I discuss his back story, how he developed a love of beer while visiting his ex-pat father who now lives in the United States, and we delve further into the work at Pellicle. We also discuss one of my favorite recent pieces of beer writing, his long and lovely profile of Dann Paquette and Martha Holley, once of Pretty Things Beer and Ale Project here in Boston and now of St. Mars of the Desert in Sheffield, England. For more information on the Beer Edge Podcast, follow us on Twitter @thebeeredge. And visit Beer Edge for more articles and engaging content.Host: Andy CrouchGuest: Matthew CurtisSponsors: Arryved - Lallemand

26 years is a long time to run a business, let alone one with your spouse. When my guest today first met her future husband, they were 16 years old and attending the same high school in Massachusetts. He would soon be booted out of that school but their relationship remained strong. When years later he floated the idea of opening a brewery, the two would help build the brewery together. The story of Dogfish Head is one we’ve heard many times before, often told by its very familiar co-founder and front man, Sam Calagione. But it is his partner, the less public face of the business, Mariah Calagione, who deserves a lot of credit for Dogfish Head’s success. As she writes in the brewery’s new book, “Sam often calls himself Dogfish Head’s analog storyteller and often refers to me as our digital storyteller. He’s the extroverted storyteller in front of the audience or at the event. I’ve been the introverted storyteller, behind the screen and the camera lens.” As Mariah goes on to note, the dynamic works and helped shape Dogfish into the powerhouse it is today. After high school, Mariah went on to Brown University where she studied public policy with a focus on its interplay with the media. After school, Mariah went to work for a local television station, working on the assignment desk and doing a variety of tasks. For her, it was taking up the family business as her father Tom owned a TV station and some radio stations in Delaware. For his part, Sam was trying to become a writer or a teacher. But by the end of college, his passion for beer and brewing took over. After some back and forth, the couple eventually settled on opening up shop in Mariah’s home state of Delaware, specifically Rehoboth Beach. And when Mariah joined Dogfish full time in 1997, she thought her marketing background would come in handy. Instead, she should’ve taken business administration classes. She took care of the accounting and payroll, none of which she had experience in.But that’s how it is for small family run businesses. You end up doing everything. And one of the things it turns out she excels at is crafting a message for Dogfish Head’s social media channels. She’ll tell us about the early days of her online experiences at Dogfish, why fans of the brand kept setting up and giving them Dogfish Head accounts, and how to deal with the ups and downs that come with the job. We also talk about her new role as Social Impact Leader at Boston Beer, how the new Dogfish Head Book, 26 Years of Off-centered Adventures came to be, and what the future holds for both her and Sam.For more information on the Beer Edge Podcast, follow us on Twitter @thebeeredge. And visit Beer Edge for more articles and engaging content.Host: Andy CrouchGuest: Mariah CalagioneSponsors: Arryved - Lallemand

In our most recent episode, I hosted a longtime friend and fellow beer writer, Joe Stange, who told us about moving his family to Thailand in the middle of a pandemic, the importance of traditional styles, and the future of the American beer bar. In this episode, we continue our discussion, moving on to his somewhat unexpected defense of hazy IPAs, his thoughts on why Stone’s Berlin project failed, and whether lager will finally have its day. It’s hard to capture the essence of a writer in a spoken word podcast but I’ve done my best in these two interviews, hoping to do justice to Joe and his work. If you’ve enjoyed listening to Joe and his thoughts about beer, I’d highly recommend you check out his entirely too short-lived podcast, One More Road For the Beer, which he co-hosted with fellow beer and travel writer Zach Johnston. It only lasted for 10 episodes but it was glorious and we talked a bit about it and whether it might one day return. For more information on the Beer Edge Podcast, follow us on Twitter @thebeeredge. And visit Beer Edge for more articles and engaging content.Host: Andy CrouchGuest: Joe StangeSponsors: Arryved 

The pandemic has been a weird experience for everyone. Everything suddenly stopped, things went quiet, we became trapped in our homes for months on end. Even for the most stable among us, the experience was unsettling. For my guest today, the pandemic was anomalous in an entirely different way. Newly returned to the US after more than a decade living abroad, writer Joe Stange and his two children moved to a family farm in rural Missouri and then found themselves sort of stuck there as COVID hit. After years in bustling, major international metropolises, his life became about quietly homebrewing in a barn and helping his kids deal with school via Zoom. Joe is one of my favorite people in the beer world. He’s a writer’s writer. Clever, smart, thorough, and thoughtful. At times intense, focused, but also given to a sort of knowing humor, he’s an entirely enjoyable drinking partner. While Joe is serious about beer, dedicated to it in a way that is not just ephemeral or about the alcohol or the scene, he also knows its place and not to take it too seriously. Joe is a trained journalist, having received a proper education at one of the country’s best journalism schools, Mizzou, and trained at the Associated Press. And while his background provided him with a solid foundation on which to build his freelancing and writer career, it was his wife Kelly’s career that in a roundabout way led to his work as a beer journalist. Kelly has long worked as a diplomat with the US Department of Agriculture, helping to promote and protect American interests abroad. And her work has taken their family to Brussels, Costa Rica, Berlin, and now Bangkok. It was this first location, Brussels, where Joe really became involved in the beer world. He developed a love of Belgian beer and began writing about it, eventually leading to his work as a co-author with Tim Webb of the excellent Good Beer Guide Belgium. Joe would go on to write another book, Around Brussels in 80 Beers, and contribute to many magazines. He’s now the managing editor of Craft Beer & Brewing.Joe was locked down in quarantine for several weeks after arriving in Bangkok, and it was late his time and very early mine when we connected via Zoom for our chat. We haven’t seen each other in a couple of years and so our conversation ran more than twice as long as I expected. So we’re going to break our conversation up into two episodes. On this first one, Joe and I talk about the experience of being a diplomatic spouse, about what it was like to return to the states after so long abroad, and how he came to contemplate and capture the essence of a tree during the pandemic. We also talk about his passion for writing about the technical side of brewing, whether lagers and saisons will ever truly have their day, and about tradition, style, and whether the classic beer bar can survive. For more information on the Beer Edge Podcast, follow us on Twitter @thebeeredge. And visit Beer Edge for more articles and engaging content.Host: Andy CrouchGuest: Joe StangeSponsors: Arryved 

Paul Verdu is the vice president and head of Tenth and Blake, which is the craft focused arm of its parent company, Molson Coors. Under this umbrella, Coors, then later MillerCoors, and now MolsonCoors, have each sought to launch, develop, and promote flavorful beers. Its portfolio has shifted over the years, once including Blue Moon until it outgrew the group and moved onto the bigger leagues. It has also been an active buyer of craft brands. As it stands today, Tenth and Blake includes the Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company, Saint Archer, Terrapin, Hop Valley, Revolver, AC Golden, as well as relative newcomers Atwater and TRU Colors. It also houses a host of imported brands, including the much beloved Pilsner Urquell. We talk a lot about craft beer on this podcast but we rarely delve into the world of big beer. Today we’re fortunate to speak with Paul Verdu, whose career in the beer business has taken him around the world and offered him a rare view of both the craft and big beer spheres. He’s long worked in the CPG space, originally selling bug killers and air fresheners before moving on to work for Miller. We go through his background and what got him into the beer industry, the pains of the failed launch of Saint Archer’s Gold in the face of a pandemic, and Tenth and Blake’s intriguing investment into a brewery that employs active gang members in an attempt to quell gang violence. We also talk about my favorite subject, pilsner, discussing the future of Pilsner Urquell in the US, and why Barmen Pils is secretly one of the best lagers in the states.For more information on the Beer Edge Podcast, follow us on Twitter @thebeeredge. And visit Beer Edge for more articles and engaging content.Host: Andy CrouchGuest: Paul VerduSponsors: Arryved 

Emma Janzen and I have known each other for years. Well, in the sort of way that two people on Twitter who have never met in person can. We’ve traded messages, likes, and retweets. She’s a talented writer and photographer who possesses a great eye for detail while not losing focus on the story. She’s someone whose work I’ve followed for a long time and who I’ve wanted to have on the podcast. Her career is a melange of multimedia endeavors. After focusing on audio and video editing, she graduated with a degree in film. She didn’t plan on being a journalist but her background skills set her up perfectly for the new coming age of reporting and social media. She started her career working at the Austin-American Statesman in Texas after college. Living, working, and drinking in Austin, Emma had a front row seat for the nascent cocktail scene growing in the city. She reported on all things drinks there, shooting photos and video to accompany her articles, years before this would become regular practice in the industry. Emma then moved to Chicago, where she worked as a freelance writer, which is where she started focusing more on beer. She then got a job with Imbibe Magazine as the digital content editor. Emma is responsible for everything you see on Imbibe’s website. She runs the editorial calendar, helps select and write stories, shoots photos, sources and curates recipes for the publication. She’s also the author of several books, including Mezcal: The History, Craft and Cocktails of the World's Ultimate Artisanal Spirit, which was nominated for a James Beard Foundation award in 2018. Her latest book, a collaboration with co-author Julia Momose of Kumiko in Chicago, is The Way of the Cocktail: Japanese Traditions, Techniques, and Recipes.We don’t talk a lot about beer in this episode, though there is some. We’re mainly talking about booze this week, about how little I understand and appreciate mezcal, the beauty and art of Japanese bar culture, how much we both miss travel, and whether the RTD and NA spirits trends have legs. We also talk a lot about the business of journalism in the modern age. Emma offers advice on how to take better photos of your drinks. And we talk about how to maintain a healthy work life balance and the importance of re-energizing your creativity in the face of the burnout that so many of us are facing.We start this week by talking about the state of alcohol journalism and how her employer, Imbibe Magazine, has managed to succeed where so many others have tripped up. And how the romance of the printed page endures.For more information on the Beer Edge Podcast, follow us on Twitter @thebeeredge. And visit Beer Edge for more articles and engaging content.Host: Andy CrouchGuest: Emma JanzenSponsors: Arryved - Novozymes

Perhaps it’s because we’ve been trapped in our houses and then our cities and counties and states for too long, but my mind has been on San Diego a lot lately. In recent episodes, we’ve had some great guests from the area and today is no exception. About 2 years ago, a small earthquake shook the craft beer world. Ballast Point, whose sale only a few years earlier for a billion dollars to Constellation, had gobsmacked everyone from the tap room on Main Street to Wall Street board rooms, had unexpectedly been sold again. This time to a tiny little brewery outside of Chicago that absolutely no one had heard of. The story seemed crazy and I certainly thought the whole situation was a bit nuts. But as it turns out, the new owners weren’t crazy, just smart, experienced business people with a vision for the future. At first glance, Brendan Watters seems to be quite a character. With his Australian accent, wide brimmed outback hat, and mile wide smile, Brendan appears on the surface an unlikely person to purchase a brewery once valued at a cool billion dollars. But the aphorism about books and covers should be kept in mind. Because behind the camp is a successful, credentialed businessman with the right timing and connections to get this deal done. He has recommitted the company to the local San Diego market and is building back the loyalty and respect of San Diegans piece by piece. And by most accounts, this improbable story appears on the way to a happier ending. Local beer writers are impressed with how Brendan and his team have operated Ballast Point and with their future plans. Two years on, the Ballast Point story continues to evolve and Brendan is at the center of it. And he’s not done yet. While he plays a bit coy about future prospects, Brendan and his team appear ready to continue purchasing craft breweries in the years to come.In this episode, Brendan and I discuss his background in business and why he and his partner Chris Bradley started Kings and Convicts in their putative retirement, how the Ballast Point sale came to be, and how he and his partners have worked to regain the trust of Ballast Point’s employees and consumers.For more information on the Beer Edge Podcast, follow us on Twitter @thebeeredge. And visit Beer Edge for more articles and engaging content.Host: Andy CrouchGuest: Brendan WattersSponsors: Arryved - Novozymes

My guest today is Chris Leguizamon, a beer educator and marketer living and working in San Diego and one of the new voices of craft beer. Chris has worked at several of southern California’s top breweries, including the aforementioned Stone and Alesmith, as a tour guide and brand ambassador. From his earliest work in the industry, Chris recognized the importance of education, both for himself and for visitors taking his tours. He has honed his approach to beer education tour by tour, helping to engage with his audience. And he’s pretty good at it. Or at least his girlfriend must think so. They met on one of his tours.San Diego is one of those beer cities that has incredible significance in the history of American craft beer. Heavyweights such as Stone, Port Brewing, the Lost Abbey, Alesmith, and others helped define what beer could be. But beer drinkers are a fickle lot and many of these OG breweries are struggling to redefine themselves in the new world of craft beer. Staying relevant isn’t easy, especially when you’ve been in the game a while. And while these folks try to figure out whether dry, bitter West Coast IPAs have any place in our new hazy world order, the undeniably positive side to all of this is all of the new voices we’re getting to hear from. For San Diegan Chris, beer education is the key to keeping the audience engaged.Chris uses his popular Instagram account (chris.thebeereducator) to promote knowledge about craft beer and to deepen connections to beer. Education is core to Chris’s beer identity, both personally and professionally. Through his hard work he’s even managed to achieve the Advanced Cicerone designation after studying on bus rides to his beer job. When the pandemic hit, Chris had to figure out how to migrate his beer education efforts, which had largely relied on tangible and in person events, to a new reality of learning at a distance. With the blessing and support of his employer, Pure Project, Chris took to hosting Instagram Live events and started a Virtual Book Club. Focused on taking his audience through beer writer Jeff Alworth’s The Beer Bible, Chris teamed up with a local beer store, Bottlecraft, to curate a monthly six-pack to accompany each episode of his book club. He also worked with Alworth’s publisher, Workman, to provide e-copies of the book to his audience at a discount.His education efforts are engaging, interesting, and creative, just the kind of energy that craft beer needs to sustain itself in an uncertain future. In our conversation, Chris and I discuss his beer education efforts, his success on social media, how he manages to avoid burning out when things get tough, and what makes a good tour guide. I start Chris out with a tough question and it leads to a loooooong pause in his response and some confusion. For more information on the Beer Edge Podcast, follow us on Twitter @thebeeredge. And visit Beer Edge for more articles and engaging content.Host: Andy CrouchGuest: Chris Leguizamon

One of the biggest stories of the year has unquestionably been the mistreatment of women in the beer industry. Long simmering just below the surface, the issue rose to the surface recently on Instagram and took off from there. The erasure of women in the retelling of craft beer’s story and history has also long been a problem. And it’s one that my guest today has been focused on fixing.My guest today is Tara Nurin, a longtime beer writer and the author of the upcoming book, “A Woman's Place Is in the Brewhouse A Forgotten History of Alewives, Brewsters, Witches and CEOs.” A former television writer and reporter, Tara transitioned to writing about beer and travel when she saw both on the rise. She now works as a freelance writer who covers lifestyle trends with a focus on craft beer, alcohol, and culinary tourism. She is perhaps best known as the beer and spirits contributor to Forbes. I’ve always been curious about how Forbes.com works and Tara goes into substantial detail about the inner workings of that relationship. As a writer, and hopefully for those in the audience, it’s a fascinating listen and gives insight into what the Forbes name really means. A self-described “lifelong feminist,” Tara’s work has often focused on women in the craft beer industry. She candidly acknowledges having fallen into many of the traps that befall reporters covering women in brewing, like asking them what it was like to be a female brewer in a male dominated industry. After getting push back from female brewers, Tara soon realized the subject was far deeper and nuanced. In addition to her writing, Tara also does marketing for several beverage related companies, and we talk about the tricky ethics of balancing both sides. And for those who think this episode is only about wonky journalism talk, think again. Tara’s soon to be released book is an enjoyable read that uncovers the stories and forgotten history of some of the women founders in the early days of craft beer. Here is my candid and often opinionated discussion with beer writer and author Tara Nurin.For more information on the Beer Edge Podcast, follow us on Twitter @thebeeredge. And visit Beer Edge for more articles and engaging content.Host: Andy CrouchGuest: Tara Nurin

I’ve lived in the Boston area for more than 20 years now and it’s just a weird city when it comes to beer. Perhaps due to Sam Adams and Jim Koch, the city has earned an outsized reputation in the craft beer world. Compared to any other city our size population wise, we should have way more breweries and beer bars. Yet, Boston’s beer reputation is big. And there is one likely reason that Boston is considered such a great beer city and that is the focus of our episode today. Smart, dynamic, and funny, and with a deep-seeded passion for continuous improvement, Esther Tetreault was destined to run Trillium Brewing, the business she started with her husband JC in 2013. And while JC collects all the accolades for the beers he creates, it’s Esther who literally runs the show. And quite a show it has become. Entrepreneurship is rooted deep into Esther’s essence and Trillium is the perfect vessel into which to pour her considerable talents. She and JC have grown their once tiny nano operation into one of the most unlikely success stories in craft beer. Trillium is somehow only 8 years old but in that time, it has expanded exponentially, growing into a mini-empire. And that’s the result of this partnership between its founders, one on the creative side, one on the business end. The story behind Trillium’s founding and rise is a good one. Starting in a tiny space that was never meant for brewing in downtown Boston, Trillium has grown to multiple locations throughout greater Boston. Esther and I discuss what it’s like to be on a non-stop rollercoaster of growth and expansion, whether Boston is a great beer city, and what the future holds for her Mrs. Trillium brand.For more information on the Beer Edge Podcast, follow us on Twitter @thebeeredge. And visit Beer Edge for more articles and engaging content.Host: Andy CrouchGuest: Esther Tetreault

The debate over which is the best American beer city has raged from the earliest days of craft beer. Powerhouse names such as Portland (both Oregon and Maine), Asheville, Denver, Chicago, and others have each made convincing cases. And right there from the beginning has been San Diego, basking in its sunshine and style defining West Coast IPAs, and smiling knowingly at its competition. This week we have one of the most dialed in people following the San Diego beer scene. Beer writer and marketer Brandon Hernández has been deeply plugged into the southern California beer scene for more than a decade. He has helped direct marketing at some of the area’s best known breweries, including Stone, Alesmith, and Societe. In 2019, the long-time writer decided to focus his efforts on creating a new interactive resource for fans of the area’s beer scene with the founding of San Diego Beer News. The site is a bit of a throwback to the earlier days of beer blogs and local brewspapers. Instead of doing deep dives into broad, weighty topics of national import, Brandon focuses on providing detailed and tangible information about San Diego breweries and beer bars. SD Beer News offers brewery maps, tap lists, interviews with local brewers and beer players, and lots of local beer news. A native San Diegan, Brandon is one of the most informed sources you’re going to find about that beer scene. And despite having worked for several local breweries and generally trying to promote San Diego beer, he’s not afraid to express opinions and offer critical thoughts as he does throughout this interview. It’s a refreshing break from so much retread that so often constitutes beer writing today. He also opens up in personal terms about some sensitive topics, including his own experience with sexual harassment at the hands of a local brewery owner. We also chat about the roller coaster that has been San Diego beer in recent years, touching on Ballast Point, Stone, Alpine Brewing, and the reckoning involving Modern Times and others.Here is my conversation with writer and San Diego beer ambassador Brandon Hernandez. For more information on the Beer Edge Podcast, follow us on Twitter @thebeeredge. And visit Beer Edge for more articles and engaging content.This Episode is sponsored by:Source Brewing CompanyWe talk with Greg Taylor about Source Brewing Company's Inclusion & Diversity Scholarship, which offers underrepresented groups the opportunity to receive a world class education from the Siebel Institute in Chicago. Source is also proud to announce the opening of its second location, in the Fishtown neighborhood of Philadelphia. If you are interested in the Inclusion & Diversity Scholarship, or are interested in working at Source in Philly, reach out to scholarshipcareers@sourcebrewing.com.Host: Andy CrouchGuests: Brandon HernándezSponsor: Source Brewing Company - Facebook: @sourcebrewing - Instagram: @sourcebrewing

In the world of bars, pubs, and dives, one of the greatest signs of respect is to have a bar stool named after you. John Holl has a bar stool named after him in a Tennessee brewery. And the late great publican Don Younger of the Horse Brass Pub in Portland, Oregon, had a corner seat at the now closed Falling Rock beer bar in Denver named after him. With its recent closure, I wonder what happened to that chair. In the beer industry, one legit sign of respect is to have a brewery name a beer after you. And it’s not something that often happens for beer writers. It’s an honor I have not yet had and that’s probably for the best. Instead, SandLot Brewery in Denver years ago won some GABF medals for its Vienna style lager, playfully named Clueless Beer Writer. But then there are writers like my guest today. Norm Miller has been a professional journalist for almost 20 years, having worked at the same paper in Central Massachusetts that entire time. He’s from the region, and indeed lives in the house he grew up in. He jokes that there’s not much to do around there other than apple picking and some fishing. Norm was a little hesitant to be interviewed and as a fellow journalist, I get that. We’re used to asking the questions and it can be a little uncomfortable handing the recorder to someone else. But I’m happy he agreed to chat as he’s a colorful character with some great stories to tell. Norm is an interesting guy, so it’s easy to see why Wormtown Brewery in Worcester, Massachusetts decided to name a beer after him. It’s a great story that matches a great beer and he tells it in this interview.Norm and I have known each other for a long time and we have some unusual things in common. First, we’re both trained journalists, folks for whom writing and and reporting are not just a passion but ingrained in ourselves. We’ve both written books about Massachusetts breweries. And as longtime beer writers, we’ve both covered beer in New England for decades. But we also have another connection, one I don’t often discuss. Beyond my work as a beer writer, my more full-time gig is as a criminal defense attorney in the Boston area. And Norm’s primary beat has long been crime and the justice system. We both speak a language unique to the courts and the Commonwealth, we know a lot of people in common, including lawyers, judges, and even defendants. And we both know it’s never a boring day in the world of crime.He’s been covering it for almost 20 years for the MetroWest Daily News. He’s covered a lot of serious crimes, including murders, and too many trials to count. We talk about his experiences as a crime reporter, and how he wants to evolve his reporting beyond simply the details of day to day offenses. Norm wants to more deeply report on why these crimes are happening, their underpinnings, and he is also growing increasingly concerned about the ethics of reporting on crime in an age where the Internet never forgets. For a reporter at a reasonably small market paper, Norm has a knack for going viral. His first experience with Internet fame came as part of a crazy few minutes he had at a local police station when a woman came in and threw bacon against the reception window. He talks about what that was like and the experience of going viral.More recently, however, Norm went viral for the column he wrote when he retired as a beer writer. The column garnered coverage around the globe because of its candid nature. Norm wrote that he was giving up beer writing because he needed to stop drinking. He talked about the impact his tasting was having on both his physical and mental health. It was a bold and honest piece of writing and should be required reading for everyone in the beer industry. Spend anytime at a beer event or industry get together and it quickly becomes obvious that some and perhaps many in the beer business have an unhealthy relationship with the product they sell. Whether it’s overconsumption, drinking and driving, or forgiving behavior that would otherwise be unforgivable but for the presence of alcohol, it’s the third rail of the American beer business, one that few dare to touch. But Norm’s column dared to go there and we discuss it and his present thoughts on the issue in our conversation.We also talk about his star turns as a television commentator on Nancy Grace, his love of 80s slasher films, and what it's like to work in the trenches on the police beat for so many years. For more information on the Beer Edge Podcast, follow us on Twitter @thebeeredge. And visit Beer Edge for more articles and engaging content.This Episode is sponsored by:Source Brewing CompanyWe talk with Greg Taylor about Source Brewing Company's Inclusion & Diversity Scholarship, which offers underrepresented groups the opportunity to receive a world class education from the Siebel Institute in Chicago. Source is also proud to announce the opening of its second location, in the Fishtown neighborhood of Philadelphia. If you are interested in the Inclusion & Diversity Scholarship, or are interested in working at Source in Philly, reach out to scholarshipcareers@sourcebrewing.com.Host: Andy CrouchGuests: Norm MillerSponsor: Source Brewing Company - Facebook: @sourcebrewing - Instagram: @sourcebrewing

Chris Shepard is one of the keenest voices in the craft beer industry. A Senior Editor for Craft Brew News at Beer Marketer's Insights, he covers the trade side of the craft beer industry with wit, wisdom, and a healthy dose of skepticism. You might wonder how a trained actor and theater director found his way to writing about the business of beer. Well, as you’ll hear Chris tell it, Beer Marketers is a 50 year old company, a true family run operation, founded by Jerry Steinman. His son Benj, a fixture in his own right in the beer business, followed in his dad’s footsteps and now runs the show. And for more than 40 years, Eric Shepard, Chris’s dad, has been working with the Steinman's. Eric, who I’ve had the pleasure of sharing beers with, is the VP/Executive Editor and joined BMI in 1977.BMI is one of the oldest and longest running beer publications out there, certainly on the trade audience side of things. The company produces a handful of newsletters targeted at the broader beer industry as well as sponsoring conferences. BMI is a critical voice in the beer trade but it long focused almost exclusively on the big players for its largely wholesaler audience. But in recent years, the company has moved to expand its reach. One of the most prominent craft focused efforts has been Craft Brew News, which Chris writes and edits along with Benj’s son David. See, a true family operation spanning three generations.Chris is one of my favorite people in the beer world. With more than 11 years covering the beer industry, he’s smart, compassionate, and thoughtful. We sadly only get to see each other once or twice a year, at beer events like the GABF or the Craft Brewers Conference. As you’ll soon hear, he’s an exciting voice in the world of craft beer and I’m looking forward to our next beer together.For more information on the Beer Edge Podcast, follow us on Twitter @thebeeredge. And visit Beer Edge for more articles and engaging content.This Episode is sponsored by:Source Brewing CompanyWe talk with Greg Taylor about Source Brewing Company's Inclusion & Diversity Scholarship, which offers underrepresented groups the opportunity to receive a world class education from the Siebel Institute in Chicago. Source is also proud to announce the opening of its second location, in the Fishtown neighborhood of Philadelphia. If you are interested in the Inclusion & Diversity Scholarship, or are interested in working at Source in Philly, reach out to scholarshipcareers@sourcebrewing.com.Host: Andy CrouchGuests: Chris ShepardSponsor: Source Brewing Company - Facebook: @sourcebrewing - Instagram: @sourcebrewing

Today we talk with one of the most recognizable names in the beer industry at large. An aspiring rapper, occasional poet, famed brewery tinkerer, and now helping run one of the largest craft breweries in the world, Sam Calagione has had a storied and frenetic career. The co-founder of the Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, Sam Calagione’s story began in 1995 when he and his wife Mariah opened Dogfish Head Brewings & Eats, the first brewpub in the State of Delaware. From the beginning, Dogfish established a reputation for innovation. Sam famously used non-traditional ingredients to brew a wide range of unusual and creative beers. To be sure, he was a master marketer but one whose core philosophy was always tied to making the best beer possible. As Dogfish Head continued to grow, so did Sam’s reputation and role as a statesman and ambassador for craft beer at large. And during this time, Dogfish Head were friendly competitors with another brewery run by a gregarious and colorful spokesman for craft beer in Boston Beer’s Jim Koch. The two breweries battled it out for a while there for the title of world’s strongest beer in the alcohol arms race of the mid 2000s and were frequently featured together in media about craft beer. Fast forward to 2019, almost 25 years into Dogfish Head’s journey, Sam and his wife sold the brewery to Boston Beer. The news surprised many in the world of craft beer but it makes sense when you consider the long standing relationship and respect shared by the two men. Now Sam has gone from running the smallest commercial brewery in the country to helping run one of the largest. He’s gone from brewing a few gallons of beer at a time to being worth hundreds of millions of dollars. It has been a crazy ride. So from a porch in coastal Maine, we catch up with Sam to talk about the deal with Boston Beer two years on, Dogfish Head’s recent innovations including in non-alcoholic beer, and whether the Brewers Association has provided enough leadership in the areas of racism and sexism within the craft beer industry. I also unearth a never before seen television series that Sam wanted to pitch with Michael Jackson and we discuss whether beer can ever work on television. For more information on the Beer Edge Podcast, follow us on Twitter @thebeeredge. And visit Beer Edge for more articles and engaging content.This Episode is sponsored by:Source Brewing CompanyWe talk with Greg Taylor about Source Brewing Company's Inclusion & Diversity Scholarship, which offers underrepresented groups the opportunity to receive a world class education from the Siebel Institute in Chicago. Source is also proud to announce the opening of its second location, in the Fishtown neighborhood of Philadelphia. If you are interested in the Inclusion & Diversity Scholarship, or are interested in working at Source in Philly, reach out to scholarshipcareers@sourcebrewing.com.Host: Andy CrouchGuests: Sam CalagioneSponsor: Source Brewing Company - Facebook: @sourcebrewing - Instagram: @sourcebrewing Arryved - Facebook: @arryved - Instagram: @arryved - Twitter: @arryved_pos