Beer Guys Radio | Craft Beer Podcast

Green Man Brewery was the first taproom in Downtown Asheville Lovingly dubbed Dirty Jack's, Green Man Brewery's original taproom opened in downtown Asheville, NC in 1997.  nearly 201 years later the Green Mansion opened, an impressive three-story brewery and tasting room with a "Brewtique" for souvenirs and beer to-go. Green Man brewers Geoffrey Ebner and Kyle McKenzie stopped by the Beer Guys studio on a recent trip to Atlanta, with plenty of Green Man beer in tow.  We sampled through brews like their Wayfarer IPA, Hazy Cosmic Jive (part of their Hazy Homage series), Keller Pilz, and Moe's Goes Camping (a smoky s'mores stout collaboration brewed with Moe's Original BBQ) while Ebner and McKenzie share their love for lagers and dive bars. The guys also share with us some of the brewery's environmentally-friendly initiatives like using high-efficiency equipment where possible, recycling all packaging and pallets, and buying grain in bulk to reduce the number of shipments

Palmetto Brewing is South Carolina's oldest brewery The history of Palmetto Brewing dates back to the end of Prohibition. In its current life, Palmetto is 26-years old, making it South Carolina's oldest operating brewery.  Billy Pyatt, founder of Asheville's Catawba Brewing purchased Palmetto in 2017.  They've got a new look and some new beers, but still hold on to their traditions. Pyatt joined us from his sound-proof recording studio (his car) while taking a break from building out a new beer cooler.  We talk about the recent update to Palmetto's branding, their new beers, the South Carolina beer scene, and what else we should do for a weekend in Charleston. Palmetto may have a few years on Catawba but the North Carolina brewery will celebrate their 20th anniversary this July.  As part of the celebration, they'll launch three new beers.  We tried to get Pyatt to spill the beans on exactly what those would be, but he said he has to keep that under wraps for now.  While sipping s

We took a craft beer road trip to Tallahassee and St. George Island, FL When our Tallahassee radio affiliate (RealTalk 93.3) reached out to see if we'd like to attend the SGI Brewfest with them we jumped at the chance.  We've never done a Tallahassee trip and spending a weekend on the beach at a beer fest is not a bad way to waste a weekend. Our first stop in Tallahassee was Ology Brewing (OK, technically it was Whataburger) where we sampled through all of the beers on tap.  Their Sensory Overload IPA was amazing, and the DDH version takes it to another level, one of our favorite beers of the trip.  Don't miss their Juice Lab series of fruited Berliners, on Sundays they tap a new version and you might even find it pouring from the slushie machine.  We then headed over to Proof Brewing's relatively new and gorgeous tap room where we had IPAs, sours, and Brian even got his glitter beer fix. Mike Kauffman and James Davis from Proof join us on the show to talk Tally beer. After a crazy Friday

If you've been a craft beer fan for a while you may have heard the name Pat Korn.  Before joining the team at Vista Brewing, Korn was the Barrel Master for Green Flash's Cellar 3 - the offshoot responsible for beers like Silva Stout, Lustrous Fermento, and Natura Morta.After departing Green Flash in early 2018 he worked a short stint with Atlanta's SweetWater Brewing.  Korn was also part of the initial team slated to launch a brewery concept called My Yard Live in San Diego, along with SweetWater founder Freddy Bensch.  Korn tells us as the project moved along it became clear to him that their visions didn't align.  So begins his life in Texas at Vista Brewing.Located in the Texas Hill Country just outside of Austin, Vista is a brewery, restaurant, and farm.  In addition to their beer this "destination brewery" features hyper-local food, an impressive wine list (with on-site sommelier), and a large beer garden.  Future plans include an "eco-friendly tiny home hotel", ev

Founders Brewing's brewmaster Jeremy Kosmicki got a job at the brewery because his girlfriend told him he needed to find work.  He didn't even really care for their beer.  Kosmicki says the beer was fine, but at the time Founders focused on unexciting, basic styles.  Unable to make a connection and establish their identity Founders started losing money and eventually faced bankruptcy. Rather than cutting back and skimping on quality to cut costs, co-founders Mike Stevens and Dave Engbers decided that if they were going to go down, they were going down on their terms.They pulled out all the stops and switched up what they brewed.  With the introduction of extreme beers like Dirty Bastard the brewery started to grow.  Beer geeks sought out their brews and whales like KBS and CBS had people chasing trucks to catch deliveries before they sold out.  Founders expanded, got more barrels, and expanded some more.  They'd finally found their groove.We talk with Kosmicki this week about those early days a

Sasquatch lives at 903 Brewers 903 Brewers founder and head brewer Jeremy Roberts is happy to sit down and chat with visitors about the legendary Sasquatch.  He's never seen the beast in the wild, but he's keeping an eye out.  903's big milk stout is named after the ape, Sasquatch's base is a sneaky 10% and some of the Reserve variants (like the Double Chocolate Cherry Stout we sampled) hit at a heavy 15% ABV.  The box encourages you to "Age it. Drink it. Trade it. Share it."  We skipped step one and didn't make it past step two. Roberts admits they haven't quite nailed an IPA that's caught on, but they aren't worried about riding that hype train.  They're happy to brew their stouts, a huge variety of cream ales, and many other styles.  Their Down with PastryArchy series takes those cream ales and adds crazy additions like strawberry cake and cinnamon rolls.  Some fruity versions even get served from a slushie machine to help beat the Texas heat.  The bre

The Classic City Brew Fest in an Athens institution.  In its 24th year, a lot has changed since organizer Owen Ogletree founded the event.  Last year, the festival made a big switch amid the flood of "regular" beer festivals and went to a primarily cask ale format. This year, we catch up with Akademia Brewing to see what the last 12 months held for them.  Their beer is available in cans now, and they've recently remodeled and added a larger lounge to their brewpub.  Owners Matt Casey and Morgan Wireman join us to fill us in. We also catch up with a soon-to-be brewery in the Normaltown neighborhood of Athens.  Athentic Brewing gives a nod to their city and their logo (shaped like a guitar pick) pays homage to the rich musical history of Athens, home to bands like REM, THe B-52s, Drive by Truckers, and Widespread Panic.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.Thanks for listening to Beer Guys Radio! Your hosts are Tim Dennis and Brian Hewitt with producer Nate "Mo' Mic Nate&q

Tinypalooza is one of Georgia's most underrated beer fests The booming city of Snellville is just far enough from Atlanta that it's easy for metro residents to brush it off.  If you're not from Georgia, you may have heard Snellville mentioned as the home of American Idol contestant Diana DeGarmo.  It's also home to a great beer bar/bottle shop/cigar bar The Lincoln Fill Station. Tinypalooza 4.5 was part birthday celebration for co-owner Tiny McClannan and part anniversary party for "The Lincoln."  Tiny and his business partner Brad Tomlinson scour the country to bring in amazing beers.  There's plenty of great Georgia beer, and some bottle pours you won't find anywhere else close by.  As we found out, they also have basketball-and-trashcan beer pong at the event, which was very popular with people of questionable skill. We've partied with The Lincoln crew since their first festival.  As a matter of fact, their first event was our very first live remote, when Beer G

Talking with Barrel Culture and Une Année/ Hubbard's Cave at one of the Southeast's best beer fests Recently one of the best beer festivals in the Southeast descended on Atlanta, GA (OK, technically Chamblee).  I'm sure I'm a bit biased with it being on my home turf, but when you have nearly 70 highly regarded breweries from around the country bring out their best IPAs, Sours, Stouts, Pilsners, and Meads it's going to be a great party.  In addition to Barrel Culture and Une Année/ Hubbard's Cave, breweries like Carton, Civil Society, Horus, Old Nation, and The Answer were also pouring.  Blue Pants even had a Pilsner on slow pour, and if you're a regular listener you know we're loving that right now. Barrel Culture's head brewer Paul Wasmund joined us to talk about what's coming up at their brewery.  One of Wasmund's goals when joining Barrel Culture in late 2018 was to introduce clean beers alongside their delicious sour beers, which they launched just be

Troy Casey adds the brewing to Casey Brewing & Blending, plans to offer clean beers Troy Casey expected to be a "company man" at Coors, following in the footsteps of his father.  After working in the Coors pilot brewhouse for a few years, he decided to open Casey Brewing & Blending.  Originally, the brewing part was done at other breweries where the wort was then transferred to the Casey facility for fermentation and blending.  Recently, they've added a 7-barrel brewhouse, additional fermentation, and a coolship.  With the new gear, Casey plans to add clean beers to their offerings. Casey's location in Glenwood Springs, CO gives them the unique opportunity to brew with 99% local ingredients.  Malt, hops, and lots of fruit all sourced in Colorado.  Each fruit is available in a multitude of varieties, offering a huge spectrum of character in each batch.  We sampled a Casey Family Preserves featuring Attika and Utah Giant cherries, a sweeter variety that complements the tart character

Three Taverns welcomes new brewmaster, presses ahead with Imaginarium Three Taverns Craft Beers is known for their diverse portfolio of hoppy IPAs, tasty sours, and thick and rich long-boil stouts.  The brewery opened under Georgia's "old laws" and initially weren't allowed to do direct sales out of their brewery.  Owner Brian Purcell tells us one of the great things going for breweries in Georgia today is those direct sales allow small batch creativity, which didn't make financial sense for many brewers under the old laws.  While others are opening new, larger brewers to expand, Purcell is going the other direction and opening his Imaginarium at the Atlanta Dairies development.  Visitors can expect a  Willy Wonka meets Ripley's Believe it or Not as brewers flex their creative muscles on an ever-changing list of experimental beers. Heading up the brewing at both locations will be Riley Finnigan, the new Brewmaster at Three Taverns.  He joins the team after a year-long search prom

Real craft beer, real grains, completely gluten-free As part of her cancer treatment, Holidaily Brewing founder and Chief Brewista Karen Hertz's treatment was going on a gluten-free diet.  As a life-long sports fan and outdoor enthusiast, she missed having a beer at the game or at the end of a day on the slopes.  She tried the gluten-free options that were available at the time but none of them hit the mark for what a craft beer should taste like.  With a passion for craft beer and a background in the beer industry Hertz had a "simple" solution, she'd start a craft brewery focusing on gluten-free beers that actually tasted like beer. The process starts with using real grains.  Barley and wheat are out, but Holidaily uses primarily millet and buckwheat in their beers.  Hertz shares how the brewing process is similar, with a few tweaks to accommodate for the small grains.  The end result is beer that actually tastes like beer, and is 100% safe for anyone with Celiac disease or gluten sensiti

Step aside, wine.  We're pairing craft beer and cheese. Wine and cheese get plenty of love but craft beer is gaining more respect for pairing with cheese.  I'll admit, this show was all for us.  Selfish, I know.  However, Chef Bernard McCoy shares some amazing info on pairing craft beer and cheese and we think you're going to enjoy it. McCoy is a graduate of Le Cordon Bleu, a passionate craft beer fan, and a member of the "Kitchen Killaz" team at the renowned Brick Store Pub.  During our selfish session, we get some info on how to set up your pairing, how to best enjoy your beer and cheese pairing, and we sample a few cheeses with a few beers and see how well they play together.  Although there are guidelines when pairing, there are no rules.  McCoy says the main goal is to enjoy yourself.  Ideally, you'll find a combination that brings out flavors of the cheese or beer that you wouldn't have tasted, or a combination that makes muted flavors pop.  However, you do it, just ha

We asked some of Georgia's best homebrewers for a few tips Jay Brantley and Jon Shari (Little Cottage Brewery) took top honors in our 2018 Best of Georgia Beer Awards.  We do these awards annually and the homebrewer category was a new addition last year.  Our readers/listeners voted for their favorites, and Jay and Jon beat out a strong pool of nominees.  When it came time for another homebrewing show we figure these guys were the ones to come join us, so here we are. Little Cottage Brewery has been a friend of the show from the beginning, Jon joined us on Show #1 way back in 2016.  He's well-known throughout the Georgia beer community for brewing up amazing stouts and sour beers.  Little Cottage made an appearance at the 2018 WeldWerks Invitational beer fest and even got a shout out from Cool Material as one of "8 Breweries About to Blow Up."  It's easy to mistake Jon's homebrew for a "real" brewery, he puts a lot of work into custom labels for his bottles and the qual

Most of you probably enjoy having a bit of booze in your beer.  However, there are times when alcohol isn't appropriate, or allowed.  Athletic Brewing Co. wants to offer the taste of craft beer without the alcohol. We talk with founders Bill Shufelt and John Walker this week about what prompted them to start a non-alcoholic craft brewery, the process of making NA beer, and who's buying their beers. They offer all the same styles that your regular craft breweries do but each at less than 0.5% ABV.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.Thanks for listening to Beer Guys Radio! Your hosts are Tim Dennis and Brian Hewitt with producer Nate "Mo' Mic Nate" Ellingson and occasional appearances from Becky Smalls.Subscribe to Beer Guys Radio on your favorite app: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | RSSFollow Beer Guys Radio: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube If you enjoy the show we'd appreciate your support on Patreon. Patrons get cool perks like ea

Craft breweries and distilleries thrive in downtown developments Georgia's craft beer and spirits industries are booming.  Thanks to recent legislation, breweries and distilleries can now offer sales direct to the consumer from their location.  Cities such as Woodstock, Roswell, Athens, and LaGrange thrive with breweries as part of their downtown areas.  Nationwide craft beer and spirits continue to grow in popularity across with craft beer sales up 8% in 2017 and craft spirits seeing an impressive 23.7% growth rate. Consumers also have a renewed passion for their city’s Downtown areas.  Many people make the choice to enjoy their leisure time closer to home, and having a variety of amenities available helps them to accomplish that.  Breweries and distilleries frequently become key destinations in downtown areas, helping to spur the growth of related shopping and dining businesses and increasing tourism. In this podcast, we'll hear from local government officials, real estate and project developers,

New Glarus Brewing isn't coming soon to a store near you (unless you live in Wisconsin) Daniel and Deb Carey sent their beer to a few other states for a while, but today New Glarus is Wisconsin's beer.  The Careys want control of their beer and their company, and the easiest way to do that is to keep it as close to home as possible.  The plan seems to be working well for them as New Glarus Brewing is the 17th largest craft brewer in the US, and the 25th largest overall brewery. Carey's brewing history spans over 30 years.  He earned a degree in Food Science with an emphasis in malting and brewing from UC Davis in 1983, and was valedictorian of the 1987 Siebel Institute course in Brewing Technology.  He apprenticed at a small brewery near Munich and worked for Anheuser-Busch, where he tells us his desk was right next to Mitch Steele's (Stone/New Realm). Daniel Carey joins us on the show this week to talk about his brewing history and the growth of his brewery.  He shares insight on why they

Halfway Crooks, Bold Monks, and a Schoolhouse coming soon to the Georgia beer scene Recently, we sat down at the 15th Annual Atlanta Cask Ale Tasting and talked with a few of the folks behind some of Georgia's upcoming breweries.  This is our 3rd year at the festival and it's become a tradition to catch up with some of our upcoming breweries.  We also talk with festival organizer Owen Ogletree about cask ales and the changes he's seen hosting the festival over the years.  As a bonus, we're joined for a quick chat with UK beer writer Rob Macardle, editors of CAMRA's Leicester Drinker. Halfway Crooks Beer founders Shawn Bainbridge and Joran Van Ginderachter pose with their furry friend at their brewery in Atlanta's Summerhill neighborhood.  They are targeting a Spring 2019 opening.[/caption] Brewery Guests The Bold Monk | John "JR" Roberts is currently building The Bold Monk in Atlanta's hot Westside neighborhood.  In addition to the new venture, JR also owns Max La

Drinkin' Beers go head to head for King of the Cooler at your Big Game party Drinkin' Beers, party beers, session beers, "crushable".  Whatever you call them sometimes you just need a no-fuss, low alcohol beer to help wash down your nachos and wings.  Sure, there are suggestions for the "perfect" beer to pair with pizza but a good clean Pilsner or American Lager is pretty multipurpose.  This week, we drink eight lower ABV beers, pitting them 1-on-1 and then picking our gameday champion. We share some stats on the insane amount of food and drink folks consume during the Super Bowl, the crazy things they bet on, and we even give a few suggestions for those expert pairings if you want to get fancy.  We talk macro beer and pick the one we'd be "OK" with sipping if it was all that was available.  Because if you're going to a watch party it's likely there will be a cooler or fridge full of macros. THE CONTENDERS Round 1 | Oskar Blues Mama's Little Yella P

WeldWerks talks Juicy Bits, big stouts, and beer fests Greeley isn't the first city people think of when you mention craft beer in Colorado, or the second... or the third.  But WeldWerks Brewing isn't letting something like geography stand in their way.  At just over three years old they've been named the best new brewery in America, won Gold and Silver medals at the Great American Beer Fest, and they recently purchased the land their taproom is on for a big expansion.  Not bad, WeldWerks. Not bad. This week we're joined by Co-Owner and Head Brewer Neil Fisher and Director of Sales & Marketing Jake Goodman to talk about their booming brewery.  They brewed 137 new beers in 2018. with over 100 going into packages.  They share the success of the first WeldWerks Invitational beer fest and the charitable causes it will support, plus planning for 2019.  We talk about their flagship Juicy Bits IPA (which Neil shared the recipe for online) and their 14.2% stout, Medianoche, which is boiled con