Good Beer Hunting

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EP-207 Derek Gallanosa and Cory Meyer from Moksa Brewing Company Feb 23, 2019

Show notes

Moksa Brewing Company in Rocklin, California sold out the slots for their brewery club program in 2017. What's particularly notable about that? They hadn't yet served a single drop of beer. When drinkers discuss breweries like Moksa, there's a label to which fans often turn that fits snugly within the cultural zeitgeist of American craft beer: hype. That dubious h-word is not a term head brewer Derek Gallanosa likes, though Moksa's proliferating fans have nevertheless helped to establish the new brewery as one of California's most exciting. Just recently, Moksa was named by RateBeer as the best new brewery in the state. What makes a hype brewery? Price point? Scarce supply? Novelty? Or is it just plain skill? For Moksa, it's all those things, plus a bit of networking and guerilla marketing. Sacramento is a rapidly evolving region, with young Bay Area expats fleeing high costs and others seeking new opportunities in the West. New crowds can represent a growing consumer base, but they can also hint at a forthcoming increase in competition. There are more breweries opening every day in Northern California's Gold Country. Gallanosa and brewer Cory Meyer sprinted ahead of the pack early. Many come to their business park taproom from far abroad, seeking pours of their cult-loved high-ABV pastry stouts and hazy IPAs. But most are hometown fans stopping in after work. Moksa's ethos is about catering to the locals above everyone. So what happens when their name too widely precedes them? This is Derek Gallanosa and Cory Meyer from Moksa Brewing Company in Rocklin, California. Listen in.

SL-003 The Race to Build the Next Lifestyle Beer Feb 21, 2019

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After more than a decade of wild growth, Michelob Ultra is now well-established as Anheuser-Busch InBev's king of "better-for-you" beer. As odd as it may sound to beer enthusiasts, the brand has become paradigmatic in its popularity and sales figures. Naturally, it was only a matter of time before other breweries wanted to play catch-up. The Ultraficaton race is now very much on, with entries in the low-calorie, low-carb space multiplying quickly from breweries big and small. Among these is a new release from Boston Beer's Marathon Brewing Company: a similar, sort-of-subsidiary effort not unlike its Alchemy & Science (now A&S Brewing) incubator, which acquires and promotes smaller breweries. Marathon's first nationwide release was ushered to store shelves by brewer Shelley Smith, who joins this Sightlines podcast to talk 26.2 Brew: a beer that had previously only been available around the Boston Marathon. The brand will now see ramped-up production and will, from March, be marketed to beer drinkers who also prioritize their active lifestyles. At 4% ABV, 9 grams of carbohydrates, and 120 calories (stats that all appear in the product's marketing materials), 26.2 Brew is just the latest product aimed at a growing number of shoppers who want to pair their wellness with their beer. Now, let's get an idea of what all of this means for one of the largest beer companies in the U.S. This is Shelley Smith, brewer and manager of research and product innovation with Boston Beer. Listen in.

CL-018 Rekindling an old flame with Peter Frost Feb 20, 2019

Show notes

Welcome to the GBH Collective, a special series of interviews where we have the chance to dive a little deeper with Good Beer Hunting contributors and journalist and media folks from within the beer industry and beyond on topics of writing, beer, and the stories you read and hear from GBH and others. In this episode, we're going to rekindle an old flame in Peter Frost. He's the writer behind the MilerCoors blog, a publication which has garnered a ton of attention in the beer industry since he took it over. And it's gotten a good amount of praise as well, which is not something that's often granted to organizations like MillerCoors amongst beer drinkers and fellow brewers. You may remember Peter from our interview with him back when he was the business and beer reporter for Crain's in Chicago. That was way back in episode 118. He's the same guy, and has the same charming and clever personality I've grown to love. But this is a vastly different context in which he's operating as a journalist. This is Peter Frost. Listen in.

Foeder for Thought festival preview Feb 20, 2019

Show notes

This week we have a special preview episode for you. Last year, you may recall we led a series of discussions at Foeder for Thought, the festival for wood-aged and sour beers by Green Bench brewing in St Petersburg Florida, as part of the Tampa Bay beer week festivities. Well, it was a blast, and the team at Green Bench has invited us back to the party to do it again this year, and I'm very excited to get down there and see their cellar expansion. They've been busy collaborating with a bunch of folks, and producing some of the best mixed-culture beers in the country. And Foeder for Thought is a celebration of those beers, their friendships, and their professional admiration of others. Also, it's just a killer time. Tickets are on sale for that fest right now, which is March 8. Hit up goodbeerhunting.com/events and you can learn all about it. Today, I had co-founders Kris and Brian in the studio, and their colleague Valerie who runs the festival, to talk about how the festival came to be, what its ambitious are, and what's on deck for the discussions this year: some topics that I'm excited to dig into, some personalities I'm thrilled to see on stage, and some beers I can't wait to drink.

Signifier: Made in Partnership with Guinness — Guinness is Good For You — 5 of 5 Feb 16, 2019

Show notes

Welcome to a special edition of the Good Beer Hunting podcast—a series of episodes made in partnership with Guinness devoted to one of the world's most iconic brands from Dublin to the United States, to Nigeria and the Caribbean.

Guinness became an underwriter of Good Beer Hunting 18 months ago, helping us bring you a series of stories called Coming to America, exploring the relationship between imports and the U.S. beer drinker in the age of local craft. And more recently, they helped us start up a new series called Mother of Invention, where we explore the technical innovations, past and present, that have transformed the beer in your glass in surprising ways.

And now we're taking the opportunity to explore the story of Guinness itself in a unique way for GBH. Guinness made it possible for us to visit historic St. James Gate in Dublin, and their new brewery in Baltimore County in the U.S., and gave us free rein to pull at the strings of the stories we've so often heard in the form of legend, but rarely had the first-hand experience to dive in to. We wanted to turn legends into learning.

They also gave us free rein of their brewing sites, both in Baltimore, home to their new brewery and taproom, called the Open Gate Brewery, which shares a name with the public-facing innovation brewing taproom located in Dublin, and historic St James Gate—which, to be honest, took some real doing. It's not a place open to tourists, at least beyond the visitor center. And much of the more historical aspects are either in disrepair or preserved, and gaining access to those people and places isn't easy for a film and audio crew. So for all the rigamarole we caused with our persistence, we're thankful and grateful we were able to get past the gates, and into some of the more fascinating aspects of the various Guinness operations.