For the 40th year of GABF - and the first festival in three years - we had to go bigger than ever, so much so that we couldn’t fit it into one episode. Even though Ryan stayed behind in Illinois, Craig succeeded in drinking all the beers Denver had to offer and bringing back some stellar interviews from some of his brewery highlights - along with an all-time bucket list guest. Even though we recorded this over two days and thousands of miles away, we manage to drink through some beers that have a GABF connection and give some one-sided reviews. In Part One, Craig talks about his experiences at WeldWerks, Peculier, Cellar West, Hops & Pie, and the Denver Rare Beer Tasting - in addition to his first two sessions at GABF.

Part One

Beers Reviewed

Cellar West Artisan Ales - Spinechiller (Bourbon Barrel-aged Russian Imperial Stout)

Cellar West Artisan Ales - Cone Country (Golden Wet Hop Pale Ale)

Beachwood Brewing - Amalgamator (West Coast IPA)

Interviews

Zach Kelly of HenHouse Brewing Company (Santa Rosa, CA) - 00:24:15 - 00:31:52

Shyla Sheppard of Bow & Arrow Brewing Co. (Albuquerque, NM) - 00:43:09 - 00:51:54

Seth Morgan and Andrew Truemper of Denton County Brewing Company (Denton, TX) - 00:58:15 - 01:10:30

Kevin Davey of Wayfinder Beer (Portland, OR) - 01:14:52 - 01:22:54

Kelly Montgomery of Third Eye Brewing Company (Cincinnati, OH) - 01:26:12 - 01:29:40

The 30th installment in our State Show series takes us to the Southwest thanks to listener Don Kasak’s recent trip to New Mexico. To beat that dry heat, things stay pretty light on alcohol with five beers from four breweries that fortunately aren’t light on flavor. Also, Craig runs into a surprising t-shirt at a beer fest, Ryan looks for the flavors that exist in the negative spaces (ooooooh), and we would really love a be-turtlenecked Brian McKnight to sing a love ballad about kölsches. 

Beers Reviewed

Santa Fe Brewing Company [Sante Fe, NM] - NMX Standard (American Lager)

Boxing Bear Brewing Company [Albuquerque, NM] - New Mexi-Kölsch

Bow & Arrow Brewing Co. [Albuquerque, NM] - Rancho Light Lager (Light Lager w/ lemon zest)

Bow & Arrow Brewing Co. [Albuquerque, NM] - Savage Times (Sour IPA)

Rowley Farmhouse Ales [Sante Fe, NM] - Germophile - Prickly Pear (Berliner Weisse w/ prickly pear)

Just off the Lake Michigan shoreline sandwiched between popular vacation beach towns, there’s a little farmhouse brewery in Fennville, MI called Waypost. Opened in 2018, the folks at Waypost make a variety of styles exceptionally well (and even have a GABF Gold for Saison in their recent history). Ryan brought back five beers from his summer trip, and he’s positively giddy to finally share them with Craig. Also, we are on the search for the perfect T-shirt, Ryan stands up for Little Caeser’s pizza, and we’re both kind of mesmerized by the oddities of the South Haven Meijer. 

Beers Reviewed

House Lager (Zwickelbier)

Grisette (with Earl Grey tea)

Current (Pale Ale)

Flora (Foeder-fermented saison w/ elderflower and hibiscus)

Helles Bock

Further expanding our recent slew of city-centric shows, Craig took a brief trip to the Twin Cities area and scored five killer beers from Minneapolis breweries. In addition to learning about weird Minnesota beer laws and Ryan trying to imagine Feather Bowling, Craig snagged an interview with Dan Herman and Tom Berg of Falling Knife Brewing. Also, we consider what it’d take to become a sommelier for pancakes (batterino), aim our gripes at the inventor of ducking autocorrect, and get goofily excited over a sticker. 

Falling Knife Interview (00:47:05 - 00:57:24)

Beers Reviewed

Utepils Brewing Company - Helles (Helles Lager)

La Doña Cervecería - Doña Oscura (Dark Lager)

Modist Brewing Co. - Small Hang Glide (Wheat Pale Ale)

Pryes Brewing - Royal Raspberry Sour (Berliner Weisse w/ raspberry)

Falling Knife Brewing Company - Very Old Painless (Bourbon barrel-aged English Barleywine)

Who says you need a reason to saison? Saison is all the reason you need. On this landmark episode, we again drink five different takes on our favorite style of beer - but we pepper this one with some interviews. You’ll hear from Sarah Flora from Flora Brewing on how she ended up releasing a saison with Chicago’s Pilot Project, in addition to how the art world brought her to be one of the most popular homebrewers on social media. Then we hear from Sway Brewing and Blending’s Matt Sampson on how a side project of a side project ended up releasing exquisite saisons in 16 ounce cans out of Door County, Wisconsin. And Afterthought’s Mike Thorpe phones in briefly to talk about his Revolution collab. As a bonus, you get to listen in as Ryan experiences a beer as he never has before: blasted through his nasal cavities at an extreme rate of propulsion. If that’s not enough, there’s brewery theme parks, heavy bubbles, and a popcorn-based TikTok challenge. It’s episode 450 - something had to explode.

Interview with Sarah Flora - (00:10:11 - 00:23:35)

Interview with Matt Sampson - (00:43:15 - 00:53:37)

Interview with Mike Thorpe - (01:13:44 - 01:15:32)

Beers Reviewed

Flora Brewing/Pilot Project Brewing - Blossom Tonic (Saison w/ tart cherry juice, rosemary, and coriander)

Young Blood Beer Company/Fair State Brewing Cooperative - Death, Taxes, and 1-94 Construction (Dry-hopped Belgian-style saison)

Sway Brewing + Blending - A Lovely Place to Be (Foeder-fermented mixed-culture spelt saison)

Seedz Brewery - Green Bottle Saison (Whole leaf hoppy saison)

Revolution Brewing Company/Afterthought Brewing - Foreknowledge (Dry-hopped saison)

For our 29th State Show in our decade-long intermittent series, Craig’s travels reward us with beers from one of the great beer states in the nation: Oregon. This impressive lineup of five different styles from five breweries put this one high on our all-time State Show list, and our rankings are more difficult than ever. Also, Craig learns the hard way about Oregon’s gas-pumping law; Ryan is the reluctant IBU expert; and we play a location name game of “Oregon or Oregoff?” 

Beers Reviewed

Fort George Brewery [Astoria, OR] - Spruce Budd (Spruce Beer)

Von Ebert Brewing [Portland, OR] - Volatile Substance (American IPA)

Wolves & People Farmhouse Brewery [Newberg, OR] - Foothills (Barrel aged saison w/ pineapple sage, szechuan peppercorns, and lemongrass)

Alesong Brewing & Blending [Eugene, OR] - Coconut Rhino Suit (Imperial Milk Stout aged in bourbon barrels w/ toasted coconut)

Pelican Brewing Company [Pacific City, OR] - Mother of All Storms (Barrel-aged English Barleywine)

It’s our job to bring together five local table beers (and deal with Eddie Munster), so we seek to further understand this lighter cousin of saison by talking with Mike Thorpe of Afterthought Brewing about the style and his TableFest™ on September 11th. Also, Ryan finds the perfect work night beer; Craig says the brewery name that makes him squeamish; and we both create the flavor better known as Thunder. The tables are our corn.

Mike Thorpe Interview (00:11:27 - 00:23:10)

Beers Reviewed

Off Color Brewing - Beer For Lightweights

Afterthought Brewing Company - Table: Contessa

Metropolitan Brewing - Micro-Volt

Mikerphone Brewing - On the Table and Dreaming

Sundial Brewing & Blending - Table Chardonnay

BlackStack Brewing has built quite a reputation off of exceptionally well-crafted hazy IPAs, and we have three of them in this lineup to prove it’s true. Craig also managed to find two other styles to help us better understand this five year-old brewery out of St. Paul, MN. You gotta love a show that challenges your expectations of style, and this one reinvigorates some haze appreciation on our part. Also, Craig excitedly recaps his time at the World’s Largest Bouncy Castle; Ryan invokes Patio Dad to gain a new perspective on haze; and we’re a little nostalgic for the Kveik Days of 2019. Also, Google translates into peanut butter, Roll Your Own Ham nights, and (heavy sigh) Critical Meat Theory. 

Beers Reviewed 

Giving Trees (Mixed culture foeder-fermented Berliner Weisse w/ apple cider, cinnamon, granola, and brown sugar)

DDH 755: HBC 586 (NEIPA)

Kveik 755 (NEIPA)

Trust the Process (DDH DIPA)

Maximum Drip (Milk stout w/ coffee)

Unlike a usual episode where we rub our fuzzy faces and gaze at our navels, this peach beer show comes with a twist. Certainly we review five local beers under a shared theme of “beer with peaches,” but we also foray into a dice-rolling RPG-style podcast with a whole game based around a popular mustachioed video game character (who is not Mike Haggar from Final Fight…sorry). Fortunately, the beers are much better than Ryan’s dice rolls, and Craig’s playing like he has a GameShark. Also, we talk about what Spirit Halloween does in the offseason, imagine other fruit-based mascots, and get some trivia on these five breweries to help move the game along. 

Beers Reviewed

Goose Island Beer Co. - Sounds Queer, I’m In (Wheat ale w/ peaches & natural peach flavor)

Phase Three Brewing - Raw: Passion Fruit// Peach (Wheat ale w/ passionfruit and peach)

Around the Bend Beer Company - Vivian (Pistachio cream ale w/ peaches)

Pipeworks Brewing Company - Ride the Gnar (Sour ale w/ peach and white grape)

Hopewell Brewing Co. - Fun Facts (Wild Ale w/ peach and black tea)

Known as Beervana for a reason, Portland, Oregon is maybe the premier beer destination city in the United States. Summer Craig recently spent some time getting to know the beers of the Pacific Northwest, and he got some help from accomplished beer writer Jeff Alworth. The Beer Bible author gives us the story of Portland’s beer proclivities and how they don’t always follow the national trends. Also, Jeff gives us good Portland beer history, explains how the hazy trend might’ve actually started out west, and tells us whether or not “smoothie sours” made it into the recent reprinting of his book. We also review five stellar beers from Portland breweries, yell stuff at HackerMan, conceptualize Inkblot Brewing, and try to solve a beer snob mystery.

Jeff Alworth Interview (00:14:58 - 00:51:24)

Beers Reviewed

Breakside Brewery w/ Barley Brown’s Beer - WanderJack (American IPA)

Ruse Brewing - Wolves in the Rain (West Coast IPA)

Wayfinder Beer - Original Cold IPA

Little Beast Brewing - Dream State (Foeder-aged Ale w/ strawberries)

Upright Brewing Company - Pathways (Blended saison)