This year is our seventh as a podcast, and because we couldn’t throw a party like we usually do, we’re bringing the drunken fun inside your head holes. It’s certainly a nostalgia fest at times here as we relive our epic anniversary parties at Beermiscuous, but we made this one more interesting by dropping off some blind local beers to our remote recording spaces. We have six entries, with each host contributing three heavily wrapped beers, and we enjoy hearing each other squirm over style and brewery guesses. We also discuss classic movies whose plots fall apart with modern technology, relive Ryan’s favorite Christopher Cross memory, and reconsider Mosaic-based torture. Thanks for your support at any point over these seven years, and we can’t wait to party with you again soon.

Beers Reviewed Half-Blind (in order of appearance)

BuckleDown Brewing - Hooligan Soup (English-style Mild Ale)

Roaring Table Brewing - Whirlycaster (Sour IPA w/ blackberry, raspberry, Meyer lemon, milk sugar, vanilla, and rose hips)

Dutchbag Brew Co. - Somewhat Informal (Sour saison)

Pipeworks Brewing Company - Emerald Grouper (Double IPA w/ honey)

Hopewell Brewing Co. - Pub Culture (English-style porter)

Ørkenoy - Oscar Orchard (Gruit w/ sweet gale, yarrow, elderflower, and huacatay)

Though it may not be considered all that popular, the brown ale is resilient. Craft brewers have been making them for decades, and even now it’s more common to see a hyped-up brewery release a brown as a change-of-pace. To dig deeper into English and American Brown Ales, we drink a mix of five from near and far. Craig also turns this show into his own personal gameshow, putting Ryan to the test on five rounds of music trivia based on the history of the Billboard Hot 100. We discover that no one brown ale here tastes like the other, and that we can thank the California Raisins for N.W.A. Also, the hops get a spa day, the chocolate IPA comes closer to reality, and disaster nearly strikes when we put Mark McGrath and Mario Lopez in the same room. 

Beers Reviewed

Samuel Smith - Nut Brown Ale (English-style Brown Ale)

AleSmith Brewing Company - Nut Brown ale (English-style Brown Ale)

Bell’s Brewery - Best Brown Ale (American-style Brown Ale)

Midwest Coast Brewing Co. - West Town Brown Ale (American-style Brown Ale)

Hubbard’s Cave - Janet’s Brown Ale (Hoppy American Brown Ale)

Starting a sour-focused brewery comes with a unique set of challenges, especially when you enter the market in the midst of a pandemic. But Odious Cellars founder and head brewer Reeve Joseph forged ahead, lucking upon the facility at Pilot Project to help accelerate his beer-school dreams of producing exquisite sour and mixed culture beers. We talk with Reeve about his circuitous journey into making beer, why he intends to “keep it niche,” and how many of his beers are just fermented on GoGurt. (It’s zero, sadly.) We also drink through five of Odious’ first offerings while escaping the fate of mundane tasks, doing it old world style, pushing for incredibly specific 90s cover bands, and circumventing the sandwich ban. And Craig is going to teach you all how to do the Odious Twist. 

Beers Reviewed

Symbol of Avarice (Golden sour aged on peaches)

The Secret History of All Things (Brett-fermented petite saison)

Cryptomnesia (Violet sour w/ Cabernet Sauvignon grapes, orange zest, cinnamon, and mulling spices)

Physis Nomos (DDH Brett IPA)

Fact or Fiction (Golden sour w/ Ethiopian coffee beans, toasted cacao nibs, and vanilla)

In a city called Lafayette, somewhat between Denver and Boulder, Zach Nichols runs his farmhouse-focused brewery, Cellar West Artisan Ales. In under five years, the brewery has won two GABF medals, moved to a new location, and expanded their operation, including a side-label focused on trendier styles. Zach was kind enough to send us five of his beers for review, and he joined us on the Zoom to tell the story of Cellar West. And believe us - we’re ready for more saisons in 2021. There’s also a near-impossible video game choice, font letter rankings, long boil excitement, a desired Chuck Tingle collab, and Tom Petty slam poetry. Remember: #TableTheLabel in 2021. 

Beers Reviewed

Grateful Sled (Christmas IPA)

Nightingale (Oat saison dry-hopped w/ Nelson Sauvin & Citra)

Westfield (Saison aged in oak barrels)

Make Hay (Strong saison aged in oak with Brettanomyces)

S’more Stout (Imperial oatmeal stout w/ cacao nibs, vanilla beans, and graham flour)