The Brewing Network Presents - The Session

The Session is back in Fort Collins this week at The Hop Grenade Taproom! This time we welcome Peter Bouckaert from New Belgium and the all new Purpose Brewing and Cellars. Peter is a legend in the industry and shares his very unique take on beer making, as well as life. He's a master of his craft and has spent his career making world class craft beer. Learn about his time building New Belgium into one of the top breweries in the U.S. and about how his new project, Purpose Brewing, is completely different. We also speak with Andrew Fitzgibbon from local taphouse Tap and Handle about how he got his start in the Fort Collins beer scene, as well as Chris Lazzery from local bottle shop Craft Beer Cellar. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on The Session we speak to Luke Shropshire and Garrett Hickey of Streetside Brewery in Cincinnati, Ohio. Streetside has made a name for themselves with great sours and kettle sours, as well as fresh New England IPA's. Tune in and hear about what makes Streetside so popular and their love local beer and community. We also taste a new version of Beardy's Vienna Lager that he's brave enough to bring in after Doc ripped him apart last time. Let's see how the classic lager stands up this time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on The Session we welcome Chris Hodge from Oregon Specialty Fruit to talk to us about using fruit in beer. Oregon Specialty Fruit is the premier provider of aseptic fruit purees to brewers and Chris walks us through what makes their purees ideal for brewing. We are also joined by Gary Glass of the American Homebrewers Association to talk to us about the recent homebrew survey conducted by the AHA. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Session welcomes Ry Beville, publisher of the Japan Beer Times, back to the show. This time we are discussing the continuing trend of acquisitions of craft breweries in America, now by large Asian breweries. We are also joined by Robin Ottaway, president of Brooklyn Brewing Company. We discuss the recent acquisition of San Francisco's Anchor Brewing Company by Sapporo, a distribution merger between Kirin, Brooklyn Brewery, 21st Amendment and Funkwerks, and what we can expect to see next as the trend continues. Ry explains the interest of Asian breweries in American craft beer, and how some of them are claiming to be craft as well. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on The Session we welcome Mother Earth Brew Co to the show. Joined by Vice President Kevin Hopkins, we explore the stellar and balanced beers of Mother Earth including a ginger infused blonde ale, a bourbon barrel blended Russian Imperial Stout and a beautifully balanced Mosaic IPA. Kevin tells us about brewing at two different facilities in two different states and how consistency is achieved, as well as how classic styles dictate a brewers chops. We also taste a homebrewed Vienna Lager (or is it?) from JP and find out how much Justin loves Beevo. All this and more on this episode of The Session! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We've done Brewing on the Cheap a few times now, but not in a long time. On this episode of The Session, we invite Chris Graham from MoreBeer! back into the studio to catch us up on all the new ways we can build a basic homebrew system on the cheap. It seems the homebrew world has exploded in recent years, bringing an influx of great equipment at a reasonable price - something unheard of 10 years ago. Then, on the other side of the equipment coin, Chris takes us through the price-is-no-object equipment we can buy once we all hit the lotto. In the middle there we chat with Natalie and Vinnie Cilurzo from Russian River Brewing Company about their Sonoma Pride foundation, and Steve Doty from Shady Oak Barrel House about how those two companies are raising money to help their community rebuild from the devastating wildfires we are experiencing here in NorCal. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On our first live Session from The Hop Grenade in Fort Collins, Justin, Beevo and Beardy welcome Joyride Brewing to the show. Hailing from Edgewater, Colorado, Joyride makes some stellar brews and shares their story with us. We get to taste several of their beers and learn about how Joyride came to be from founder Dave Bergen. We also get a surprise visit from our old friend Will Kemper from Chuckanut Brewery and learn about what's new with our favorite lager brewer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tonight on The Session we welcome Gowan's Heirloom Ciders to the show to talk about their California ciders. Established in 1876, Gowan's has been producing quality cider from their orchards in California's Anderson Valley for well over a century. We talk to cider maker Sharron Gowan about the family business and she teaches us a few things about how to make cider. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on The Session we welcome Upland Brewing Co. to the show. We are joined by Pete Batule (Head of Brewing Operations), Matt Wisley (Innovation Lead Brewer) and Adam Covey (Quality Manager) as they teach us about sour beer in Indiana. Tune in and learn about the Indy beer scene and how they are working with local microbial's to build a sour program that is second to none. We also get to try a few of their amazing beers, so that makes us happy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Steve Luke, Founder and Head Brewer of Cloudburst Brewing joins us in-studio on The Session. Cloudburst, from Seattle, WA. is one of the newest breweries in the Seattle region and is making some stellar craft beer. They experiment with tons of different hops, including wet hops, and rarely brew the same beer twice. Tune in and learn about their brewing philosophy and the ways Steve and his team look at making beer better for locals. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today's episode of The Session, we had planned to have the great Shaun "Sully" O'Sullivan in the studio to catch us up on all the great stuff going on with the 21st Amendment, but he fell ill at the last minute and had to back out. So instead, we called on our old friend Mr. Nate Smith to help prevent JP from putting his head through a wall, and to help him talk to Tasty about the collab he did with Sully called "Tasty IPA". It was a short show, but a good one and full of homebrew information, to boot! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we welcome Creative Director Kevin Ashford from Figueroa Mountain Brewing Company to the show to share his insight on the classic styles of brews from this great California brewery. We enjoy their excellent examples of German Style beers and talk about what makes classic, balanced beers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on The Session, Justin returns to the hot seat as host after a long hiatus while working on The Hop Grenade, Fort Collins. Here to join him is Motorworks Brewing from Bradenton, FL! Tune in and listen to Bob Haa and Barry Elwonger discuss the Florida craft beer scene and their love high quality brewing. We taste several of the Motorworks brews, including their coffee porter, Midnight Espresso, that contains coffee beans roasted right at the brewery! The guys have a real passion for beer and give us a few great tips and tricks, including how they make their Pulp Friction IPA, which was deemed to have one of the best aromas in a beer the BN has ever laid our noses on. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Local Homebrewer-turned-pro Matt Sager joins us for this episode of The Session, something that we have been trying to make happen since his brewery, Danville Brewing, opened in late 2016.  Matt has had a cool journey through his pro career, and we were stoked to sit him down and dig into it.  Warren and JP talked about a potential new segment called "Style Creep", which will probably never happen.  Thankfully. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We love lagers on The Session, and would probably sell Doc and Tasty in a package deal for a keg of really great Helles. Lucky for us, Jace Marti from August Schell Brewing came out to the studio to hand-deliver their fantastic line of lager beers.  Schell's is the second-oldest family-owned brewery in the country - founded in 1860, they have survived hard times, prohibition, a changing beer scene, and through it all learned how to reinvent themselves ... all while producing solid lager beer. Jace also talked to us about his new Berliner Weisse program, and those beers were tasting just as good. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

John Gillooly and Devonne Buckingham from Drake’s Brewing joined us in the studio for this episode of The Session. John has been in the beer industry for over 20 years, and Dee came up as a homebrewer – until she ran into John, that is. Together, along with the rest of the crew at Drake’s, they make some amazing beers across a variety of styles, but they are known for their hop-forward beers. Today, we talk about their Aroma series, what makes a good hop blend, and what makes up a good theme song. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Washington, D.C. has been at the forefront of the good beer movement for a long time, most likely unbeknownst to the rest of the country. On this episode of The Session, we talk with Greg Engert who is part owner and Beer Director of Blue Jacket Brewing in D.C., in addition to managing craft programs across numerous other restaurants in the area. Greg sent us four beers to discuss, and they ranged from a dry-hopped Kolsch to a barrel-aged Imperial Stout. We also chat about our recent HomebrewCon adventures, and JP complains about his scoresheets. Again. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we talk with Aaron Inkrott from the great Saint Arnold Brewing Company, out of Houston, Texas.  Aaron came up as a homebrewer, working at various beer bars and breweries (and of course listening to The Brewing Network), before landing a gig volunteering at Saint Arnold.  Eventually, he was tapped to start training in the brewery, and the rest is history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Big Ditch Brewing Company from Buffalo, NY. joins us on The Session this week. Tune in as President Matt Kahn discusses the beers of Big Ditch, his love of sessionable brews and his history as a homebrewer and cell culture media technician. We try several of Matt's favorites from the brewery, including wheat and rye beers and learn about the brewing process at Big Ditch.We also, once and for all, formally lay out the Brewing Network death pool. We wanted to know where we stand so invited medical professionals to the studio to check us out and outline who is most likely to kick the bucket first. It's good ol' fashioned irreverent BN fun for your listening enjoyment! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

All the way from Seattle, it’s Lucky Envelope Brewing! Owner and brewer Barry Chan actually came down just for this show, which always makes us feel good. In addition to making some traditional lagers and such, Barry is known for playing around with different ingredients, like his Two Pepper Pale ale, or his replica of a 5,000 year old Chinese beer recipe. We chat about all of these things and more on The Session! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices