The Brewing Network Presents - The Session

Winning a medal at the National Homebrew Competition is the dream of many of us. On this week's Session, we talk with four homebrewers who have achieved that dream in order to learn all we can about how they are making some of the best beer in the country. Not only did we get some great tips, but these guys were kind enough to give us the recipes for their respective medal-winning beers, plus some tidbits needed to replicate them perfectly. So settle in, sharpen that pencil, and get ready for some homebrew geekdom! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of The Session, we are excited to welcome New Zealand's newest, and largest, single hop farm, Hop Revolution. Founder and plant scientist, Susan Wheeler, and CEO Jason Judkins, came all the way from New Zealand to visit American craft breweries and appear on our show to talk about their exciting new venture. We learn about the history of hop farming in New Zealand, as well as Hop Revolution's unique founding that is tied to rugby star, Terry McCashin, from the famous All Blacks. Susan and Jason are surprisingly, and refreshingly, forthcoming about the project ahead of them and how much they have to learn and how they will lean heavily on brewers to guide them all the way through their first harvest in 2020. Tune in and get the scoop on this exciting new hop venture! We're also joined by Shaun O'Sullivan from the 21st Amendment brewery, and get a visit from Kim Schimke of @kimsbaybrews fame (and also our Brewing Network social media minion). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/

This week on The Session, we welcome Harmony and Levi Fried from Long Beach Beer Lab to the studio. Levi and Harmony have extensive education, training, and professional experience...in medical science and classic pastry making and baking. And this is where the fun begins! The dynamic duo left their previous careers behind to marry their passions (personally and literally) and open a beer lab (brewery) and bakery in Levi's hometown of Long Beach, California. Today we learn how the two met and how they ended up here, sharing incredible creations and living their dream of owning their own business together. Levi is also on a mission to document the results, and find the perfect scenario, to produce the perfect quick fermentation beers with Kveik Yeast. By our taste tests, he's getting close. And finally, much to our surprise, we get a visit from Mike "Tasty" McDole who jumps back on the mic and is definitely his good ol' self. It's a classic Session you shouldn't miss! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit me

In this episode of The Session, we are joined by Brewmaster and Co-Owner, Justin Beardsley, from Eight Bridges Brewing Company, out of Livermore, California. Eight Bridges focuses on producing difficult styles very well, and puts quality control at the top of their list of priorities. We learn about Justin's refusal to use inferior ingredients, and how he started with humble homebrewing roots and has now built a successful family craft beer business. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Humble Sea Brewing Company from Santa Cruz, CA. joins us in-studio on this episode of The Session. Cofounder and Brewmaster Nick Pavlina, along with Cofounder and Creative Director Frank Scott Krueger, talk to us about their very humble beginnings (no pun intended), and how they managed to start their brewery with a one barrel brew system and $10,000. Today they make their creations on a 10 barrel system and serve out of their Santa Cruz tasting room. We learn about their delicious beers, unique philanthropic efforts, and the clever system they have devised to name all of their beers. We also just have a great time getting to know them, and might have even managed not to insult them in the process. Or did we...? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lynn Litchfield from Toasted Barrel Brewery came all the way out from Salt Lake City, Utah, to be on The Session with us. As a long-time Brewing Network Listener, he felt it was the only way to do it! Lynn is a former homebrewer/barber/concrete guy who became a commercial brewer/concrete guy/barber on the side. Some things never change, I guess. Lynn's focus is on kettle sours and mixed fermentation, with a few IPA's thrown in for good measure.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of The Session, we are joined by Marcus Baskerville from Weathered Souls Brewing Company in San Antonio, Texas. Marcus flew out to join us in-studio and brought some incredibly unique creations to share. From a stellar American Light Lager (brewed with a very unique yeast from White Labs, WLP925 High Pressure Lager Yeast) to an Imperial Milk Stout that he boiled for 24 hours, Marcus runs the gamut of styles and does them all very well. We also get to meet his family, which includes his retired Correctional Officer and proud father (we get great stories our of him) and his cousin (also our good friend) Terrence The Black. We round out the show with a bit of beer news that Sully shares his expertise on, and end with a bang after a good ol' fashioned 3 hour Session. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

East Brother Beer Company, from Richmond, CA. joins us in the studio for this episode of The Session. Head Brewer, Paul Liszewski and Co-Founder, Rob Lightner, share with us their incredibly well made craft beer, focusing on classic styles, fresh from the brewery. We get to taste killer examples of Vienna Lager, Bohemian Pils, Oatmeal Stout, and West Coast Double IPA. Each one nails the style and reminds us of why we brewcast. We also learn about the unique community they reside in, that has a long history in the San Francisco Bay Area, and is worthy of  its own brewery the likes of East Brother. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on The Session, we welcome Ian McCall from Riip Beer Company in Huntington Beach, California. Riip  started out as a nano brewery using a MoreBeer Brew Sculpture to craft their beers. Today, they are an award winning brewery destination with some serious brewing chops. Tune in and learn about their fabulous beers (we're big fans now!). Also, JP, Sully and Justin reminisce about the old days of the BN and we learn about Sully being super-human on last week's show after a major health crisis.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on The Session, we are joined in-studio by Burgeon Beer Company, out of Carlsbad, California. Listen in as Co-Founder and Head Brewer, Anthony Tallman, and Co-Founder and Director of Operations, Derek Van Leeuwen, talk to us about their unique and charitable business model that supports environmental initiatives. We'll also learn about their love of hoppy beers, of which many of theirs have earned them medals. In addition to all the great Burgeon Beer discussion, we celebrate the return our great friend Shaun "Sully" O'Sullivan, from the 21st Amendment Brewery, as a recurring co-host on the show! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ghost Town Brewing, from Oakland, California, joins us in-studio to talk about how hoppy beers are not what they seem. We are joined by Head Brewer, Justin Burdt, and owner, Ryan Nosek, to talk about their lightening fast growth and love of unique hops. We revitalize an old discussion on early IBU's vs. late additions, learn about some old school recipe techniques, and taste some great examples of several styles of great craft beer! We also reminisce about old fan songs dedicated to Beevo, and the crew declares who, in all of history, each of the Brewcasters would like to hug... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Session crew heads up to Windsor, CA to broadcast live from the all new Russian River Brewing Company! Vinnie and Natalie Cilurzo invited us to their spectacular new brewery for a day of tours, fun and incredible beer. To round out the day, we set up in the entirely unique, and so so cool, Koelschip room. Vinnie and Natalie custom built this room to create spontaneously fermented beer, and even filled it with wort that day so that one day in the future (maybe 2-3 years) we will have a Brewing Network, spontaneously fermented, Koelschip beer! Tune in and learn all about the new brewery and so much more. Plus, one of our favorite parts of the day was when we made Beardy do a blind taste test of a Russian River hazy beer AND a Russian River clear beer. After all the comments about his dislike of the hazy style, tune in and find out if he can really taste the difference... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on The Session we welcome Solid Ground Brewing, from Diamond Springs, CA. to the studio. We are joined by co-owners KC Sare and Scott Johnson. These guys love brewing clean fermented, continental ales and lagers, but they bring us some big surprises! They've got some big brewery process chops that they use in their brew house that gives them a unique perspective on craft beer. But what sets them apart is their attention to detail and their combination of viticulture and brewing science to create craft beer that defies its own category. We are also joined by one of our favorite homebrew guru's, Gary Glass, to talk to us about this year's HomebrewCon in Providence, RI. And later, we get a call from Dave Marliave, from Flat Tail Brewing, (or Marliavoovooveevov as we like to call him...sometimes) who is on another quest to save the world, while defiling himself. But it's for a truly wonderful cause that's close to our hearts here at the BN and we hope you'll give it a listen and even support his heroic

This week on The Session, we welcome the folks from Baerlic Brewing Company, from Portland, OR. to the studio! We are joined by Baerlic President, Ben Parsons, CEO, Rik Hall and Lead Brewer, Stephen “The Bear” Helwig. Learn about how and why Baerlic is Portland's largest self-distributed craft brewery, as well as why they have some strange obsession with denim vests... And they share some damn good beer with us! Also, we get a visit from a couple of old friends that remind us of the good ol' days! And if that's not enough, we introduce you to our newest team member and co-host, Teresa Psuty, from Crooked Lane Brewing Company in Auburn, CA. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on The Session, we are joined by our old friend Christian Hood (a.k.a. Krotchrott) from the very early days of The Brewing Network. Well Christian is all grown up now with his very own brewery, Swan Brewing, in Lakeland, FL. We get to try many of their unique creations (Imperial Coffee Blonde anyone?) and learn about the long journey from homebrewer to professional brewer from one of our favorite listeners of all time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Allegory Brewing from McMinnville, Oregon joins us in the studio this week on The Session. Founder, David Sanguinetti and Head Brewer, Charlie Van Meter, bring us some of there excellent Pacific Northwest creations and collaborations. Hailing from the Willamette Valley in Oregon, Allegory sources many local hops, fruits and other ingredients to keep their beer fresh and uniquely Oregon. We are also joined by our friend (and Social Media Director) Kim Schimke, who spends the whole show with us this week and makes some crazy suggestions about team building exercise for the BN crew. Oh, and Justin has a breakthrough when talking about his team of mental health professionals... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on The Session, we welcome Ryan Wagner from the Guinness Open Gate Brewery and Barrel House in Baltimore, MD. Ryan takes us through the transformation in brewing and brewing projects that Guinness has been undertaking in recent years. We get to try some of the classic Guinness beers as well as a few of the new beers they have recently launched. Tune in and learn more about this historic brewing icon and find out what else we can expect from Guinness in the coming years! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on The Session we welcome Sunriver Brewing Company, from Sunriver, OR. to the show. We are joined by Director of Brewing Operations, Brett Thomas. Brett takes us through the history and expansion of Sunriver Brewing, as well as a few of their delicious beers. A self-proclaimed "Hop Guy", Brett makes the Pacific Northwest proud with his flavorful and hoppy brews, which earned Sunriver Small Brewing Company and Small Brewing Company Brewer of the Year honors at the 2017 Great American Beer Festival. Brett gives us a few tips and tricks about using hop extracts from Yakima Chief Hops, and impresses us all with with how Sunriver embraces changes in the craft beer marketplace. We are also joined by our long time friend Lucas Ohio, who performs a couple live songs for us to get us ready for his upcoming set at Spring Brews Fest 2019! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on The Session, we welcome Cleophus Quealy Beer Company, from San Leandro, CA, to the studio to talk about their unique take on craft beer. Owner and Brewmaster, Dan Watson, along with General Manager, Jessica Clare, talk to us about their penchant for beers that don't adhere to mainstream styles and process. 60% of their beers come out of their exciting barrel program, with a strong focus on sours, saisons, fruited, and mixed fermentation beers. Tune in and learn all about the wonderful beers of Cleophus Quealy and take away some techniques you can use in your brewery too! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on The Session, we welcome Secret Trail Brewing Company from Chico, CA. to the studio! Owner and Head Brewer, Charlie Barrett, Assistant Brewer, Jake Dickman, and Sales Rep, Monte Cano, all chime in to tell the stories behind the beers of Secret Trail. We'll learn about how Secret Trail changed zoning laws in Chico to allow for a brewery taproom like theirs, as well as how they stepped up to help the community after the tragic Campfire devastated the region. We also talk about their unique uses of Kolsch yeast, their take on traditional styles, and we have a ol' fashioned Session meltdown, complete with a Justin rant! Tune in and learn all about one of Northern California's newest and most exciting breweries and have fun with the crew from the BN and Secret Trail! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices