The Brewing Network Presents - The Session

The Bay Area has loads of great brewers, and no club represents that better than Club DOZE. A few DOZErs took home awards at the National Homebrew Competition, so we wanted to sit down with them to talk about their beers, their strategies, and hopefully get some recipes. Vito Delucci took Silver in Australian Sparkling Ale, and Sean Monahan won Bronze in American Barleywine - both were in studio for this homebrew-centric show. Plus, Sean brought in a few bottles of his beer to try - pretty cool! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Craft Beer in Japan is on the rise, and today we talk to an expat who is helping that rise: Gareth Burns of Be Easy Brewing. Our old buddy Ry Beville, of the Japan Beer Times, brought Gareth and his brewer Masahiro - along with their \"everything\" gal Chika, all the way out from Northern Japan just for this show! Gareth was stationed in Japan and fell in love with not only his surroundings, but the craft beer scene there, and decided to make that his new career path. He brought along two beers for us to try - a Czech Pils and a Pale Ale - making JP and Tasty the first two folks in the US to try beer from Be Easy. Pretty cool! We also talked (and tasted) some regional Sake! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on The Session, we welcome Lakefront Brewery from Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  Sibling founders, Russ and Jim Klisch, start the interview with tales of the early days of the brewery, which was founded in 1987. We\'ll learn about their days as homebrewers and what is was like to start one of the first craft breweries in the U.S. Later we are joined by Brewer Tyler Senz and Special Projects and Beer Engine/Hard Wood Specialist Derek Sproveri. Sharing healthy serving of fine beers with us, the team talks about their process, innovative sustainability program, one-off special beers, and much, much more.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Great Mitch Steele returns to The Session! Just 5 months after opening New Realm Brewing in Atlanta, Mitch is back on the air with us, and we couldn\'t wait to crack open the beers he sent. Mitch talked a bit about why he chose Atlanta, his thoughts on hop blends, and how it feels to be brewing Pilsners and not just hoppy beers. It was a great show, for sure! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Normally on The Session, we talk with brewers about the challenges they faced in gathering funds, securing a location, or even in working with their particular city. On today\'s show, we are joined by our good buddy/friend Dave Marliave from Flat Tail Brewing up in Corvallis, Oregon. Dave came all the way down to the studio to tell us about his issues in dealing with a couple of topics that we\'ve never really touched on before: distribution and franchise laws, and how these two things are contributing to the death of craft beer. Dave has been having numerous issues in these departments as of late, so this show is a catharsis of sorts for him, while providing a slew of great information at the same time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joining the long list of homebrewers-who-listened-to-The-Brewing-Network-and-turned-pro, Teresa Psuty from Crooked Lane Brewing Company came into the studio today to talk about all things Crooked Lane. Teresa cam from a biotech background, and after attending brewing school - as well as learning from some of the best brewers in the state - she decided to open her own place up in Auburn, CA. Crooked Lane runs the spectrum of beers they produce: from Helles to Doppelbock, NEIPA to plain ol\' IPA, Teresa works hard to make sure she does the beer justice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Old school meets new school on today\'s episode of The Session, as we chat with the fellas from Brunswick Bierworks in Toronto, Canada! Mike Laba, co-founder and VP, and Lodewijk Swinkles, Brewmaster, give us a rundown of what Brunswick is all about. Turns out, they are a brewery custom built for partner brewing and collaborations, which is something we\'ve never heard of before. Lodewijk is a 7th generation brewer, and if that isn\'t enough of a pedigree, he came to Brunswick straight off of a 14-year stint at La Trappe! Needless to say the man knows how to brew beer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode of The Session we take a turn toward the professional brewers and discuss California employment laws that affect your brewery. We are joined by legal expert Joel Van Parys from Carothers, DiSante and Freudenberger to help us wade through some of the common issues that arise with brewery employees. Learn about  best practices in hiring, day to day management, and even termination. It\'s another pro show here on The Brewing Network! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Deep in the heart of Virginia, John Hovermale and the crew at Escutcheon Brewing are hard at work making a wide variety of great-tasting beers of both the warm and cold fermented variety. John spent some time with us going through his beers, the history of the company, and just what the hell an \"escutcheon\" even is. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Russian River Brewing Company is back on The Session and we couldn\'t be happier! For the first time ever Natalie Cilurzo joins Vinnie in our studio and we\'re so happy to have her. The dynamic duo spend a ton of time with us talking about all thing Russian River, including their all new production brewery, currently under construction. We also dive into a few of the RR beers we\'ve come to know and love, and a couple we haven\'t talked about before. As always, Vinnie dishes out gems of brewing knowledge throughout the show, and Natalie talks about what takes place behind the scenes to build Russian River to where they want it to be, now, and into the future. Learn about what to expect from the new brewery as well as techniques that span sour, dry hop. malt, cool ships, lagers and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on The Session we are joined by the legendary Speakeasy Ales and Lagers from San Francisco, CA. After operating as one of the longest running craft breweries in the U.S, Speakeasy had fallen on hard times recently, but has been revived anew and is back with the beer we\'ve come to know and love. Listen in as Clay Jordan, Director of Brewing Operations, tells us about the history of Speakeasy and how it has come to its current state in the industry. Plus, we get to share in some great classic Speakeasy beers that remind us of what craft beer is all about in California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on The Session we welcome Moksa Brewing Co. from Rocklin, CA. to the studio. Moksa is a very new craft brewery to the scene but has been making instant waves in the market. Tune in and learn from Head Brewer Derek Gallanosa, and Brewer Cory Meyer, about how they\'ve managed to hit the ground running and produce such great beers right out of the gate. We taste some of their first IPA\'s and Imperial Stout\'s, hear about collaboration brews and find out what makes Moksa tick. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on The Session we welcome Modern Times Beer to the studio! We are joined by Barrel Program Specialist, Alex Williams, and Head of Special Projects, Andrew Schwartz, to talk to us about their employee owned brewery and craft beer. We dive into their love of fresh craft lagers and their robust barrel program. Alex and Andrew tell us all about their special yeast cultures and various projects from Modern Times. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on The Session, we welcome Philipsburg Brewing Company from Philipsburg, MT to the studio! We are joined by Ben Johnson, Head Taproom Brewer, who brought us a TON of beer to taste. We learn about the many different styles they create, as well as their brand new small batch/barrel aged/sour series and get to be some of the first to taste the beer. We also learn about their many efforts to support their local community and their innovative packaging approach. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on The Session we are very proud to welcome the legendary Sierra Nevada Brewing Company into the studio with us! We are joined by Beer Content Manager Terrence Sullivan and Head Innovative Brewer James Conery. Terrence has a hand in just about everything with Sierra Nevada and James is in charge of new product development. We discuss the rise of Sierra Nevada and its legendary history in craft beer, as well some of the very cool new offerings from Sierra. Always at the forefront of American Craft Beer, Sierra Nevada holds a special place in the hearts of long time beer fans and we get to hear about all the ways the brewery has, and continues, to impact craft beer globally. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on The Session, Justin travels back to Fort Collins for another live webcast from The Hop Grenade Taproom. Jeffrey Callaway from the Colorado State University Fermentation Science and Technology program joins the show to talk about their professional brewing studies. Also on the program, we speak to Adam \"The Instigator\" about his project, Beer Fight Club. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on The Session we feature Seismic Brewing Company. Brewmaster Andy Hooper joins us on the show to talk about classic styles of beer and sustainability practices that will lead the future of Craft Beer. Tune in and find out about Seismic\'s unique position in the industry to further research in sustainable brewing, as well as the wonderful styles of beer the brewery produces.We discuss Andy\'s take on dry hopping, which spans across a couple different philosophies and also learn about a couple hop varieties we haven\'t discussed before. Finally, just to cover it all, we talk about barrel aging and the affects it can have on beer. Andy has a unique take on that and shares it all with us. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hazy beers are a touchy subject on The Session as of late. Love 'em or hate 'em, someone on this show has an opinion on this crazy movement, and we strive to get to the bottom of it all with Noah Bissell of Bissell Brothers brewing! Noah got his start as a homebrewer listening to The Brewing Network, and graduated up to professional status soon after. He gave some great insight into why he makes hazy beer, what yeast he uses, and even a couple of recipes! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Matt Fox, the head brewer and co-owner of Alameda Island Brewing came by the studio for this episode of The Session. A local favorite, Matt is making a name for himself in the Bay Area with well-balanced beers across many styles, which is something of a rarity in this market. We taste four of his beers, including the uber-popular NEIPA style. Yes, both Warren and JP survived and are recovering nicely. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices