The Brewing Network Presents - The Session

John Brand, owner and brewer over at Open Outcry Brewing in the Southside of Chicago, was our guest for this episode of The Session. Leaving his former life in the fast-paced world of futures trading to open a brewery,  John sent us a few examples of his handiwork, and clued us in on the world of Chicago, his neighborhood, and why he wouldn\'t dream of being anywhere else.

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!

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!

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.  

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!

The Session: Urban Roots Brewing

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.