The Brewing Network Presents - The Session

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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!

Today on The (mighty) Session, we welcome back Dr. Charlie Bamforth, who came all the way down from his digs at UC Davis to chat us up about his new book on Freshness, among other things. As these things generally do, topics diverged and we talked about a bunch of various industry hot spots like clarity. When you have a brain like Charlie's on the show, it's hard to stick to a standard line of questioning, after all.

Florian Kuplent, Co-Founder and Brewmaster at Urban Chestnut Brewing Company in St. Louis MO. joins us on The Session to talk about their "unconventional-minded yet traditional" style of beer and brewing. Listen in as Florian tells us about his background in German brewing techniques, as well as his extensive resume. Florian has brewed in several places in the U.S. and Germany, and even had a stint at Anheuser Busch. We learn about the fine art of crafting great lagers, as well as many other traditional styles, with a touch of modern flare to make things unique and interesting.

The Brewing Network welcomes Eel River Brewing Company to The Session this week. Brewery Production Manager Matt Vivatson talks with us about new hops, super quaffable beers and brewing the beers that his family business likes to drink. We get to try an awesome American Pale Ale, a fruit beer that surprises the whole crew, a barleywine that reminds us of what they're supposed to be like and both a DIPA and an IPA that showcase an abundance of hops in the right way.

This week on The Session we welcome Neshaminy Creek Brewing Company from Croydon, PA. Head Brewer and owner Jeremy Myers talks to us about lagers and shares some of their special barrel projects with us. We then discuss hoppy ale brewing and the highly debated New England IPA trend.We are also joined by Melanie Pierce from the Keep a Breast Foundation. Melanie talks to us about the amazing work of the foundation to increase breast cancer awareness and education and is also joined by our old friend Roger Davis from Faction Brewing. Faction is hosting the 4th annual Brewbies Fest and Roger gives us the lowdown and what you can expect.