The Brewing Network Presents - The Session

This week on The Session we are joined by co-founder and brewmaster Dave Padden from Akasha Brewing Company in Sydney, Australia. Dave made the trek over to the states to be in studio and bring us some fresh beer from Oz. Listen in as we talk hops, both American and Australian, the high cost of beer down under, and how Dave brews some of the best beer in his entire country.

The Session is back this week with Altamont Beer Works from Livermore, CA. Owner and brewer Steve Satori and his Lead Brewer Chris Norberg, along with their new brewer Anna, all join the show to talk about their passion for simple and clean, hop forward beers. They also bring bring along a fantastic wit beer, and an even more impressive beer from their newly launched sour program. Tune in and learn about their brewing philosophy, where they learned to brew, and why their beer is so impressive. Also, Justin is back at the helm and talks a little about his travels, strip clubs and who is now at the top of the death pool. It's a fun Session!

We welcome local brewery Almanac to The Session, finally! These guys have been turning out some great beers since 2010, and they show no signs of stopping. Jesse Friedman, who is one of the co-founders, and Phil The Barrel Guy made the journey - along with several tasty beers - to chat with us about their philosophy on making beer and how to be creative in a growing market. "Farm to Barrel" is their tagline, and Jesse is a passionate believer in paring beers with food, so it's easy to see why the beers are the way they are - well balanced, complex, and damn good! We talk about their barrel program for a bit, as well as how they deal with Brett strains and their fruit additions, two things they are known for. It was a great show and the guys really brought it strong!

Daniel Addey-Jibb, co-owner and brewer at Le Castor joins us for The Session on this episode. Located about 40 minutes outside of Montreal, Quebec, Dan and his team brew some really amazing farmhouse beers for those lucky enough to find them. Many are aged and bottled with Brett, giving them even more complexity than normal. His core style seems to be Saison, but he switches it up by adding different ingredents, such as Grapefruit zest and cracked peppercorns, sour cherries, oak - all of which are Brett-finished. The beers were great, and Dan was very generous with his time and beer. Then our friends from FourPure out in London happened to be in the studio, and shared their "juicy" IPA with us - which was not cloudy and soupy at all and we thanked them profusely for this.

It's a weird show today, folks! A great, weird, wonderful show - our longtime friend Phil Lowry came all the way out from England to chat with us about what's going on in the beer scene across the world. Phil has been in the industry for around 20 years, doing everything from brewing to selling beer and hops to serving it to the public. The man has loads of insight into craft beer and he brought a literal box load of beers along for us to drink as well. In addition, he brought along Chris who brews at a brewery called Pohjala in Estonia, who brought many of his beers for us to try. Loads of dark beers, barrel aged, and super well-balanced. So not only did we get to drink some amazing beers that we can't find out here, but we learned loads about the new hot spots of craft beer around the world, like South Africa and Estonia if you can believe it, as well as some new hop names to be on the lookout for. It was a real fun show to run, and Phil and Chris could each have anchored their own show with the amount of information they gave out. Perhaps the best part of the evening was finding someone tinier than Doc!

Long-time listener and ultimate winner of our long-lamented television show B.Y.O.B. TV, Steve Doty, is our guest for this episode of The Session. In 2014, Steve opened Shady Oak Barrel House in Santa Rosa, and has been producing some of the most sought-after farmhouse beers in the state. In fact, he was named best new brewer in 2014 by the folks at Rate Beer! Steve talks to us about what it takes to run a barrel house all by yourself, how he approaches blending his beers, and what strange stuff the TTB makes him put on his labels.

The fellas from Fieldwork Brewing out of Berkeley, CA came by the studio to chat about what makes their beers so damn good! Head brewer Alex gave us more than a little information on brewing beers with hardly any specialty malts and how to focus those bold hop flavors that Fieldwork is known for. We also chat about the industry in general, and how Fieldwork is expanding into not one but two additional markets with satellite tasting rooms.

This week on The Session we welcome The Ale Apothecary from Bend, OR. Paul Arney, Founder and Brewmaster, joins us to talk about his cottage brewery in the hills, and the very unique style of brewing that he employs. The brewery is built on his own property, where he lives, and he has chosen to take a slower, more historic approach to producing his slow ales, that are often sour, always complex, and very very good. Tune in and learn about his brew system that seems to be comprised almost entirely of wood barrels and how each of his beers takes on a two year life of its own before finding it's way into his honey infused bottles. Learn about his entirely local raw material sourcing and much, much more.

This week on The Session we welcome Brewmaster Darron Welch and Sales Manager Ryan Lishka from Pelican Brewing Company in Pacific City, OR. Tune in and learn about the diverse beers at Pelican and how they view the beers as complimentary to foods, moods, weather and more. Darron has been at this for more than 20 years and his skills come out in the beers and the interview. You're gonna want to learn from this guy! We also speak with Tom Mcormick from the California Craft Brewers Association about the upcoming 2016 California Craft Beer Summit in Sacramento. u4idy8rt

This week on The Session we welcome Berryessa Brewing Company to the studio to talk about their wonderfully dry and flavorful craft beer. Brewmaster Chris Miller and Sales Director Doug Walker come in and share a variety of their beers, from a clean Mexican (Aztec) Lager, to a beautiful 3 year old soured IPA. Tune in and learn about their techniques to keep beers attenuated and how they like to ferment and bright tank beer longer to ensure quality. u4idy8rt

This week on The Session we welcome two great homebrewers from D.O.Z.E. to teach about turbid mashing. Matt Sager and Vinnie Delucchi conducted a brewing experiment to determine if going through the lengthy steps of a turbid mash are worth the result in lambic beer. Listen in and learn about the process of turbid mashing and how they worked their brew day to get the best results possible. u4idy8rt

The Session welcomes Austmann Brewing from Trondhiem, Norway to the show. Beau Schiner, an American expat brews for Austmann and shares his experience coming up as a homebrewer turned pro in Norway, ant talks about the unique brewing experience of a Norwegian brewer. We learn about traditional Norwegian spirits, barrel aging, open fermentation in Yorkshire Squares and more! We also tackle some beer news and last weeks uncomfortable "rant" from Justin.

This week on The Session we welcome back the great Adam Corolla to the show as he teams up with King Harbor Brewing in Redondo Beach, CA. to brew an IPA called Endless Rant IPA. Tune in and learn how the beer came about as you also hear from King Harbor co-owner Tim Dunbabin and Head Brewer/Co-owner Phil McDaniel.As if that was not enough, we also welcome our first South African brewery to the show tonight. Marc Fourie from Riot Beer in Capetown, South Africa, joins us on the show to discuss the South African craft beer scene and the beers of Riot Beer.

The Session is back this week to welcome Steve and Barri Altimari from Highwater Brewing Company to the show. Steve and Barri have been in the industry for years around the San Francisco Bay Area and have really made a mark with their unique style of beer that blends culinary experimentation with traditional brewing styles. Listen in as they describe their amazing sour beers, as well as their more traditional blends that bring exciting ingredients to craft beer. We also talk with Levi and Harmony Fried about the homebrew scene in Israel, and their new brewery project in Long Beach, CA. They share some great homebrew and give insight into a part of the world that we don't often think of when it comes to beer.

Jeff Bagby of Bagby Beer Co. joins The Session this week to talk about his award winning beer from Oceanside, CA. Jeff has been making killer beer in the industry for years and, after a very successful stint at Pizza Port Brewing Co, opened his own brewery in 2014. Jeff talks with us about his award winning beer, west coast style hopping and more.