The Gnarly Gnome: All The Podcasts

It’s a fun one... an exploration of the relationship between two amazing pieces of Cincinnati Craft - a brewery and a distributor. Adena and Cellar Dweller give us a peek behind what makes this relationship work for both of them, and how they hope to help each other navigate the strange new world of Craft Beer. Of course... we drink a few beers along the way, too!

It’s not common to see a Baiju on shelves here in America. It’s especially not common to see an American distillery making a version of this spirit – let alone in a city like Cincinnati. This is beyond fascinating, but a huge part of what makes Karrikin so exciting to me. They are thinking outside of the box when it comes to making their products, and I needed to try to take peek behind that curtain a little bit. We talked about their American made Baiju, which they call Shifu, and dug into their Agave spirit, as well. It’s a whirlwind of a show, but a fun one! If you haven’t been out to Karrikin, or tried some of what they’ve been doing… it goes without saying – DO IT. Guests This Episode * Andy Foltz – Co-Hosting* Eric Baumann – Karrikin* Jeff Hunt – Karrikin What’d We Drink? * Karrikin – Shifu* Karrikin – Blaze

It’s a never ending evolution… this thing that we call craft beer. On every side of things from the creators all the way down to us drinkers, but a side that has long intrigued me is that of the retailer. We were joined this week by Ben Capodagli who owns and runs Cappy’s, a store that has become a household name to nearly every beer drinker in Cincinnati. We wanted to explore this side of things that we often take for granted. What makes a store not just work, but become special? How does the relationships between the store and local taprooms change as the very idea of a taproom changes? It’s complicated, and the dance of the retailer is a beautiful one when you step back and watch. Guests This Week * Andy Foltz* Ben Capodagli – Cappy’s Show Links * Cappy’s Loveland – Website* The Cappy’s Cast – Podcast

There are going to be a few different shows about Farifax’s Karrikin Spirits in the very near future. The last time I sat down with Eric Baumann and Jeff Hunt for a show, we ended up recording for a lot longer than anticipated, which means (good news for you) a lot more content! The first of this little “Karrikin Series” is a showcase of their delicious sparkling spirits, a product that I think deserves quite a bit of recognition. It’s not a seltzer, it’s not a beer… it’s something else entirely, and I like it… a lot. Guests This Week * Andy Foltz – Co-Hosting* Jeff Hunt – Karrikin Spirits* Eric Baumann – Karrikin Spirits

Let’s start with the disclaimer – I didn’t have all the local Oktoberfest beers for this “showdown”, or is it even fair to compare some of these with each other. We talk about it a bit during the episode, but Oktoberfest as a style has two distinct ends to it… Marzen and Festbier, and those are two very different parts of the bigger Oktoberfest idea. It’s not fair to compare all these beers to each other… but we did it anyways. I wanted to explore this, and I wanted to find out what my “favorite” local Oktoberfest beer was. I think that with that goal in mind, we nailed it. It’s always fun to explore a style like this, anyways. And tasting these all next to each other gave me a really great picture of what we’ve got going for us here in town. 100%, you can’t go wrong with a liter of any one of these beers this Oktoberfest season! Guests This Week * Craft Beer Joe From The Beer Fridge * 16 Lots – Oktoberfest* Braxton – Oktober Fuel* Cellar Dweller – Oktoberfest* Christian Moerlein – Fifth And Vine* Dogberry – Hosen* Sonder – Original Settlers* Taft’s – Oktubberfest* West Side – Oktoberfest Show Links * BJCP Style Guidelines – Marzen* BJCP Style Guidelines – Festbier* Oktoberfest VS Marzen – GotBeer.com

Kenwood needed this. It’s not a bar, it’s not another chain restaurant… it isn’t only about beer – it’s something new and refreshing. Hoppin’ Vines is a combination of a lot of different things than when combined create a space that will please anyone in your group of drinking buddies (or your non-drinking friends alike). They’ve got a great tap list, combined with a ton of wine and a nice curated spirits list, that when combined with duck pin bowling and pizza creates a space that I had to share with you. Where We Were * Hoppin Vines – Kenwood/Madeira Guests This Week * Brian O’Connell – General Manager* David Silvestain – Craft Beer Curator

Things have been crazy lately. I just got back into Cincy from being on vacation with the family down in Gatlinburg… and the city didn’t slow down for me while I was away. We’re headed into the fall, and there are a ton of events that I wanted to make sure you were caught up on – so we dive into what’s happening. We talk Cincy beer anniversaries, Oktoberfest and take a little peek at next month’s Extinction event that Urban Artifact is throwing to celebrate spontaneous beer and natural wine. Through all of this, we still manage to take a moment to dig into a beer that I’ve been wanting to try on the show, MadTree’s Koru – their New Zealand lager, and we learn why a beer with a bunch of Cascade hops can still be a New Zealander. It’s a fun one! From The Beer Fridge * MadTree – Koru Show Links * Learn more about Madtree’s Koru on their website* Cincy’s August Beer Release Roundup

I’ve told you before how great this beer festival is… and I couldn’t help but set up shop at this year’s hops in the hangar to do a show. Luckily for me, with an event like this, there is always plenty of great friends around willing to grab a microphone for a few minutes, which means we get to check up with a bunch of different folks about what they’ve been up to. I drink a few Oktoberfest beers, and dive headfirst into a busy, busy craft beer scene that doesn’t look like it’s showing any signs of slowing down! Guests This Episode * Josh Laubach – Rolling Mill Brewing Company* Megan Laubach – Rolling Mill Brewing Company* Sean Willingham – Municipal Brew Works* John Pfeffer – Municipal Brew Works* Shawn White – Nostalgia Brewing Company* Tony Meyer – DogBerry* Del Hall – Fifty West From The Beer Fridge * Sonder Brewing Company – Original Settlers, Oktoberfest

Braxton has been on fire this year, and not just because they’re making some great beer. They’ve made some huge moves by announcing their rooftop at their main location, announced their third taproom and barrel aging facility, kicked off one of their extremely popular hard seltzer line… and it’s all part of this drive to find the middle ground of what craft beer is. We took a peek behind the curtain of how you manage so many spinning plates at once with their Co-Founder Jake Rouse. He explains how you guide a ship that keeps growing exponentially, while managing to keep every aspect of who you are true to the bigger picture. It wouldn’t be any fun if we didn’t press him for some hints at what’s coming up for Braxton fans in the near future, and while he was pretty tight lipped – we got a good idea that they aren’t done yet. I’m endlessly fascinated by who Braxton is, and who they hope to become. Finding ways to make it all fit together like a big puzzle is great to watch, and I hope that you get a little peek of that in this episode. Guests This Week * Jake Rouse – Braxton Brewing Company From The Beer Fridge * Braxton – Oktober Fuel Show Links * Braxton Brewing Company – Website* Braxton Brewing Company – Facebook

Fibonacci just finished celebrating their fourth birthday, and it was incredible. They are now well underway with their big expansion into what is called ‘Fib Farm’ with the space next door to their original taproom, and it’s creating something that I want everyone in this city to get the chance to experience. I know that you probably already read about the event that they were planning for their celebration, but I stopped out a couple days before it all went down to talk to Betty Bollas about what it all means, and where we go from here. There aren’t any places in Cincinnati that are like Fibonacci, and that becomes more and more apparent as things keep growing and becoming a little closer to the vision for what they’ll be. Guests This Week * Betty Bollas – Fibonacci Brewing Company From The Beer Fridge * Origin Of Species – Berry Muffin* Compton Ananassa – Cream Ale with Strawberries* Compton Horapha – Cream Ale With Thai Basil, Honey and Lemon

Food trucks and beer seem to go together nearly perfectly. We’ve talked about this combo in the past as much as we can from the perspective of drinkers, and we’ve definitely talked to some of our brewery friends about the good (and sometimes not so good) side of the pairing as well… but this week we get the chance to really dive into how it works from the perspective of the food trucks. We met up with good friend Chef Tony from Brew City Sausage, and Grist Bistro at the newly opened Cove Food Park where alongside his fellow Queen City Mobile Food Truck Association members AJs Cheeseteak and Stellar Street Eats to talk all things beer, food trucks and the food park. It’s a food truck party! Guests This Week * Andy Foltz – Co-Host* Tony Lange – Grist Bistro* Ty Velez – AJs Cheesesteaks* Ryan O’Neil – Stellar Street Eats From The Beer Fridge * Taft’s – Tangerine Vibes* Founders – All Day IPA* Braxton – Summertrip

I love, love, LOVE the Punch Out at Fifty West. It’s one of those events that brings the community together. People smile, laugh, drink a few beers and watch each other punch each other’s faces into the warm night. It’s exactly how most of my family reunions go. It’s not a surprise then that show co-host Andy Foltz referred to the yearly event as Cincinnati Beer’s family reunion of sorts. It sounds to me like the perfect chance to set up a table to do a brewcast! We grabbed some of our friends that we saw scattered around the event, and dove in. What makes something like this work, and what makes it so important to the craft beer community? These are the things that needed answered. We found out what a few breweries have been up to – we finally caught up with Brian and Kenny from BC’s bottle lodge, and we gave away a set of tickets to the upcoming ‘Hops in the Hangar’ beer festival. Overall, I think this Punch Out is exactly what we needed to fire us up, and push us into a new enthusiasm for what this is all about. Guests This Week * Andy Foltz – Co-Host* Sean Willingham – Municipal Brew Works* Eric Bosler – Darkness Brewing* Andy Reynolds – Alexandria Brewing Company* Brian Brownlow – BC’s Bottle Lodge* Kenny Jamil – BC’s Bottle Lodge* Tom Stover – Warped Wing* Brandon Bird – Our ‘Name That Beer’ Contestant* Bryan Fischer – March First* Justin Neff – Sonder Brewing Company From The Beer Fridge * Alexandria Brewing Company – RECA Ralph* Alexandria Brewing Company – Brother’s In Arms* Sonder – Orange Julius You Betcha!

It’s been a long effort trying to figure out how to get a show booked at Grainworks in West Chester, and in my never ending effort I finally decided that we could just sort of… show up. That’s exactly what Andy Foltz and I did for this week’s episode, we just showed up and did a show. We talked about what we knew about the folks behind Grainworks, and we drank a few beers to give you a better picture about what they’ve got going on. Something tells me that with how fun this was, you might not have seen the last of the guerrilla shows… beware. No one is safe. Guests This Week * Andy Foltz – Co-Host From The Beer Fridge * Grainworks – Cabana Boy’s Pink Drink* Grainworks – Schauer Bier* Grainworks – Mo’ Pils, No Problems* Grainworks – Blue Skies Hero Brew* Grainworks – Mom-Claude Van Damme* Grainworks – Pink Lemonade Stand* Grainworks – Cincinnati Liars Lager* Grainworks – Oatmeal Stout

We live in a crazy world right now. Craft beer is booming, growing up, there’s people who love to talk about doom and gloom in the industry, and a lot of newcomers to it at the same time. We’ve never experienced anything like this before, and it begs the question – what does it all mean? Where are we going? What’s happening with this industry? In Cincinnati there aren’t any places better suited to explore and answer that question than Listermann Brewing Company. One of Cincinnati’s oldest ‘OG’ breweries, Listermann has seen it all, and grown to tell the tale. We dig into a few beers, and talk about how you fit into an industry that is still searching for it’s identity, a task that seems daunting to me for any business. Guests This Week * Andy Foltz – Co-Host* Jason Brewer – Listermann Brewing Company* Jared Lewinski – Listermann Brewing Company From The Beer Fridge * Listermann – Prehistoric Bowl Crusher* Listermann – I’ve Had It With These Motherf*****g IPAs At This Motherf******g Brewery* Listermann – Pride* Listermann – Our Brownies Are Made With Love

Why not take a couple of those topics that have a tendency to get a little heated in online discussions and pull them apart a little bit on this weeks episode? I can’t promise that we ever actually solve any of the beer world’s biggest problems, but we certainly talked about them and had a few great beers in the meantime. We were live in the Gnome studios, deep underground which means we can dig into the beer fridge for a nice variety of stuff from around town – and that’s exactly what we did. From a great IPA to a donut beer and a big peanut butter imperial stout, there was no shortage of beer flowing! Where do you stand on the topic? Do you like kids in breweries? What about dogs in breweries? Maybe it’s all relative? Is it a case of it just being a ‘Time and place for everything?’ Chime in with your thoughts – you can even send a voicemail at 567-70-DRINK to let us know how you feel about the topic at hand! Thank you for listening, and thank you for your patronage. You can always support the blog, and CincyBrewcast on Patreon! Guests This Week * Andy Foltz – Co-Hosting * Joe Easton – Craft Beer Joe * Ian Ruth – Family and Brews Cincinnati From The Beer Fridge * Municipal Brew Works – Scout * Rivertown – SprinkAle * Fretboard – Cool Meditation * DogBerry – Time, Blue! * Urban Artifact – The Missing Linck Show Links * Craft Beer Joe – The Blog * Family and Brews Cincinnati – Facebook Page * Cincy Brewcast Patreon