AltBrau is a blog and collaborative brewing project formed to explore the creative possibility of beer.
Michael Kiser has been observing the beverage industry for a while now... and through his company Good Beer Hunting he has become an important voice in conversations related to marketing, trends, and design. GBH has done work with large breweries such as Guinness, craft royalty such as New Belgium, and many small startups such as East Brother here in the Bay Area. What has always appealed to me, however, was the other side of GBH... the amazing editorial. GBH features some of the best writing and photography in the beer industry. This is achieved by Michael's careful curation of his team. In my opinion there is nobody in the business covering the industry in such depth and at such high quality. We have had the honor of contributing to their "B Roll" photo series on a few occasions and look forward to doing more in the future. On this episode we talk about breweries adjusting to COVID-19, GBH's growing coverage, market trends, changing infrastructure, and long term effects of the pandemic. The intro to this episode also has a recap of our recent bottle sale. This episode is available via SoundCloud, Stitcher, Apple Podcast, and on Youtube.com (without the intro)
Caleb from Sugar Malt Creek joins me on this episode to talk about all the malt he is producing in Indiana. Floor malted, oven dried, wind dried, hot smoked, cold smoked, custom smoked... Sugar Creek does it all. Caleb's passion for malting and love of nordic farmhouse brewing traditions is truly inspiring. We also cover the upcoming AltBrau bottle release in the intro so be sure to check that out. Skip ahead 10 mins if you just want to hear the interview.
Jeff and Chris Porn are the couple behind Colorado's Atom Brewing Company. On this episode we discuss farmhouse brewing, their big move to Upstate NY, building a brewery at home, Jeff's role in SWAG, and the newly created Funk & Farmhouse Collective.
Today Tamara and I talk to Pete and Lindsay from Harvest Roots in Birmingham, Alabama. Known for their pickled heirloom veggies and unique kombuchas... Pete and Lindsay are on the front lines of experimental fermentation. We talk about entrepreneurship, homebrewing, biscuits, and other creative endeavors.
Charlie Johnson has a long history in the beer business, and now he's ready to launch his own brewery... again. Recorded on location in the woods of the Lost Sierra, this episode covers Charlie's trials and tribulations and what kind of beers you should expect to see coming from his new spot.
Today we are speaking with our good friend Aiden Jönsson. Aiden is the man behind Bretty Fingers... an up-and-coming brewery inspired by mixed culture and farmhouse brewing traditions and utilizing local ingredients. In this episode we discuss the Swedish craft beer market, his love of session beers, and some of his recipe formulations and brewing techniques.
Krista Scruggs returns to the show to discuss her new project ZAFA and everything she has learned from working the vinyards out in Vermont. She is joined by her mentor Deirdre Heekin (aka Queen D) from La Garagista Wine and we discuss farming, economics ,creative endeavors, and much more. On a side note... our apologies for the bit of static/interference on some parts of the episode. We are in the process of upgrading our equipment. Should be good on the next episode.
On this episode we talk to my new boss! Greg Ruth is one of the founders of South City Ciderworks. He tells us about how they got started and some of the challenges you face selling cider in the beer world.
Our first time taking the podcast straight to the source. We recorded this episode at CellarMaker Brewing with co-founder Connor Casey. We talk about the beer distribution game, alternative business models, handling hops, and collaborations.
So many great coffee beers out there. We decided to talk about it with our friend, barista Campbell McIntosh. Not only that... but we heard Mikkeller was releasing a coffee IPA with the fellas from punk rock legends The Descendents. We got Bill Stevenson on the phone and talked about their new record Hypercaffium Spazinate (Epitaph Records)
Long time friend and certified Nutritionist Jared Mann comes in to talk nutrition, gay bars, and drinking stories. We ate pizza and drank some funky beers. Enjoy!
Ian Clark is our buddy from the punk scene with 16 years of sobriety under his belt. We talk about hitting rock bottom and his recovery over some hop-infused Non-Alcoholic beers.
Oakland comedian Luigi Diaz comes by and talks sticky green buds... and we don't mean hops although there is a lot of that too.
Episode 2 we speak with our old friend Krista Scruggs. We talk about her experience as a queer woman of color working to make her way in the beverage industry. We also discuss beer and wine brands brewed and/or owned by people in the African American community ranging from E40's malt liquor to gypsy brewing in Sweden (Omnipollo). Enjoy!
Episode 1... boy we have a lot to learn. Luckily Ryan helped us save this episode. Apologies for the low quality audio up to the 23min mark. Our guest is Ryan Hansen... guitarist for Glacier Eater and Wilderness Dream, formerly from At Our Heels, and most notably Light This City. On this episode we tell stories from the road, talk industry comparisons, and drink some music-inspired beers.