Michigan Brews

In the next part of our "Running a Homebrew Competition" series, we're going to be talking software.  Specifically, we're going to be talking about BCOE&M and why it's our preferred software to use. Join us at the usual time!

We've been wanting to do a series on running a homebrew competition for a while now, and March seems like a great time to start!  Mostly because we're all finally not sick... We'll see you at our normal time, but on Wednesday!

With a new year ahead of us (and us largely missing our 2024 goals) we're looking to organize a large part of our 2025 streaming schedule and will be brainstorming on new segments (or even new shows!) for the future.

It's our 5 year Friendsgiving Anniversary!  Well that's wild...   Grab your favorite hard seltzers and join us for a virtual party!  If you want to be on stream with us let us know!

BIG CARAMEL MALT FEELINGS!   That aside, should be a full house!  We'll see you for some homebrew banter and drinks!   Cheers!

It's been a busy few months but we're still around!  Jason picked up some beer to talk about and we'll touch on other bits and pieces from the past month or so.   Cheers!

Join us and reminisce of a weekend that passed by way too quickly!

June, July, and August tend to be our crazy months.  Between the Michigan Beer Cup, Michigan Homebrew Festival, meetings for 3-4 different homebrew clubs, plus personal brewing projects time just slips away!   Join us as we relax for a night.  We'll talk about the Michigan Beer Cup sorting, and give some shout outs to MBC sponsors.  And just random chatter otherwise.   Cheers!

Just a laid back show this week.  We'll touch on things we're looking to bring out to MHF, things we're looking forward to trying, touching on the new Michigan Beer Cup High Gravity Award, and whatever else comes along!

Just how important is great water for making a great beer?  Does the old adage, "if it's good enough to drink it's good enough to brew with" hold true? Join us, with special guest and resident chemicalangelist, "The Mole Man" himself, David Jones. Cheers! an" himself, David Jones. Cheers!

Join Jason and Brian with special guest Tim Wicklund as they discuss the somewhat more advanced world of blending beer, mead, and cider. 

Join us as we blind test 10 beers that fall into the International Pale Lager BJCP category, as well as an additional surprise beer!  We'll be joined by Ted, owner and brewer at Brewery Outré in Kalamazoo, MI. We're testing some "on the go" audio equipment in this episode for the first time, fingers crossed! Cheers!

Jason wants to make a mead, maybe one with lemons.   He really has no clue what he's doing, so we are going to discuss and design a mead recipe with some folks that can help.   Hang out and have a brew with us as we talk through the mead making process.  Whatever we come up with, Jason is going to take away and brew!

Way back in the dark days of episode 101 we individually ran the Keepers of Craft beer generator to come up with 3 unique(ish) recipes.  Deciding to go for what amounted to be an Imperial Kölsch-style beer, we then drafted a recipe for it, brewed it, and now we're drinking it tonight!   Join us to hear how the beer turned out, future plans for it, and general show talk.  

Ok, so we didn't actually buy Hamms for the show (sorry!), but Jason had some Budweiser... Join us for a chat about Michigan Beer Cup updates, Imperial Kolsch (!) updates, upcoming shows, and just a general chatty evening. Cheers!

From fruits, to spices, to whole pies, there's no end of what you can use to add interesting and innovative flavors to beer.  Come have a beer while we talk about all of our favorite ways to flavor beers, talk about do's (and dont's), and banter a bit in between.  Cheers!

Happy New Year!  Come hang out and have a beer while we talk about some of the "fun" homebrew competitions we have participated in the past like cookie beer, cereal beer, or fantasy beer draft comp.   We are also going to be playing with the "Beer Generator" which is an app that Brian created to help generate fun / weird beer recipe ideas.  We are getting ready to launch the second Beer Generator Comp for Keepers of Craft next week, so we will be having it create a few recipes for us so we can see how we would handle the different challenges it could throw at us. Cheers!

Its finally time for Episode 100! And what better way to commemorate the milestone than to get together with friends online, remanence about the year, share stories, and slam seltzers!   In past Friendsgiving shows, we have invited anyone that has participated in past shows to drop in, hang out for a few, and enjoy a beverage or two.  So if you have ever been on the show, or you just enjoy watching / listening to it, and what to stop by virtually for a drink or six then shoot us a message, we will get you a link. Cheers!

So....It's been a while.  And we still want to make episode 100 special... So we're going to do something slightly different in the meantime! We have a plan for Episode 100, but we're still trying to find a good date to do it.  In the interim, we're doing this! Some of our studying-to-be BJCP judges expressed interest in wanting to practice scoresheets so we thought it would be fun to discuss some sheets live! This show will be extremely biased.  We gave every judge 2 bottles each of 2 different beers.  They knew what the beers were, both brewer and style.  This should be taken as a calibration only, and even then as an intermediate guideline. That said, we think this will be a lot of fun!  Everyone judged a bottle ahead of the show and has another done to drink while talking about their sheets.  We hope to learn something from each other and hope you do too! Cheers!

As our show regularly devolves into talk about competitions, it's only natural that we have a guest whose entire YouTube channel is centered around the same. We welcome Bryan Fischer to episode 99 to discuss his channel "Let's Get Judgey", and talk about the BJCP and judge certification in general. Cheers!

FIXED - Previous episode 98 was blank.  Sorry! Better Nate than Lever!  (IYKYK) It's been a while!  Join us for a post MHF show where we'll dig into our thoughts about the 2023 Michigan Homebrew Festival, or as we like to call it, "Beer Camp". Spoilers: it was awesome!

Have you ever licked a Lichtenhainer?  Can you even pronounce Piwo Grodziskie?  Is Gose even historical anymore?  Have you ever even had a good Sahti? We literally rolled a die for our topic this week and historical beer is it!  Join us as we talk about tasting, brewing, and maybe even a little history on some of the beer styles of yore. Cheers!

Sneaking in a last minute episode as a few of us suddenly had some time available! Join us as we talk about our experiences behind the scenes at GLINTCAP, some notes about the Michigan Beer Cup (which is coming up fast!), and future plans for the show. Cheers!

But really! Though not talked about nearly as much as yeast strains, fermentation temps, hop varieties, the packaging of your beer (and mead and wine and cider) is arguably one of the most important steps in ensuring you have a drinkable end product. Join us as we talk about kegging, bottling, oxygen, filtering, and more! Cheers!

It's been a while to say the least! Sorry it's been so long, but we've missed everyone and the stream so it's time to get back at it! Join us as we discuss Brian's recent experiences taking the BJCP tasting exam as well as what's been going on in Michigan homebrewing this last month, and some info about events happening here in the state a few more months going forward! Looking forward to the stream!

If you've been following along, back in Episode 90 we talked about how we wanted to rein in our focus back to what we really love, homebrewing. As part of that focus we really wanted to sit and hang out with some other (way more amazing) content creators. Well, our first of 2023 is here! Join us as we hang out with Matt Jagger of Jaggers Brewing Co. We'll be talking about his channel, homebrewing, competitions, the Master Homebrewer Program and probably a bunch of totally other irrelevant but awesome brewing related stuff.

If you've never heard of the Master Homebrewer Program (MHP) you're in for an absolute treat!  Competitive homebrewing is one of the many niches in our hobby, and MHP is taking it one step further to build a community around it. Join us as we talk to some of the current MHP board and learn what it's all about. Cheers!

Resolution #1 - Make Brian figure out his mic.  Sorry about all of the mic issues lately, we'll get it nailed down for 91.  One of the many issues of doing a livestream show...   Anyway!  Join us as we discuss plans for 2023, both personally in the hobby and with the show!  Not so many changes coming for us in 2023 as there are "tweaks" to get things going more smoothly.  Can't wait to see what the year brings! Cheers!

There's cereal mashing and then there's CEREAL MASHING.  Come hang out while we talk about making beer with actual cereal, and just generally catching up with everyone.   Cheers!

Its that time of year again where we hang out, drink seltzer, and open our stream to any of our friends or past guests that want to drop in and chill for a bit.   Grab a six pack or three of your favorite beverage and come enjoy some pre-Thanksgiving festivities with us!   (Brian has since fixed his mic, sorry for the audio issues!)

Below please find links to some of the resources that were mentioned during the show: BJCP Online Exam Study Guide: https://dev.bjcp.org/.../online-beer-exam-study-guide/   The Michigan Brews BJCP 2021 Quick Reference Spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/.../1f80We2ft.../edit...   The Beer Syndicate Compare-O-Matic (account required): https://www.beersyndicate.com/app/Tool/CompareBeerStyles   Omer Basha's Free BJCP Exam Prep Course: https://www.youtube.com/playlist...   Barlypopmaker's BJCP Exam Prep Course (may have to adjust volume up a bit): https://www.youtube.com/playlist...   "Do it"!   Cheers!

As the constant evolution and creation of new IPA styles rages on, tonight we talk about "Cold IPA"!   Is it an IPA? Is it a hoppy lager? Will it become a new BJCP style in 5 years when nobody is brewing it anymore? (RIP Brut IPA)   Join us with special guests Tim and Brandon as we talk it out!

Some of favorite seasonal styles of the year are starting to pop up and we're here for it, though Jordan would like to have a word with pumpkin beers. While we can (and do) brew Festbiers and Marzens throughout the year, it's often hard to find the commercial examples until late summer / early fall. We're going to dip into both commercial and homebrew examples tomorrow (as we try to do every year) and maybe even make a recipe or two! Cheers!

Jason's back, tell a friend! Not that he hasn't been watching the show (right Jason?) but we're going to recap some of the summer, get caught up on some upcoming comps in October and November, talk more about some upcoming show ideas and in general just have a relaxing night. As a reminder we're always open for beer for homebrew review episodes! Would something more like a Dr. Homebrew format be more appealing? We can do sheets before shows and go over the beer live etc.   Cheers!

MHF is officially done for 2022 and we had a blast! We're going to try to round up some attendees to talk about our favorite parts from the weekend and have some much needed sit down in a padded chair!

Next weekend is literally the best weekend of the year if you're a homebrewer! It's the Michigan Homebrew Festival! Join us to get a sneak peak at what Keepers of Craft has going on as well as some discussion about events happening over the course of the weekend, past experiences, and just general HYPE! Cheers!

Summer was in full swing for a while there! We're glad to announce that we're finally working our way back towards a more regular schedule again after taking lots of fun vacations and drinking a ton of good beer! Just playing some catch up tonight, going over our show plans for the next few months, and enjoying some good company.

And that's a wrap! What a wild WILD weekend!   We put faces to so many names, drank so much awesome beer, and if you don't follow our socials we've got some really exciting news to share too!   Grab some beer and we'll catch you live to talk about Homebrew Con 2022!

Homebrew Con is one of the largest conventions for homebrewers in the world. Hosted in Pittsburgh, PA this year, the event will be held from June 23rd through the 25th. There will be seminars, friends, and shared homebrew galore! The National Homebrew Competition awards show will also be happening on the 25th! Will we bring home a medal?? Join us as we talk about what we expect going in, what we're excited about, and more!

Join us as we review some of our favorite tech toys for homebrewing! We'll be talking about what we own, what's on the market, and whatever else comes up! Also Tekken? Cheers!

Just Jason, Jordan, and Brian this episode! Listen in as we talk about making a Mexican Lager recipe (and then don't actually make one), brewery mug memberships, beer chores, competitions, Tilt hydrometers, and everything else we have going on in our little homebrew worlds. Cheers!

We went to the largest Big Brew Day event in Michigan!  Join us as we talk to Joe and Don from the Pontiac Brewing Tribe as well as Matt Ushman from Trouble Brewing to recap the day!   https://www.youtube.com/c/MatthewUshman

Join us as we recap brewing with the Keepers of Craft homebrew club for Big Brew Day!   ...Before then spinning off on a tangent regarding competitions and judging beer.    

While not the most glamourous part of making beer, it's certainly one of the more important steps before getting to drink it! A poorly packaged beer can make or break how it tastes in as little as 24 hours!   Join us as we drill down into bottling, kegging, and moving beer around!   ...and just wildly forget the topic of the episode...as always...   ¯_(ツ)_/¯

The boys sit down and drink their own drinks.  Can Jason hang??

We are very excited to be hanging out with Barb Baker, the Siren of Stout and Vice President of Fermenta, A Women's Craft Collective. Barb is incredibly active in the Michigan Brewing community, and we cant wait to hang out and have a few beers with her!

Join us as Jordan and Brian sit down with Drew Doster of Doster Brewing Co.   We'll discuss making, storing, and packing sour beer as well as some of our past barrel projects.

In this episode the Michigan Brews crew talks on adjuncting beer, and other various topics. Pastry stouts with pies? We got you. Raspberry pi projects? Let's go. Using beer in your pie? Sure, why not.

Join us as we have a couple beers with Don Mikolaizik and Joe Belevender of the Pontiac Brewing Tribe based out of Auburn Hills, MI.   Grab a homebrew and hang out!

Join us as we sit down and talk shop with Matt Ushman! Matt is a, brewtuber, content creator, and (most importantly) a Michigan homebrewer. Matt's channel is focused around providing grain to glass, reviews on products and informative home brewing videos for beginners and advanced home brewers. Check out Matt's videos using the link below: https://www.youtube.com/c/MatthewUshman

It's that magical time of year in Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo Craft Beverage Week! We are going to be hanging out once again with John Liberty from West Michigan Beer Tours, getting a sneak peak at some of this years planned Kalamazoo Craft Beverage Week activities.   John will be joined by some special guests from Saugatuck Brewing and Green Door Distilling Company, who have teamed up this year for a special collaboration.