Podcast appearances and mentions of Fremont Brewing

Alex assembles four NA domestic beers featuring Schlafly, Fremont Brewing, Boulevard Brewing Co., and Bonn Place Brewing. How will the two Missouri favorites stack up in the power rankings against a Seattle powerhouse and a nice brewery for nice people in Pennsylvania. In the Beer News, a couple long-time, well loved breweries close down but a Catholic themed brewery rises up in Connecticut, and in Tater news, a new BTAC E.H. Taylor drops and lights up the trade boards. To get involved with the  "Life" International Barleywine Collab, click the link for info about the recipe, BSG discount, and links to help raise awareness of colon cancer.  If you'd like to make a direct donation to help support Alex, head over to his GoFundMe.  For more info about colon cancer and to help support the fight against it check out the Colon Cancer Foundation.  Head to our Patreon for weekly exclusive content. Get the Malt Couture Officially Licensed T-shirt. Follow DontDrinkBeer on Instagram and Twitter.

The Malty Boyz™ are making this batch an international affair with NA beers from France and one with roots in London care of Tom Holland. Plus, Coors Edge is thrown into the Power Rankings along with another NA beer with a start-up style momfluencer backstory. In the Beer News, Stephen tries a dusty relic from Green Flash's heyday, a 2010 Silva Stout, after Chuck SIlva announced he'd be shuttering Silva Brewing, Elysian Brewing loses a production facility a year after unionizing under the A-B/Inbev banner, and Sierra Nevada Brewing releases Celly Drippins which has Alex and Stephen remembering the good ol' days of mouth watering Beer News.  Thanks to Fremont Brewing for sponsoring this episode! Follow them on IG @FremontBrewing. Use code ACTION10 for 10% off your order at FremontBeerToGo.com. If you're looking for Fremont Brewing's NA offerings, head to their NA section where it's flatrate shipping for 24 packs of NA beer.  To get involved with the  "Life" International Barleywine Collab, click the link for info about the recipe, BSG discount, and links to help raise awareness of colon cancer.  If you'd like to make a direct donation to help support Alex, head over to his GoFundMe.  For more info about colon cancer and to help support the fight against it check out the Colon Cancer Foundation.  Head to our Patreon for weekly exclusive content. Get the Malt Couture Officially Licensed T-shirt. Follow DontDrinkBeer on Instagram and Twitter.

On this week-in-review, Crystal is joined by Chair of Sierra Club Seattle, long time communications and political strategist, Robert Cruickshank! They discuss: Republican Divisions Threaten Party's Chances in Governor's Race Corporate-Backed Super PAC Boosts Conservative Democrat's Campaign Seattle Councilmember Seeks to Roll Back Gig Worker Protections Mayor's Office Cuts Anti-Displacement Proposals from Growth Plan New Light Rail Line Set to Open on Eastside Business Group Launches Campaign to Relocate Light Rail Station Seattle Children's Hospital Refuses to Share Patient Records with Texas AG As always, a full text transcript of the show is available at officialhacksandwonks.com. Follow us on Twitter at @HacksWonks. Find the host, Crystal Fincher, on Twitter at @finchfrii and find today's co-host, Robert Cruickshank, at @cruickshank.   Resources Nick Brown Discusses Key Issues in Washington State Attorney General Race from Hacks & Wonks   “MAGA Republican Semi Bird endorsed by Washington GOP for governor” by Scott Greenstone for KUOW   “The WA GOP put it in writing that they're not into democracy” by Danny Westneat from The Seattle Times   “Corporate backers of Mark Mullet launch an independent expenditure to boost his flagging campaign” by Andrew Villeneuve from The Cascadia Advocate   “Nelson Bill Would Eliminate Minimum Wage for "Gig" Drivers—and Slash Workers' Rights” by Erica Barnett from PubliCola   “Seattle hospitality giant buys into City Council member's Fremont Brewing” by Paul Roberts from The Seattle Times   “Mayor's Office Removed All New Anti-Displacement Proposals from Draft "Anti-Displacement Framework"” by Erica Barnett from PubliCola   “Planners Proposed Bigger Upzones Before Harrell's Team Intervened, Records Show” by Doug Trumm from The Urbanist   Discover the 2 Line | Sound Transit    “How will your life change when Bellevue's light rail opens?” by Joshua McNichols from KUOW   @cruickshank on Twitter/X: “The Seattle Chamber of Commerce is out with a new campaign to Save South Lake Union. From what? you may ask. From a subway station that would be at the center of the neighborhood and serve more riders than their inferior “couplet” plan.”   Email Sound Transit Board of Directors at emailtheboard@soundtransit.org   “Seattle hospital won't turn over gender-affirming care records in lawsuit settlement with Texas” from The Associated Press   “Medical provider leaving Texas over AG investigation into gender affirming care for minors” by S.E. Jenkins from CBS News Texas   Find stories that Crystal is reading here   Listen on your favorite podcast app to all our episodes here

The boys are back with a hot new topic in the world of craft beer brewing. Biotransformation is an innovative tool being used by breweries to unlock new flavors. Also, Jason drinks a whale and Steve tries some of Tennessee's best beers. Beer Tastings: Jason - Barrel-aged Unicorn Tears, Fremont Brewing, Seattle, WA. Style: BA Imperial Milk Stout with Cherry Stephen - Double Homestyle, Bearded Iris Brewing, Nashville, TN. Style: Double IPA Attention Please, Bearded Iris Brewing, Nashville, TN. Style: DDH Hazy IPA

My guest is Anthony Dana Head Brewer at Fidens. A great story about the American Dream. News from Stone, Yuengling, plus the 411 on #Hunaupuday from Cigar City. Tennessee wants to ban the sale of Cold Beer? Samuel Adams turns 40! Alaska Airlines teams up with Fremont Brewing for a beer you can only get at the lounge or plane. Suds and Duds and so much more.  @njcraftbeer  @hoppedupnetwork @sjbeerscene #metalforever #drinklocal #drinkcraftnotcrap #stouts #ipas #lagers #ales #sours #hops #pilsners #porters #gastropub #speakeasy  #growler #beer #jerseybeers #fcancer #smallbusinessowners #beerfestivals #beertours #music #savenjbeer #podcasts #crowlersSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On today's ABR LIVE! review, we  wrap up a recording session with Fremont Brewing's Non-Alcoholic (NA) Orange Wit. We are no strangers to NA offerings, but this Orange Wit style really hit the spot for the entire ABR crew. If anyone has an answer on the calorie count per can on this tasty offering, please drop us a line on our socials.What's In Our Glasses TodayFremont BrewingNA Orange Wit- 12oz Can, 6-Pack- 0.5% ABV- 12 IBUIf you'd like to reach out to the American Beer Review LIVE! crew to give us a beer suggestion or to tell us we suck, you can reach us on any of our socials (in order of how often we check it).You Tube - https://www.youtube.com/@americanbeerreviewInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/abeerreview/Twitter (Never gonna call it X, sorry) - https://twitter.com/abeerreviewFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/americanbeerreviewLinkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/american-beer-review-b257ab255/

In this episode, Ryan and Alex discuss what your competing priorities are costing you in your everyday life with your finances.  The beers of the day are Remlinger Brewery's Gary IPA and Fremont Brewing's Sky Kraken IPA. If you would like to learn more about these beers, please visit their websites https://remlingerfarms.com/brewery/ https://www.fremontbrewing.com/sky-kraken If you would like to learn more about Quantified Financial Partners, please visit our website www.beerandmoney.net  

On this week-in-review, Crystal is joined by Chair of Sierra Club Seattle, long time communications and political strategist, Robert Cruickshank! Robert fills Crystal in on dismaying news about Seattle Public Schools - how the district provoked parent fury by removing teachers and splitting classes after they screwed up enrollment projections, as well as their proposal for an austerity plan that includes school closures and anti-union financial policies. They then switch gears to discuss the conservative National Association of Realtors pouring money into the Seattle City Council races, Sara Nelson's penchant for campaign stunts rather than governing, and right-wingers using high gas prices to take aim at carbon pricing. As always, a full text transcript of the show is available below and at officialhacksandwonks.com. Find the host, Crystal Fincher, on Twitter at @finchfrii and find today's co-host, Robert Cruickshank, at @cruickshank.   Resources “ChrisTiana ObeySumner, Candidate for Seattle City Council District 5” from Hacks & Wonks   “Pete Hanning, Candidate for Seattle City Council District 6” from Hacks & Wonks   “A ‘routine' reconfiguration of Seattle schools brings tears, concerns” by Claire Bryan from The Seattle Times   “‘Please don't break our hearts,' Seattle parents, teachers protest widespread classroom shuffles” by Sami West from KUOW   “Seattle parents raise concerns over classroom size miscalculations by school district” by Denise Whitaker from KOMO   “‘The board needs to make this right'; Parents concerned over SPS restructuring” by Dave Detling from Fox 13   “Seattle Public Schools Unveil Plans for Sweeping Cuts and Lasting Austerity” by Robert Cruickshank from The Urbanist   “National realtors group drops $659k in Seattle, Spokane elections” by Josh Cohen from Crosscut   “Burien Mayor Sees No Issue With Distribution of Homeless People's Private Info, Council Member Blames Her Colleague for Fentanyl Deaths” from PubliCola   “Will high gas prices derail WA's climate policy?” by Conrad Swanson from The Seattle Times   “Don't let the oil industry gaslight us about high prices at the pump” by Leah Missik for The Seattle Times   Find stories that Crystal is reading here   Listen on your favorite podcast app to all our episodes here   Transcript [00:00:00] Crystal Fincher: Welcome to Hacks & Wonks. I'm Crystal Fincher, and I'm a political consultant and your host. On this show, we talk with policy wonks and political hacks to gather insight into local politics and policy in Washington State through the lens of those doing the work with behind-the-scenes perspectives on what's happening, why it's happening, and what you can do about it. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get the full versions of our Tuesday topical show and Friday week-in-review delivered to your podcast feed. If you like us, the most helpful thing you can do is leave a review wherever you listen to Hacks & Wonks. Full transcripts and resources referenced in the show are always available at officialhacksandwonks.com and in our episode notes. If you missed this week's topical shows, we continued our series of Seattle City Council candidate interviews. All 14 candidates for 7 positions were invited, and we had in-depth conversations with many of them. This week, we presented District 5 candidate, ChrisTiana ObeySumner, and District 6 candidate, Pete Hanning. We did not talk with their opponents - Cathy Moore in D5 cancelled and Dan Strauss in D6 declined. Have a listen and stay tuned over the coming weeks - we hope these interviews will help you better understand who these candidates are and inform their choices for the November 7th general election. Today, we're continuing our Friday week-in-review shows where we review the news of the week with a co-host. Welcome back to the program, friend of the show, and today's co-host: Chair of Sierra Club Seattle, longtime communications and political strategist, Robert Cruickshank. [00:01:46] Robert Cruickshank: Hey - thanks for having me back again, Crystal. [00:01:48] Crystal Fincher: Hey, absolutely - thanks for being back. Well, there's a lot of news this week - a lot about everything. We're going to start off by talking about Seattle Public Schools and them really provoking parent fury, once again, by removing teachers and splitting up classes after the district screwed up enrollment projections. What's going on here? [00:02:11] Robert Cruickshank: Yeah, there was a board meeting last night that was packed with parents from across Seattle, and huge media turnout - all four TV stations were there, The Seattle Times was there, KUOW was there - covering this. And what happened is - over the summer, the school district administrators told principals at schools different ratios and rules and projections for enrollments they had to use in determining how many teachers they would have and how many students they could have to a teacher. And there are rules coming from the state about needing to have small class sizes at elementary schools - it's a good thing, we want that. And so the principals went forth with what the district told them, made the assignments, school began in early September - everything's going great. Then all of a sudden, at the beginning of October, just a week ago, the district realized - oops, they screwed up the calculation. And that if they don't fix it, they could lose a $3.6 million grant from the state. Now the state Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction has said that Seattle's actually fine - we don't see an issue yet - but the district claims that they needed to take proactive steps. And so the district did - rather than say, Okay, here's some money to bring on additional teachers so we don't have to remove teachers from schools, so we don't have to take kids away from their classroom a month into the year - the district instead said, No, we're not gonna spend any extra money, we're just gonna move everyone around at 40 different schools, remove some teachers from the classroom entirely, create a bunch of split classes where a bunch of third graders now are gonna go into a room with a bunch of second graders, for example. And parents are furious, and they should be. I can give you a personal story. I have a fourth grader at Adams Elementary in Ballard, and he was in kindergarten when the pandemic hit and schools closed. So he lost half of kindergarten, and then first grade was mostly online. By the time he and his classmates get to second grade, they had any number of problems in the classroom for the full year. Second grade was a disaster for my kid, who had a ton of behavioral issues, and a lot of other kids in the class. Get to third grade, and his teacher at Adams Elementary, Ms. Windus, is excellent and she puts in a ton of work with these kids to get them back on track - helping them get back not just academically, but socially, emotionally. Third grade was great - not just for my kid, but for all the others in the class. Fourth grade's been going great so far. Well, because of these district-mandated cuts, the school has to get rid of Ms. Windus who's like this excellent teacher. And last night at the board meeting, we heard similar stories from across the city, including some really gut-wrenching stories from Southeast Seattle - Orca K-8 and Dunlap Elementaries - teachers of color, parents of color coming up and saying, Look, for the first time in years, I feel like there are teachers who get my kid and you're gonna remove them? One teacher got up and said, Tell me which student I should kick out of my class - the one who is homeless, the one who doesn't get enough to eat, the one who has behavioral issues that I've been able to help correct, the one who didn't think they could learn how to read but now they can? People were furious and rightly so, because what is happening here is the district is trying to make kids pay the price for an adult screw-up, rather than the district figuring out how to make this right without disrupting classrooms in the middle of the year. They've just said - Eh, you all can deal with it, kids can suffer the consequences. And a lot of the kids are ones - like I said earlier, not just like mine - who suffered through the pandemic and all that disruption - but necessary disruption, to be honest - because of the public health needs. But now you wanna make sure that you've got stability for these kids, that once they're bonded to a teacher in a good classroom they stay there - that's the thing they need - is stability. And this district just doesn't care. There are deeper issues, which we should talk about in a moment, but what you saw last night was an outpouring of anger and frustration at a district administration that didn't care, and a school board that just kind of sat there and didn't really make any promises to fix it. [00:06:20] Crystal Fincher: Well, and this seems to be a continuing problem, particularly with that feedback of not feeling like the district is as invested in the success of kids as a primary objective, and not really being responsive to the feedback that parents have. Does this feel like this is a continuation of this issue? [00:06:41] Robert Cruickshank: It's exactly it. The district has made it very clear that they don't care about public feedback - they don't believe that they should be answerable to the public. They don't think that the needs of students is a priority - you see in the media coverage and in the superintendent's words last night - that financial responsibility is their top priority. Well, that sounds pretty neoliberal. This is - let's put money first ahead of the needs of kids. There were a number of teachers who were there last night - and parents said similar things - who were like, We're in the richest city in the richest country in the history of the world with some of the wealthiest billionaires here, some of the largest companies here. Surely we can figure out how to solve this by working with the Legislature to tax the rich rather than making kids pay the price. The point I made last night at the board meeting is - Even if we can't get legislative money right now because they're not in session, why don't we take money from something else, like Central Office? We should be taking money away from administrator salaries - and they can do with less - rather than decide the first way to take money is to take out of the classroom. [00:07:51] Crystal Fincher: Well, and I guess that's a question that I have, that I've heard asked - what are the actual remedies here? Is this a situation where there are no good options or are there, is there a way to move forward without creating this type of disruption? [00:08:05] Robert Cruickshank: So Seattle's kids are stuck between two bad actors. On the one hand, the school district, which is deeply mismanaged. And a number of candidates for the board, like Debbie Carlsen, and a number of parents last night have been calling for an independent forensic audit of the school - of the district - and its spending. I've heard similar things from legislators who say - Hey, we're giving the district money, we don't know where it goes. So an independent audit and management reforms are necessary. On the other hand, our kids are also being hurt by the State Legislature and a Democratic majority that has not made it a priority to fund our public schools. So what do you do in the meantime? Like I said, I think the answer has to be for the district to figure out - where can they pull money from right now? If you need to lay off administrators, highly-paid assistant superintendents or something in the middle of the year, do it. These folks make a fair amount of money - you save teachers here and there. Parents have also raised questions about the new calculations that are being used to determine which schools lose teachers. In fact, a number of schools - including the one my kid attends - have seen enrollment go up. So this isn't a case of declining enrollment causing problems. At some of these schools, they've been adding kids back, which is great - you want to see that - and now they're getting punished for it. So you've got to take a look at - do we need to make mid-year cuts in the Central Office to free up money? Do we need to have some independent auditors come in and figure out what's going wrong? District administrators and most board members don't seem to want to do any of that, even though kids are paying the price. [00:09:34] Crystal Fincher: And I guess that leads me into a question about the long-term finances and outlook of the district, which is troubling. They're looking at deficits, as are many districts in the state, and we've talked about that before. Seattle Public Schools is proposing an austerity plan. What does that mean, and what kind of impact will that have? [00:09:57] Robert Cruickshank: Yeah, so to be clear, districts across the state are facing financial problems because of the Legislature. In fact, there are at least three districts north of Everett that are under financial monitoring by the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. So the question is - how do you respond to this? What Seattle Public Schools is proposing, and this came up last night after parents had vented their anger - the board went on to talk about a new financial policy that they're proposing, which is essentially permanent austerity. It would involve locking the district in at a budget level that is $200 million below where it was at last spring. They would have multi-year budget planning - an idea that was initially introduced to the State Legislature by Republicans - which would mean that you have a low baseline and you have very strict rules about how you can add money back. So if we succeed in getting the Legislature to pass a wealth tax, for example, and more money comes to the public schools, this financial policy would make it very hard for the district to go back and add because they could say - Oh, well, this isn't in our four-year fiscal plan, we don't know where we can put this money. There are also some interesting parts of the policy - and this came up for heated debate last night among board members - that are pretty obviously anti-union. I had an article at the Urbanist yesterday about this - and there are provisions that are clearly trying to undo the Seattle Education Association's gains in the contract last year during the strike. And in fact, one board member, Chandra Hampson - very neoliberal board member - openly said, Well, maybe we should look at reopening the collective bargaining agreement. - which a lot of people's eyes went wide, and jaws dropped, and made it clear we can't really do that. Teachers were there last night also to protest against this. There are other provisions in there which seem designed to hold down teacher salaries - it's all pretty neoliberal austerity-type stuff. And what's interesting to me is the contrast to what's going on at City Hall. I think a lot of our listeners probably saw an op-ed in The Seattle Times from about two weeks ago, by Rachel Smith of the Chamber of Commerce and Jon Scholes of the Downtown Seattle Association, saying that City Hall shouldn't raise taxes on corporations and the rich. Instead, you need to cut your spending and just focus on outcomes. And now you're seeing some of the conservative candidates, like Maritza Rivera and others, saying that same thing on the campaign trail now. Well, Seattle Public Schools is about to adopt that exact strategy - of slashing spending, saying - Oh, we're focusing on outcomes, even though the effects on kids are clearly devastating. What this is leading up to - and this is starting to get discussed among parents last night at the board meeting - the district has said for months now they want to close a bunch of schools in the district next year. And if you think moving a couple of kids around and teachers around in the middle of October is disruptive, wait until you close an entire school. The effect of school closures is devastating on kids. People may remember 10 years ago in Chicago when Rahm Emanuel closed 50 schools there - it was devastating for the community. Research made it extremely clear that kids whose schools were closed did more poorly academically than kids whose schools remained open. I mentioned that to the board and the superintendent last night - we'll see if they paid any attention to it. But it's clear that the school district is on a trajectory where they are embracing huge cuts - they want to spend less on our kids, regardless of the consequences. And it's gonna take parents rising up against that here in the district, and also us going to Olympia and making sure the Democratic majority there finally takes its paramount duty responsibility under the Constitution seriously and fully funds our schools. [00:13:38] Crystal Fincher: If the Legislature doesn't, is the district gonna have much of a choice but to close these schools? [00:13:45] Robert Cruickshank: They do. I think what is happening is the district initially said earlier this year that they needed to close schools to save money. But in articles that have come out since, district leaders have been saying - Well, actually, it's not really about money. There is a article in The Seattle Times in late August where they quoted the superintendent, Brent Jones, who said - We're not gonna see any savings from closing schools next year when there's a $100 million budget deficit, we might see savings two to five years out. The district closed schools in the late 2000s, only to learn a few years later that they had completely missed their enrollment projections - and by the early 2010s, they had to spend $50 to $60 million to reopen schools they had just closed a few years earlier. So it's not clear that closing schools is gonna help them. Finally, there's the issue of - if you've been moving kids around and making clear that their needs aren't as important as meeting a couple of financial projections in the middle of school year and then you close their schools, parents aren't gonna sit for that. A lot of them are just gonna walk away - they might move to a suburban district, they may put their kids in some private school. So closing schools sets in motion potentially a spiral of declining enrollment, which means less money coming to the school district. [00:15:05] Crystal Fincher: Now, it seems like that's a problem that they're destined to run into again, with as volatile as enrollment can be - but it does seem to be cyclical. There are lots of times - oh, enrollment is just down. Well, it doesn't ever seem to just stay down. It doesn't ever seem to just stay up. So it seems like the decision of opening and closing schools - and the tremendous expense that comes with opening and closing schools, in addition to the disruption that comes from it - is an extreme response to something that we know is likely to be, has always been a temporary condition. Has this been discussed at all from the board level? Have they responded to that? [00:15:50] Robert Cruickshank: Not really. And I think what you saw last night and with this current issue of the class sizes and allocations in the elementary schools, it's not clear that the district really has a handle on an ability to project enrollment at all. Ultimately, there's no need for the school district to do anything just yet. The legislative session begins in January. Typically, a school district does not approve its budget until late in the spring or even early in the summer. The Legislature was very close to passing a wealth tax last year - there were 43 out of 58 Democrats in the House who co-sponsored the wealth tax bill, certainly more would have voted for it. 20 of 29 state senators voted for the wealth tax. And significantly, there's been major change in the state Senate Democratic caucus - the previous chair of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, Christine Rolfes, a Democrat from Bainbridge Island, did not give the wealth tax a vote. She begrudgingly held a hearing on it in the 2023 session, but wouldn't bring it up for a vote - has blocked efforts to add more funding for our schools. Well, she left the Legislature over the summer to become a Kitsap County Commissioner. Her replacement as chair of the Ways and Means Committee, which handles all the budget bills for the Senate, is June Robinson from Everett - much more progressive. She was a leader in getting the capital gains tax done. The new vice-chair of the Senate Ways and Means Committee is Seattle's own Joe Nguyen from West Seattle, who is a champion of various wealth taxes - and has said he wants to fight to fund our schools. So I think there are real opportunities for our schools and for families in Olympia in January - we need to fight for those. We also need to make sure that the district doesn't prematurely embrace an austerity plan that will hurt our kids even further. [00:17:34] Crystal Fincher: Absolutely. We'll definitely keep an eye on this. And thank you for being so steadfast and following this - and advocating for not only your kid, but all of the kids in the district. I wanna talk about investment in Seattle City Council races - these campaigns are running hot and heavy right now, less than a month until Election Day, ballots are going to be mailed next week. So we have a lot that's happening and a lot of outside spending is beginning to show itself, including a very large investment from the National Association of Realtors. What are they doing? [00:18:13] Robert Cruickshank: So the National Association of Realtors has dumped about a quarter of a million dollars into campaigns to try to elect Tanya Woo in District 2, Joy Hollingsworth in District 3, Maritza Rivera in District 4, Bob Kettle in District 7. And there's been some good discussion online about this - well, why would the National Association of Realtors support candidates who are less friendly to building new housing in Seattle? And some speculation is that - oh, they wanna have less supply of housing so the price of housing stays high. That might be part of it. But if folks have been paying attention to either the National Association of Realtors or their Washington state arm, the nut of this is they're a right-wing conservative organization. They hate taxes. The fight for the capital gains tax in State Legislature involved strong, determined, long-term opposition from the realtors - they were some of the biggest opponents of a capital gains tax to fund our schools. The National Association of Realtors is in fact mired in scandal right now. Redfin, Seattle-based Redfin, recently left the National Association of Realtors because there are a series of sexual harassment allegations, antitrust lawsuits against the National Association of Realtors. Similar spending has come in in some of these races in Seattle City Council as well, for the same candidates, from the Master Builders. And so again, people wondering why - people like Ron Davis or Alex Hudson are really strong supporters of building more housing. So is Andrew Lewis. But again, this is just conservative politics - they don't want higher taxes. These people who run these organizations are Sara Nelson types - law and order, crackdown on crime, darn the consequences, and by the way, don't raise taxes. That's what this is really about. In fact, they're willing to undermine their stated goals of building more housing, selling more homes in order to achieve their real objective, which is right-wing ideologies. [00:20:18] Crystal Fincher: Yeah, this is a troubling trend, unfortunately. We have seen realtors engage in elections in Washington across the state in several previous cycles - and some very controversially. And to your point, usually they have been seen in these candidate races recently, engaging in ways that are very inflammatory, that are targeting candidates that are not conservative - usually running against conservatives - where issues such as taxes are on the ballot, but then being willing to use a number of social wedge issues to intervene here. So this is quite a significant investment in these races that they're making - not only Seattle City Council races, there is also a Spokane race - they have engaged in Spokane in this similar way before in prior cycles. In fact, I'm recalling one from 2021 right now - I think with Councilmember Zack Zappone out there. So it is not shocking to see them engage in this way, but once again, we're seeing the influence of big money in these elections. And this is something that Seattle has had a very negative reaction to before in these races. And so do you think this is gonna see the kind of reaction that we saw like in 2017 - when Amazon was so influential in spending money in those races? [00:21:44] Robert Cruickshank: I don't know. I would like to think so, but I'm not sure. Amazon is the colossus of big corporations, especially here in Seattle. And everyone knows throughout the 2010s that Amazon grew dramatically, the city filled up with people working at Amazon - most of them are good progressive people who don't share the company's politics. But there's a sense that Amazon was distorting the way Seattle was growing and that Amazon was a bad corporate actor - in fact, the Biden administration just sued them over antitrust allegations a few weeks back. So everyone knows Amazon. Everyone knows Amazon is a villain - at least the corporate leadership. The National Association of Realtors and Master Builders are not nearly as well-known. They are right-wing interests, but the narrative isn't the same. It's interesting to me that Amazon is not playing overtly and publicly in these elections - I think they learned their lesson from 2019 when it blew up in their face. They're probably happy to see that burden, especially the financial burden, taken up by the Realtors and the Master Builders. But I think ultimately people are gonna wonder why all this money is coming in. Seattle is a city that supports clean elections - it's a city that pioneered the Democracy Voucher. It's a city that if we could, if the US Supreme Court would allow it, we'd probably ban all of these super PACs and corporate contributions - we can't because of federal rulings at the Supreme Court level. So I think while the Realtors and the Builders have a lower profile than Amazon, I think there is a chance the public will see this massive spending and think - Eh, I don't know if I like that. Seattle voters, especially those in the middle - that 20% of the electorate in the middle that can swing back and forth between a more conservative and a more progressive candidate - they don't like powerful, wealthy, private and corporate business interests telling them how to vote. [00:23:40] Crystal Fincher: Yeah, it'll be interesting - in my opinion - to see how this shakes out because this is not a situation like Amazon or where the Chamber essentially overplayed their hand and saying, Well, we're just gonna buy these elections. And you're right - Seattle typically doesn't have a - doesn't respond well to that. So I think in this situation, to your point, it is different in that we don't see the concentration of that spending coming from one source, but I think we are seeing it kind of trickling in from these different sources. And it'll be interesting to see at the end of the day what that amount of spending winds up being and how influential that is. Money is influential in politics, unfortunately. And Seattle has taken steps to try and equalize the playing field, allow more access to people running to be credible candidates - especially with the Democracy Voucher program - but there still is not a cap on spending in any kind of way when it comes to independent expenditures. And these big corporate-focused organizations who are spending in these races - know and understand that and aren't afraid to use it. And are feeling the heat right now because they're seeing popular sentiment - we keep seeing these polls of people in Seattle that they keep trying to explain away, but this is where the people are at. So this is really their recourse and they're fighting against the majority of people being in support of things like a wealth tax, like a capital gains tax, like an income tax, really. And so they're freaking out behind the scenes, realistically, and this is the manifestation of that. This is how they feel they can fight back - in these independent expenditures from corporate entities in these elections. So it's a dynamic that they used to feel much more comfortable, I think, in knowing that - hey, especially citywide elections, these elections, we're gonna be able to get our person in. We know that we can spend enough to get them into the general and we can control the narrative. We know that a lot of times, the Times editorial board has a similar narrative to their interests - that that will carry the day. But between elections being districted now in Seattle, which that's a relatively recent development, and some more candidates having access to get on the ballot now, and that just the demographics and the impacts of income inequality and everything that we see flow from that being so present in our communities today - people are looking at that differently than they did, say, 10 years ago. So this is gonna be really interesting to see how this shakes out. [00:26:32] Robert Cruickshank: I think that's right. And I think that the big spending matters - it helps drive a narrative and a conversation, but it has to resonate with people. And as you're explaining this, my mind immediately went back to Green Jacket Lady. If you remember from a couple of weeks ago, Fox News came to Seattle and tried to show that - oh, people are really worried about public safety - and they got a totally different response, including a woman in a green jacket who said, What are you talking about? Like, I don't feel unsafe in the city at all. You saw somebody using drugs from the safety of your car and you're scared? And that's a real response from real Seattleite voters. All this fear-mongering that The Seattle Times, and these corporate interests, and Sara Nelson and her crew are trying to stoke doesn't resonate. And if you look at the election outcomes from the primary, a lot of those candidates who were trying to run on those fears - they were trailing their more progressive opponents. We'll see what happens - ballots are in the mail next week - I don't wanna take anything for granted. At the same time, there's a substantial number of voters in Seattle who do not buy that narrative at all. They want smart solutions - doesn't mean they are totally happy with open public drug use, they're not concerned about break-ins - they are. But they also want smart solutions to those and they're not gonna be fear-mongered into actually not doing anything - they're not gonna be fear-mongered into supporting right-wing candidates as a result. [00:28:02] Crystal Fincher: Yeah, and I think you're absolutely right about that. I think there's a misconception - it's just like, Well, some people just aren't concerned - but the majority of people are concerned. I think almost everybody is very concerned and unhappy with what they see out there - unhappy with what I see out there. Do I want people sleeping on the streets? Do I want people battling addiction and behavioral health issues that there's no one there to address? Absolutely not. But I think the misread is that - therefore we need to continue doing the same things that we've been talking about, for a decade really, and seeing things get worse while we do that. I think people have grown impatient with doing the same thing and getting the same failed result. And wanting meaningful investment in behavioral health treatment and addiction treatment, in housing, right - and really meaningfully solving these problems. And it seems like the issue here is that we have a number of candidates - candidates on one side - who seem like they want to continue largely with the status quo. And that status quo has been kind of a carceral focus - well, we can jail people, we can sweep them - but not doing the things that we know have been successful to really solve these problems in the longterm and not just move people from one area to another, have people go just in this revolving door in and out of jail - because jail can't address the problems that they're ultimately dealing with. I think people right now are saying - I'm fed up with this, but I actually want someone who will do something different that has a chance to fix this. [00:29:41] Robert Cruickshank: That's exactly right. Polls continue to show several things consistently - Yes, the public is concerned about homelessness. Yes, the public is concerned about public safety. That doesn't mean they're concerned about it in the ways the right-wingers are, as you just explained. Those polls also show the public wants an alternative to armed policing - that is extremely popular across polls since 2020 - and they also want to tax the rich to fund it. That is incredibly strong, and that shows up in all the polls as well. And so these candidates who oppose those things are trying to stoke the fears and concerns, and the progressive candidates have to be smart about this - you don't dismiss public concerns, you explain why your answer is better. And that does resonate - that is resonating across the campaign trail, you see it at town halls, you see it when candidates are at the doors - their message gets a good response. [00:30:32] Crystal Fincher: Absolutely, and this reminds me of an ad that I saw this morning that is really - for Seattle - a really inflammatory ad. And it was an ad from Bob Kettle, who is the candidate running against Andrew Lewis in Seattle's District 7, which covers the downtown area. And it's Bob Kettle and one of his big supporters, Sara Nelson - the most conservative member on the city council, I think most would say. And in this ad, Bob basically says - Hey, I'm running because of crime, and because this problem has gotten bad, and we need to crack down, basically. And Sara Nelson explicitly saying - Hey, Andrew Lewis didn't vote for my drug bill, and he is responsible for the deaths of people from fentanyl overdose, which is a wild accusation - for a couple of reasons. One, Andrew actually ultimately ended up voting for that bill. Two, just to say that not cracking down on a carceral solution is responsible for people's deaths - flies in the face of data, flies in the face of all available evidence that we know and that we have here, especially since incarceration has proven to be extremely ineffective. And risk after incarceration of overdose is the highest there - because people haven't been using for a while, their tolerance has gone down, but they're going back into the same environment they were with no additional tools of support - and are most likely to overdose in that situation. What do you think of an accusation like this? [00:32:12] Robert Cruickshank: I think it's absurd. And it shows the lengths to which - not just Bob Kettle, but Sara Nelson in particular, will go to try to defeat progressives. 'Cause that's what Sara Nelson's really about - you watch her on the council - she's not a data-driven elected official at all. Her positions are often inconsistent and certainly inconsistent with data. But what she really wants to do is defeat progressives - defeat progressive candidates and progressive ideas. And it's kind of shocking - you and I both worked in the McGinn administration 10 years ago, and Sara Nelson was a lead staffer for then-Council President Richard Conlin. And at the time, my interactions with Sara Nelson were great. She seemed - I don't know about progressive necessarily, but certainly left of center - really forward thinking, interested in sustainability, really smart, knowledgeable, thoughtful staffer. Somewhere in the 10 years since, she made a hard right turn. Now, a lot of people have done that, especially in the late 2010s in reaction to movements for Black lives and efforts to reform police. And as the city becomes more progressive, there's a certain type of Seattleite react really negatively to that. A small business owner like Sara Nelson, who owns Fremont Brewing, certainly seems to be one of those. And the City Councilmember Sara Nelson - a totally different animal from the Council staffer Sara Nelson we saw 10 years ago - is primarily driven by a desire to beat progressives. And here she sees an opportunity not to solve the problem of fentanyl addiction, not to solve a problem of public safety, but to beat an enemy. And in order to do that, she's willing to go to just absurd lengths. To accuse Andrew Lewis of being personally responsible for the death of drug addicts is a really awful thing to say about one of your own colleagues. But Sara Nelson thinks she can get away with it because again, she's clearly uninterested in having good relations with someone who's highly likely to get reelected. If Andrew Lewis wins, she's gonna have to work with him. She doesn't seem to care about any of that - she's not interested in building a strong relationship with a colleague. She's willing to just, you know, scorch the earth to try to get him defeated. Now there is a type of voter in Seattle who will respond to that, but it's not a majority of the electorate by any means - certainly in District 7, it's not the majority. [00:34:27] Crystal Fincher: Yeah, it definitely doesn't appear to be the majority there. And this is not the first time that we have seen this come from Sara Nelson, or candidates that Sara Nelson supports. We saw a media stunt earlier in the cycle - it was about a month ago - where she was with the District 2 candidate there and in a really cynical response and really tried to turn it into a photo-op, talking about crime or public safety, something like that, saying - Where is Tammy Morales? Well, Tammy Morales was literally doing her job that the taxpayers pay her for - she was at a meeting of the city council where they were discussing the Transportation Plan - a meeting that Sara Nelson wasn't at, that she used as a stunt to call out her colleague actually doing the work that they're paid to do, that Sara Nelson wasn't doing. So it's just like - it seems like Sara Nelson is uninterested in the governing part of the job, which is the job, but very interested in these stunts and this inflammatory rhetoric and running against councilmembers, really regardless of ideology, but that disagree with her, right? Because I don't think many people are - you know, would say Tammy Morales and Andrew Lewis are the same on every issue. I think it's fair to say most people consider Tammy Morales to be more progressive than Andrew Lewis, not that Andrew Lewis is not progressive. But it's - in that situation, it's just like - what are you even talking about? And are you working with these colleagues? Are you engaging with data? Are you working towards a solution? Are you just trying to inflame people with rhetoric, and these stunts, and going on conservative talk radio and doing this? And now we see this really inflammatory ad land. It just seems like Sara Nelson is really uninterested in governing. [00:36:17] Robert Cruickshank: That's exactly right. And, you know, again, I think of Green Jacket Lady and Fox News because those are stunts that the national Republicans are really good at. You see it in Congress, right - the fight over the speakership - it's all about stunts to win the news cycle and defeat their opponents. Sara Nelson is engaging in the exact same stuff. She doesn't govern, she's not interested in data, very lightly interested in policy - it's all about stunts. That's all she knows how to do, that's all she really cares about because that's how she thinks she wins her actual objective, which is to defeat anyone she thinks as being progressive. We'll see what happens - like I said, there is a group of voters in Seattle that responds well to that. I don't think it's a majority of voters, even in District 7, but a lot of this comes down to turnout. We have elections here in Seattle in odd years - a lot of cities across the country have been moving their local elections to even-numbered years to make sure that more voters are participating in the process of choosing who represents them in City Hall. Seattle hasn't gone down that path yet - I think we should. We all know that there is much higher turnout in even-year elections in Seattle than odd-year elections. So this is not going to be so much a question of - can Sara Nelson convince more progressive Seattleites to turn on Andrew Lewis, and are more progressive Seattleites gonna show up and vote? [00:37:38] Crystal Fincher: Yeah, and it's challenging. The one thing that the people who love stunts - traditionally conservatives, Republicans - have done well for years is really, for their audience, connecting every single policy to a politician, to an issue at the ballot box. And really over the year, over the years in between these elections, really saying - This is the fault of this person. It was Kshama Sawant for a while while she was on the council, now they're trying to find a new person that they can blame this on. But that seems to be the MO there - it's the fault of this person - and they're constantly hearing that in their media ecosystems. It's not the same on the left - we don't talk about issues to that degree. Now there's more facts involved in a lot of these discussions than those - kind of in those right echo chambers - but still the connection isn't constantly being made. So when it comes time for people to turn out in these elections, you have a group that - based on, again, a lot of data that does not turn out to be true - that is missing tons of context, but they're eager to get voting. Which is why we see kind of in - because we do voting by mail - we can see those really eager voters, those getting their ballots in immediately, skew more conservative - they're ready to vote. Where people on the more progressive side need more information to vote - the communication does make a difference, which is part of the reason why you see spending on communication and them throwing so much money in there because they know that is influential and impactful in today's political world. So the job is really for progressives to communicate about the stakes of this election, to communicate and share with your friends and family. There's a lot of people online - I am a chronically online person also - but it's like, I've seen people over the years kind of focus on advocacy online and skip their friends, their cousins, their family, all the people that they're surrounded with in their lives, people you talk to at work. Those are the people who most need to hear from you - Hey, you voting? You voting for this person? 'Cause like these policies that we've talked about, this issue that I know makes you upset, that I know you're frustrated about is really at stake in this election, especially in local elections that don't get the kind of national attention that our federal elections do. So I am just impressing upon everybody listening to make sure you talk about how important these local city council races are to people in your lives - and whether it's school board, city council - all of these positions are critically important. And it takes you getting engaged with people in your life to get the kind of turnout to win these elections. [00:40:34] Robert Cruickshank: That's exactly right. I remember in 2019 - during that city council election that Amazon was trying to buy - being on the bus going downtown from my home in Greenwood, and just getting my phone out and going through my list of contacts - in text, Facebook Messenger, whatever it was - whatever the last communication I had with them, I went to that medium and sent them a message saying, Hey, have you voted yet? You got your ballot in? Here's a deadline, here's the nearest dropbox. And I was actually surprised the number of people who hadn't yet voted and were thankful for the reminder - and these are often people who are politically aware and engaged. So it makes a huge difference to talk to your networks, your friends, your family, your neighbors. Those are some of the people you can be the most influential with, and it is worth taking the time to do that when ballots arrive next week. [00:41:25] Crystal Fincher: Absolutely. I wanna talk about something incredibly important that is happening right now that seems to consistently fly under the radar, but is tremendously impactful for all of our lives. And this situation taking shape - in that right-wingers really are trying to use gas prices to take aim at carbon pricing, especially here in our state. What's happening with this? [00:41:51] Robert Cruickshank: Yeah, so over the course of 2023, as gas prices rise - and they're rising across the country for many reasons, which we'll talk about in a moment - there's been a clear effort here in Washington State to blame that on the Climate Commitment Act, which the Legislature adopted in 2021, which creates a carbon pricing system. And has been raising more than a billion dollars a year to fund important projects to reduce carbon emissions. Their arguments are - and you see this in The Seattle Times all the time - that, Oh my gosh, gas prices in Washington are some of the nation's highest because we passed the Climate Commitment Act. This is not true. We all knew that going into this, passing the Climate Commitment Act could, as it did in California, add maybe five, seven cents a gallon to the price of gas - which would be dwarfed and has been by global trends. Gas prices are sky high right now in part because of demand for driving, in part because of oil company shenanigans with how they manage refineries to try to keep the price high. And in particular, the number one reason why gas prices are high is because of OPEC, geopolitics, and the Saudi government deliberately cutting production to try to squeeze Joe Biden to get what they want out of him or to help elect Trump. This has all been reported in the news, this is no secret. And yet these right-wingers - backed by the Western States Petroleum Association, the oil company lobbying arm - continue to try to put out a media narrative, and you saw it again in The Seattle Times over the weekend, trying to blame the Climate Commitment Act for high gas prices. This is not an idle threat. Tim Eyman has been defanged - he's gone bankrupt, he's pretty much out of the initiative business - but there are new people trying to take his place. Guy named Brian Heywood has raised a whole bunch of money to try and qualify six right-wing ballot initiatives for the state ballot in 2024 - one of which would repeal the capital gains tax, another which would repeal the Climate Commitment Act. And so that's what the backstory is here - there is a effort backed by the right-wing to try to go after Washington State's effort to tackle the climate crisis. I think voters understand if you explain to them that - No, this is not why our gas prices are high. We can get rid of the Climate Commitment Act tomorrow and you're still gonna pay $5.50 a gallon for gas. We need to do other things to address transportation costs, including spending billions of dollars a year to give people the opportunity to get around their community without having to burn fossil fuel - that's what people want - that's our goal as environmentalists is not to make people pay a lot of money. Our goal is to give people alternatives that are affordable - that's a story, a message we can win with, but we have to fight a lot of oil company money and The Seattle Times, which is not as interested in telling the story. I will say a colleague of mine at the Sierra Club, Leah Missik, who also works for Climate Solutions, had an excellent op-ed - I think we can link it in the show notes - in the Seattle Times of all places over the summer, really just debunking all these arguments against the Climate Commitment Act, pointing out that the real reasons why gas prices are high, and pointing out that the oil companies are behind all of this. [00:45:00] Crystal Fincher: Absolutely. And it's no secret - I have had my issues with the Climate Commitment Act, but one thing that is clear is that the revenue from the Climate Commitment Act is absolutely critical in addressing our infrastructure, and making the kinds of changes - and having the chance to make those changes in a just and equitable way - in order to make this transition to a clean energy future, to reduce fossil fuel emissions. And this is not an option that we have, right? We have to get this done. And the opportunity for progress, right, is here. And we're talking about the elimination of that opportunity for something that everyone but climate deniers understand is absolutely critical and necessary. And we're really seeing that element getting engaged here in this fight against the Climate Commitment Act - this is a chance for progress right here, and we need to move forward with this and several other things, right? But just blaming that for gas prices is completely disingenuous - it flies counter to facts. And it's always rich to me that people who are engaging in this conversation for gas prices, which absolutely do impact people's budgets and eat into their discretionary income if they have any, but that pales in comparison to the cost of housing, to the cost of childcare, to even the increasing cost of groceries, right? These things that we don't hear these conservative elements get engaged with in any kind of way, but something that they feel that they can use as a wedge issue here is one that we're seeing. So it's just very cynical - it is really unfortunate that they're not engaging in good faith with this. And I think we see most of the time voters reject these kinds of efforts, but it really is going to take a continued effort to explain that - No, this isn't the fault of gas prices and repealing the Climate Commitment Act isn't gonna do anything with gas prices, which by all accounts are going to get more volatile as we go on with time. So we need to stand up alternatives to just needing to purchase gas constantly all the time - whether it's through EVs, investing in transit, investing in safe, walkable, bikeable communities - we shouldn't force people to burn gas to earn a living and to build a life. [00:47:33] Robert Cruickshank: I was talking with my wife about this and remembering in the 1970s, late 1970s, when Carter was president and there was another energy crisis. And Carter was trying to invest in getting us off of oil. Reagan becomes president, says - No, no, no, no, no. We're just gonna double down on oil and fossil fuels. For the 40 years since, anytime we have an opportunity to try to get off of dependence on fossil fuels, this country finds a way to not do it. And the only outcome has been gas prices get more and more expensive and we have no alternative but to pay it. Those of us who live in Seattle have some option for not having to pay for gas to drive - you can walk, you can bike more easily, you can take transit, more and more people have electric cars but those are expensive. But if you live outside Seattle, you have virtually no ability to get around, to get to school, to get to work, to get to shopping without paying for gas. It shouldn't have to be that way, and there are groups, environmentalists, who have been trying to fix this for decades. And we keep running into the same problems - oil companies like to make money off of this, they don't care about the consequences as long as the money keeps rolling in. We finally got a Climate Commitment Act. And as you say, it's not perfect. In fact, Sierra Club was neutral on it because of concerns about where the money would go. But we also believe that that can be fixed in a legislative process and certainly wouldn't support a repeal. And so this is where we can move forward and make sure this is done correctly. Or we just quit again, as we have every time for the last 45 years, and then we'll be complaining the gas prices are at $7 a gallon, $8 a gallon. We know that that's coming if we don't act now to give people the option to stop having to buy gas, stop having to spend so much money, and keep more of that money in their pocket and get around the communities sustainably. [00:49:25] Crystal Fincher: Absolutely. And with that, we thank you for listening to Hacks & Wonks on this Friday, October 13th, 2023. The producer of Hacks & Wonks is Shannon Cheng. Our insightful co-host today was Chair of Sierra Club Seattle, longtime communications and political strategist, Robert Cruickshank. You can find Robert on Twitter @cruickshank. You can follow Hacks & Wonks on Twitter @HacksWonks. You can find me on Twitter and most other platforms - Robert also on other platforms - I'm @finchfrii with two I's at the end. You can catch Hacks & Wonks on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts - just type "Hacks and Wonks" into the search bar - I love using Overcast for mine. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get the full versions of our Friday week-in-review shows and our Tuesday topical shows delivered to your podcast feed. If you like us, leave a review wherever you listen. You can also get a full transcript of this episode and links to the resources referenced in the show at officialhacksandwonks.com and in the podcast episode notes. Thanks for tuning in - talk to you next time.

This month on the City Brew Tours Beer Club Podcast we explore Seattle, Washington! On this episode, Chad and Todd try Fremont Brewing's Blood Orange, Lime & Sea Salt Gose and Georgetown Brewing Company's “Bodhizafa” IPA. They are joined by Andrew Dekay, Head of Sales at Georgetown Brewing. In this episode, the trio discuss how Georgetown Brewing was once the largest draft-only brewery in America. They chat about the movie “Point Break” and the influence the film has on the brewery. Later, they talk about the culture of Georgetown Brewing and the allure of fresh hop season in the Pacific Northwest. You can drink along with us from the comfort of home! Join the City Brew Tours Beer Club, get delicious beers delivered monthly, then tune into our weekly interactive virtual beer tastings on Tuesday evenings. Visit shop.citybrewtours.com to join! Cheers! Subscribe to the most well-traveled beer podcast in the nation! Follow us as we travel the country finding America's BEST undiscovered craft beer! Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/citybrewtours Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/citybrewtours Fremont Brewing - https://www.fremontbrewing.com/ Georgetown Brewing Company - https://www.georgetownbeer.com/

In this episode, Ryan and Alex discuss if a 20 year old needs estate planning documents and why. The beers of the day are Fremont Brewing's Hustle Double IPA and Widmer Brothers Hefeweizen. To learn more about these beers, please visit their websites https://www.fremontbrewing.com/hustle https://www.widmerbrothers.com/beer/hefe If you would like to learn more about Quantified Financial Partners, please visit our website www.beerandmoney.net  

Tonight, we drink about I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER (1997) w/ Summer Ale by Fremont Brewing! Subscribe & Follow Us For More! Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/beardsandbrewscast/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/BeardsBrewsCast Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/BeardsAndBrewsCast/ YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/BeardsBrewsCast Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/3nPheoIMb7Vw0GEDW8dBHC Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/cf93732b-f2a8-4c4b-b432-8887764b3264/beards-brews Audible - https://www.audible.com/pd/Beards-Brews-Podcast/B09TY5NCGM?qid=1647461351&sr=1-1&ref=a_search_c3_lProduct_1_1&pf_rd_p=83218cca-c308-412f-bfcf-90198b687a2f&pf_rd_r=7EQ2086N7Y729SVMQNWQ Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/beards-brews/id1600773272 Google Podcasts - https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy80ZGU3ZWQ1MC9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw== Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/beards-brews Breaker - https://www.breaker.audio/beards-and-brews Pocket Casts - https://pca.st/ffo6j958 Radios Public - https://radiopublic.com/beards-brews-WPw4rQ

In a contentious 5-4 decision, the Seattle City Council rejected a new law that would have allowed for drug possession to be prosecuted as a gross misdemeanor, providing another chapter in the city's ongoing struggles with drug addiction and crime. The decision, which has triggered a wave of disappointment from critics, essentially keeps drugs decriminalized in the city despite the rapid spread of fentanyl addiction and associated deaths. "It's crazy town," one commentator described the city, noting how some Seattleites appear more interested in "reimagining" laws than enforcing them.Interestingly, one of the four dissenting votes came from council member Sarah Nelson of Fremont Brewing. Nelson publicly voiced her frustration at the council's refusal to align with the statewide drug law passed in May. "I was shocked," she told Jason Rants on 770 AM KTTH, framing the decision as a failure to address the rampant drug problem plagically plaguing Seattle. Yet, for the majority on the city council, further deliberation and reimagining seemed more pressing than immediate action - a stance critics find perplexingly disconnected from the reality of Seattle's streets.Further confounding critics, council member Andrew Lewis, originally planning to vote for the measure, backed out citing the need for further committee discussion. This decision to delay direct action is seen by many as just another layer of bureaucracy inhibiting effective responses to the city's drug and crime problems. Ultimately, with the city council choosing to keep drugs decriminalized for now, the question that remains is: will the citizens of Seattle make a different choice in the next election cycle?#SeattleCityCouncil #DrugDecriminalization #PublicPolicyFailSupport the show

John C. Fremont was a man who had a ton of things named after him for a multitude of reasons. He liked to do things his way. Listen to the resident atlas beer guys as they talk about his adventures and sip on this 13% ABV beer from Fremont Brewing Company.

It makes up 90-95% of your beer but out of all the ingredients in beer water seems to get the least attention. Join your hosts this week as they shine a spotlight on this underrated player that affects both the flavor and the expression of flavors in your favorite brews. Also, the Mandela effect, macro diets, and romantic origin stories. Beer Tastings: Jason - Coconut Pie Face, Revision Brewing, Sparks, NV. Style: Imperial Stout with Vanilla, Cacao, and Coconut Stephen - The Rusty Nail, Fremont Brewing, Seattle, WA. Style: BBA Oatmeal Stout with Licorice and Cinnamon --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Tonight, we drink about The Blob (1988) w/ Ectoplasm by Fremont Brewing! Subscribe & Follow Us For More! Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/beardsandbrewscast/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/BeardsBrewsCast Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/BeardsAndBrewsCast/ YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/BeardsBrewsCast Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/3nPheoIMb7Vw0GEDW8dBHC Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/cf93732b-f2a8-4c4b-b432-8887764b3264/beards-brews Audible - https://www.audible.com/pd/Beards-Brews-Podcast/B09TY5NCGM?qid=1647461351&sr=1-1&ref=a_search_c3_lProduct_1_1&pf_rd_p=83218cca-c308-412f-bfcf-90198b687a2f&pf_rd_r=7EQ2086N7Y729SVMQNWQ Anchor - https://anchor.fm/beardsandbrews Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/beards-brews/id1600773272 Google Podcasts - https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy80ZGU3ZWQ1MC9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw== Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/beards-brews Breaker - https://www.breaker.audio/beards-and-brews Pocket Casts - https://pca.st/ffo6j958 Radios Public - https://radiopublic.com/beards-brews-WPw4rQ

The Dads are back in the garage studio to chat about life and bust open a big, boozy Fremont Brewing 11th Anniversary Stout.

In this episode, Ryan and Alex discuss three areas of your finances that you can focus on to make big changes. The beer of the day is the Brew 6000 from Fremont Brewing. If you would like to learn more about this beer, please visit their website https://www.fremontbrewing.com/brew-6000 If you would like to learn more about Quantified Financial Partners, please visit our website www.beerandmoney.net  

To celebrate Malt Couture's 4 year anniversary, the Malty Boyz™ put themselves through The Anniversary Cup. Featuring anniversary beers from 12 different breweries commemorating one to 30 years. It all starts off with a 5 year Bruery Anniversary Ale vertical to determine the Wild Card beer. Then it's New Money vs Old Money when anniversary beers from Allagash Brewing Company, Central Waters Brewing, Brasserie Fantôme, Firestone Walker Brewing Company, Jackie O's, Fonta Flora Brewery, Fremont Brewing, McIlhenney Brewing Company, Moksa Brewing, Revolution Brewing, and Triple Crossing Beer do battle. Only one beer can emerge as the Anniversary Cup Champion! Thanks to New Image Brewing for sponsoring this episode! Visit New Image Brewing at NIBrewing.com and follow them on Instagram @NIBrewing! Head to our Patreon for weekly exclusive content! Patreon.com/DontDrinkBeer Get the Malt Couture Officially Licensed T-shirt! TeeSpring.com/MaltCoutureOfficialShirt DontDrinkBeer.com Instagram.com/DontDrinkBeers Instagram.com/MaltCoutureDDB Twitter.com/DontDrinkBeer  

This week the guys drink Dark Star by Fremont Brewing, talk about which video game villains they want to become, and Nick continues his descent into fighting game madness.

Holidays? Anniversaries? Birthdays? Fridays? All are perfect reasons to grab a special beer out of the fridge and enjoy with friends. This week, your hosts discuss some of the occasions they use to justify drinking some of their best beers and why sometimes it's OK no to have a reason at all. Also, Jason drinks a special cherry stout (duh!) and Stephen sends a toast to Registered Nurses. Beer Tastings: Jason - 12th Anniversary Stout, Fremont Brewing, Seattle, WA. Style: Imperial Stout with Cherries Stephen - Preservation, Urban Family Brewing, Seattle, WA. Style: Wild Sour Ale with Blackberries and Raspberries --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Drew and Rob cover the ending of Worldbinder, and all the insanity along the way! The Final Draft features special tea and a barrel-aged beer from Fremont Brewing. Visit our website at www.iolpodcast.com/ and join the conversation on Twitter @IOLPodcast Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/inkingoutloud Send us a tip on Ko-fi: ko-fi.com/inkingoutloud Inking Out Loud is Drew McCaffrey and Rob Santos. Sound engineering by Patrick McCaffrey. Artwork by Danielle "FelCandy" Prosperie. Intro/outro music: "Moonlight" by Jivemind.

This week Ben and Frane blasted out a crazy week of NFL news from an outdoor location, where football should be played and football podcasts should be recorded! We discuss breaking NFL news, Russell Wilson and Seahawks tell different stories, will Baker Mayfield be traded, Bobby Wagner's new home - the Dallas Cowboys, Matt Ryan trade, Falcons sign Marcus Mariota, Jameis Winston signs deal with Saints, Baker Mayfield has no home, grading the off-season for all 32 teams, Tyreek Hill traded to Dolphins, and much more.Frane concocted the shot of the week. We sampled and reviewed Old Potrero 18th Century Style Rye Whiskey and Fremont Brewing Sky Kraken IPA.Follow us at @GoalThirst on Twitter and @thirstand on Instagram. You can listen and subscribe at thirstandgoal.buzzsprout.com. Please also check us out on Pandora and Amazon Music! To send us a question or comment, email: podcastthirstandgoal@gmail.com. Leave us a voicemail at (818) 350-2680 (Be aware: we may play it on the air). 

On today's week-in-review, Crystal is joined by political consultant and urban farmer, Heather Weiner. They discuss the lawsuit against the capital gains tax in Washington, the concrete workers strike, the Harrell administration's push for hotspot policing, safety at Pike Place Market and Inslee's legislation to deal with highway encampments, and the “Tacoma Shuffle” of people returning to encampments after they've been swept because they still have nowhere else to go.    As always, a full text transcript of the show is available below and at officialhacksandwonks.com.   Find the host, Crystal on Twitter at @finchfrii, and find Heather at @hlweiner.   Resources “Superior Court Judge hears arguments in capital gains tax case” by Shauna Sowersby for The Olympian: https://www.theolympian.com/news/state/washington/article258066028.html    “West Seattle Bridge reopening could be delayed if concrete union strike continues” by King 5 Staff for King 5: https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/seattle/seattle-construction-projects-delayed-concrete-union-strike/281-2765b55a-c89d-4abd-999f-261fc711b106   “Hot Spot Policing” Twitter Thread by Erica C. Barnett: https://twitter.com/ericacbarnett/status/1490185898108936193?s=20&t=8beV9DyCMjunAtJNLMatYw    “CID community group says they don't see an improvement” by Hannah Krieg for The Stranger: https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2022/02/07/66263977/cid-community-watch-not-impressed-by-mayor-harrells-hot-spot-policing-strategy-in-little-saigon/comments “Councilmember Pushes “Seattle Is Dying” Narrative, Data Confirms Stop-and-Frisk Disparities, Someone Is Posting Fake Sweep Signs, and More” by Publicola Staff for Publicola: https://publicola.com/2022/02/10/councilmember-pushes-seattle-is-dying-narrative-data-confirms-stop-and-frisk-disparities-someone-is-posting-fake-sweep-signs-and-more/    “Inslee Pushes Legislation Prioritizing Homeless Encampment Removal Near Highways” by Natalie Bicknell Argerious for The Urbanist: https://www.theurbanist.org/2022/02/10/inslee-pushes-legislation-prioritizing-homeless-encampment-removal-near-highways/     “'Tacoma shuffle': People return to I-705 homeless encampment days after sweep” by Lionel Donovan for King 5: https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/homeless/tacoma-encampment-remains-occupied/281-8730a985-8104-470c-b169-7dc1bdfae0cd      Transcript [00:00:00] Crystal Fincher: Welcome to Hacks & Wonks. I'm Crystal Fincher, and I'm a political consultant and your host. On this show, we talk with policy wonks and political hacks to gather insight into local politics and policy in the state through the lens of those doing the work with behind-the-scenes perspectives on what's happening, why it's happening, and what you can do about it. Full transcripts and resources referenced in the show are always available at officialhacksandwonks.com and in our episode notes. Today, we're continuing our Friday almost-live shows where we review the news of the week. Welcome back to the program, friend of the show and today's co-host: political consultant and urban farmer, Heather Weiner. [00:00:52] Heather Weiner: Hi, Crystal. So happy to be here - happy Friday. [00:00:54] Crystal Fincher: Happy Friday. Well, we have a ton to talk about today - I won't - so much, so much. I wanted to start off talking about the capital gains tax case - it was passed by our legislature and people filed suit against it - conservative Republican interests filed suit against it. And there was just a court hearing a week ago in - where arguments for and against were heard about it. What is going on with that? [00:01:27] Heather Weiner: This is, I think, one of the most interesting stories if you care about education, you care about getting more childcare to people, you care about providing early learning, fixing leaky roofs in our schools. This is about $400-$500 million/year that is going to be going to all of these education projects. And in what I like to call a reverse Robin Hood move, these conservative interests are trying to steal from the children and give to the rich by taking away this capital gains tax. Now it's in court right now - it's in Douglas County Court. We expect to see a decision in the next couple of weeks - have had a lot of really interesting people weigh in on that court case - everybody from Wenatchee school teachers to the former Wenatchee Chamber of Commerce president, economists - all saying the capital gains tax is actually a really great way to balance our unfair tax code which puts the biggest burdens on the poor and the least burdens on the rich. Now here's a couple more things that have just happened today that you should know about, Crystal. The first one is we're seeing in the PDC filings that are coming in right now that there are some really bad black hat political consultants who are coming in to Washington state to help do this reverse Robin hood move. These are people who were fined the biggest fines in the nation's history for laundering campaign contributions during a previous ballot initiative here in Washington state - they were fined $18 million by my boo, Bob Ferguson. And here they are back again trying to repeal the Washington capital gains tax. The other really interesting thing that's going on is kind of this - what I think is really bad reporting. There is a Amazon exec who is moving from Medina to Dallas - I think probably 'cause the Seahawks had a horrible season and the Cowboys had a pretty good season. But what the reporters are doing is saying that the move occurred right before the capital gains tax goes into effect, so therefore that must be the reason why they're moving. There could not possibly possibly be another reason that somebody is moving to a warmer, sunnier place that has better barbecue. And so I've just been - just been kind of a little bit of a - rhymes with "witch" - to people on Twitter this morning telling them coincidence does not equal causality - just because somebody left the state before the capital gains tax goes into effect. And by the way, this is a super rich person who should be paying their share just like the rest of us. And if they are moving because of the capital gains tax, then they need to say it, take responsibility for it - that they are a tax dodger and that they do not want to take responsibility for all of the great things that this state has done for them. Am I on my soap box? Can you tell? [00:04:37] Crystal Fincher: I mean - it is logical and it makes sense - again, this capital gains tax - it's not an income tax. It is not a tax that most working people pay. This is where extraordinarily wealthy people are realizing gains - we're talking about that. And we are in a state that has no income tax FYI, so if you're arguing that people left for that reason - there are several stories where people have left to states with income taxes. It's like - I don't know if you're really doing this full analysis. But whether or not people are staying or leaving - and people continue to come to the state - it is, it has been well-documented and universally accepted and known for awhile that we have the most regressive tax structure in the nation, meaning that the people with the least pay the highest percentage of their income in taxes and the people with the most pay the lowest percentage of their income in taxes. And at a time where we see the impacts - exacerbated through this pandemic - of years and years of underfunding of education, of our social safety net, of our public infrastructure - we absolutely need everyone to be chipping in their fair share. And to continue to ask working people, who are making an income, to be paying basically to make up for super wealthy people not paying their fair share - just isn't realistic. At this point, we are basically - most of the taxpayers are subsidizing the sixth homes and the third yachts of extremely rich people with our taxes. [00:06:30] Heather Weiner: And the spaceship - and the spaceships up into the - up into the atmosphere. I mean, we are literally - actually, they do get huge tax subsidies for that. I mean, these are the same people who took tens of millions of dollars in taxpayer funds during COVID to basically pad their investment portfolios, to pad their investor rounds for these tech startups - they're producing nothing new. All they're doing is moving this taxpayer money between each other in kind of a shell game. And then they don't want to pay taxes on the gains that they have made from taxpayer money? Shame on you, shame on you - shame on you for going to Metropolitan Market and buying and spending $300 on cheese and then complaining about the people who are living in the boxes that that cheese was delivered in. Shame on you. If you want to do something about what is happening in this state with a lack of housing, with the lack of services, then you need to pay your damn share. [00:07:27] Crystal Fincher: You do need to pay your share. Absolutely. We could go on about this at length. [00:07:32] Heather Weiner: Oh boy. Boy, do I have feelings - I have a lot of feelings, Crystal. [00:07:37] Crystal Fincher: We will leave it with that for today, but I think we are both aligned and with so many other people in the state. Again, this was supported by wide margins of the public - north of 65% are really tired of our tax dollars not going - coming into our communities at the level that they should be while they are padding the corporate bonuses and fourth houses of the uber-wealthy - it just - it just isn't wonderful. [00:08:09] Heather Weiner: Can I just - you're talking about polling - for a second, I just want to do give you a quick update on polling. So I just read in The Olympian this week also that polling numbers - typically we think that Washington state is pretty just kind of knee jerk anti-tax - but we just this week approved a whole bunch of education levies. So we do want to fund education, which this capital gains tax does. And the polling, at least as reported in The Olympian, shows that any initiative to repeal the capital gains tax starts underwater. And as you and I know, as political consultants, a ballot initiative - a Yes ballot initiative - needs to start at over 60% to have any viability. So I just don't know how they're - if they're going to try to repeal this in the court, I think they're going to lose in the State Supreme court. I think they try to repeal it with the voters - I think it'll be a tough fight, but I think they might lose there too. [00:08:59] Crystal Fincher: Yeah, it is - it is certainly an uphill fight to try and repeal that. We're in a much different place than we were 15 and 20 years ago in terms of how people view their taxes. And now people have had a long time to see the effect of everyone not paying their share and seeing how many things now haven't been funded and are not happy about it. Also, there are lots of people unhappy about working conditions that have languished and lagged over the past several years - and especially during the pandemic - employers not being as responsive and protective of their employees as they need to be, or just flat out issues of pay. We've seen that with a number of unionization efforts around the country and around our area, but there actually has been - what I feel has been somewhat under-covered and that's why we're talking about it today - a strike from concrete workers and that has been going on for a while. And this week there was a press conference with Mayor Harrell and County Executive Dow Constantine talking about some of the impacts of the strike and saying the West Seattle Bridge reopening could be delayed - other projects could be delayed - if this is not solved soon. Of course, that makes everyone kind of go back into some entrenched messaging - some people are like, Well, well, those workers just, you know, get back to work already - when really this is an issue of these concrete companies needing to meet these demands to get the strike over with. What is going on with this? [00:10:41] Heather Weiner: Yeah. This is really interesting, because this is where unions have spent a lot of money and a lot of time electing people to office and this is where they expect those elected officials to stand with them. In this case, it's a public contract. There are four concrete companies who have basically - withholding great - better pay and better benefits for these people who are doing really hard physical jobs. And they're withholding that and so the concrete workers have been on strike. They've been outside for months - in the cold, in the rain - trying to negotiate this. And so this is where you - if you're an elected official - this is where you need to step up for the workers and you need to say, "The pressure is on the employers, is on these corporations, to pay fair share and get everybody back to work." I was very disappointed to see that the message instead was, "The corporations - the unions and the corporations need to go back to the table." What they're really doing there - it's an implied you're both at fault message - instead of it being the corporations need to just - they're making huge profits on these taxpayer funded projects. They need to make sure that money is coming back into the community by paying people fairly. Let me give you an example - your friend, Mayor McGinn, former Mayor McGinn, did the right thing in a similar strike situation when he was mayor. There were thousands of garbage, recycling, composting drivers who went on strike. And rather than saying they and the companies need to go back to the table, he said, "I'm going to start fining the companies millions of dollars a day for every day that they are not getting the trash picked up because that's what I can do under the contract." And he broke that strike and he helped those workers win much better wages. And that's what our elected officials should be doing right now, instead of somehow putting the onus on the workers themselves - they're sitting outside in the rain. It is not like they have a lot of power. They need to step up and help them. [00:12:55] Crystal Fincher: Certainly do. And was a fan of that action taken by former Mayor McGinn, certainly. Other mayors have done similar in the past to help address these work stoppages. And one of the things that's really critical with this is that these companies have a responsibility to deliver - what is implied is that the companies do what's necessary to maintain a functional and effective workforce. If they are not paying them effectively, that is not maintaining a functional and effective workforce. There actually is precedent and great justification for saying, Hey, you are obligated to perform. Do what you need to do, have the conversations that you need to have, come to an agreement - but you have an obligation under this contract. And saying, well, we don't feel like - on other projects, our profits are massive enough, even though they are substantial to continue doing work. And to allow this work stoppage to continue - relying on some public partners and government to also play hard ball alongside them - is just not what I think most people are hoping to see. We know workers are put in more perilous positions today than they have been in decades. And navigating just the challenges of being a concrete worker and working on a site is not an easy thing on the body, it's not an easy job to have - certainly through a pandemic it has not been a comfortable job to have. So, I do hope that the companies are encouraged to do what it takes to be good corporate citizens, to invest in their workers and in this community to get this done. But the blaming of workers is just something that I think more - most people are - see through and are tired of. [00:14:56] Heather Weiner: Yeah, I hope so. And I hope they do resolve this. I hope the companies do come to the table, do increase their wages and benefits so that they can get back to work. So that I can take the West Seattle Bridge to West Seattle again, because I - I live in Beacon Hill and boy, am I tired of that 3 minute drive turning into 35. [00:15:15] Crystal Fincher: It is a challenge. Well, this week there have been lots of conversations around public safety. One of them being - there are conversations with, between councilmembers and community members, Mayor Harrell and his administration announced a new hotspot policing strategy to address certain hotspots in the City as Erica Barnett and PubliCola covered extensively on Twitter and has been written about. This is a strategy that has been used - has been tried several times before in the past in former administrations - several former - to say, Well, let's just increase patrols in these areas, let's target some intersections, some blocks - and kind of flood them with police and patrols. And while it certainly is a visible sign that activity is happening and communities certainly don't want crime - they want to feel safe, they don't want to be victimized. And I don't think anyone wants that - that should not be happening. People do want to see action being taken to improve the safety in their communities. Whether more patrols are that action that people want to see is - certainly depends on who you ask, but it is not wanted across the board, certainly. And just the impacts of a hotspot strategy - how effective those are seems really questionable, given that this has been tried several times when SPD was smaller, when the budget was smaller, and Hey, let's hire more cops, let's increase the budget, let's invest in this hotspot strategy. And that has happened over and over and over again - yet, we're still having these same conversations about these hotspots. I certainly would hope that we would try strategy that's more in line with what data from across the country tells us actually helps to resolve crime completely. And that's getting closer to addressing the root causes and not after someone has been victimized - let's try and focus on that, let's prevent people from being victimized in the first place. It appears that Harrell is certainly moving forward with this hotspot strategy. So we will see how that turns out. But The Stranger had an article this week talking about how a CID community group was saying, Well, you've been saying that you have implemented this hotspot strategy in our neighborhood now. We don't see an improvement and we actually don't think that improvement is going to come from adding more patrol officers on our block. So it'll be interesting to see how that is responded to, what the results of this initiative are this time, and follow through what is and isn't working. [00:18:25] Heather Weiner: Yeah. I mean, we're just really - just moving people around from place to place to place. And so you have a hotspot team here, or an emphasis that they call it sometimes, and those people who are not housed still don't have any housing - you're not building any more housing - there's no place for them to go. And the people who are committing crime - fairly petty crime, but still disturbing crime - are working for much bigger syndicates of - and crime groups. And I think it was Andrew Lewis who said, Look, I really want to emphasize - I really think that we need to be spending resources on going after those kingpins, not going after the people, the pawns. By the way. I don't think he said it like that, but I think that's a brilliant analogy - I think he should be using that. [00:19:10] Crystal Fincher: I love that. [00:19:10] Heather Weiner: That was really good. Yeah - ring ring, Andrew. [00:19:13] Crystal Fincher: Well see - that's why you're a political consultant, Heather. That is why - right there. [00:19:17] Heather Weiner: Yeah. And - no, no. Yeah - anyway. Why am I a political consultant? We could talk about that next time. Well, not sure. [00:19:28] Crystal Fincher: There's a lot to be talked about, and this is happening with a backdrop of conversations that were covered and written about this week of - [00:19:35] Heather Weiner: Oh, I know - they were kind of shocking actually. [00:19:38] Crystal Fincher: Councilmember Sara Nelson basically, kind of literally pushing a "Seattle is Dying" narrative. [00:19:48] Heather Weiner: Didn't Bruce Harrell say that we weren't supposed to be doing that anymore? Didn't he literally say, I don't want to hear any more "Seattle is Dying." [00:19:55] Crystal Fincher: Well, he may have said he didn't want to hear it anymore, but a coalition of people who supported him certainly are not tired of it. And a number of those people also support Sara Nelson, who owns Fremont Brewing with her husband. And Sara invited 11 business representatives to discuss their public safety concerns at her Economic Development Committee hearing last Wednesday - this was covered on PubliCola in one of their Morning Fizz articles this week - but Nelson's committee doesn't deal with crime or homelessness, and isn't considering any legislation, but evidently Sara felt it was important to allow these business community members, and only business community members, to talk about their concerns. And again, those business owners really wanted more police - kind of at the end of the day. Sara Nelson was talking about, We're in a crisis. We need to increase the amount of police we have. We need to stop this horrible crime that is happening around the City and is out of control and the City is about to burn down - blah, blah, blah, blah. And again, to be clear, there are - people's concern about crime is absolutely legitimate. There are too many things happening that are bad. We do not want people to be victimized - I think that's really important to center. I think at the end of the day, if there was no crime, people would be happy about it, but wow is there so much data that is being ignored, really coincidentally by people who say that they want a data-driven strategy, that literally says that jailing people doesn't reduce crime at all. [00:21:47] Heather Weiner: No, if anything, it makes it worse because you're making people - [00:21:51] Crystal Fincher: There is actually evidence that it makes it worse because we don't focus on rehabilitation. We have to get in touch with the reality that if we're focused on - focusing on punishment is not the same thing as focusing on safety. We're really good at the punishment part, we're really good at making people feel pain - oftentimes it follows them for the rest of their lives as a consequence of committing crime. We're good at making some people and certain segments of our community feel good about that, other people don't feel any consequences for the types of crimes that they commit. But in this - we have to engage with the goal is - these people are reentering our communities. And they're our community members, and we have to help them reintegrate in society, and to be able to build a life - and to be productive on their own terms, to be stable in terms of housing and income, to have mental health resources available. And everything about our current carceral system destabilizes. There is no meaningful rehabilitation services provided. And the fact that you have been in the system is a red flag that people use in terms of employment and housing - that makes everything harder to do for people who are struggling to get started anyway. And at a time when people with no record, who are struggling just to be able to afford housing, imagine what it's like when you have people who just don't want to house you, who don't want to hire anyone with a record - what do you then do? We actually stack the deck against people being able to rebuild their lives and reintegrate into society. And our solutions have to be focused on that if we are going to make our communities safer. [00:23:57] Heather Weiner: Can I give you a totally - a little bit of a far-fetched conspiracy theory? So, I'm looking at the timing of this - this big push that we need more police, we need more police, we need more police, we need more officers - this is kind of what the answer is. And this is also during the time that the police union is entering into negotiations with the City. I don't think that that is - well, I don't know, it seems - I'm not saying it's causality - I was just bitching about coincidence does not equal causality, but I think that it - I don't know, it's an interesting timing issue. I also think it was really interesting that Debora Juarez took a swipe at Pike Place Market this week. [00:24:37] Crystal Fincher: That was interesting - also this week, Debora Juarez made comments talking about - she is afraid now to go to Pike Place Market because she feels that it's unsafe and that there are lots of issues around crime there, which raised a lot of eyebrows. [00:24:56] Heather Weiner: Yeah, I agree with her though. I think it is really dangerous. First of all, there's the donut place, right? That calls me in, right? Then you've got to go to the pierogi place - Piroshky's - oh my God - then that calls me in. Then there's Beecher's Cheese place - that's sucking me in. It is a really dangerous - and then they're giving out free samples everywhere. It is highly dangerous for me to go to Pike Place Market. [00:25:18] Crystal Fincher: And just so I correctly characterize Debora Juarez's words - she says she no longer goes to Pike Place Market downtown "unless it's Saturday in broad daylight" because of the "safety issues" there. Which was really interesting because Pike Place Market - one, closes at 6. And it is an area, as PubliCola points out, that is consistently bustling and full of people, which actually is one of the hallmarks of keeping places safe. I don't know if she is talking about feeling uncomfortable on her way to Pike Place Market - I am not sure, but that - if you were going to cite anything, seems like an odd citation and certainly made a lot of people raise their eyebrows and wonder - want some more clarification certainly from her, but also wonder if rhetoric is taking hold and if she is actually on those streets today or - you know that was - [00:26:28] Heather Weiner: This has always boggled my mind about the Chamber of Commerce and the Downtown Businesses Association, where their talking point is to - ends up discouraging the very customers that they are trying to attract. Instead of telling everybody, Oh, it's unsafe here, don't come here. How does that help their business members? How do the Pike Place Market vendors feel about their City Councilmember discouraging people from going there? It just seems like it's not a great message strategy. And if I were them, I'd be talking about what they are doing to make it safer, what they are doing to welcome more people there. I do not want to undermine the fact that almost all the times we hear about people saying this - it's almost always women who are saying they don't feel safe. And I think that's a really valid point. If you are feeling less safe out on the streets right now as a woman, is there an increase in, particularly if you're a woman of color, is there an increase in a feeling of hostility from other - from men? What is happening out there, but putting more police on the streets and arresting more people, as you were saying, is not going to solve the problem. What's going to solve the problem is addressing - in a big way - the lack of housing, the lack of good paying jobs, the lack of economic and mental health and other health supports that people need so that they are not forced into crime. [00:27:51] Crystal Fincher: Yeah, absolutely. And speaking of that - Inslee this week is pushing legislation that prioritizes homeless encampment removal near highways, which - he talked about this being very important and characterizes it as, This is how we're - we need to take care of those people who are living under the highways. It's an extremely unsafe environment, it's a hazard for them, for drivers. And a lot of times he is talking about the right of ways under or adjacent to freeways and highways. Now, this has been an area - some of these are out of sight, some of these are very visible. We all know that there are some people who are bothered by the sight of homelessness much more than the thought of people and their experiences outside in a hostile climate without shelter. But as we go through this, Inslee was talking about the need to clear these areas, for providing a budget - and in this bill, there is also money allocated for outreach services. Everybody talks about the goal of getting people into housing and in ways that we've seen before - having outreach workers working with the people who are in these encampments to get them into housing and also to track the outcomes of the people that they're working with to see - was it successful, was it not? We've talked at length about some of the issues before in this program about the current way we offer services and "offer services." And that a lot of the services that we have actually do not serve our entire unhoused population, that our current shelter system - and in many areas and in many spaces - is really hostile to people in terms of requiring people to be in by 6:30 PM, out by 6:30 or 7:00 AM. If someone has a job, actually - and there are a lot of unhoused people who are working, who have jobs and are employed that - that can conflict with your ability to be sheltered. And that then makes any particular shelter, the possibility of that impossible, keeping someone on the streets. Or they don't allow pets that people have, or they don't allow partners to be together, or there's no secure storage for people's belongings and the threat of their belongings not being secure. Or a variety of reasons or requirements that disqualify people, or make it impossible for them to hold on to the amount of stability that they currently have and not fall further and while taking advantage of those shelter services. And so while some services are available, we are seeing over and over and over again, that that does not serve a significant portion of our unhoused population. And we can keep doing the same thing and saying, Well, we offered them and they turned them down - for a variety of very legitimate reasons. And watch people continue to move around to different places and be unhoused, or we can meaningfully do it. There are different perspectives on this bill. There are organizations like the ACLU, some housing advocates and providers, who were saying this is going to make it really easy just to sweep people and without enough accountability to protect people's civil rights and to actually address this problem. Others are saying our entire goal and why we have allocated this money is to make it possible to get these folks housed. It's an interesting perspective. How do you see this? [00:31:46] Heather Weiner: Yeah, well - well, I keep seeing it as every - it all comes down to money. And I'm just going to circle it right back to where we started. It all comes down to money and the reason that - a lot of the reasons that we do not have this housing, we do not have the services - because we don't have the money to pay for it. And the reason we don't have the money is because the super rich have rigged the system so that they don't have to pay their fair share. And you're seeing more and more anger - I think people are just number one, sick and tired of being inside. They're sick and tired of it being gray, they're sick and tired of COVID, and they're looking. And when they do go outside, they see people suffering and they just get really angry. And who they should be angry at is the super rich that they can't see who are not paying into the system like they should. [00:32:28] Crystal Fincher: Yeah, that is - that certainly contributes to the problem. In this article, and I am looking and we'll link this in the show notes - this is an Urbanist article by Natalie Bicknell Argerious. A couple of things that they talk about are potentially some helpful things in that - different jurisdictions can only act on land that they own or have the rights to act on or engage with. There have been issues between the cities and the state when it comes to engaging with people in these state-owned right of ways. And confusion or complication around whether cities can even go into offer services or work with folks in these encampments and feeling that that has been largely off limits. This bill is an attempt to also address that and make it clear that the cities and state can work together, it establishes an office to basically enable that. And so we'll see what happens but there is concern, as there has been everywhere, that this will enable sweeps and kind of move people out of some areas that seem to be relatively, really low impact for the surrounding community. It is away from neighborhoods, it's away from other things. And in the case of Seattle, many aren't even visible by anyone and allowing people to find a shelter in community that works for them while being unhoused. There was also the concern and has been some freeway deaths of people who were crossing a freeway or crossing an on-ramp and being hit by cars. So, I mean, there is some - obviously we don't want people to be outside, we don't want people to be in danger - I think that is a legitimate concern. But with a legitimate concern, we need to address it with legitimate solutions. We will see how this plays out, but this - following it up with another article this week that we can talk about - talking about in Tacoma - having the situation where, Hey, they did a sweep in an I-705 homeless encampment, which is a highway through Tacoma. And starting just days later, people were returning because a sweep does not provide housing. The number one problem that has to be addressed if we're talking about homelessness is getting people housed. If a conversation about homelessness doesn't start with housing, then we're completely failing. There is no chance of actually meaningfully addressing this and we are seeing this as King 5 details it - talking about the Tacoma shuffle, which is the term that people use for, Yeah, you do this sweep, you clear an area, but people still actually don't have anywhere to go. They still don't have a home. And so they moved to another location for a little bit, they're pushed out of that location, and they're back at this one. So we're not doing anything, but just kind of moving the deck chairs around on the Titanic, just moving people around the community, and spending a ton of money to do it. The City of Seattle spent over $1 million to clear out an encampment under a freeway and install razor wire. Could we have spent that $1 million perhaps on helping people to get into stable and permanent housing? That's a conversation we have, but certainly looking at the Tacoma shuffle, looking at how this has happened so far in Seattle and other places - this is a statewide problem. And if we don't address the housing issue and not focus on - whether it's substance use disorder or mental health disorders, which are made worse oftentimes by being unhoused - if we don't start with housing and lead with housing, then we're not doing anything to address this problem. [00:36:52] Heather Weiner: Amen sister. [00:36:53] Crystal Fincher: Well, with that, we will wrap up the day. I certainly thank you for listening to Hacks & Wonks on this Friday, February 11th. The producer of Hacks & Wonks is Lisl Stadler and assistant producer is Shannon Cheng. Our wonderful co-host today was Seattle political consultant, Heather Weiner. You can find Heather on Twitter @hlweiner. That's H-L-W-E-I-N-E-R. You can find me on Twitter @finchfrii - that's F-I-N-C-H-F-R-I-I. And now you can follow Hacks & Wonks on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever else you get your podcasts. Just type "Hacks and Wonks" into the search bar, be sure to subscribe to get our Friday almost-live shows and our mid-week show delivered to your podcast feed. While you're there, leave a review, it really helps us out. You can also get a full transcript of this episode and links to the resources referenced in this show at officialhacksandwonks.com and in the episode notes. Thanks for tuning in. Talk to you next time.

Welcome to February; Dry January is over! The Dream Team is back, baby! Deb stops in to hang with Flex and Greg for Batch 290. The all-stars are sampling new beer styles, gearing up for the Super Bowl, prepping for Valentine's Day, and some colossal beer collaboration news!Greg is getting the research started with Baxter, a Cold IPA from Fremont Brewing in Seattle. Flex is redeeming the pink beers with Fatty's Beer Works Cotton Candy Milkshake IPA. The crew celebrates the end of Dry January, not that anyone participated. The Super Bowl is around the corner; who's getting ready to party? National Hangover Day and Valentine's Day are one in the same this year; what will you be doing? And Greg has some massive news about a collaboration brew with 14 Cannons and California Coffee Republic. California coming in strong with some dumb rules in this week's Ludicrous Libation Law. Green Flash's brewery is still for sale if you've got the cash. Budweiser is dropping a new, non-alcoholic energy in India. Also gross, AB InBev is releasing a zero-carb beer. The Colorado Beer Guy hits all the breweries in Colorado in record time. And Dick Leinenkugel is leaving his post at Leinenkugels.Make sure to follow us across the web and social media:Deb: www.instagram.com/onehopmess Flexy: www.instagram.com/flex_me_a_beer Craft Beer Republic: www.CraftBeerRepublic.com www.instagram.com/CraftBeerRepublic www.facebook.com/CraftBeerRepublicPod www.twitter.com/CraftBeerRepub (805) 538-2337 Use promo code UNFILTERED on Tavour.

Today we review the rematch between Robert Whittaker and Yoel Romero which was supposed to be a title fight but wasn't due to Romero missing weight. We also dig into the fridge and drink an try a beer from Fremont Brewing (2013 Bourbon Abominable).

****Always Dedicated to Joshua Lyon Kunkle****Jimmy Claus and his Naughty Elves from the BeerDad and Brewed Podcast sample some amazing Christmas Beers and watch National Lampoons Christmas Vacation! Merry Christmas and Hoppy Holidays! Beers sampled from Avery Brewing, Ironfire Brewing, Evil Twin Brewing, Stormbreaker Brewing, Fremont Brewing and Karl Strauss.The Craft Lounge Taproom and Bottleshop Located in Beaumont, CA The Craft Lounge is your spot to grab some of the finest craft beers!!Support the show (http://www.paypal.me/BeerDadandBrewed)

After at least one formal complaint, the Seattle Department of Transportation has issued a warning—but no penalty—to Fremont Brewing, the company co-owned by city council member-elect Sara Nelson, for obstructing the public right-of-way around its Ballard brewing facility with massive concrete “ecology blocks.”As PubliCola reported last summer, eco blocks—so called because they are a byproduct of concrete production that uses waste that would otherwise occupy landfills—are an inexpensive way for business owners to prevent people living in their vehicles from parking on the street next to their properties.Since the beginning of the pandemic, when the city stopped enforcing a law requiring people to move their vehicles every three days, the blocks have proliferated throughout Seattle's industrial areas, which are the only places where people living in oversized vehicles can legally park. Business owners say that the presence of RVs and other types of large vehicles, such as box trucks, discourages patrons, and that large concentrations of RVs can lead to health and safety problems that impact their customers and employees.https://publicola.com/2021/11/30/fremont-brewing-is-still-using-concrete-blocks-to-prevent-rv-parking-so-are-the-city-of-seattle-and-the-us-postal-service/Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/seattlerealestatepodcast)

As 2021 starts to wind down, the ILB would like to give thanks to all of our family, friends and listeners for supporting our little podcast.  The team shares some travel tips with more silly state laws while tasting some fantastic Fresh Hop beers from Fremont Brewing and Sierra Nevada.  Happy Thanksgiving Everyone. 

In this week's episode, Ryan and Alex discuss the importance of understanding what is in our portfolio. Do you know what is in your portfolio?  The beer of the week is Sky Kraken by Fremont Brewing. If you would like to learn more about this beer, please visit their website https://www.fremontbrewing.com/sky-kraken If you would like to learn more about Quantified Financial Partners or reach out to Ryan and Alex, please visit our website www.beerandmoney.net

Coley is traveling out of state this week, so with Greg Jones from the Craft Beer Republic podcast guesting, it's a Manshow for Draught 97! The Commish is drinking Field to Ferment Pale Ale from Fremont Brewing, Greg's got Anchorage Brewing Co.'s Beached Double Dry Hopped IPA, and Sandro busted out the Firestone Walker Anniversary XXIX Barrel Aged Ale from deep within his beer fridge after many years of aging (or cellaring for those in the "know").The boys all attended the annual Surf 'n' Suds Beer Fest Ventura over the weekend in different capacities and with many, MANY, tales to tell. Big Dick Nick made friends, Greg got a beer burgled, Sunday Funday went deep, and a non-sober young man dropped his peaches in the dust while dancing in what had to have been a defining moment of his life.Shots of News: British river otters have an angry beef with children and dogs, to go cocktails are now a permanent thing in California, and Florida Man lights fires, swings swords, chugs rum, and floods police departments.The national search for McCormick's Director of Taco Relations has finally come to an end and the top taco cities in California, arguably the country's most Taco of States, are finally ranked.Finally, the 4th and Oz. fantasy football league rolls along with a certain Draught 97 guest winning the not-at-all-coveted Charlie Sheen Award.

Today, Tim spoke with Sara Nelson. She is running as a candidate for Seattle City Council Position 9. She explained to Tim the reason why she was running and why she is so passionate about the city. Sara Nelson, the co-founder of the highly-regarded craft beer maker Fremont Brewing laid out her plans for the city and described why she is a better choice than her competitor. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today on the show, Marco Lowe, Professor at Seattle University's Institute for Public Service, joins Crystal to discuss the extension of the eviction moratorium, the vital importance of keeping people housed, the departure of Sound Transit CEO Peter Rogoff, City Council candidate Sara Nelson caught in a lie regarding laying off workers at Fremont Brewing, new polling in the Seattle mayoral elections, the increasing impact of climate disasters, and developments in the carpenters' union strike in our state. As always, a full text transcript of the show is available below and at officialhacksandwonks.com. Find the host, Crystal Fincher on Twitter at @finchfrii and find today's co-host, Marco Lowe, at @MarcoLowe. More info is available at officialhacksandwonks.com.   Resources “Seattle eviction moratorium extended into 2022” by Katie Campbell, Dyer Oxley, and Angela King from KUOW: https://www.kuow.org/stories/seattle-eviction-moratorium-extended-into-2022  “King County Scrambling to Distribute Rent Assistance as Eviction Crisis Looms” by Doug Trumm from The Urbanist: https://www.theurbanist.org/2021/09/23/peter-rogoff-departing-sound-transit-leadership-in-2022/  “Peter Rogoff Departing Sound Transit Leadership in Early 2022” by Stephen Fesler from The Urbanist: https://www.theurbanist.org/2021/09/23/peter-rogoff-departing-sound-transit-leadership-in-2022/  “A $550-per-hour coach is helping Sound Transit's chief get along with his employees” by Mike Lindblom from The Seattle Times: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/transportation/a-550-per-hour-coach-is-helping-sound-transits-chief-get-along-with-his-employees/  “Sara Nelson Said Fremont Brewing Didn't Lay Off Anyone During the Pandemic. Unfortunately, That's Not True.” by Rich Smith from The Stranger: https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2021/09/17/61269041/sara-nelson-said-fremont-brewing-didnt-lay-off-anyone-during-the-pandemic-unfortunately-thats-not-true  Crosscut-Elway Poll for the 2021 Seattle General Election: https://crosscut.com/sites/default/files/files/crosscutelway_0921.pdf  “New Poll Shows Harrell's GOP Donors, Response to Murray Rape Accusations Could Drive Voters to González” by Rich Smith from The Stranger: https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2021/09/20/61276092/poll-shows-harrells-gop-donors-response-to-murray-rape-accusations-could-drive-voters-to-gonzalez  González campaign internal polling: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MMyriegbmkvCj8ePRLa0hKiY7rx0CyH9/view  “Early Polling Indicates Tight Mayoral Race, Potent Lines of Attack Against Harrell” by Doug Trumm from The Urbanist: https://www.theurbanist.org/2021/09/22/early-polling-indicates-tight-mayoral-race-potent-lines-of-attack-against-harrell/  “Weather Disasters Have Become 5 Times As Common, Thanks In Part To Climate Change” by Eric McDaniel from NPR: https://www.npr.org/2021/09/07/1034607602/weather-disasters-have-become-five-times-as-common-thanks-in-part-to-climate-cha  “The Greatest Killer in New Orleans Wasn't the Hurricane. It Was the Heat.” by Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs and Katy Reckdahl from The New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/15/us/new-orleans-hurricane-ida-heat.html  “Carpenters union pauses picketing in Seattle after wildcat strikes, dispute with Kshama Sawant” by Heidi Groover from The Seattle Times: https://www.seattletimes.com/business/carpenters-union-to-pause-picketing-in-seattle-after-wildcat-strikes-dispute-with-kshama-sawant/  “Concerns about safety and legal action grow as carpenter strike ends first week” by Lilly Ana Fowler from KNKX: https://www.knkx.org/2021-09-24/concerns-about-safety-and-legal-action-grow-as-carpenter-strike-ends-first-week  Joe Mizrahi Twitter thread: https://twitter.com/Joe_Miz/status/1441250734150803474    Transcript:  A transcript will be uploaded as soon as possible.

This week the guys drink Ollie by Fremont Brewing, excitedly discuss the Steam Deck announcement, and talk about mind blowing narrative twists.

Joe stepped up the plate for a SOLO episode this week with special guest, Tom Mace of Fremont Brewing in Seattle, WA. Tom and Joe chat about the PNW home team, the Seattle Mariners and the only season that gives baseball season a run for it's money....Fresh Hop season!

Katy gets very literal this week and brings us a wine-based mystery by covering the story of Rudy Kurniawan, the first person to be charged with wine fraud in the U.S, from the 2016 documentary, "Sour Grapes." Content warning: you're really going to hate rich douchebags during this episode, but since you probably already DO... let's get into it. It's MM's birthday (observed)! We return to France quite a bit with the documentary's hero, Laurent Ponsot, who is officially offered a hosting gig here with us (call us, Laurent). MM cannot believe no one in the wine scene verifies ANYTHING. We do not recommend taking a drink everytime she sighs in incredulity or says "oh, fuck off." This may cause BODILY HARM. Do not accept an invitation to a wine bathroom. If you're gonna do crime, PROOFREAD YO' SHIT. Sources/Things Mentioned Sour Grapes documentary: https://bit.ly/2WW7Wtn (https://bit.ly/2WW7Wtn) Hollywood Jef filmography: https://bit.ly/2VppWMf (https://bit.ly/2VppWMf) Wine Spectator, "Where in the World Is Wine Counterfeiter Rudy Kurniawan?" (Nov. 2020): https://bit.ly/3xkgTJz (https://bit.ly/3xkgTJz) Decanter, "U.S. deports convicted wine fraudster Rudy Kurniawan" (Apr. 2021): https://bit.ly/2VtWQej (https://bit.ly/2VtWQej) The New Yorker, "A True-Crime Documentary About the Con That Shook the World of Wine" (2016): https://bit.ly/3xo5kkr (https://bit.ly/3xo5kkr) Fremont Brewing slap koozie: https://www.fremontbeertogo.com/geartogo (https://www.fremontbeertogo.com/geartogo) ******* Get in touch: Instagram and Twitter | @winetimespod MM | @truecrimewine69 Katy | @katyhoss winetimespod@gmail.com

It's that #BIL drip this episode as Alex stacks New Money vs the Oldest Money when the Malty Boyz™ crack open four barleywines that are over a decade old for the Bottleshare including a 2011 Abacus from Firestone-Walker, 2007 Cyclops from Elysium, 2004 Thomas Hardy, and 2002 Bigfoot from Sierra Nevada. But before they get to those they'll drink Side Project's MJK. In the Beer News, the Boyz Drip It or Flip It when they take a look at brewery collabs with footwear and watch brands. Thanks to Fremont Brewing for sponsoring this episode! Get the Malt Couture Officially Licensed T-shirt! TeeSpring.com/MaltCoutureOfficialShirt Head to our Patreon for weekly exclusive content! Patreon.com/DontDrinkBeer DontDrinkBeer.com Instagram.com/DontDrinkBeers Instagram.com/MaltCoutureDDB Twitter.com/DontDrinkBeer DDBquestions@gmail.com

BPC - 237 - Homeblowers Welcome to another edition of our show.  Recording from the Blind Pig Garage, Dougie Fresh, Paulie G and Griswold are joined again by the Wolfoose brothers and, of course, we veer off into any and all topics.  We talk about some of the upcoming brew fests,  sample some great brews from around the country and discuss the special relationship between Jordan And Mullens…More Drinking….More Shenanigans.    Shout outs include:  Revision Brewing Company, Rock the Junction, Grand Junction Brewing Co., Fremont Brewing, Founders Brewing, Compass Box.   After the show, start filling your own Tavour crate. Cheers!   Members of the Hopped Up Network. An ever-growing group of independent beer podcasts. Dedicated to providing insight into our local craft beer communities.    

On this mid-week show, Crystal interviews Sara Nelson, candidate for Seattle City Council, Position 9. Sara gives revealing answers to questions about some of the pressing issues facing Seattle.  As always, a full text transcript of the show is available below and at officialhacksandwonks.com. Find the host, Crystal Fincher on Twitter at @finchfrii and find today's guest, Sara Nelson, at @sara4council. More info is available at officialhacksandwonks.com.   Resources: "City and Town Forms of Government (Mayor-Council Form)" from the Municipal Research and Services Center (MRSC): https://mrsc.org/Home/Explore-Topics/Legal/General-Government/City-and-Town-Forms-of-Government.aspx#mayorcouncil "Seattle Passes Covid Relief & JumpStart Spending Plans" by Matt Landers: https://thegsba.org/about-us/blog/gsba-blog/2020/07/20/seattle-passes-covid-relief-jumpstart-spending-plans Basics of JumpStart Seattle: https://council.seattle.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/JumpStart-Narrative-Final.pdf "The JumpStart Seattle Spending Plan Is a Good Step Forward" by Matthew Lang: https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2020/07/20/44125416/the-jumpstart-seattle-spending-plan-is-a-good-step-forward "Durkan Is Bothching Homelessness Policy and Blaming Journalists for the News" by Doug Trumm: https://www.theurbanist.org/2021/03/02/durkan-is-botching-homelessness-policy-and-blaming-journalists-for-the-news/ "Why does prosperous King County have a homelessness crisis?" by Benjamin Maritz and Dilip Wagle: https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/public-and-social-sector/our-insights/why-does-prosperous-king-county-have-a-homelessness-crisis King County Regional Homelessness Data Dashboard: https://regionalhomelesssystem.org/regional-homelessness-data/ Basics of SPD Crisis Response Team from the Seattle City Government website: https://www.seattle.gov/police/about-us/crisis-response-team   Transcript Crystal Fincher: [00:00:00] Welcome to Hacks & Wonks. I'm your host, Crystal Fincher. On this show, we talk to political hacks and policy wonks to gather insight into local politics and policy through the lens of those doing the work and provide behind-the-scenes perspectives on politics in our state. Full transcripts and resources referenced in the show are always available at officialhacksandwonks.com and in our episode notes. Today, we are very happy to have joining us with the program, Sara Nelson, Seattle City Council candidate for the second time. And announced for the position being vacated by Council President Lorena González, so an open seat with a few different challengers - her being one. Thank you so much for joining us, Sara. Sara Nelson: [00:01:13] Thank you for having me. Crystal Fincher: [00:01:16] What motivated you to run for office again? Sara Nelson: [00:01:20] Well, in a sense, everything has changed and nothing has changed. The pandemic has really, really hurt Seattle's working families, small businesses, and I am running because I believe that I have the practical experience leadership to get us on track for an equitable economic recovery. My background is already in public service. I worked for Seattle City Council for about 10 years - in way back when - from like 2002 to 2013. And I also own a small business, Fremont Brewing - and I think that's a good combination to work toward reopening our city and bringing back jobs. And also tackling some of the ongoing long-term problems like housing affordability and homelessness that we don't seem to be making progress on. Crystal Fincher: [00:02:23] Starting with the issue of homelessness, what do you think we need to be doing? Sara Nelson: [00:02:27] I believe that we, first and foremost, have to stop talking about the homeless as a monolithic block of people, because they're individuals who have become homeless for such a wide variety of reasons - either simply losing the job, can't pay rent, all the way to dealing with mental illness and substance abuse disorder, and then fleeing domestic violence. So we need to meet people where we're at and to do that, we have to understand the people that are living unhoused right now. And we don't have a good grip on those subgroups of people. And so first of all, we need to better understand that and then figure out what services are needed for these different groups. How much will that cost? Who's providing these services already? Are there gaps and overlaps?  And just really focus on, first and foremost, getting people into stable housing. I believe that permanent supportive housing is something that we should be prioritizing. However, we could bring those units online faster through land use changes and some regulatory changes so those units can be less expensive to build. But before we get there, I'm down with tiny home villages and hotel rooms, whatever it takes, but that should be our focus. And in addition to addiction and mental health services. Crystal Fincher: [00:03:58] Now, currently there are plans for bringing on tiny homes. There are plans for some transitional and permanent housing - lots of people are arguing that we need more. Do you think those plans are in line with what you are proposing or are they different? Sara Nelson: [00:04:16] I think they are, but something's not working. Everybody says, "Yeah, I'm for housing." But we've doubled the homelessness budget in the past three years, I believe. And the problem's only getting worse, so something is not working. And I think it lies in how our response is structured. I've already explained that a little bit. We've got service providers who are not meeting benchmarks and their contract keeps getting renewed, so we have to look at who are we contracting with and is that a good use of public resources? Everybody, every candidate will say, "Yeah, I'm for housing." But I am for effective solutions.  And look, we declared homelessness an emergency five years - six years ago now in 2015. Look around - we're not treating it as an emergency and it should be all hands on deck. Yes, other cities in the region need to pitch in, because Seattle can't go it alone. But we need to respond to this as we would a public health crisis. As if it were something as important as COVID, and with compassion and resolve. That's the energy and that's the approach that we should be taking. Crystal Fincher: [00:05:43] Gotcha. And in this situation, I think it's important for people to understand how you agree and differ with both the council and the mayor in this situation. Of course, there's a regional conversation, as you've talked about. There are a number of people who have critiqued the mayor for not spending the money that the City Council has budgeted and allocated for some of the housing. And then other critiques that she hasn't moved with enough urgency. Do you see challenges on the mayor's end? Do you see them solely on the council end? What's your viewpoint on that situation? Sara Nelson: [00:06:23] Well, to your first point, I'm not going to comment on. So basically it depends on where that money is coming from, those new resources. Now I don't know if I'm understanding the specifics well, but when you allocate a whole bunch of money, that's coming from somewhere else. And so if the mayor vetoed that, it might be because she was concerned that those dollars wouldn't be going for a basic service or something like that. And that is what our City should be focusing on also. So Council holds the power of the purse. Therefore, it all does come down to City Council. It's their responsibility to make sure that those dollars are going for the most effective solutions. The mayor can come out with a lot of different plans and initiatives and foci, et cetera, but Council is going to do what it's going to do when it comes to the budget and where those dollars go. Crystal Fincher: [00:07:30] Gotcha. Now, I think you've previously said that you don't believe any additional revenue is necessary - any additional taxes or allocation is needed - to address the issue of homelessness and to house people. Is that consistent with what you believe? Do you think there's enough money allocated already? Sara Nelson: [00:07:48] It's a little bit more nuanced than that. I think that statement came up in talking about JumpStart, which taxes jobs, basically. And I'm concerned about that for two reasons - number one, we should not be penalizing jobs. We need more jobs. The companies that have those jobs should - I don't believe even though they're large and people might say they might represent politically something that people can rail against. The fact is that what happens to large businesses trickles down through our local economy and ends up affecting small businesses - supply chain partners and businesses where employees go to recreate - because we're an ecosystem. So if you're - if that statement that no new revenue is needed - it was coming from something that I was talking about related to JumpStart, then I agree with myself still. But I believe when it comes to new revenue, the City has not shown, this Council has not shown that they can spend money wisely. When I say that I don't want, that new revenue is not needed, I want to see a different approach. I want to see measurable results with the money that they have right now, which again, we've increased every single year. So until Council can show - I don't know - I believe that new revenue will be needed. And I also believe that other cities should pitch in, and that we need to build capacity for substance abuse, disorder, treatment, and mental illness treatment. But just throwing a new revenue stream at a problem without fixing the way decisions are made, or understanding of the folks that are actually suffering, then I'm not going to jump in and say, "Yes, new revenue," until I can see that Council is taking a different approach and committed to spending our resources wisely, whether they're new or existing. Crystal Fincher: [00:10:18] So I'm trying to parse that a little bit. And so you're saying you want to see results, maybe new revenue will be needed, but you're not sure. So do you think there is enough money right now to address the problem? Sara Nelson: [00:10:32] I will say, that as a candidate, I am not privy to the detailed information. And I think that it would be irresponsible for any candidate to say, "No." We've seen the McKinsey reports, we've seen - there are widely varied numbers about how much we need - is it $400 million? Is it $200 million? It's a lot of money and we don't necessarily have it right now. But what some people aren't talking about is jobs. And I believe that that should be a focus in this homelessness conversation because workforce development is a big part of my platform - because my first priority is economic recovery. Because so many businesses have closed or moved away, and so many people are out of jobs - that should be our focus. People need to earn and they need to have work - and that means helping getting out of this crisis while helping struggling small businesses keep the people that they've got hired working. And so Fremont Brewing was hit hard by this pandemic, but we managed not to lay anybody off - we kept everybody employed, we increased everyone's hourly wages to make up for their lost tips. And others were not as fortunate, so I don't see Council acting with any urgency to address the needs of small businesses like mine.  And why am I going off on what appears to be a tangent, and you're thinking, "She's not answering the question." Because a big part of assessing the need is finding out what do people need to get back to work. And that is why I'm a big proponent of apprenticeship utilization requirements that contractors - and well, that unions fulfill. There are a lot of different apprenticeship programs and different organizations that are focused on helping people that have been taken out of the workforce. Maybe they have cycled through the criminal justice system, or they don't have skills, they're coming out of a foster care history. And I was visiting the Iron Workers and I saw an apprenticeship program focused specifically on this population. So let's also start talking about jobs before we just pick a number out of the air and say, "Do we have enough money? Do we need more money? Where's that money going to come from to address this problem?" Crystal Fincher: [00:13:16] Well, and that's a really important point. I did not think you were going off on a tangent. I think the recovery is a central issue in Seattle for residents, for small businesses, certainly. There's been a lot of conversation about this - certainly the greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce or the main Chamber in Seattle has opposed the JumpStart tax that you - or the JumpStart recovery package - which includes a tax that you referenced before. There's been a lot of conversation, I think, that you alluded to it - that politically, people may oppose it because that's something that, frankly, Amazon opposed. And a number of people are viewing the Chamber increasingly as almost a lobbying arm for Amazon, and not as much for a number of the small businesses that are there. And seeing some bifurcation of the interests of huge multi-billion dollar organizations - multi-hundred billion dollar organizations - versus Mom-pa businesses, the small businesses throughout Seattle that have struggled and are struggling to get through this pandemic, as you talked about. Having to navigate what are you going to do with employees throughout the meandering maze of opening, partial opening, reopening, and how to navigate that. I know that the Greater Seattle Business Association called the JumpStart recovery package very important - said that they had worked with the Council on that, and that it included critical economic relief for small businesses and families in Seattle. And called some of the investment, including $18 million that goes to support small businesses, critical to the recovery. Sara Nelson: [00:15:10] How did - can you - I was trying to figure that out, because I heard Council say that, and I haven't seen the $18 million for small businesses - but what form did that support come in? Crystal Fincher: [00:15:26] Yeah. So there's $3.6 million for small business direct cash assistance, with 20% going towards childcare, so workers and owners can both go back to business while schools are closed. $14 million for flexible funding to allow businesses to pay staff, vendors, clean, operate - so kind of the immediate business support, and then the other support across the vendor ecosystem. And $300,000 for technical assistance to navigate opening and operating under and post COVID-19 - with navigating regulations and the requirements there. So it's a significant sum of money that the Greater Seattle Business Association, the GSBA, is saying was developed directly with input from their members and that they feel is critical to the economic recovery. With that, I know you said that you don't support the JumpStart economic recovery. How do you parse that small business relief versus your opposition - as a small business owner? Obviously, we're both sitting here as small business owners talking about this. Do you feel that helps? Do you feel it doesn't help? Where are you at on that? Sara Nelson: [00:16:50] Well, I'd say that, just like people living unhoused, the business community is not a monolithic block. And Fremont Brewing has been a member of GSBA - and we brew a Pride beer and we have given significant amount of money to their scholarship, or to their scholarship fund, so I very much respect the GSBA. And I believe that they made a decision. I'm not going to comment on what I think about their support, or get into who's right and who's wrong. I can also say that I know that 70% of the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber members are small businesses. Of those, I think 50% have 10 employees or less, so who has more small business credit? I don't know. I just say that, in my mind, we are an ecosystem and we really do have to be careful about how it ends up. Not just how the revenue will end up helping - that is good. Thank you for informing me of that. However, there will never be enough money to help some struggling small businesses - $3 million, et cetera. What we have to do is help small businesses survive through policy. And I've got a long list of policy proposals that I go into in excruciating detail on my website. But so - we can help small businesses. But I'm talking about potential unintended consequences to the business community as a whole, so that is just what I'm getting across when I was talking about how tax policy does reverberate sometimes in unintended ways. Crystal Fincher: [00:18:47] Well, I got you. And you have talked about - both in terms of your view towards raising revenue, towards addressing the unhoused population - and you talked about needing increased money for substance use disorder and treatment for people who are struggling with that in all various forms. And that you've gone through experiences that have changed your perspective somewhat -  Sara Nelson: [00:19:15] Yeah.  Crystal Fincher: [00:19:15] I guess, ideologically. There was an article written saying that hasn't necessarily changed your policy, but I guess, how has your experience -  what has your experience been? Sara Nelson: [00:19:29] Well, let me tell you - this is what happened. I saw my drinking take an uptick. So this is all contextualized within the framework of - yeah, I own a brewery. So anyway, my drinking took an uptick during COVID and I was working at home isolated, unsupervised. And I realized that it was only going to go in one direction. My dad was an alcoholic and it wasn't until - he tried to quit drinking several times - it wasn't until he went to an in-person treatment program that he was able to get and stay sober for 20 years. So I decided that I was going to skip all those steps of going to AA and trying to stop drinking and all that stuff. And I just went in, and I was able to do so because I have good health insurance, and even if it weren't accepted, I could probably scrape enough money to pay outright. So that is what is wrong - is that too many people do not have access to help. That was driven home to me going through that.  I also met a lot of people who have lived on the streets, who have had to steal to support their habit. And so I feel like, when I say it didn't change my policies - but it humanized the people that sometimes you don't even get to know, you just drive past on the streets, or walk past in our open spaces. So that is a little bit of how I changed personally through that experience. And that is why I believe that we have not quantified the magnitude of this problem within our broader homelessness crisis, but we should be doing that. And I don't know - I've asked around, I asked the County, I have asked City people - how many beds are available if somebody wants to get clean right now? And I don't know the answer to that. It's probably not enough. And so we need more capacity, and we need to focus our dollars there. Crystal Fincher: [00:21:54] Well, the answer is definitely not enough. And I do want to absolutely say - I am happy and thankful you were able to recognize that you were dealing with substance use disorder and get treatment. It's what a lot of people, especially through the tough times of the pandemic and the increased isolation and stress, have had to deal with. So you certainly are not alone in that. I'm very thankful and relieved that you are in recovery. Sara Nelson: [00:22:25] Over seven months now. Crystal Fincher: [00:22:26] Congratulations, that's very great. And you've talked, as you did just now, about how this helped - in your words - humanize others who have dealt with this issue. Which is, I think, a very useful and helpful thing. One thing I have noticed, you're - Sara Nelson: [00:22:47] You know what, so I just had this idea when you were talking. It is the human, because we do - this is such a - people respond so viscerally to this - to issues and seeing encampments, et cetera, across the range of a political response. And - I know, but - Crystal Fincher: [00:23:14] Well, I guess I have a question here. Sara Nelson: [00:23:17] Yeah, yeah, yeah. Go ahead - I'm not going to ramble anymore. Crystal Fincher: [00:23:20] My question is - the way you talked about homelessness, certainly in your last campaign versus now, is definitely different. From what I've read, you certainly credit your going through substance use disorder yourself for helping you to see and understand the issue. But a lot of the rhetoric around it has not changed. And an abundance of data has been out there - about people experiencing homelessness are not a monolith and the different reasons why, and the counts about people who are out there, and the proposed housing units necessary, and the type of services that have helped. You certainly talk a lot more about the need for treatment and treating the human, even if that hasn't translated to any difference in policy. So is having to go through it yourself in order to see, or to humanize other people experiencing the problem with that issue - do you see any of that, potentially, in other issues? Whether it's racial equity or policing - that maybe that was a blind spot that you had in similar areas before, because you had not personally gone through it. And there may be context that you're missing in the conversation - that maybe believing other people's experiences, even if you haven't gone through it, may be warranted. Sara Nelson: [00:24:50] Yes, absolutely. I mean, I've never been to jail. But - that's perhaps a lot to do with the fact that I am white. You know, I never got a DUI. But so I think that I could have got in a lot worse trouble, but I was privileged to not have encounters with law enforcement, and I believe that my whiteness does play into that. So - and I was in treatment with a lot of Native Americans and Black people who talk about how - our experiences are different, basically what I'll say. And so that did help bring that home. I can understand it intellectually. I did my anthropology PhD research on the intersections of gender, race, and class in policing. But it's not until you get into a situation like mine, where you think - There but for the grace of God go I. If your question is, does my experience bleed into other policy areas? Yes, it does. And - go on. Crystal Fincher: [00:26:10] Oh well, I did want to ask about your perspective on public safety. From what I've read you've certainly been critical of the Council's actions with regard to reducing funding for SPD. You felt that former Chief Carmen Best was treated unfairly, and it was a shame that she left. And - Sara Nelson: [00:26:37] It was more than a shame. Crystal Fincher: [00:26:40] And I also read that you applauded work people did to address racial equity concerns in policing. So the - if - I guess - what is it that you were applauding, or what action have you agreed with that the Council has taken to address problems and inequalities, specifically with SPD's policing and approach? And - Sara Nelson: [00:27:15] I haven't seen - frankly - I haven't seen - I have to interrupt. I have not seen racism in policing being addressed by what Council has done so far. To me, what ended up happening was that - you know, so - what I applaud is that there was a lot of attention and effort to address this finally. But I don't - I do not see, and maybe you can tell me - how cutting the police has addressed racism in policing, or has addressed the numbers of Black and Brown people being stopped. Or any of those things that need to be addressed, which absolutely has to be addressed, through reforms.  And I think that one way to go about - so basically, everybody is going to say, "We're for public safety, we want communities to be safe." Okay. I think that that is something that we agree on, but how do we get there? What I disagreed on was - committing to a certain percentage of defunding the police without a plan for keeping people safe and without broad consensus in the Black community is the wrong approach. Right now - Crystal Fincher: [00:28:44] Well, here's a question with that.  Sara Nelson: [00:28:47] What?  Crystal Fincher: [00:28:47] Broad consensus in the Black community. Do you see broad consensus in the white community? Sara Nelson: [00:28:53] No, but - I am - okay - Crystal Fincher: [00:28:56] So do you expect there to be a difference in the Black community? Do you - that there would be broad consensus? Sara Nelson: [00:29:03] That is a fair point. Then, let's just say - without broad consensus in the community. Crystal Fincher: [00:29:12] So, I guess the question would be - is that a number of people would argue that consensus would manifest itself in the elections that we have, and the people that we elect, and the policies and initiatives that are supported and not supported. And the Council that was elected certainly wanted to move in a different direction and largely pushed by community demands and concerns. So my question -  Sara Nelson: [00:29:50] Which community?  Crystal Fincher: [00:29:52] What would you -  Sara Nelson: [00:29:53] I mean, so, so -  Crystal Fincher: [00:29:55] Seattle. Seattle residents. And so if we look at the vote for the Charter Amendments - Sara Nelson: [00:29:58] Okay, well I was referring to the Black community because the Black community has been most targeted by systemic racism in policing. So that is why I did call out that community - because we have to be talking about the people that are most vulnerable to police misconduct, and racism, and targeting. Crystal Fincher: [00:30:22] Sure. So what do you think should happen? What changes would you propose? Sara Nelson: [00:30:28] I think that - that it would be - that recruiting officers - so there's the police contract, which is for the most part, kind of a closed door negotiation. And then there are other reforms that can be advocated on the part of Council and one - and worked with - is that I believe that recruiting officers from the communities that they serve is a potential way of overcoming some, some - at least language and some cultural barriers - as well as building in accountability because you're less likely to discriminate against somebody that you actually see in a grocery store or in your neighborhood somehow. So that is one way that we can go about it. I think that also supporting bills that really do address accountability at the state level is important. I know that there was a whole bunch of legislation that came out and that is great. So whatever leverage Seattle can bear on our legislative agenda with our delegation is good. And - Crystal Fincher: [00:31:48] Well, I guess - fundamentally, in your capacity as a Seattle City Council member, not withstanding any other jurisdictional action taken by the legislature or anyone else, are there any policies that would fundamentally change, within the practice of policing, that you would support or that you feel are necessary? Sara Nelson: [00:32:15] Yeah. I think that we need to bring back the Crisis Intervention Team. Because - that - that, you know - I think his name was Derek - that was a situation that was tragic. And we need to -because we do have folks and unfortunately, police are often called respond to mental health. And that is an area that there is agreement in - I'm going to interrupt myself now - but there are -  the cops are responding to situations that are better responded to by social service professionals. And to the extent that we can offload some of those responsibilities and build capacity in social services - I do agree with. And I think that advocates and officers agree on this point. So how that happens? I would have to understand the budget better and the staffing models that are in place.  What I think has worked is more of a community policing model that builds relationships. And building relationships that are positive between our law enforcement folks and the community is a way of building trust and also preventing crime. So that is the kind of focus that our - our whole approach should be - how do we make our communities safer and let's do that. And a blanket commitment to a certain percentage cut - I don't think gets us there, because as I was saying - right now, people are less safe simply because the response time to Priority 1 911 calls is 14 minutes. And a lot of bad can happen in that amount of time. So let's agree on the goal - improving public safety, and treating everybody in the community with respect and dignity, and stop racist policing - and then go there. Instead of just picking a number out of the air. Crystal Fincher: [00:34:31] Well, I certainly think that one, a lot of the discussion on the table goes far beyond the number and does fundamentally get into some substantive changes, and alternative programs, and public safety programs, and models. And I wish we had much more time to dive into this. I think it would actually be fascinating and enlightening if we did. But unfortunately, our time has come to a close for today, but I sincerely appreciate you taking the time to speak with us here at Hacks & Wonks. And if people want to learn more about you, where can they go? Sara Nelson: [00:35:09] They can go to saraforcitycouncil.com. S-A-R-A-F-O-R-citycouncil.com. Crystal Fincher: [00:35:22] Thank you for listening to Hacks & Wonks. Our chief audio engineer at KVRU is Maurice Jones Jr. The producer of Hacks & Wonks is Lisl Stadler. You can find me on Twitter @finchfrii, spelled F-I-N-C-H-F-R-I-I, and now you can follow Hacks & Wonks on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever else you get your podcasts. Just type in "Hacks & Wonks" into the search bar. Be sure to subscribe to get our Friday almost-live shows and our midweek show delivered to your podcast feed. You can also get a full text transcript of this episode and links to the resources referenced during the show at officialhacksandwonks.com and in the podcast episode notes. Thanks for tuning in. Talk to you next time.

Eddy Torres of the RRBG Podcast & I have a conversation about how he coped with 2020, his 1st brews, the soundtrack to his youth, his 1st shows, the RRBG Podcast, an interview he would like to redo, the impact of the pandemic on the podcast & his hangover cure. Throughout this interview, Eddy was drinking Mother Earth Brewing Company 's "Flawless Imperfection" the Hazy IPA which clocked in with a 7.5% ABV & Fremont Brewing 's "Coffee Cinnamon B-Bomb" the Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Winter Ale with Coffee & Cinnamon which clocked in with a 13% ABV!!! & I enjoyed Kahnawake Brewing Co. 's "Minotaur" the Hazy IPA which boasted Citra, Simcoe & Mosaic Hops & clocked in with a 7% ABV & BreWskey's "DIPA TEST- LEVURE VERDANT IPA" the 8% ABV DIPA hopped with Citra & Mosaic & packed with Lallemand Yeast!!! Make sure to check out Vox&Hops' Brewtal Awakenings Playlist which has been curated by the Metal Architect Jerry Monk himself on either Spotify or Apple Music. This playlist is packed with all the freshest, sickest & most extreme albums each week!!! *** Thanks to our friends at Heartbeat Hot Sauce Co. for sponsoring this episode! *** Photo Credit: Ariel Gonzalez Episode Links: Website: https://www.voxandhops.com/ Join The Vox&Hops Mailing List: http://eepurl.com/hpu9F1 RRBG Podcast: https://rocknrollbeerguy.wordpress.com/ Watch Part 2 of this interview here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjkw5K75iMQ Mother Earth Brewing Company: https://www.motherearthbrewco.com/ Fremont Brewing: http://www.fremontbrewing.com/ Kahnawake Brewing: http://www.kahnawakebrewing.com/ BreWskey: http://www.brewskey.ca/ Vox&Hops Brewtal Awakenings Playlist: Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/ca/playlist/vox-hops-brewtal-awakenings/pl.u-JPAZbJ3CLYG5PxW Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/57BKflAXe8wE8urfP18Z1I?si=d59bb107027345a3 Heartbeat Hot Sauce Co.: https://www.heartbeathotsauce.com/ Sound Talent Media: https://soundtalentmedia.com/ Support the Vox&Hops Podcast: https://voxandhops.bigcartel.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, the guys discuss Mercy Music (punk band from Las Vegas) and D&D while enjoying some Sky Kraken Hazy IPA from Fremont Brewing. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/second-player-score/support

This week on Beer Sessions Radio, Jimmy is hearing from three experts in barrel aging. He welcomes previous co-host Ben Keene, a beer, cider, and travel writer from Seattle, WA; Matt Lincoln from Fremont Brewing in Seattle, WA; and Jake Endres from Crooked Run Brewing in Sterling, VA. Ben kicks off the conversation by explaining the differences barrel aging can make, highlighting the complexity and bold intensity the process brings to beers. Matt emphasizes the layering of flavors that barrel aging offers, as well as the unique characteristics of each individual spirit barrel. Then, Jake lets us in on a couple of brewing secrets, including why Black Friday is such a big day for new beer releases, and how aged hops should be your best friend. Plus, the group walks Jimmy through the aging process from brew to bottle, or more recently, cans, which they all agree have accelerated in popularity during Covid-19. Finally, Ben, Jake, and Matt offer up a couple of barrel-aged inspirations for anyone looking to try out a new brewery.Beer List - Ben: Ferment Brewing CompanyJake: Pen Druid Brewing and Allagash Brewing CompanyMatt: Perennial Artisan AlesPhoto Courtesy of Ben Keene.Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Beer Sessions Radio by becoming a member!Beer Sessions Radio is Powered by Simplecast.

Sara Nelson, co-owner of Fremont Brewing, has just announced her campaign for Position 9 on Seattle City Council. She calls KIRO Radio's Dave Ross to explain why the council needs at least one small business owner in the room. Her priorities include getting back to basics like fixing potholes, holding the council accountable on budgeting, and restarting some long lost environmental protection measures. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chris Sullivan's Chokepoint -- commuter ferry feasibility study (Mosquito Fleet!) // Hanna Scott legislative roundup -- police reform, homeless shelters, and the "space economy" // Dose of Kindness -- Police officer goes beyond the call of duty // Gee Scott on the importance of a pre-Super Bowl haircut // Sara Nelson, co-founder of Fremont Brewing, running for Seattle City Council // Rachel Belle on one subject that's perfect for remote learning - sex ed See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tonight, we drink about Batman Forever (1995), w/ Head Full of Dynomite by Fremont Brewing. Subscribe & Follow Us For More! B&B on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/beardsandbr... B&B on Twitter https://twitter.com/BeardsBrewsCast B&B on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/BeardsAndBre...

Marie joins Josh and John to share some beers from her local Fremont Brewing.

Seattle’s Fremont Brewing (https://www.fremontbrewing.com) is known for fresh hop beers, and over the past decade they’ve engaged in a level of problem solving (on both the logistical and technical sides) that is relatively unparalleled. What started as a small organic experiment with a well-established hop farm has turned into a yearly logistical dance, as harvesters, trucks, and brew staff work in concert to pick hops at the right time, transport them at the right temperature, and get them into batches at just the right moment. In this episode, Director of Brewing Operations Matt Lincoln (who has been with the brewery since day one) explains both the operational challenges the brewery faces to tackle such an ambitious fresh hop program, and how they manage fresh hops through the brewing process. Whether it’s planning their brewing volume based on the season’s yield, using their lauter tun as a hop back with moving rakes to aid extraction, or tweaking temperatures to insure the best outcomes, Fremont has learned much the past decade of brewing these beers at scale. The conversation also moves through how the brewery’s approach to hoppy beers has evolved, pushing more and more hot side hops into the whirlpool to retain aromatics while still achieving the right amount of isomerization for their unapologetically bitter IPAs. Yeast expression is of particular importance, as is managing hop creep, and Lincoln discusses both in depth. Later, he pivots to discuss their approach to barrel aging and blending beers like B-Bomb that have earned the brewery much acclaim. Fresh hop beers are expensive to make with difficult challenges to overcome as brewers and growers manage tricky constraints in time and temperature, but few breweries brew them as well as Fremont does. When you listen to Lincoln explain it, you’ll understand why. *This episode is brought to you by: * G&D Chillers (https://gdchillers.com): Nearly 2,000 breweries across the US, Canada & Mexico partner with G&D Chillers. Innovative, Modular Designs and no proprietary parts propel G&D ahead as the premier choice for your glycol chilling needs. Breweries you recognize—Russian River, Ninkasi, Jacks Abby, Samuel Adams, and more—trust G&D to chill the beer you love! Call G&D Chillers to discuss your project today or reach out directly at Gdchillers.com (http://www.Gdchillers.com) BSG (https://bsgcraftbrewing.com/) This episode is brought to you by Rahr North Star Pils. A new base malt to set your compass by. Rahr North Star Pils is crafted for brewers looking for a domestic pilsner malt with low color and low modification. North Star Pils carries overtones of honey and sweet bread, supported by flavors and aromas of hay and nutty character. Suitable for any beer style, but particularly craft brewed versions of classic lagers. Let Rahr North Star Pils guide your craft by visiting BSGCraftbrewing.com (https://bsgcraftbrewing.com/), or contact BSG at 1.800.374.2739. Quantiperm (https://quantiperm.com): Tired of the trial-and-error carbonation processes? Then look at our innovative automated carbonation systems for precise carbonation. These systems handle wide flow ranges to accommodate all your beer, wine, soda, or cider styles. You can even carbonate and directly send the product to a packaging line without tankage! Besides carbonation, QuantiPerm offers robust and economical systems for nitrogenation and water deoxygenation. All our systems have an easy-to-use graphical user interface with reports and graphs that you can pull up on your mobile device. Visit quantiperm.com (https://quantiperm.com) for more information. Grandstand (https://egrandstand.com/catalog/category/view/id/179): Grandstand is your source for the latest trends in branded drinkware, apparel and promotional items. We make your job easy by serving as your one-stop-shop for everything you need to outfit your taproom and fans. Current trends include to-go drinkware, tie dye prints and portable coolers. Visit egrandstand.com/lookbook (https://egrandstand.com/catalog/category/view/id/179) to see what’s trending. ABS Commercial (https://www.abs-commercial.com): ABS Commercial is excited to be a part of today’s Podcast! ABS is a full brewery outfitter offering brewhouses, tanks, keg washers and small parts. ABS wanted to do something fun for the craft beer industry, so they are giving away an ABS Keg Viking Keg Washer LIVE on December 5th, which happens to be national repeal day. To enter, go to www.abs-commercial.com (https://www.abs-commercial.com), click on “Keg Viking” page and fill out the contest form for your chance to win!

Fremont is known for making some great BA beers, and this was no exception. If limited release beers are your thing, we officially launched our Cellar Club. With the holidays coming up, we're about to drop some new merch. Adam launched his Kombucha line over the weekend!

We always like to do something special for the most celebrated time in the R&B camp, and this year we decided to talk about one of our favorite movies reserved for Halloween of all time: John Carpenter’s The Thing. Grab a coldie, and try to figure out which one of us is actually an alien underneath… But we’re not doing this alone! We brought in Ryan (again) and fellow movie aficionado Ben Smith to talk about the body horror masterpiece and how it inspired and changed movies since it’s debut. Of course no episode would be complete without a beverage in hand, well, 4 to be exact. Everyone brought something different with brews from Belching Beaver, Elysian, Fremont Brewing & Dogfish Head.

Jake and Joe taste Fremont Brewing's Headful of Fresh Hops and the 11th Anniversary BBAS. 

Ryan, Bryan, and Evan sit down with more than enough barleywines to sample for a weekday evening.  Notable entries from Side Project Brewing, Fremont Brewing, and Bottle Logic Brewing round out the best of the sampling.  Get yourself ready for the breakdown and tune in!

Hashtag 59's Season 3 Podcast is 50 Episodes long and each episode will provide SIX outdoor adventures in each of the US's 50 states. We are doing these episodes in ABC Order of the states and episode forty-seven is Washington The goal is to give you ideas and opportunities to experience outdoor adventure anywhere and everywhere in the United States of America. Here's our list for Washington: 1. Go to the one square inch of silence in the Hoh Rainforest in Olympic National Park. 2. Head to the end of the PCT trail and cheer on a thru hiker as they finish! 3. Mt Rainier - Spray Park. Lupine! 4. Check out Field Trip & take a foraging trip with Langdon Cook. 5. Create your own Brewery Hop through Seattle on bikes - my suggestion is checking out the Ballard area of Seattle and visit Fremont Brewing, Stoup Brewing, Reuben’s Brews, Obec Brewing and finally Peddler Brewing Company (owned by former Columbus-ites!). Bonus stop: Un Bien, which is an amazing cuban sandwich shop on 15th Avenue in Ballard! 6. Have an evening picnic on Rialto Beach in Olympic National Park. The beach is filled with sea stacks, or remains of trees and is an infamous tree graveyard. Grab some food, a few drinks and a blanket. Thanks for listening to Season 3 of our podcast featuring all 50 US States and some of each state's unique and hopefully lesser known to you Outdoor Adventures. This episode featured the state of Washington. Subscribe to our podcast if you enjoy what you hear and if you feel so inclined to leave a review we would be grateful. Check out www.Hashtag59.com for our old podcast seasons, hundreds of blogs, & outdoor events/team outings info.

Our search for Seattle’s best teriyaki resumes in earnest in Fremont, where we also picked up Fremont Brewing’s Black is Beautiful Imperial Stout. In sports, OL Reign is still looking for a goal in Utah while the Sounders’ MLS is … Continue reading →

The boys drink the Golden Pilsner and the Summer American Pale Ale from Fremont Brewing in Seattle. We discuss continued BLM learning, Covid and BLM fatigue and the top rappers of all time.

Featuring Matt Lincoln from Fremont Brewing Company in Seattle, WA Beer, Baseball & Bines is a weekly podcast hosted by Steve Carpenter (our CSCO) and Joe Catron (from Yakima Chief Ranches) . Tune in for harvest updates, baseball news and featured brewers from around the country. Now available for free on iTunes!

The first episode of Season 2! The Gamblers sit down with their good friend David to go over the theme Bar Snacks. David works for Fremont Brewing, based out of Seattle, and decided to pair beer with each of the items we try in the episode. This group discusses Yelp reviews, the Austin Powers trilogy and bar snacks! Let's have a seat at the table! Fremont Brewing is definitely a friend of the show so check them out if you can.

Tasting 67 will go down as one of our favorites yet. This highly regarded, yet vastly underappreciated brewery is located in Seattle, and is simply known as Fremont Brewing Company. We were joined by our buddy Nick Abeyta and a new guest and friend, Jonathan, to enjoy these delicious offerings. We drank some high ABV beers so the night quickly got out of hand, but we had a great time as usual. Thanks for listening and Till the Last Drop! Beer Line-up: Barrel Aged B-Bomb Coconut Edition (Imperial Winter Ale), Barrel Aged Dark Star Coffee Edition (Oatmeal Stout), Unicorn Tears collab between Perennial Artisan Ales (Imperial Stout Aged in Whiskey Barrels with Tart Michigan Cherries), Barrel Aged B-Bomb Coffee Cinnamon (Imperial Winter Ale), Barrel Aged Dark Star Chocolate Vanilla Maple Syrup (Oatmeal Stout) and Barrel Aged Brew 3000 (Barleywine), from Fremont Brewing Company. Spotlight: Funky Blender Preserves Raspberry + Peach by Casey Brewing and Blending. Break Music was 4AM by KaizanBlu Intro and Exit Music provided by bensound.com

Welcome to episode 135 of the AoD Podcast! In this episode, we have two interesting IPAs on tap from Stone (Enjoy By 01-01-2020) and Fremont Brewing (Space Danger). While we enjoy these beers, we discuss the 3rd episodes of the shows in our Three Episode Rule segment: In/Spectre, 22/7 and Keep Your Hands off Eizouken! Along with other Winter 2020 shows like Magia Record and My Hero Academia, we have an update on a certain visit to Japan for Love Live Fest 2020! Grab a drink and join us! Show Notes: 00:00:00 Intro00:01:20 Beers of the Week: Stone Enjoy By 01-01-2020 IPA and Fremont Brewing Space Danger IPA00:04:30 Weekly Pairing: Magia Record00:21:15 Beer Reviews00:29:30 News Break00:38:00 Happy Hour: Love Live Fest 202000:42:45 Three Episode Rule00:58:08 Current Airing Shows01:25:42 Housekeeping/Closing To catch our shows live, head over to twitch.tv/animeondraft and give us a follow. Be sure to turn on notifications to be alerted when we go live. You can catch us on Twitter @animeondraft to receive updates on our weekly streams. Our current streaming schedule is Sundays starting around 7:30 PM Pacific Time.

Welcome to episode 135 of the AoD Podcast! In this episode, we have two interesting IPAs on tap from Stone (Enjoy By 01-01-2020) and Fremont Brewing (Space Danger). While we enjoy these beers, we discuss the 3rd episodes of the shows in our Three Episode Rule segment: In/Spectre, 22/7 and Keep Your Hands off Eizouken! Along with other Winter 2020 shows like Magia Record and My Hero Academia, we have an update on a certain visit to Japan for Love Live Fest 2020! Grab a drink and join us! Show Notes: 00:00:00 Intro00:01:20 Beers of the Week: Stone Enjoy By 01-01-2020 IPA and Fremont Brewing Space Danger IPA00:04:30 Weekly Pairing: Magia Record00:21:15 Beer Reviews00:29:30 News Break00:38:00 Happy Hour: Love Live Fest 202000:42:45 Three Episode Rule00:58:08 Current Airing Shows01:25:42 Housekeeping/Closing To catch our shows live, head over to twitch.tv/animeondraft and give us a follow. Be sure to turn on notifications to be alerted when we go live. You can catch us on Twitter @animeondraft to receive updates on our weekly streams. Our current streaming schedule is Sundays starting around 7:30 PM Pacific Time.

Talking barrel aged stouts, sustainability, organic farming, and the responsibilities of brewery owners with Matt Lincecum of Fremont Brewing in Seattle, Washington on planet earth.

Grab that hot buttered pretzel and your favorite beer stein ‘cause this week the BnB crew are sharing some spooken stories straight outta Haunted Germany! Vanessa dons her lederhosen first for the story of Pfaueninsel (or Peacock Island), where things are known to strangely catch fire (except the peacocks), paired with Fremont Brewing’s Head Full of Dynamite Hazy IPA. Then Melissa straps on her dirndl for the story of Pollingsrieder Chapel, where the wells are haunted with some demonic shit bro, paired with Erdinger Weissbier Dunkel. Who will win in the battle of rabbit fucks VS der ponyhund? Listen and find out!

“My family got kicked out of Ireland for doing bad things to Protestants.” “Do you want to date my dead grandpa?”   BEER RATINGS *SPOILER ALERT* - Jamie: 4.5 - Keryl: 4.5 - Kevin: 4.75   GET IN TOUCH: Facebook - @drinkingbiddiespodcast Instagram - @drinkingbiddiespodcast Email – drinkingbiddies@gmail.com Untappd – DrinkingBiddiesPodcast   As always, thanks for drinking (responsibly)!

Back to the normal threesome this week as the boys discuss their experiences playing Pokemon Sword and Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order. With rumors about a new Half Life VR title as well as a new Crash Bandicoot, we almost missed the new Playstation 5 controller detail leaks and the Game Awards nominees for Game of the Year and Best Supported Community. Big thanks to Fremont Brewing for a very earthy and delicious Hazy IPA. Their Head Full of Dynomite Hazy hit just the right spot to keep the conversation flowing.  

Go here to see notes for this episode: http://www.fourbrewers.com/275-fresh-and-wet/ Subscribe: RSS | Apple Podcasts | Google Play Music | Stitcher | YouTube | Twitch | Anchor.fm Support the show: Patreon | PayPal Donation 4B Social Media: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | tumblr | Flickr | Snapchat Email 4B: feedback@fourbrewers.com 4B Theme Song: The Sleeping Sea King ***** Episode Chapters: 00:00: SupportTheShitOutOfIt.com 00:08: Theme Music 00:16: Begin Show 02:08: Beers From Jeromy Krom 08:44: What Are Wet-Hopped Beers? 10:58: Cowiche Canyon Fresh Hop Ale - Fremont Brewing 18:47: Field to Ferment: Centennial & Simcoe (2019) - Fremont Brewing 22:18: Fresh Fluff - Matchless Brewing 28:21: Fresh Hop Crikey IPA - Reuben's Brews 39:31: Fresh Hop Double Crush (2019) - Reuben's Brews 44:23: fourbrewers.com The Four Brewers podcast uses .mp3 files with chapter markers that allow you to easily skip to different parts of the show. Overcast for iOS and Podcast Addict for Android are two examples of apps that utilize this handy feature, as well as the native Podcasts app for iOS. If your podcast player doesn't support chapter markers, then simply reference the time stamps listed above for this episode.

Revision Brewing Company’s brewmaster and CEO hails from Knee Deep Brewing Company out of Auburn, CA - a company that he originally founded out of his garage in Sparks, Nevada. In July of 2015, Jeremy Warren (Founder and former Brewmaster of Knee Deep Brewing Company) decided to sell his shares of Knee Deep Brewing to his business partner and set out to start Revision Brewing Company where he could have total creative freedom. Warren is known for his world-class IPA’s, 2x IPAs and 3x IPAs and after only a year of opening the doors at Revision Brewing Company, the brewery took a gold medal win for Revision IPA in the American India Pale Ale Category, and DIPA won the silver medal in the Imperial India Pale Ale category at the 2018 World Beer Cup® awards. Only four other breweries in the history of the World Beer Cup® have medaled in both the American-Style India Pale Ale and the Imperial India Pale Ale category in the same year. Revision Brewing Company joins Russian River, Pizza Port, Noble Ale Works and Big Rock Chop House in this achievement. Hi Juno is a Hazy IPA brewed with Citra and Mosaic hops and a touch of milk sugar, making it flavorful, smooth and easy to drink. This week on FDB - stolen snakes, storing squirrels, NFL vacations, and more! Now please kick back, and enjoy another sit down with Friends Drink Beer. To support Revision Brewing Company and find out more about their beers, visit: Website: revisionbrewing.com Instagram: @revisionbrewing BEER EVENT OF THE WEEK EVENT: Farm to Glass with Skagit Valley Malting WHERE: Black Heron Lounge at Fremont Brewing in Seattle, Washington WHEN: Wednesday, October 23 at 6:30pm WHAT: Fremont Brewing will be hosting their first ever Farm to Glass discussion, where they'll chat about the importance of locally sourced ingredients and their impact on craft beer. On October 23rd, their Brewers will be sitting down with friends from Skagit Valley Malting to learn about their history and the importance of locally sourced grains in craft beer. There are over 30,000 potential varieties of barley, wheat and other grains - offering endless flavor possibilities for craft brewers. Join them and discover how Fremont chooses malt for each beer and why they're obsessed with sourcing locally. The 20 dollar ticket includes event admission along with 3-4 four oz tastings of Black Heron Lounge beer featuring grains from Skagit Valley Malting. The Black Heron Lounge bar will also be open for you to purchase full pours of beer throughout the event. Have a question for Ryan & Alex? Submit it today at www.friendsdrinkbeer.com, and we will answer it on the next episode! Lastly if you like the show, donate to us and show your support: www.patreon.com/friendsdrinkbeer CREDITS Alex Hobbs - Executive Producer Ryan Roope - Executive Producer Jared Brody - Writer/Producer

How quickly do you drink your hot chocolate? We head to Chocolati Cafe for this episode of Shifties and find our respective beverage quaff times. Joining us is Jayne Hubbard: beertender at Fremont Brewing by day and actress also by day and perhaps sometimes night. Jayne gives us the inside scoop on SEATTLE IPA MANIA, the lowdown on serving the masses, creates her dream role, and serves up what might be the best title ever in the process.  This week on Shifties: chocolate rockets, beer bros and hazy hoes, the freshest of the fresh hops, unabashedly brazen belches, oompa loompa assault, and a beer knowledge beatdown best served cold. Featuring Jayne Hubbard, Joey Rebbe, Wallace Branin, and Andrew Davies Art by Justin Kedl Music by Alex Donka Produced by Wallace Branin 

This week we drink some Field to Ferment IPA from Fremont Brewing! That's a lot of F's.     Make sure to follow us on:Twitter: https://twitter.com/2beardsandbeersInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/2beardspodcastFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/2beardspodcast/Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3B0SqfRQ6QFuVIpRSwYKaA

A conversation about growing up as one of the only metal heads in his high school, how living in Los Angeles shaped his musical path, working for one of the biggest metal record labels & all about his band Abysmal Dawn. The beer that we drank during this episode was brought to me by Brian Spencer & his wife Liu it was the great B-Bomb which was a coffee cinnamon barrel aged by Fremont Brewing. It was one of the best beers I have ever been given!!! Huge thanks to the following Vox&Hops' Heads who came out and brought me some sick brews over the past week on my European tour alongside Ingested, Gloryhole Guillotine, Incite, Demonical & Nightrage! Thank you: Courtney Flores, Christian Wolfgang, Michael Sandfeld & Robin Johansson!!! Abysmal Dawn: https://www.facebook.com/AbysmalDawn Nuclear Blast Records: https://www.nuclearblast.de/ Freemont Brewing: https://www.fremontbrewing.com/

Join me for a sip of Craft Brewers Association and an Independent Craft Brewers Seal approved Reubens' Brews and Fremont Brewing plus a taste of Seattle World Whiskey Day with organizer David Carson.

The Brew 3000 by Fremont Brewing had more buzz than any beer we've tasted on the show to-date. It's extremely hard to find and we're giving someone the chance to own one just by listening. Now doesn't that sound better than waiting in a long line just for it to sell out? We think so!

Sam heads out to Seattle to talk with Matt Lincecum, co-owner and co-founder of Fremont Brewing. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

This week we cover the much-anticipated arrival of Captain Marvel! This is the 21st installment to the Marvel Cinematic universe and is simultaneously far from the best and far from the worst. We drink a NE IPA from Fremont Brewing from Seattle called "Head Full of Dynomite" and a coffee stout from Three Magnets out of Olympia, WA called "Coffee Tompkins." Episode Timeline: 0:00 - 15:02 Intro & "Head Full of Dynomite." 15:03 - 27:54 FLICK PICKS: Waterworld (1995), Free Solo (2018), Won't You Be My Neighbor (2018), Zodiac (2007) 31:24 - 50:01 Captain Marvel (Spoiler Free) - - - DANGER ZONE - - - 50:02 - 58:18 Coffee Tompkins 58:19 - END "Hot & Bothered" Please rate and review us wherever you listen!

Former Lehigh QB and NFL Draft Hopeful, Brad Mayes, calls in to talk to the fellas about his time at Lehigh and his thoughts on the draft, college players getting paid, fast food at the White House, and Ed O’Bannon. The guys crack open some Dark Star by Fremont Brewing and talk about Bryce Harper tampering, Adam Silver’s genius, Tiger injured again, and FC Cincinnati’s first MLS game. In Upper Deck, we talk the crazy combine questions, Kyler Murray’s amazing agent, a cheater in golf going full on ‘roid rage, $1.50 hot dogs, a skier getting caught mid-doping, and Stephen Wright failing to tell Boston he was likely getting suspended. Be sure to check out our sponsors:Minuteman Tickets (www.minutemantickets.com) for all of your sports, concert, or theater ticket needs. Tavour - sign up for an account at http://bit.ly/CBSTavour and get $10 in credit after your first beer.

This week we welcome 2 friends, Eric and Pedro.  We drink 3 beers: Nobody Walks in LA Hazy DIPA by Indie Brewing, Head Full of Dynomite Hazy IPA by Fremont Brewing and World Wide Stout by Dogfish Head. Follow us on Instagram @beerfortunes

We rather enjoyed each other's company in our sawdusty/tool-filled recording setting for this two-part episode. In this first half we explore some of the implications of having a not-so-concealed carry and other things related to gun rights in Washington State. We then jump into a beer (Mod Pod by Fremont Brewing) that reminds us of no-frills tap rooms with great beer. Twitter: @contraratics Instagram: @the_contraratics_podcast

Recording on a Friday night adds to extra drinks. While were taking shots and having a flight from Seattles Fremont Brewing. We also find time to talk Football. We recap our win vs. the Bucs and discuss which Saints team will show up against the Panthers. Saints, Drinking and Drunken Rants!!! What else do you want? Cheers & Whodat!!!Like our show? Help us grow! Like, Comment, & Share!!! Follow @SaintCraftRadio on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook! You can find all of our free episodes on iTunes and Spreaker.com. Don't forget to Subscribe! Who Dat!!!

Recording on a Friday night adds to extra drinks. While were taking shots and having a flight from Seattles Fremont Brewing. We also find time to talk Football. We recap our win vs. the Bucs and discuss which Saints team will show up against the Panthers. Saints, Drinking and Drunken Rants!!! What else do you want? Cheers & Whodat!!!Like our show? Help us grow! Like, Comment, & Share!!! Follow @SaintCraftRadio on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook! You can find all of our free episodes on iTunes and Spreaker.com. Don't forget to Subscribe! Who Dat!!!

We get a chance to sit down with Alexa, one of our awesome beertenders, to taste one of the most sought-after beers by Fremont Brewing. The B-Bomb (formally known as Bourbon Abominable) is a bourbon barrel aged imperial winter ale released each year the day after Thanksgiving and it's really good!

Dark days are ahead and with that comes dark beer season! In this episode, Adam and I share our thoughts on two crowd favorites from Fremont Brewing. We also get a chance to taste The Frais from De Garde Brewing thanks to a couple of our loyal supporters.

Go here to see notes for this episode: http://www.fourbrewers.com/218-deep-space-brut/ Subscribe: RSS | Apple Podcasts | Google Play Music | Stitcher | YouTube | Twitch | Anchor.fm Support the show: Patreon | PayPal Donation 4B Social Media: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | tumblr | Flickr | Snapchat Email 4B: feedback@fourbrewers.com 4B Theme Song: The Sleeping Sea King ***** Chapters: 00:00: Support Four Brewers on Patreon! 00:09: Theme Music 00:18: Begin Show 02:31: Pride (2018) - Fremont Brewing 05:57: Les Amis Grisettes - Green Bench Brewing Co 13:26: The Ghosts In Their Eyes - Anchorage Brewing Company 20:36: Brut AF - El Segundo Brewing Company 29:04: Deep Space - Half Acre Beer Company 38:46: Four Brewers on YouTube! The Four Brewers podcast uses mp3 files with chapter markers that allow you to easily skip to different parts of the show. Overcast for iOS and Podcast Addict for Android are two examples of apps that utilize this handy feature. If your podcast player doesn't support chapter markers, then simply reference the time stamps listed above for this episode.

Phillip Kulishov joins us to talk about his experience in the business world, what inspired him to #putaringonit, and how insane the new #headtax is in Seattle. We also review Fremont Brewing's Sister Imperial IPA and Founder's KBS Stout.

Coming to you from Beer Snob City, it's everyone's favorite stumbling drunk podcast, Beer Plus Three. The featured beers are from Fremont Brewing, Icicle Brewing and Wander Brewing. The Beer Plus 3 Podcast features Jeff Swatman, Rick Anderson, Bri Edwards, and occasionally Micheal Zamora and Brandon Longwell. Got something to say to us? Send it to beerplus3@gmail.com or find us on Facebook.

Its our first 2 parter for the season finale of curb season 4 ( s04e10 pt.1 ). We also drink Universale from Fremont Brewing. Stayed tuned after the credits for a bonus story from Robert.

Hi friends! This week on Friends Drink Beer, we try 'The Sister' by Fremont Brewing. Family owned and founded in 2009, Fremont Brewing is dedicated to brewing small batch artisan beers with the best local ingredients Washington has to offer. Why? Because to them, beer matters. Founder Matt Lincecum was once an attorney specializing in beverage and hospitality law. At some point, Matt decided for himself that instead of helping other people’s dreams come true, he needed to fulfill his own. Thus rose Fremont Brewing. The Sister is an Imperial IPA that has a tropical, dank aroma with mango, pine, and orange peel flavors. We’re also very excited to sit with the adorable couple and avid Youtubers Lynette Cenée and Corey Ferrugia who are in the midst of creating their own docu-reality series, Beauty and the Beat. We’ll all be listening to Corey’s new single “Don’t Give Up.” This week on FDB, we discuss Ancient Aliens, the proper dress code for a Chinese fire drill, secrets to keeping a good, healthy marriage, and more! Now kickback and enjoy another sit down with Friends Drink Beer! Want to check out Corey and Lynette's new show, "Beauty & The Beat?" Go to: www.coreyandlynette.com To support Fremont Brewery, check out: www.fremontbrewing.com BEER EVENT OF THE WEEK WHAT: Devil’s Backbone Pours and S’mores WHERE: Buford, Georgia WHEN: Friday, April 27th at 4:00pm WHY: Virginia’s largest craft brewery is hosting an event where you can make your own custom s’mores over an open flame and pair them with beer. Come through! Have a question for Ryan & Alex? Submit it today at www.friendsdrinkbeer.com, and we will answer it on the next episode! Lastly if you like the show, donate to us and show your support: www.patreon.com/friendsdrinkbeer CREDITS Alex Hobbs - Executive Producer Ryan Roope - Executive Producer Episode Written By - Jared Brody

Matt Lincecum, founder of the iconic Fremont Brewing brings us an incredible story. We discuss the start of Fremont Brewing during the last "Great Recession". He also shares his background in the environmental movement prior starting Fremont Brewing and shares advise for all current and future activists. Matt talks about taking a sabbatical and traveling through Australia. We also cover the famed "beer patrol" along with the design concept of the tasting room of Fremont Brewing which is a community gathering center.

Jeff and Patrick visit with Matt Lincecum, co-founder and co-owner of Fremont Brewing Company in Seattle, Washington. They discuss the new production brewery they recently opened in the Ballard neighborhood as well as their devotion to the triple bottom line and organic and sustainable practices. And beer.

This one's all about story! We got a chance to learn about an amazing hop farm in Cowiche Canyon, how Fremont got started, and that we have no problem tasting craft beer with Adrian at 9am. The Hazy Cowiche Canyon Fresh Hop didn't disappoint! Did you know it was the first "Salmon Safe" beer? Neither did we...

On this episode, Aaron traveled to Denver, Colorado to attend The Great American Beer Festival 2017. Bellingham breweries Chuckanut & Wander both won Gold Medals at the awards. This episode features interviews from members of the Brewers Association, Fremont Brewing and Sunriver Brewing. For more coverage on The Great American Beer Festival 2017 check out Cascadian Beer Podcast https://cascadian.beer/podcast/gabf2017 Thanks to Hoppis Real Estate for making this episode possible. 1012 Dupont St. Bellingham, WA 98225 | http://hoppisrealestate.com/ Episode hosted & produced by: Aaron Johnson | Tapped In Content Director: Scott Pelton More information at http://taptrail.com/

Coming to you from Beer Snob City, it's everyone's favorite stumbling drunk podcast, Beer Plus Three. The featured beers are from Fremont Brewing, No-Li Brewhouse, and Iron Horse Brewery. The Beer Plus 3 Podcast features Jeff Swatman, Rick Anderson, Bri Edwards, and occasionally Micheal Zamora and Brandon Longwell. Got something to say to us? Send it to beerplus3@gmail.com or find us on Facebook.

This week "Good Brews" host Adam Boyd celebrates his upcoming trip to Seattle by taking a look back at the last time "Good Brews" was west of the Cascades; with a re-play of our interview with Matt Lincecum, founder of Fremont Brewing in Seattle, WA. Crack a cold craft beer and take a trip down memory lane with this week's episode of "Good Brews". More info at: www.kyrs.org/show/good-brews[Music: “TRAVEL LIGHT” by Jason Shaw (http://www.audionautix.com) // www.bensound.com] Play the episode:  Your browser does not support this audio  

This is episode 64, despite what we say in the intro. We are more or less human. After both of us dealing with some medical issues, Adrian and Jeigh are back. This week, we try the Dark Heron IPA from Fremont Brewing, the official beer of Emerald City Comicon 2016. We also give our thoughts on Batman v. Superman, Batman #50, and the Gingerdead Man.

Kicking off the 2016 year, host Adam Boyd takes a look back at the 2015 interviews of "Good Brews", and revisits some of his favorite and most notable, including Paul Edminster and Greg Brandt from Iron Goat Brewing, Mel Wood from The Hop Shop, Jeremy Hubbell from Geaux Brewing, and Matt Lincecum from Fremont Brewing. More info at: www.kyrs.org/show/good-brews[Theme Music: “TRAVEL LIGHT” by Jason Shaw (http://www.audionautix.com) // Style Profile Music: www.bensound.com] Play the episode:  Your browser does not support this audio  

It's time to tune in once again to the world's most popular Bellingham beer podcast which boasts tens of subscribers (ha, take that PewDiePie!) This week, we discuss PewDiePie, Germans, Comic Book Girl 19, coffee, Canadians, $2 beer night, night markets, tacoyaki, drunk texting, bubble tea, herpes, unboxing videos and so much more. The featured beers are from Old Schoolhouse Brewery, Backwoods Brewing, and Fremont Brewing. The Beer Plus 3 Podcast features Jeff Swatman, Micheal Zamora and Rick Anderson. Got something to say to us? Send it to beerplus3@gmail.com or find us on Facebook.

This week on "Good Brews", host Adam Boyd sits down with Matt Lincecum, the Founder/Owner of Fremont Brewing Company in Seattle, WA. They talk beer (of course) and Fremont's philosophy towards brewing and Matt's goal of keeping the company independently owned and an important facet in the business community in the Fremont District. More info at: www.kyrs.org/show/good-brews[Theme Music: “TRAVEL LIGHT” by Jason Shaw (http://www.audionautix.com) // Style Profile Music: www.bensound.com] Play the episode:  Your browser does not support this audio  

Singer/songwriter Alyssa Jacey joins Chas E and Mike Mitchell to talk about her move from San Diego, her love of blue, her latest recordings, and perform some original music live in the studio. And as always, there is beer! Alyssa, Chas and Mike check out three microbeerclub.com selections including the Springy Lager from Epic Ales, the Summer Solstice from Fremont Brewing and the Idiot Imperial IPA from Cornado Brewing.