Month: March 2013

It’s the last day of the CBC and we’re still meeting some really cool people. Beer Sessions Radio™ host Jimmy Carbone caught up with Nate Fochtman, VP Craft & Specialty at Ace Distributing, based out of York, Pennsylvania. He

How many years have you attended the CBC, and what are the highlights thus far for CBC13?

This is my third CBC, and I’ve been learning about the industry trends and data analysis on targeting the sales of craft beer, especially towards women. This seems to be an underdeveloped part of the market that could send the growth patterns exponentially faster upon further research to find out what needs to be done to bring in more females to experience craft. 

What other new trends would you like to comment on?

The focus towards local. The future of sustainability with the craft industry is great experiencing the coast to coast breweries and distance transport, but also maintaining the current trend. The majority of Americans have a brewery within 10 miles of their residence.

Also, the increase in experimentation and creation of new beer styles is currently very exciting, and interested in seeing what “sticks” and becomes a new widely used style of beer. Innovation and creativity are so crucial to the advancement and increased growth of the industry.

What are your favorite beer hang-outs when in DC?
I still need to experience them all, but there are some really awesome spots in areas, and locations that I wouldn’t expect, which is always great to see. It increases the opportunity for someone to be exposed to craft beer that may not have in the past. Honestly, I have had no bad experiences at any of the regional breweries. It’s amazing how much great beer is being produced in the nation’s capitol!

What are your favorite new beers you’ve had at CBC13?

Virginia and DC area breweries, we do not have most of them in our market currently. It’s always fun to experience new beers and breweries.

Beer Sessions Radio™ host Jimmy Carbone is tearing it up at CBC this week, making new friends and connecting with neighbors who are also down in DC for the conference. He managed to catch half the team of New Jersey’s Carton Brewing, Augie Carton (who founded the brewery with his cousin Chris), who told us about his brewery and visits to the CBC.

How many years have you attended the CBC, and what are the highlights thus far for CBC13?

This is my third year here. I really thought the highlight of the conference was the keynote speech by Kim Jordan (New Belgium Brewing).

Have you noted any trends at this year’s Conference?

There definitely seems to be a heavy focus on sustainability in brewing.

What are your favorite beer hang-outs when in DC?

I really like Churchkey and Meridian Pint.

DC is quickly becoming a craft beer destination. What are your favorite breweries in the greater DC area?

I’m very interested to see what happens as Bluejacket expands, and DC  Brau has transitioned well from a more generic beer manufacturer to a leader in the DC craft beer scene.

What are your favorite new beers you’ve had at CBC13?

I just checked my Untapp’d account. As of this (Thursday) morning, I’ve tried 72 new beers since Tuesday. It seems unfair to single any dozen or so out from that many.

Everybody who’s anybody in beer has descended on the nation’s capital, and it’s not for the cherry blossoms! This week is the Craft Brewers Conference, the country’s leading trade fare for beer industry insiders. The Good Beer Seal decided to head south and check out all the happenings, as Beer Sessions Radio™ host Jimmy Carbone met up with old friends and met a few new ones while taking in the D.C. craft beer scene.

Jimmy bumped into 2013 Beer Drinker of the Year, Warren Monteiro (Ale Street News) of at “RFD” in Chinatown,  where they were pouring DC Brau Local Pale Ale. The official 2013 CBC beer this year is a collaboration between DC Brau, the Brewer’s Art (Maryland) and Devil’s Backbone (Virginia): Beggars & Thieves is an “anti-imperial” rye lager (4.8% ABV) that came with an official CBC souvenir tasting glass.

Jimmy also caught up with Yankee Brew News and Mystic Brewing (Chelsea, MA)  at Churchkey to share a delicious Hill Farmstead Vera Mae, a 6% ABV brewed with spelt and dandelion flowers. The group also enjoyed the Freestyle #10 Rye Saison from Oxbow Brewing (Maine), which they paired with rabbit pot pie at Bluejacket.

All in all, a great start to what is sure to be the best CBC ever!

Don’t worry, bee happy could be the theme to this week’s Beer Sessions Radio™ episode (#155, listen here), as one of our favorite co-hosts, Jen Schwertman, joins us in the studio along with Evil Twin’s Jeppe Jarnit-Bjergsø. We’re talking about Mead—is it a wine? a beer? turns out, it’s both (or either, depending on how you run your facility)—with homebrewer and beekeeper Roger Repohl and phone-in guest Michael Fairbrother of Moonlight Meadery in New Hampshire. After you hear everyone wax rhapsodic over the Desire and Apple Pie meads, you’ll wish you were in Alaska (no, really, because they’ll ship there but not to NY!!!, although you may be able to score some at Top Hops). Michael plays up the romance in his branding because “80 percent of (his) customers are women.” And Jimmy reminisces on his first mead homebrew.

On the non-mead front, Jen discusses her “place” (i.e. she came in second) at the Beer Drinker of the Year competition last month in Colorado. And Jeppe talks about his favorite brewery (hint, it’s all about the sour!). And speaking of homebrew, we’re celebrating with Craig Hendry of Raise Your Pints, whose five-year mission came to a close this week as Mississippi became the 49th state to legalize homebrewing (Alabama remains the soul holdout). Plus Gary Glass, Director of the American Homebrewers Association, weighs in on the new law and the state of homebrewing in America.

So pour yourself a pint and enjoy a honey of a great show.

It may just be coincidence, but the state of Mississippi has legalized homebrewing this week, just as we’re remembering Beer Sessions Radio™ former co-host Ray Deter on what would have been his 56th birthday. We’re pretty sure that Ray would approve, and we invite you to raise your glass and remember Ray today. We have some of his most memorable moments on Heritage Radio Network here.

On a related note, Sixpoint’s Pete Dickson has tried The Ray Deter Robust Porter that we brewed a few weeks ago for Beer for Beasts. Pete reports that the beer has good flavor and is a bit lighter in color than expect. Can’t wait to try it ourselves.

It’s our first ever all-Queens (County, that is!) show on this week’s episode of Beer Sessions Radio™. Okay, so maybe we’re fibbing just a bit along side Queens Kickshaw‘s Ben Sandler (in the studio with co-owner and wife Jennifer Lim), because we do have a special drop in guest in the person of Gus Anton of Inwood Local (afterall, where else would any reasonable Queens resident do the Harlem Shake other than Harlem?).

From Long Island City to Astoria to Far Rockaway, Queens is catching up with its Kings neighbor, as several new brewers come online, including Bridge & Tunnel Brewery (owner Rich Castagna is in the studio, talking about the hazards of working in a 150 square foot brewery, not to mention the hazards of looking for a larger space along the L line), Singlecut Beersmiths, Rockaway Brewing Company, Beyond Kombucha (yep, they’re a brewery!), and the soon-to-open Big Alice Brewing Company.

Of course, it’s not just brewers who have to capture the imagination of craft beer drinkers. Ben and Jen have a unique plan never to repeat a beer they’ve served (well, kinda sorta, see above), along with offering interesting beer-pairing menus (one recent offering was White Bean and Beer Stew that incorporated Rockaway Brewing Co. Scotch Ale wort).

Finally, Time Out New York’s Gloria Dawson is with us to tell us about her favorite haunts on the Queens beer scene. Listen to the episode (#154) and feel like a Queen(s’ craft beer drinker).

Hear the letters IPA, and you probably have a pretty clear notion what your beer is going to taste like. But what if there were an actual Indian Pale Ale? This week on Beer Sessions Radio™ we welcome some of the team behind India’s biggest craft beer initiative, Independence Brewing Company in Pune, India. James Tai returns to discuss his involvement in India’s sixth largest city and the state of craft beer in a country of 1.2 billion. He’s joined (from telephone call-in) by his partner, Avanish Vellanki, who is working alongside Stone Brewing’s Greg Koch to try and change the beer culture of India from a lager-guzzling outlet to true craft beer connoisseurs.

Also in the studio is Bierkraft’s Ben Granger, helping do a round-up of Brewer’s Choice and NYC Beer Week. Bierkraft’s recently obtained Restaurant Brewers license has enabled the bar to brew small batches of beer to be consumed on premises, offering yet one more nano-brew experience for craft beer lovers in NYC. And Møsefund Mangalitsa’s Heidi Norman discusses the perfect pork-beer pairing options with host Jimmy Carbone in an effort to answer the age-old question, you want bacon with that? Finally, a pre-recorded conversation with Norman Sinclair of Orkney Brewery in Scotland sums up what is happening in the northern U.K. beer scene. Listen to the full episode here.

Beer Sessions Radio™ host Jimmy Carbone was at Sixpoint yesterday where he made our annual Beer for Beasts entry. He was joined by brewer Pete Dickson (pictured at right), Beverage World Magazine‘s Jeff Ciolettis, Justin Richardson of The Happy Hour Guys, and James Tai (@beeracolyte on Twitter). The beer is named in honor of former Beer Sessions Radio™ co-host and dba bar owner Ray Deter.

Our good friend Anna Zivarts put together a video of Wednesday’s NYC Brewers Choice at City Winery. It was a blast. Relive it or see what you missed below!