What could prompt Beer Sessions Radio™ host Jimmy Carbone to utter the words “Anheuser Busch” during the show? Well, if you’re sitting in with Dan Kopman and Stephen Hale of Schlafly Beer, you start to appreciate the long shadow cast by the industry giant that was sold to InBev in 2008, resulting in a seismic shift in the beer scene in St. Louis. Learn how Dan’s dad came to know Tom Schlafly, with whom Dan formed a brewery in 1991 that for years barely sold beer that wasn’t over the bar. Dan honed his skills at Newcastle in Scotland and London’s Youngs where he learned European styles of brewing. Schlafly has officially entered the NYC market, but it wasn’t an easy journey.
In addition to Schlafly, Ben Granger (Bierkraft) discusses their foray into brewing beer andhow craft beer in NYC has changed since Bierkraft’s birth twelve years ago. Ed Berestecki of Mugs Ale House is back in (raiding his impressive cellar to share a vintage Schlafly Imperial Stout from 2008). Plus Augie Carton of Carton Brewing stops by to talk about beer collecting, and why vintage collectors can learn a thing or two from wine geeks. Phil Richman also chimes in on the Brooklyn beer scene from a distributor’s perspective.
And cask evangelist Alex Hall (Wandering Star) drops by to talk about the Cask Marque accreditation program and the upcoming Williamsburg Cask Festival at dba Brooklyn.