As we head into the holidays, our last Beer Sessions Radio™ podcast of 2014 is a gathering of some of the country’s craft beer legends. Recorded on November 13 just before the tri-annual (sort of, the last one was 2009) Union Beer portfolio tasting. This year’s event was open to the public for the first time, and host Jimmy Carbone got the inside scoop from Tim Stendahl. And because this industry tasting brings the best beer makers and marketers to the city, we embrace the return of Dave Brodrick of Blind Tiger fame, who talks about the challenges of opening a craft beer bar in 2013 as opposed to the early years. Bobby Gagnon (The Gate) also represents the Good Beer Seal.
Brewers in the studio include Dick Cantwell of Elysian Brewing Co. in Seattle discussing his beer writing career, along side fellow northwestern brewers Irene Firmat and Jamie Emmerson of Full Sail in Hood River, OR, who can boast of some of the best water efficiency in the world of brewing. Hear about Full Sail’s twenty years in the craft beer game, and how the industry has evolved since their start. And coming back to Brooklyn, Ray Darmstadt shares his experiences from opening his beer store, St. Gambrinus Beer Shoppe. Hear about the shift in the craft beer world (especially the evolution of American-born craft beers) from these craft beer legends here.