So many great guests, so hard to choose our favorites! That pretty much sums up Beer Sessions Radio™ for 2014. From brewers Larry Bell (Bell’s Brewery), Steve Hindy (Brooklyn Brewery) and Tony Magee (Lagunitas) to craft beer heavyweights like Charlie Papazian, we’ve welcomed an amazing group of guests to our fourth year of podcasting our “audio ale salon” and bringing the best beer news the world has to offer.This year (courtesy of a new portable recording device) we were able to air 53 episodes of Beer Sessions Radio™, the most we’ve ever produced in a calendar year. Choosing our favorite moments was damn near impossible (and as with any list, open to debate), but we came up with 10 shows we felt best encompassed not only the state of craft beer (along with real cider and artisanal spirits) but also the breadth of variety our weekly (sometimes twice-weekly!) broadcast has come to represent in the larger world of potent potables.
We invite you to revisit our favorite shows from 2014:
Episode #200 – Larry Bell and Bell’s Brewing
This episode was a watershed moment for us: Our 200th episode and scoring an in-studio visit with Larry Bell, who was visiting NYC for the 10th time while bringing his outstanding beers to the city for the first time. Without a doubt a great start to our year!
Episode #201 – NY State of Beer with “Beer Czar” Sam Fuller
This was the year that NY Governor Andrew Cuomo formed the first-ever NY Craft Brewer Workgroup, which will put forth recommendations on ways to continue spurring the rapid expansion of the states craft beer sector. Looking into the NY State beer scene, we welcomed some of the more official members of this delegation, including “Beer Czar” Sam Fuller to give us a State of the Craft update.
Episode #206 – Beer History with Ron Pattison
Why would we ever want to Shut Up About Barclay Perkins when one of the brightest and funniest guest of the year, Ron Pattinson, comes to visit? We learn about the origins of beer and how it was made traditionally, along with getting to taste some brews made from early beer recipes by modern brewers.
Episode #209 – Steve Hindy & Queens Beer Week
This was an amazing year for beer in two of the city’s boroughs (read on for more), and by far one of our favorite episodes was bringing the old guard (Brooklyn Brewery) to sit in with the new Turks (Transmitter Brewing, making Farmhouse Ales in Queens). This episode was loaded with nuggets from the dawn of America’s craft beer scene to what is happening today in NYC (or going to happen in the near future).
Episode #210 – NY Agriculture and Beer Show
What does craft beer mean to the greater NY agricultural industry? In a year that saw fracking finally banned (several months after this episode aired), we discuss the need for more local grains (and malt houses) along with hops and other beer additives being grown in our region. Find out how the state that was once the world’s leading hop grower is gearing up its return to greatness!
Episode #220 – On Location at B. United
As already mentioned, host Jimmy Carbone was one of Heritage Radio Network’s hosts to receive a top-notch portable recorder this year, meaning Beer Sessions Radio is expanding (in addition to having extra episodes airing on specific Fridays, we also have plans to visit the U.K. this spring [with help from you, please donate and get great rewards]). Episode 220 where we travel to Connecticut to check in on B. United and their new brewery was our first foray into “guerilla broadcasting.”
Episode #222 – NYC Craft Beer Scene
While we pride ourselves on being as global as possible, we are true to our roots, and this episode is quintessential Beer Sessions Radio™, as we welcome a veritable Who’s Who from the NYC craft beer world (including Andrew Gerson, chef at Brooklyn Brewery, Ken Tirado of Old Killmeyers Inn, Chris Sheehan of Gun Hill Brewery, Katherine Kyle of Blind Tiger, Simon Tepas and Andrew Said Thomas of Knights of Bruklyn Homebrewers and Marcus Burnett of Rockaway Brewing Co.).
Episode #223 – Brooklyn v. Queens
Nowhere in NYC has seen more rapid growth in the craft beer world than Queens County. In a year that named Brooklyn the most expensive city in the U.S. and Queens the best place to visit in the U.S., we decided to pit the two boroughs against each other (in the nicest of ways). Who came out on top during our podcast/pub crawl? Tune in to find out.
Episode #229 – Cider Sessions
This year, we launched “The Real Cider Manifesto” in honor of the growing craft cider movement (with juice made from cider apples as opposed to concentrate/additives). As part of Ciderwick, we gathered a diverse group of cider makers/writers from across the country who weighed in on the challenges and delights of making America’s original “beer.” (And for more on Cider, check out our two Cider Week Preview episodes here/here and our Cider Sessions follow-up episode here.)
Episode #238 – Lagunitas Story with Tony Magee
So you think you want to open a brewery? One of the country’s craft beer founding fathers, Tony Magee of Lagunitas, wrote a book all about that and he joins us in the studio to talk about the origins of the original American IPA.
And there they are, our top 10 for 2014. We can’t wait to see what 2015 holds in store for us. Thanks to all our listeners and GreatBrewers.com for their support of our program.
Happy New Year!