It’s an international panel on this week’s episode (listen here) of Beer Sessions Radio™! Host Jimmy Carbone is celebrating Cinco de Mayo with Mead, saison and a room full of great beer people, including Garth Cambray of Makana Meadery (South Africa), Jerome Rebetez of Switzerland’s Brasserie des Franches-Montagnes (BFM), Chresten Sorensen and Joe Watt of Bunker Brewing (Maine), Michael Opalenski and George Flickinger from B. United (CT), and Tony Fodor of Ale Street News (who originally hails from Britain and just returned from a beer tour in Belgium).
How does one go from having a stolen bike to making mead? Well, Garth talks about how he started his meadery from misadventure and finished it as his college thesis project! He talks about keeping organic “happy bees” in a green environment (long before it was fashionable).
The panel discusses the challenge of mixed fermentation and how to make mead “dryer.” Garth and Michael discuss the relationship between Makana Meader and B. United, which finishes his mead. (Garth notes, “Friends in mead are friends indeed!”)
Chresten and Joe are in town brewing “Boogie Board Stunts” kolsch with The Other Half. They’re putting a unique spin on this traditional beer with creative hopping.
Jerome is making more sessionable beers, including a saison that he calls his “house bitch,” because it can be paired with any food. The panel tastes the farmhouse ale that is a bit more “wild” than a typical saison (it’s more traditional, harkening back to the 18th century).
And Jimmy is raising his glass to a former colleague, Josh Ozersky, who passed suddenly in Chicago this week. Raise a glass with us and hear about the rich history of beer and mead.