Proof beer can save lives.

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
This What's on Tap Radio podcast isbrought to you by Cast Branding. I
remember of the Texas craft Brewers Guild. Cast Branding has been supplying breweries,
distilleries, and wineries with top qualitymerchandise since twenty thirteen. If you're looking
for a way to promote and growyour brand, check out Cast Branding on
Facebook, Instagram, and online atCast Branding dot com, Cast Branding dot
com, Cash Brandy dot com.Enjoy the show. This is about to

(00:25):
be good radio. Oh yeah.To me, a craft brewer is much
more of a mindset. We justopened two camps spread the gospel of good
beer beer. Tons and tons ofstuff going on in the beer world.
I love craft beer. I lovedifferent people's beers. It's the first favorite.
Cheers two old US beer geeks andthose new to the craft. What's

(00:46):
on Tap High five? This isWhat's on Tap Radio beer and the culture
that flows with it. Kears BeerGuru James Simpson and beer logics Chad Pilbet
start to show some bad news forall the potheads that are excited about going

(01:08):
to october Fest this year. It'scoming up on today's episode, What's Up
I'm doing? Hey Ben glad you'rehere with us. By the way,
bad news for all you potheads.By the way, I like how James
just labeled everybody who uses marijuana.Hey, pothead, guess what if you're
planning on going to Octoberfest. We'vegot an update, yeah, coming up

(01:32):
on this episode of What's on TapRadio, Welcome to show. I'm James
as Chad. We've got coverlight Billhanging out. Say hello, Bill,
Hello, everyone. Glad you're withus. I'm glad that you are with
us as well. We got anaction packed show. I got a beard
to crack. Chad's got a beerto crack. Bill's got a beard to
crack. I hope wherever you aresafely have a beer to crack as well,

(01:53):
because we got a action pack ofradio show on tap this week.
It's been quite the couple of weeks. Chad know, I need a beer.
I need to be here. There'sbeen a lot of drama out there,
and uh, I don't even knowhow to It's not even drama,
it's it's excitement. I think it'sgot the makings of a good movie script.

(02:14):
Yeah, I mean it's Mother Natureand me. Yeah yeah, so
yeah, imagine Twister the movie onlywithout the really bad CG effects only.
Instead, it's got a guy sittingthere drinking craft beer in Houston, Texas.
That would be It's not Bill,It's not Bill Packed and it's it's
me Berger James Simpson. But Sunday'sFilm Festival, here we come, James.

(02:38):
I got you said you got anidea for a podcast. I got
an idea for a movie. Butbefore we do, we gotta start drinking
beers, because you know what,before we can come up with these million
dollar ideas, we h we needto have a beer. And before we
can have a million dollar idea,we got to thank all of our wonderful
sponsors for the millions and millions ofdollars. These are our investors. Yes,

(03:00):
they contribute to this program because itliterally costs millions to put together a
show of this quality. Seems thatway. Without the sponsored we wouldn't be
here. That being Tantrik Brewing,Superior Pest Control, being a Logic conference
and events, we knowledge anag insurancegroup, the Backyard Grill, keeping the
lights on, Thank you, HarborLight to Brewing, and of course sponsoring
our podcast cast, Brandingcast, brandingdot Com and I am ready for a

(03:23):
beer. I know everybody else isas well. It's been quite the week.
It's been quite a couple of weeks, and it's been in a lot
of today again doing yard work becausewell I'll talk about that here in a
little bit. But I'm ready fora beer. Who's going first, Chad,
brought to the table. I'm gonnatake I'm gonna take it. Brought
to table thanks to our friends overat the Backyard Grill. Yeah, that's

(03:44):
right now on the northwest side ofHouston, the byg. Get there for
your crawfish, get your barbecue gameon the grill, and of course over
one hundred different beers the Backyard Grill, dot Com and Harbor Light Bill.
He's got his hand on the can. Here, go ahead, Bok,
crack that thing open. We aregonna start things off. We were talking
about million dollar ideas well, I'vegot million dollar flavor right here. Oh

(04:05):
that's a good slogan. Oh yeah, well check this out. This here
from Upland Brewing Company, the formernumber one best selling beer in Indiana,
originally brewed in nineteen o two byWalter Brune and his sons, who are

(04:26):
all German immigrants. We have theyknow us. No, they don't know
us. But this is none otherthan the premium Pilsner Champagne Velvet, the
beer with the million dollar flavor.Whoa, I feel like Ted Dibiassi here.
Now there's a reference right there bythe way, Ted DIBIASI does not

(04:48):
know us at all. He doesnot, but should Yeah, I know
he should so and I just brokea rule. I don't know if you
caught that, but oh well,but this is a beer that tastes like
beer. It's a pre prohibition stylelagger, so it should have a nice
balance of corn and pilsner malt.And it is a crisp, very bright,

(05:09):
very carbonated lagger. I'm gonna takea swig here. Yeah, wonderful
white head and a really clean crispflavor. And it has just a hint
of residual sweetness. And yeah,it does. It tastes like beer flavored
beer pretty much tastes like every Oh, what's the every American beer existed from

(05:30):
nineteen oh two, from post prohibitionto nineteen eighty four. Whenever Ken Grossman,
now he does know us. There'sa name drop, Ken Grossman,
a Sierra Nevada brood, Sierra Nevadapale Ale and after. But it's just
tastes like American light lagger. Butit does have a little residual sweetness to

(05:53):
it. I think I'm drinking itmore for two things. One nostalgia,
just because it was one of thebest selling beers in the country, uh,
circa nineteen oh two, and itsays hits the beer with a million
dollar flavor on it, and Ijust wanted to see if that was true,
And well, does it tastes likea million dollars? Tastes like it
was like about seventy five cents forthe can maybe a buck buck two ninety

(06:15):
eight, you know, I meanmaybe you have to drink it fresh right
off the canning line to get thatmillion dollar taste. That's what it is.
I think it's a little better thanthat. I mean, I think
that's worth about fourteen ninety five fora thirty pack. Okay, all right,
on our college listeners that are listening, like what yeah, speaking of

(06:35):
which, yeah, yeah, whenwe were drinking in college, We're going
to talk about a place we usedto go. But James, quickly before
we have to go to break whatdid what did you bring? Listener suggestions
slid in our DMS at What's onTap Radio with this suggestion, and I
went for it because I like Shandyes, and this is a beer with a
twist from our friends over at SaintArnold Brewing Company, their brand new spring
shandy, the Citrus Shandy beer witha twist, And this is a lemon

(06:58):
and grapefruit and I like shandies.I'm a big fan of shandies. I
know people out there are like,listen the big finish sandy because it's made
with soda, but I I loveshandies. And this is in my What's
on Tap Radio glass which I onlyhave like three of these, since we
don't have a glass maker anymore.So if this one breaks, I'm down
to two. And if those break, I don't have any more What's on
Tap Radio water glasses, James,that's how math works. Yeah, if

(07:20):
you have three and you lose three, you have none. James enjoying the
shandy. Taking the sip here fromSantrald Brewing Company, very very rich,
grape fruit and lemon, and thencitrus sandy comes to you at four points
something percent out four point four pointfive percent alcohol by volume, and that

(07:41):
is what I brought to the tablethe Santrald Citu sandy, which I'll talk
about coming up. And then Chadkicked it off with the the Upland Brewing
Company remake of Champagne Velvet, thebeer with a million dollar flavor five point
five percent pre prohibition Logger. Thathas been all right, James, thanks
to our friends over at the backyardGrill. But we have got to take
our first break on TAPT this wegot a lot going on, including the

(08:03):
first I've ever heard of this aclear beer fest no weed at october Fest.
Brewer Association's got some numbers out andrip to the ginger man. All
this is so much more on tapthis week. Hang with us for an
action pack show coming right up tothe official What's on Tap Radio Fun Factor
of the Week. You don't wantto missnounced this episode. I promise you
we'll be right back here at What'son Tap Radio. We know two types

(08:26):
of people, those you drink withand those that make you drink. Oh,
your parents are coming for the weekend. Either way, we're drinking all
right. Everybody's got a beer.You gotta beer, I got a beer,
We got a beer. You knowwho else has beer the Backyard Grill
on the northwest side of Houston.But when you're drinking, you want to

(08:50):
have something to eat too, Sogo get yourself some grub at the byg.
The menu is amazing. They've gotall your Texas favorites like steaks,
the heat chops, and it's allgrilled on a wood fired grill. Got
burgers, you got wraps. Hey, if you're vegetarian, they got salads,
they got soups, homemade dishes,and specialties like smoky the beer chicken.

(09:13):
Oh yeah, smoked chicken injected withlocal beer. Sounds delicious, right,
yeah, and don't forget the greenbeans. I know you're thinking,
wait a minute, is this guyjust talking about all the grilled stuff and
you're gonna tell me to eat yourveggies? Hey, mom said eat your
veggies. Over one hundred different menuitems, get the green beans. Trust
me, you won't regret it,and over one hundred different beers head out

(09:33):
to the Backyard Grill in the cornerof Weston Jones Road on the northwest side
of Houston. Cheers. What's onTop Radio? The movie? So I
got an idea for a new podcast, Chad, I was thinking about this

(09:58):
the other day, we're pitching themovie script where craft beer drinker's house gets
hit by a tornado. No,not that nomb and the only thing that
survives is is beer fridge because there'scraft beer in it. I think we've
done a story like that before.That's a good story. There was the
one where the flood, the flood, that flood and then what was it?
Somebody was rescued by a floating coolerand inside the cooler was beer.

(10:20):
Right, Yeah, that was apretty story. The idea that would make
it a good movie. But yougot an idea for a podcast? What
chess pill at now? Or shouldI? Uh no, no, no,
you teased it. Let's go,man, I want to hear this
idea. I hear this million dollaridea. Well, it's not a million
dollar that's gonna get there one day. I didn't realize that, did you
know? There's a puzzle championship ora competition where all these people get together

(10:45):
and they all start with the samebox. It's like a maybe two thousand
puzzle pieces, right, and they'reall sitting at tables and they're all on
teams, and they'll say ready,set go, and everybody will open the
box of puzzle pieces together and thensee who puts the puzzle together the fastest,
and whoever puts together fastest wins.What if there's a podcast that did
a play by play of them puttingin the pieces together. Okay, hold

(11:11):
on, James put that next tothe other idea of the podcast of watching
paint dry. All right, folks, Yeah, he just finished up the
last coat. We can save thatas planned. B I'm just thinking how
fun it would be to do aplay by play of Edna and Gladys and
Ruth, you know, putting thesebeautiful puzzle together and on the last edge

(11:33):
piece, on the last X pageand Ruth's got together. No, okay,
if it's competitive, listen only ifit's like full contact puzzle, full
full contest and there's better involved,so you have to Yeah, that's every
fifteen minutes you got to chug abeer and that makes putting the puzzle together
harder. And then yeah, fullcontact just just to straight putting a puzzle

(11:56):
together and do and somebody doing aplay by play of it as a podcast.
Okay. Anyway, well, somebody, somebody said Napoleon Dynamite was a
dumb idea, and it turned outto be genius. So James, I
hope you make a million dollars withthat idea. I also hope you find
a co host, because it's sureas hell is not going to be me.
I'll help you out, James.Thanks Bill, Bill, I'll knock

(12:16):
yourself out. Also, Bill,find a new friend, because you're not
coming over anymore. All right,we want to take our friends from the
Backyard Grill on the northwest side ofHouston for bringing us brought to the table
the first segment where James and Icracked open a beer, and Bill and
I went first with the Champagne velvetbeer, the beer with a million dollar

(12:39):
flavor, which I'm just gonna sayis false advertising, but it did not
stop us. It was, asBill said, very clean, crisp.
And also, here you go,it's gone. It's gone, so we're
gonna have to crack open another beerhere in just a second. But James,
that's what we had. That wasthe at one point in time,
the number one selling beer in Indianacirca nineteen oh two. It's a pre

(13:00):
prohibition style lagger for those who don'tknow what that is, that is a
beer that has corn as a primaryingredient. In there, and a lot
of people say, oh, that'sa cheap ingredient and it's gonna make it
taste different fundy, and that's howbrewers corners. No, actually, that's
just it was an abundant grain thatbrewers used in the United States before prohibition,

(13:22):
and it carried over post prohibition,although a lot of them switch to
rice as well as barley. Sothis is quintessential American lagger, post colonial
times, pre prohibition times, andthat's what we brought in. James.
You had. I had the SaintArnold citrus, sandy, lemon and grapefruit.

(13:43):
It's a beer with a twist,and I put it in my what's
on tap radio glass, which Ionly have three left, and I'm you
know, that's it. If Iwhat happens. If you lose one,
then I have two left? Okay? And then if you lose both of
those, then I have one left. No. No, if you lose
both of them, oh, thenisland then none left? None? Okay.
Yeah, your wife's English teacher,not math. We had to help
you with the answer on that one. But that's okay. It's not a

(14:03):
testing week, James, that's nextweek. So this is just a just
a practice. I'm not doing ashow on math. I'm doing a show
on puzzles. Okay, I'm puzzlepodcast. All right. Let me tell
you what I got in this what'son tab rideo glass that I only have
three left. But it's a citersandy. It's pale logger mixed with lemonade
and grapefruit soda. M hm m. The aroma presents itself with a citrus

(14:24):
burst of lemon and grapefruit. Slightfloral note, chad and bill flavors of
lemon and grayefruit play perfectly with thesubtle notes of light, refreshing beer.
And again, this is the citrusshandy at four point five percent alcohol by
volume. So if you like agood citrusy soda and mix with beer,
this is a good mix for you. Sat Arnold Brewing Company, some Texas.

(14:46):
Okay, well, James, Iwant to go ahead and take a
second here real quick, to crackopen another beer, because that one went
down. We talked about the beerwith a million dollar flavor. We talked
about your million dollar idea of puzzlemaking podcast play by play of a puzzle
competition. I'll send you the video. You'll see what I'm talking about.
Okay, this is a beer thatI've had on the show before, but
since we were talking about a milliondollar flavors, I always wanted to find

(15:09):
this and we have yet to findit, not even in a ballpark.
But I brought this to the showbefore from hoof Hearted Brewing company. That's
h Oof Hearted h A r ted from Connecticut. It's hoof Arted Brewing.
The sixty dollars nachos. I've neverhad sixty dollars nachos, James,
Yeah, but I've had park herebecause that's how much nachos cost it the

(15:31):
ballpark. This is a double IPAcoming in at eight percent, and we're
gonna have some Bill and I havesomething else to drink. This is what
happens when you bring a stunt beerliver into studio with you. You can
go ahead and have extra beer andwe'll talk about this beer a little bit
more. But James, you knowwhat time it is. We have a
contract in now. The official What'son Tap Radio fun Fact of the Week,

(15:52):
brought to you by Who's ever checkedClear This week, studies have shown
that this is why they tune intoWhat's on Tap Radio and all I know
is if I had to try andread my copy through this beer, this
murky, cloudy milkshake of a beer, I don't think I would be able
to read my copy. But allright, folks, ladies and gentlemen,

(16:14):
harbor Light. Bill in studio withme on stunt beer, Liver and Mike
number three over there. He hewas telling me that whenever he feels a
little too confident about himself, andhe's feeling really good, and he's like,
yeah, I just need to throwall that out the window. He
hits the links, he hits thegolf course. Nice. Yeah, he

(16:34):
paid for eighteen holes. When hegot to the tenth and he hit a
T shot. How'd that T shotgo? Bill? Well, kind of
puffed up a little bit, landedabout thirty yards in front of me.
I turned to the three guys thatwere waiting for me to play through,
and I just said, guys,mice will go ahead and play. I
quit before I break something walked up. Of course, before he threw the
club at something, he's like,I'm out of here. That's it.

(16:56):
I know my limitations, man,I knew if I would have continued,
something would have got broken. Idon't I disagree with you if I think
if you would persistent and optimistic,you could have completed those eighteen holes.
Uh yeah, Phil michle can sorry, Phil Michels can say that. I
can't. You can't say, PhilMichlelson. It's okay, I can't do

(17:17):
math. You can't talk. Imean whatever. Yeah, it's the sixty
dollars nachos in his mouth here.It's a double ipa from who farted?
All right? Anyway, you willnot find sixty dollars nachos on the golf
course at the at Augusta, atthe Masters. In fact, the food
and concessions are notoriously inexpensive, fromthe dollar fifty cheese sandwiches to some of

(17:41):
the I think they had some wrapsfor a while that were going for three
dollars, but they did away withthose. Beer is only five dollars,
and I mean everything is just notoriouslyinexpensive, but including the national beer,
I should say, the official beerof the Augusta National Golf Club there Crow's
Nest beer. But here is yourofficial What's on Tap Radio fun fact of

(18:03):
the week. No one knows exactlywho it is who makes the Crow's Nest
beer. When you ask anyone atAugusta National and anyone associated with the Masters,
they keep this a closely guarded secret. However, someone did some investigating
for golf dot Com. No they'renot a sponsor, but they did the
work, so let's give them credit. And they dug into it and they

(18:26):
found out that Terrapin Brewery is locatedjust down the road, and Terrapin Brewery
is owned by Molsen Cores and PeteCores is a member of Augustin National.
And the Crow's Nest pilsner style beer. Excuse me, excuse me. It's

(18:48):
a Belgian wit style beer, recentlyreplaced Blue Moon Belgian Wits, so we
believe it is Blue Moon Belgian Witwith lemon peel instead of orange. So
you're official What's on Tap radio?The fun fact of the week is that
the Masters, the golf tournament atAugusta National, has many deep secrets and
people aren't willing to talk about,but most recently, the Crow's Nest beer.

(19:10):
You cannot find it anywhere except onthe golf course and only during the
Masters, but no one knows whobruise it. And that is your official
What's on Tap Radio fun fact ofthe week. All right, we gotta
take a break. Coming up onthis episode, we caught up with a
very very interesting man who knows alot about the brewing industry and why a

(19:30):
lot of breweries are closing, andhe's got a million dollar idea. Yes,
all, this is so much more. Hang with us. We'll be
right back because it's five o'clock somewhere, Live Life, every old and menanovits.
It's always time for those slackers ofWhat's on Tap Radio. We want
to thank Superior Pest Control West Michiganfor flooding our inbox with stories each and

(19:52):
every week. Proud sponsors of ourresearch department, Superior Pest Control, you
can find them here in West Michiganat Superior Pest dot Biz. That's Superior
Pest dot Biz. Right, it'sgonna open this segment by saying rest in

(20:19):
peace with the ginger Man. Talkabout that here in a second. Yeah.
The way this Lemon and Grapefruit CitrusShandy, it's a beer with a
twist from Central Brewing Company, brandnew release. The way it's drinking.
I'm gonna have to open a beerpretty soon too, because it goes down
really, really really fast. Fourpoint five percent now called by volume.

(20:41):
And this is the beer for peoplethat don't like beer, you know,
those that are like I don't likebeer, But give this in their hand,
they'll come around. They'll come around. Now if they only made an
I p A like that for afire Marshal Matt, we could probably get
him to turn around on his nono it's no no, no, no
no, So fire Marshall Matt talkingabout it. If it says ip A,

(21:03):
yeah, you gotta get a namedrop in there. So thank you.
He is a good friend of theshow, my former neighbor. But
he's a just been a friend ofmine for over twenty years and we have
yet to find an IPA he likes. In fact, I think even some
ip I think. I don't wantto say that. We've given him a
beer. He's like, that's notbad. And then we told him it

(21:23):
was IPA. He's like, hateit. And I can't say he's ever
done that. Maybe he has.I can't say he hasn't either, but
he just he doesn't like him.But he has another thing too. It's
just and don't ask me why,but I'm gonna just tell you. It's
it's like he loves music. Andwe we we listen to a lot of

(21:45):
tunes, but if Journey comes onthe radio, that channel's getting changed in
a second and like zero hesitation.In fact, I think he's a big
brown ale and porter guy. Ithink if there if Journey collaborated with a
brewery to make a brown ale,he's not drinking it. I'm just going
out on a limb and saying that, So wow, what's that about.

(22:07):
It just doesn't like he doesn't likeJourney music. It just it. It
just there's gotta be a reason.Just like Chatt, there was a period
I think. I think there wasa period of time in his life where
it was just played too much andhe got sick of it. I think
it was either a friend of hisor somebody liked it way too much and
he's just like, I've had it, I'm done. Well. So no
Steve Perry fan, I see allright, man. I actually I think

(22:30):
he might be okay with Steve.So if it's a solo project, you
know, Sherry Steve Perry solo songs, SHU gone all right. So I'm
still working on this puzzle podcast whereI do a play by play of somebody
putting a puzzle together. I thoughtthat'd be a great idea for a podcast.
But let me know, uh thatif that's an event, they can

(22:53):
sell sixty dollars nachos at that event. I feel like they could. I
mean that, I've never bought sixtydollars nachos o, I know, but
I want to now. But I'vebeen to games where they sell like the
giant helmet that comes with the nachosand you put like jalapenos and sour cream,
and then if you don't want todo that, you can just drink

(23:15):
the beer that Chad's drinking, right. I like the artwork on this is
fantastic because it's clearly a very wealthywoman and she's got this bling on her
hands, and then she's hitting thenacho cheese pump, you know, with
the gooey fake nacho cheese, andinstead of cheese coming out, it's twenty
dollars bills and there's three of themcoming out at once, So they got

(23:36):
sixty dollars man, So sixty dollarsnachos right by the way. This beer,
I'm not a fan bill. Doyou got any thoughts on this?
Because it's a double ipa, butit's a double hazy milkshake, lots of
lactose in it. It's very likevanilla milkshaky to me. And yeah,
they need to advertise it more asa hazy lactose IPA rather than just a

(23:59):
double IPA. I don't love it, not hating it. But and by
the way, if I hated thisbeer, really really hated it, I
would explain why I wouldn't just saybeer sucks. So we get it's a
hazy ipa. You tell me.Take a look there for our audience.
That's definitely hazy. Wow, thatis definitely soul cloudy. So there's this

(24:21):
beer fest and we're gonna talk aboutit coming up called the Clear beer Fest,
the Clear Beer Fest, and thatmight be a beer that will not
be offered at that festival. We'lltalk about that coming up. This would
not be there. No, Ido want to talk about this. This
really hurt man. The news brokea few weeks ago, but after three

(24:42):
glorious decades in business. That's thirtyyears for you who don't know. The
Rice Village staple known as the gingerMan that became a nationwide chain is no
more. Recently, war crews transformedthe ginger Man into a a pile of
wooden splinters, planks, tubes,and loose wiring. The Rice Village establishment

(25:06):
had it a close to three yearsearlier, which I'll talk about it in
a second, and it looked likeNew Stewart's Rice University figured grounding the ginger
Man would be a better than justleaving it as a pile of rubbish.
So if you're not familiar with theGingerman, a New York native name Bob
Prescus opened the ginger Man in nineteeneighty five, and the Peterborough was a

(25:26):
noble forts rotating selection of imported andmicro brewerysource bruise and like previous mentioned,
the ginger Man location in the RiceVillage closed in the year that we will
not mention during the COVID nineteen pandemic. Yeah, during the pandemic. Yeah,
you couldn't get in there, andthey were hit pretty hard. But

(25:48):
there was it morning Side, yeah, I believe so, Yeah, right
there at the corner of University inMorningside and in the Rice Village area of
Houston. And the number of locations, so the original owner they sold that
location if I remember correctly, andthen they moved I think to Baltimore something
like that. It was somewhere upnorth, and so there were two.
There were two locations, one inHouston and then one in the northeast,

(26:11):
and then a couple of them poppedup around Texas. One was in Austin.
I think there was one in SanAntonio. No, was there one
in Austin? No, no,no, no, no, there were
two. There were two in DFW. That's what it was. There were
two in DFW. Yeah, sothey were up there. Great beer bar,

(26:33):
excellent selection. The thing that Iwill remember the most though I know
the ginger Man is the the internationalbeer selection that they had. The international
beer selection that they had at theginger Man was fantastic. It was the
first place you could go and getchem on draft. Oh I remember,
Oh my god. It was sogood. It's just sad to see it

(26:56):
just being crumbled. And I knoweverybody, not everybody, but a good
majority of craft beer and enthusiast thatyou know had the ginger Man had great
stories. I reached out to ourbuddy Chris Black. Chris Black former owner
of the Falling Rock in Denver,Colorado, he worked at the ginger Man.

(27:18):
I know our buddy Scott Birdwell hasgreat history over there, and they
actually sent me a picture years agowhen Chadnow were doing the show of The
Beer Hunter, Michael Jackson doing acast tapping over there, and I want
to say after the cast tapping,they gave him a ride of Michael Jackson,
there was a story they gave hima ride to Austin. Yeah,

(27:38):
yeah, so, okay, yeah, I know a little bit about the
story. This is a great story. By the way, real quick,
I'm sorry, I have to justdo this because we're gonna have a listener
do it. There was a secondginger Man location that did open in midtown
Houston. It was short lived.It was over on Gray Street, but
it was very short lived. Itdid not last very long at all.
Okay, but yeah, Michael Jacksonwas doing The Beer Hunter, was doing

(28:00):
a cask tapping and they were sittingaround and they were talking and talking with
guests, and he wanted to signall the books and he wanted to shake
hands and take all the photos.And they kept telling it was Bev Blackwood
and was it Chris black Yeah,and I it was Scott Burdwell not in
the mix. I can't remember.I don't know. Maybe it was Scott

(28:21):
Birdwell, but I thought it wasBev Blackwood. And and these are these
are Houston beer icons who have writtenfor different beer publications, o homebrew shops
and basically got everybody in the greaterSoutheast Texas into beer. I mean,
these are guys who are just icons. Legends. Yes, but they were
like, hey, you're flying outof Austin and that's three hours away.

(28:45):
He's like, nah, we'll befine, Like no, you don't understand.
And they they finally got him outof there, and they got in
the car and they sped as fastas they could to get there, and
I think they had time to stopfor a beer because they were traveling so
fast, so they stopped had abeer, and then they kept going.
Got him to the airport and itwas and I mean he hopped out,
ran ran through the terminal, andyou know, he was on the plane

(29:06):
gone. And again I think itwas Chris black and Birdwell or not Birdwell
at Blackwood, Jeff Ben Blackwood,and they looked at each other it was
like, well, now we gotto drive home all the way back after
hanging out with Michael Jackson the BeerHunter for like eight hours, and and
they didn't really get a chance saygoodbye. It was like I gotta go
buy see it. Okay, Butso uh, that was that adventure.

(29:33):
But that was a That's one ofthose things that you know, you hear
about, you hear these stories.But another another really good story about the
Ginger Man that I want to shareis that a story about glassware. You
could always get really good glassware,but people would brag about stealing glassware from
the Ginger Man because the glassware wasso unique. And I gotta tell you,

(29:57):
I gotta tell you I I neverstole a glass from the Ginger Man.
I never once stole a glass,but I know plenty of people who
did, and they would have aseparate shelf. They would have a separate
shelf just for the glasses that theystole from the ginger Man because the glasses
were so cool, right, ButI never stole glasses from there. So

(30:19):
there's there's my story. Yeah,sad to see the ginger Man demolished.
Like I said, a lot ofgreat stories out of there, including Saint
Arnold Brewing Company of one of theirfirst accounts, and uh yeah, just
sad to see it go. Butrest in peace, ginger Man. All
right, we have got to takea break. Coming up, we got
a great interview coming up next hourwhere I caught up with Kelly Meyer,

(30:41):
who has a lot of insight ofwhat's going on in the brewing industry.
And also what's going on in thebrewing industry. The Brewer Associations released some
annual craft brewing numbers we'll talk aboutand the Clear Beer Fest. All this
is so much more. Hang withus. We'll be right back. Beer.
It's like pouring smiles on your brain. What's on Tapper Radio continues,

(31:15):
All right, welcome back What's onTap Radio? To get ahold of the
show. Number of ways to shoutout to us on our social that's Instagram,
x, TikTok, Facebook, emailthe show What's on Tap Radio at
gmail dot com. We'd love tohear your stories. If you have a
great story hanging out over to theGinger Man, I know that Chad and
I have plenty of them since Ihung out. That was my college hangout.

(31:37):
I remember hung out over at Westarted at two Rows. I had
to go to two Roads, andthis is in the Rice Village, which
is next to the Rice University,which is University of Houston, which are
also attending. At the time,wasn't too far down the road, so
we would go down to the TwoRows and then hang out there, have
some beer, and then go downthe road to Morningside where the Ginger Man
was and of course have you know, good times. And that's the that's

(32:00):
the the genesis really of craft beerin uh in Houston. I mean,
I know, I know we wereon in other markets and so you but
you have to appreciate Houston, tobe very candid, Houston fourth largest city
in the United States, huge,huge city and great beer scene now,

(32:21):
but they were so late. Ohright, yeah, they were behind the
curve, way behind the curve.I mean, I mean, you know,
Michigan has eleven million people and Houstonmetro area has like what six million
people, Like the entire state ofMichigan has eleven million. Michigan was just
kicking butt. And now you can'tsay that Houston's behind the curve or Texas

(32:44):
is behind the curve anymore. Imean, they're so they're they're just doing
so many cool things. But backwhen they were there, I remember somebody
said you got to go to theginger Man, and I couldn't find it.
Oh really and they're no. Youknow why because you pull up and
you're like, well, okay,there's a here, there's an apartment building,
there's a house, and then there'sanother bar. And I'm like where

(33:06):
is it and you're like, it'sright there, dude, you're right on
to I'm like, no, Isee an apartment building, a bar,
a house, and another bar,and they're like, it's the house.
Yeah, it wasn't an old house. I mean like literally, there was
a fence that looked like a youknow, the old white picket fence,
and there's a front porch and youjust walk up. That's That's kind of

(33:28):
the thing with the Rice Village.What was the name of the Hans beer
House was like that too. Hansbeer House was also a house. His
the name Hans beer House. Yeah, it was also a house at one
time. But uh yeah, ifyou have a great story, we'd love
to hear it. Love just loveto read about it. Like I said,
reach out to us through our socialor what's on tampoo at gmail dot
com. But Chad's jones enough thebit to crack a beer. Will it

(33:52):
be a hazy beer? No?I don't. I don't think it's gonna
be hazy, but we're gonna slowdown because I do have a stunt beer
liver in studio. So we're crackingopen the third one here. This one's
from Evil Twin brewing company called evenMore Biscotti Break Now Harbor Light. Bill,
he's over there doing the research.By the way, this is a
beer he brought. That's the reasonhe's sitting in a chair and not on

(34:13):
the floor because rules are rules.I didn't turn my phone off to start
the show. Oops. You don'tcrack a beer until the mics are hot,
and if you don't bring a beer, sit on the floor, right,
And well, Bill brought beer,So we're gonna go ahead and crack
this. So Bill, do youhave any stats on this, anything you
want to share? That's your cue? I know a big heavy stout twelve

(34:34):
twelve percent? Oh good, yeah, great browed with coffee, almond,
a little vanilla. Evil Twin hasa lot of beers, and then they
up their beers. Instead of likeImperial IPA or imperials, they call theirs
even more so they have even moreof their standard beers, load of beers.
Language they have a bunch of beerscalled even More beers. So this

(35:01):
is their Piscatti break, but it'seven more Piscatti break. Okay, Yeah,
they have the sweet Baby Jesus andthen they have the even more sweet
baby Jesus. Yes, and bythe way, get right with the watch
your mom. All right, herewe go, moving on. But this
is a big coffee beer. Yeah, dark black mochahead, sweet but not

(35:27):
overpowering as far as sugary. Alot of adjuncts in there, you know,
adjuncts, you know, things thatare giving you the residual sugars in
also formentable sugars for other than thegreens. So yeah, it's a fun
beer at twelve percent. We'll seewhere this show goes. Now. I
can't wait to see you what ournumber two sounds like for you guys,
I know we beep in once.All right. So this is the first

(35:50):
I've heard of this beer festival.And I'm not sure this could have been
a beer festival going on for years, but this is the first I have
heard about it. Thanks to ourfriends over at Superior Pest Control for sending
this story our way. But thisis an event that will appeal to folks
who appreciate a less hazy approach toIPA and other hot Ford beer styles.
What is this, ladies and gentlemen. This is the Clear Beer Fest twenty
twenty four, the Clear Beer Festtwenty twenty four. And this is happening

(36:15):
a five rights brewing company. Andwhere is this I don't even know where
to bill get on it. Thinkit's in Washington, Washington. And by
the way, when I heard ClearBeer Fest, first thing I thought was
like, Miller Clear Beer. That'swhat I was thinking to, Like,
remember that clear pepsi they came outin the nineties, Like that's what the
thing is, just gonna look likewater. Yeah, No, is everybody
drinking vodka? No, they're justtalking about those beers that you can see

(36:37):
through. And yeah, but apparentlythere's gonna be a number of breweries.
I'm looking at the lineup here.The lineup includes pale Als, IPA's Double,
IPA's, West Coast Pilsners, NewZealand Pilsners, and a very impressive
lineup. He got break Side inthere. You have Flatline Brewing Company,
Ghost Town Brewing, Radiant Beer Company, Russian River Brewing Company. You know

(37:00):
who should be on this list that'snot on it? Infamous, Yeah,
Harbor Light. Yes, but butBill not wasting an opportunity. Infamous brewing
company in Austin, Texas. Oh, because I have a sticker on my
beer fridge that says make IPAs clearagain. I yes, Oh my gosh,
dude. By the way, ifyou ever get to infamous, that's

(37:22):
that's a that's a cool place.Yeah, it is an Austin Texas.
Josh Horowitz, the man, themyth, the legend. Yeah. By
the way, if you if yousee Josh Horowitz, and I can say
this, okay, by the way, if you have kids in the car,
kids, don't do this. Don'ttry this at home or anywhere else.
But if you ever meet Josh Horowitz, give him the middle finger.

(37:44):
It's a absolutely. Just walk upto him and say, Josh boom.
Hit him with the bird, andhe'll know he's like, dude, that's
a term of endearment for him.That's it. That's like giving a guy,
giving the guy a hug. You'llknow it's him because he's the guy
who's cussing with a cigar hanging outof his mouth and he's given you the
finger. Yeah. Absolutely, ifhe likes you, he gives you the
finger and I will back this upbecause another sticker, which I have right

(38:07):
right next to the make I Pasclear again, is an infamous middle finger
sticker. Yep, that's true storyhe has He actually has stickers with the
giant middle finger. Not kidding,true story. But yeah, So if
you know you're one of those folksthat hates those hazy I p as and
you just you know can't stand them, head out to the Clear Beer Festival

(38:28):
twenty four, which is that fiveRice Brewing Company, is happening late April,
so the next couple of weeks.But at the brewery. Tickets are
on sale wherever they sell tickets attickets dot com or tickets dot com.
Clear Beer Fest tickets were Washington.That was talked about on Once on Top
Radio dot com. And I wantto take just a second here to go

(38:50):
ahead and also just just drop alittle plug here in Allegan. We uh,
we've got we got a pretty solidbeer scene in the area. I
mean, everybody knows the Kalamazoo beerscene with bells and everything going on down
there. In fact of shout outto Larry who I had a beer with
over at Tantrick Brewing Company the othernight with who got me turned down to

(39:12):
wax Wings. Of course, we'renot very far from Grand Rapids Beer City,
USA and Holland, home of NewHolland Brewing Company, and of course
Harbor Light Bill's down there in southHaven. But between south Haven and Alligan
where I am there is quite afew breweries and in the outskirts of Kalamazoo
and they are putting together. Ibelieve it's the third Alegan Craft Beer Fest.

(39:37):
On Saturday, June first at theAlligan County Fairgrounds is the twenty twenty
four Alligant Craft Beer Fest. I'mgonna be there. I know Harbor Light
Bill's gonna be there. He's gonnabe there, porn beer, hanging out
talking to people. Tantrik Brewing Companyhelps put us on. I want to
thank Tanya and Patrick from Tantrik BrewingCompany who helped organize this. They are
a big part of the economic developmenthere in Alligan and supporting the Algin Fairgrounds

(40:01):
and the Algin beer scene and alsothe beer scene in southwest Michigan and so
lots of local breweries there. There'sgonna be food trucks, live, live
music and yeah free what's on tapradio? High fives if you can find
me, but I will be there. I'll have a big giant size hat
on. I guarantee yellow sunglasses probablyyep, yellow sunglasses and a big giant

(40:22):
size hat. So that's the AliganIt's a L E G. A N
so ale again craft beer Fest SaturdayJune first, get your tickets. Just
look up Algin or Alligan craft beerFest. All right, we have got
to take a break. Coming upnext hour, we're gonna catch up with
our longtime friend Kelly Myers. He'sthe host of How Not to Start a
Dan Brewery. Great insight on what'sgoing on in the brewing industry. Also,

(40:46):
we got the Brewer Association and releasesome craft brewing numbers and no we
did Octoberfest. And if we canget to the story how some men lives
were saved by a case of beer. All this is so much more coming
up next hour, including hold mybeer and watch this misann ounce of it.
We'll be right back. Beer.It's why we wake up every afternoon.
Wakey, wakey, what's on test? What's on tap? This is

(41:09):
what's on tap radio? Hold mybeer and watch this brought to you by
your friends at Ringing All the tenTaking Insurance Group located in Grand Rapids,
Michigan and Holland along the Lake ShoreRTI Grand Rapids RTI Grand Rapids dot Com.

(41:35):
All right, have you logged on? I got your tickets at Clear
beer Fest, the first event I'veever heard of the beer festival that no
hazy's allowed. They're discriminating. Ifthere would be some guy outside the gate,
he's like, hey, you wantthe hazy stuff. I got it
right here, man, I gotit right here. I got you want
the hazy stuff. And then somepothead's gonna come by and he's like,

(41:58):
oh wait, I heard about thatat October. Yeah, and you're like,
no, no, no, Igot the other Hayes guy's got a
jockey box out of his trumpet stuff. It's hard for me to crack a
beer. Welcome to our number twoWhat's on Tap Radio if you missed the
first hour, and make sure tocatch up on our podcast anywhere podcasts are
found thanks to our friends over ourcast branding. But a beer I can
imagine probably not available at the ClearBeer Fest, which is happening very soon.

(42:23):
It's from Spindle Tap Brewering Company.This is the Gorilla Press Double IPA
now I'm not sure if this isa hazy beer, but knowing the brewery
came from, I can imagine itprobably is. So I'm gonna go ahead
and crack this port. Listen tomy What's on Tap radio class? You're
joking, right, yeah, I'msorry, but Spindle Tap, I mean

(42:45):
they're number one selling beer I thinkis called Houston Hayes. Oh look at
that. It is a hazy Iwant to know what gorilla press is.
That's what I want to know.So there to go. This is yep,
it is a very hazy beer.And this is at eight percent alcohol
by volume. And I'm gonna notdive into the specks of this. I'm
just gonna go and take a sipof it now. But let me go
exclude this. Okay. So gorillapress is a military style throw that you

(43:08):
do when professional wrestlings. Oh yeah, I mean that makes sense because if
you look on the can, ohyeah right there, yeah, here it
is, you're lifting them up overyour head like a military style press,
which is straight up over your shoulders, and then you just throw them into
a chair or table. Yeah yeah, see Bill has cable. So there

(43:30):
you go gorilla press, and Iwill talk more about the specs of it.
But it's it's good. It's verygood, and it does not drink
like an eight percent beer. Andit's a very hazy double India pl from
Simiddle tab Bering Company out of Houston, Texas. Again, our double I
PA was a hazy two so againbeers that would not be available at this
Clear Beer Festival which is happening comingup. I wonder if you smuggled hazy

(43:53):
beer into the Clear Beer Fest ifthey if they kick you out for you
know, it's like that's you know, contraband they patch you down. They
patch you down to see if youhave like a growler or something of it,
or a crowlery, and you're whydo you wear a trench coat?
It's very warm out here. It'sa lagger really, he's got crowlers in

(44:13):
his jacket. Hey, come overhere, manute what a different label over
the top of it. It's nota hazy I just don't know how to
brew. Okay, you got thehaze. You got the haze. You
got the haze. All right,hold my beer and watch this brought to
you by the Ring Malda ten HacenInsurance Group where they'll cover you for just
about everything except this. This isbecoming a theme on the show. And

(44:37):
you'll see what I'm talking about herein a second, but I'm gonna start
with this. Chances of this crimebeing reported one hundred percent. Okay,
you want to guess what this tookplace? Uh Bill, bohy gotta be
Florida. Not Florida this week.It's our wait wait wait wait, it's
it's our neighbors to the north.Oh in that case, in that case,

(44:57):
uh, Rhode Island. If yousee joh you said Canada, you
said Canada. You're right, allright? Oh oh, so we got
we got crimes up there in Canada. Hey, oh that's just a beaute
yay way north, well way upthere north. Yeah, right, there
were the plane hockey. So someonein Canada, you call, by the
way, I do you know wherethe trees are in Canada between the two's

(45:17):
and de fours? Oh my gosh, okay, dude, all right,
that's uh at. Don't put thatbar soap back in his mouth for me.
Yeah, I will, yeah,stop talking, okay again. Uh.
Someone in Canada called the cops lastweek when they saw an impaired driver
crashed through a sign that said reportand paired Drivers. Does this story sound

(45:42):
familiar, Chad? It does becauseit doesn't seem too long ago where I
did a story that happened in Alabamawhere a guy did the same damn thing
into a sign. Then he thenhe crashed into like a don't drink and
drive sign. Yes, and heand he wasn't in to poxicated the guy
who signed in Alabama Canada Report ImpairedDrivers. I know that you know what

(46:08):
he did. He saved people time. He turned himself in. He's like,
well, I guess I can't.By the way, they tell you
not to use your phone while you'redriving, I'm impaired. He's like,
hey, look, I'm taking onefor the team. Guys. But this
happened on a Thursday night on VancouverIsland, just across the border from Seattle.

(46:28):
So they the people that call thecops, they said that they saw
a truck jump a curb onto thesidewalk and take out the sign. And
then you think the guy stopped andwaited for the police to arrive. Oh
no, no, no, hedefinitely took off. He definitely took off.
Police pulled the truck over nearby andthought it was the same guy,
maybe because the front and right sideof his truck was all dinted up.

(46:50):
They eventually confirmed it was him afteranother officer showed up where they had pulled
him over with the impaired driver's sign. Oh and also the guy's license plate.
Turns out it fell off in thecrash. Hey, wait a minute,
hold on a second, James,I got an idea for a podcast
instead of watching people put puzzles together. This puzzle. This is a puzzle

(47:14):
of license plate, sign, carparts, curb, piece it all together,
dude, and we can do apodcast about that. They released a
photo of the sign leaned up againsthis truck. No word on the charges
he's facing, but uh yeah,an impaired driver crashed into a report impaired

(47:36):
driver's sign. Again this is becominga theme of people taking out report and
pair drivers because again I talked aboutthis a few weeks ago for the hold
my Beer and watched this where thistime this happened in Canada. But the
last hold my Beer and watched this, this happened in Alabama where a man
intentionally crashed into it and to signthe sign said zero tolerance drugs and alcohol

(47:59):
sign. That's what it was,yeah, a zero tolerance drug and alcohol
sign. That's happened in Alabama.But the story in Canada where he took
out report impaired drivers and this guywas actually impaired, but he doesn't say
what they if they found any opencontainers or anything. But we don't know
what he was drinking. They don'tknow he was drinking or what led him

(48:21):
to do it. But yeah,he hopped a curb and took out a
report impaired driver's sign. And thishas been brought to you by our friends
over at mean, not a takean insurance group where they all ensure you
for lots and lots of things,could insure me for this roof that I'm
about to have to replace because thestorm I'm about to talk about, But
not this guy who drove and raninto in a report and pair driver's sign.

(48:44):
What is it? Is it becominga theme, Chad? It's becoming
a theme. We're seeing a lotof those. Yeah, and I hope
this isn't the last because I liketo report to these stories. Yeah.
Well, the thing is as longas they don't hurt anybody, well,
yeah, as long as one's Yeah, as long as no one's injured.
They we don't want you to getdrunk and impaired and go say, hey,
what can I crash into? Iwant to be on the show.
Give us a call. We'll bringyou on the show. Okay, we'll

(49:06):
find a way to get you onthe show. Just don't drink and drive.
All right, James, we gotto take a break, and when
we come back, I know wehave an interview. Very interesting guy we
got to talk to. Also,the Bruise Association has more numbers that we're
going to crack open. Some morebeer that and so much more this what's
on tap Radio. We'll be rightback when someone says, hold my beer.

(49:28):
You know a trip to the eris in your future, So hold
your own beer, buddy, andjust listen to more of what's on tap?
What's on tap radio? All right? I kind of flew over this

(49:58):
mental tapery Grilla Press double I pA got a listener feedback. You got
a hold of us, and theysaid, you know, we talk a
lot about the beers that we broughtthe table kind of break them down.
But then then the second beardy thatwe bring, which is kind of skate
over it real quickly. So Ikind of want to make good on this.
Uh, the Spintle Tab Brewery GrillaPress. This is that a percent
alcohol by volume. It's an ImperialI p A and it's hazy brewed with

(50:23):
heap viisen yeast m but uh,definitely get some banana notes on it.
Yeah, I'm just tasting this.Uh, banana notes, lime, definitely
some limes, some sweetberry, stonefruit, light, nutty malt character in

(50:44):
it. Mm hmmm mmmm. Definitelyget some rassle and moves out of it.
It's a tropical fruit cocktail. Again. This is the Grilla Press Double
India Palel from Sin coming out ofhere. So did you just say you
tasted wrastling move rattling note, Dude, James has Cable two. All right,

(51:05):
that's out staying. Meanwhile, I'msitting here at the Beer Logic World
headquarters and Drinking Emporium and Harbor Light. Bill and I were sitting here and
we're nursing this beer a little bit. Bill, you brought it to the
table or you brought it? Telleverybody what we're drinking. Yeah, even
more. Biscottie Break from Evil twintwelve and a half percent stout brewed with

(51:29):
coffee albond and vanilla. It holdsa really nice, clean, dark head.
But it's thick. It's brewed witha little bit seems like it's brewed
with some blacktoase. Very heavy,thick beer. Not bad though, I'm
enjoying it very much. I'm gonnasay two things. One, as it

(51:49):
warms up, the flavors really cometogether a lot better, and it's very
delicious. I mean, it's likethey were meant to be together. And
second, good job not cussing thattime. Good job. We stuffed a
bar of soap down in his throatand when we took a break out after
a first hour, so high hereat what's on Tampa radio. Yeah,
he's comfortable. Let's talk about octoberFest for a second. So october Fest,

(52:13):
you can get drunk, but youcan't get high. So the southern
German state will ban any smoking ofcannabis at public festivals, inside beer gardens
or even at the october Fest,the world's most popular beer festival. So
local authorities in Bavaria will be announcingthe prohibiting cannabis consumption in public areas such

(52:34):
as outdoor swimming pools and leisure parks, and their aim is to limit cannabis
consumption in public spaces, said oneof the health ministers. It's important for
the health protection and especially for protectingchildren and young people. I don't get
that. So people can smoke cigarscigarettes, but the weed can't do the
weed. I don't know. Well, first of all, I know they

(52:55):
don't let cigar cigarette smoking in thebeer tents or anything like that, but
it's the public areas, public area. I find it interesting. Yeah,
So this this move comes after Germanylegalized possession of small amounts of cannabis for
recreational use over the country at thebeginning of the month. Germany's nationwide law

(53:15):
of allowing the legalization of cannabis wentin an effect on April first, which
is April Fool's Day, which isinteresting. I'll picture a lot of people
are like, ah, April Fools. No, no, no, no,
it's actually really really think okay,but yeah, apparently legal possession for
adults up to twenty five grams,which is nearly one ounce of marijuana for
recreational purposes, and allowing individuals togrow up to three plants for their personal

(53:38):
use. And then also a secondpart of the legislation. Under the legislation
says. German residents age eighteen orolder are allowed to join a nonprofit cannabis
growing clubs which they can buy marijuana, which takes place in July. But
if yeah, they legalized cannabis foryou know, small amounts, small recreational

(54:00):
use. However, if you're planningon going out to Octoberfest, leave that
pot at home, folks, leavethat pot at home according to the new
barbarian restrictions. So no weed,just beer because Bavaria bans smoking cannabis at
Octoberfest and beer gardens and swimming poolsor any leisure of spots. I think
it's funny that so you said thatthey just recently legalized it. Yeah,

(54:23):
April first, which is right,Yeah, okay, all right, okay,
if if you ever want proof thatthe government does not know what the
hell they're doing, okay, Jamesidentified it. This is so good.
All right, So on April first, we're gonna legalize weed. Okay,
cool. What are we gonna doabout Octoberfest? Oh yeah, all right,

(54:45):
Well let's let's let's let's ban it. But let's say it's to protect
the kids. Well, what aboutcigarettes and cigars? No, those have
been legal forever No, I'm nottalking about bann them. I mean,
like, what about the kids.Nobody will ever ask that question. Have
you ever listened to what's on tapradio? They'll ask the question. There's
James bringing it up, finding aloophole in the idiocracy known as politics.

(55:07):
Well, they probably you know,pitched this idea and like, oh yeah,
I mean, what could be theproblem? There's nothing, and all
of a sudden they pass it.Right, Wait a minute, some's not
right, some's not sitting right.You know, we have this one of
the biggest beer festivals. That's right. People smoke pot now at October Fest.
Damn it. Why didn't we thinkof that before? Yeah, that's

(55:29):
it, you know what, Yeah, it must be big Wu Tang clan
fans, you know, for thechildren, for the children. Absolutely,
that's what they're thinking of. Idon't get it though. You know,
Cigars not a problem. Pipe's nota problem cigarettes, But the weed a
weed. We gotta protect the childrenhave that, it's right, get to
watch out. Yeah, we can'thave we can't have dad smoking and weed

(55:50):
in the corner because you know,the kid gets second hand the kid,
the eight year old kid gets secondhand weed. The next thing you know
he's smoking crack and shoot heroin.Yep, that's it. Yep. Gotta
protect the kids. Ye. Allright, let's jump over to the Brewers
Association. I'm getting out of thefrom smoking crack heroin. Let's talk about

(56:15):
production numbers out of the Bruis Associationquick. That's right. According to the
Brewers Association chief economist Bart Watson,heroin production of brewers still at zero percent.
Bill you guys brew you guys makinga heroin a harbor light. No,
all right, that's out of thequestion. All right, However,
they are making beer. And Iwant to go ahead and give you a

(56:37):
little update on the association, orrather on the industry, according to the
association, which just recently did releasenumbers. And we want to thank our
good buddy, Bart Watson, chiefeconomists there at the Brewers Association trade association.
Oh yeah, yeah, good guy, he's uh. But the Bruce
Association trade association for craft brewers outof Boulder, Colorado, and only twenty

(57:00):
three all in all craft brewers theyincreased. I couldn't believe this one,
because we've we've been talking about howthe market has gone flat, but craft
brewers are up an overall number ofbreweries and twelve up eighty two breweries,
and the number of breweries that haveopened has decreased for the second straight year,

(57:27):
and the number of breweries that haveclosed have increased as well for the
second straight year. But we stillhave a net of seventy seven new breweries,
so we are still seeing growth inthe industry. However, this is
interesting though. Overall production is downone percent, so that means there are
more still more people compete. Bythe way, Bill close your years,

(57:50):
I'm sorry, he owns two brewerieshere, folks. I'm sorry to bring
this up, but there are morebreweries competing for an even smaller market share.
But overall beer consumption down five percent. But I want to go ahead
and hit the top brewers in thecountry. I want to mention New Glaris
honorable mention here at number eleven.I remember when they were like in the

(58:12):
forties, Number eleven largest craft,number ten athletic brewing company. Okay,
what's that. I'm surprised that's nothigher on the list, but okay,
oh I'm not. They were liketwenty last year and forty the year before
that. The Canarchy group or Monstergroup. They're coming at number nine.
Then Brooklyn Artisonal Beverage Ventures. I'mnot familiar with them till ray. They

(58:36):
bought a lot of the Budweiser brands. Their number six Gambrinas, which is
Shiner, is number five. Duvalmort got basically the top four unchanged.
Dubal Mort got Sierra Nevada, BostonBeer Company, and Yingling. Saint Arnold
came in at number forty one onthe list, And just real quick,

(58:58):
I want to mention the overall largestwe're in the United States still Anheuser Busch.
Still Molten Cores at number two.But I wanted to mention that Karen
Lyon coming in at number nine.They're the ones who bought New Belgian Brewing
Company and Bell's Brewing Company, andthe top craft brewery on the overall list,
Boston Beer Company at number ten.Those are the numbers from the Bruises

(59:20):
Association. Speaking of numbers, we'regonna catch up with Kelly meyerd. He's
the host of How Not to Starta Dan Brewery podcast, and we're gonna
talk about why we're seeing so manybreweries closed, his thoughts on it,
and his thoughts on breweries opening,and his advice to those breweries that are
opening. All this is so muchmore. Hang with U is a great
interview. You don't want to missanounce. We'll be right back. This

(59:40):
is What's on Tap Radio. Alldo I have a special treat for you
guys. Welcome back to What's onTap Radio? Joining me in studio.
SA very special guest. A manwho's had more jobs than I successful jobs.

(01:00:07):
I think what you owned A successfuljim then he sold his gym,
opened a brewery. While he openhe had a brewery, wrote a very
successful book, then sold his brewery, started a very popular podcast. Let
me reintroduce Kelly mother Meyer. Welcomeback to the radio show. Welcome to

(01:00:29):
studio. Ask my friend's been awhile, and I'm so happy to be
here. You have no idea it'sbeen about what we said about two and
a half years. Yeah, Ithink it had to have been at least
it was like the summer of twentyone. Yeah, and I remember when
you came on. I don't knowif it was like a bittersweet day for
you, but you had just soldthe brewery. It was. There was

(01:00:50):
a lot there, so yes,selling the brewery was a lot of emotions
positive negative in the middle. Ultimatelywas a massive relief, and I was
happy to be here that day.But I went through ups and downs for
sure, Oh sure, roller coasterride New Brothels Brewing that was the brewery
was How long did you have NewBrothels Brewing Nine and a half years?
Nine and a half years. Howhas your life been since the day you

(01:01:15):
sold and you got out of theindustry. Well, so I did a
I wrote an article kind of aboutthat experience. And so the first company
that I sold you mentioned the fitnesscenters, that was a seven figure exit.
And when I sold the brewery,I sold it for eight percent of
what I sold the fitness centers forand I was about twenty four times happier
with the experience. Like it wasjust in the day after. I remember

(01:01:37):
just driving around and listening to skamusic. I had nothing to do,
and I was just at peace ina way that it had not been for
years. And I don't want tosay it's been a every day's been better
than day before, and I'm notsome idiot, but at the same time,
it has in a way like it'sjust the further away from ownership of
a brewery, I get the happyaream to go back and drink a beer

(01:02:00):
out with guys in the industry likeyou. It's just I can enjoy beer
for the reason I got into itagain, and that is beautiful for me.
I really enjoy it. Is thatwhat it was that you just weren't
didn't have that drive, that fireanymore when you were just getting out.
If you really at the end ofthe day, it was just a lack
of profitability. It wasn't that Ididn't like what I did. It wasn't
that I didn't love the beer andthe creation and the artistry that we made.

(01:02:22):
It was just that I couldn't finda way to turn that into enough
money to keep the lights on consistentlyenough to keep my kids going to college.
And that's people talk about burnout inthe industry now a lot. It's
kind of like this buzzword. It'snot what it is. It's doing the
same thing over and over for nopay. It doesn't matter what you're doing.
If you're mowing yards and like youcan't afford to pay the car payment

(01:02:44):
to get the truck that you needto go mow yards with, it's stressful,
right, And so that's ultimately whatit was. I miss a lot
of the art that I got tocreate. I still have some of the
beers in my cellar. I don'tmiss that part of the industry. I
just it's the business part, justthe getting up and brewing, the whole
production process, the daily grind.Yeah, but I mean those were fun,
like it was kind of like aworkout. And the brewing process itself,

(01:03:07):
it's it's art artistry, but atthe same time it's work and so
on a big enough systems, it'snot like when you have a two barrel
thing and you're scooping grains out andspilling them on your toes like it was
fun. But so I have missedthat part in a way. But the
fact that I haven't brewed a singledrop since would probably argue that fact.
Maybe, So maybe I haven't missedas much as I think I did.

(01:03:28):
All Right, we're a couple ofminutes in. Let's go ahead and do
this. I he just drove in. He's making the rounds, stopped my
studios, and I told him,hey, you can whatever kind of beer
you wanted. He went into Belgianquads, but unfortunately I was out,
so instead I decided to do let'sdo something special. Since it's a special,
you know, having you and studio. It's a nice pleasure. Brooklyn

(01:03:49):
Brewing Limited or release black Ops.One pint of barreled age stout, it's
only twelve percent. Well that one'saged. And four roses barrels too.
I've had black Ops. I've neverhad an age four roses barrels. Pour
this in the what Chad Pilbum callsthe mecha of all beer glasses, the
Sam Adams. He says that itwill cure a male pattern baldness if you

(01:04:10):
creak out this glass, and itwill do your taxes for you. He
would know. Yeah, oh yeah, I mean he's him and I almost
have the same kind of barber.Oh all right, oof, that's tasty.
All right, got you in studio. Let's talk about you wrote a
book called it How Not to Start. Well, I can't say the word
brewery. But then you change.I guess you got your publicists like,

(01:04:33):
hey, maybe you should x thatword out. Well, the Amazon would
let me publish it, but theywouldn't let me advertise it. Okay,
so even they would, they didn'ttell me that when I named it.
So I changed the name because itgave it marketability, right, and there's
an F word in there that it'snot sec friendly. But then you kind
of turn that book into a podcast, a very successful podcast, very entertaining

(01:04:54):
podcast. It's called How Not toStart a Damn Brewery? Yep, and
that's the name of the book nowtoo. So so you've been going around
interviewing breweries from around the country,around the world. Now around the world.
Yeah, okay, now around theworld. And uh, what is
the overall I guess mentality of brewersthese days as you're going around talking to

(01:05:15):
them. Oh, there's a lotof defeatism. Okay, fortunately, what
are you learning? And so keepin mind to you that I do occasionally
interview breweries that are still open andor successful. I interviewed Dave at the
Southern Star, for example. Andbut the primary focus is the interview breweris
that went out of business, tofigure out what went wrong, and then
ultimately to aggregate those stories together tofind out if there are similarities that we

(01:05:38):
can tie together. So in away, I have a myopic view of
failure. So keep that in mindthat I don't I'm not talking to the
CEO of Brooklyn. So yeah,Garrett Oliver yea. Now, if you
Kelly Meyer shows up to my brewery, does that mean oh, no,
something, he's looking at my numberssomething, I'm doomed. What do you
know? Man? Yeah, I'vehad some people like, or was actually

(01:06:00):
what was I'm not going I'm gonnabutcher the story. I don't remember,
but there were Oh. It wasTommy Arthur from Lost Abbey. He interviewed
because his whole thing was he hadgrown down, so he had expanded to
a point where the model didn't workand he had to restructure, retrench and
he called it growing down, andso I wanted to have him on the
show to talk about that. AndI had told some people I was interviewing
Tommy, and I got these messagesoff site. People were like, is

(01:06:23):
he closing? What the hell?What's going on? Like no, no,
no, no, I'm sorry,sorry, sorry? What do you
like? The grand reaper of thebrewery industry don't be seen with Kelly?
Yeah. What is it? Thecontributions to why breweries fails? Is it
a bad beer, bad location,customer service, bad marketing. Why are
we seeing a lot of breweries closethese days? Well you may not want
to know the answer to that,as a consumer. Some of what we

(01:06:45):
appreciate the most is actually what's worsefor the industry. And so for example,
scales and one of the number oneand then right now it's twenty twenty
two, I think less than itwas. Seventy three percent of the breweries
United States made lefts sent a thousandbarrels and that model is just not profitable.
It wasn't in the nineties, ithasn't been since, and unfortunately,

(01:07:06):
there's too many breweries in the marketplaceto be able to get enough of them
over that thousand barrel hump. Sothat's a big problem. And then just
rising costs and the fact that pricesaren't matching those rising costs. Everybody knows
during COVID everything went up right,right, you know, it didn't go
up the price of cans like orthe price of cans at retail. So
you go in the grocery store,ten bucks for a Pilsner six pack is

(01:07:28):
still kind of like, hmm,that's up there, But realistically that should
be a thirteen dollars six pack.It needs to be based on costs and
margins, and it's just it can't. But it's kind of nowadays. I
mean you're seeing about two to threedollars more six pack than it was,
you know, two years ago,three years ago. Then volumes are down.
So what you find that out,Like there's this kind of threshold in
there where the consumer won't pay it, but the brewer can't make money on
it. So those are two bigproblems and you'll have to read the second

(01:07:50):
book to find it all the restof them, but that's one big part
of it. Again, How notto start a Dan Brewery podcast? Kelly
mars I guessed according to the textcarw Brewers guill this is just breweries that
are a part of the guild.There are seventy breweries in planning in Texas.
What do they need to know tobe successful? Like? What is
maybe two big tips they need toknow to be successful? So I would

(01:08:14):
temper that with one sort of Iguess off off business statement is that you
need to define, first of all, what your definition of success is,
because if your definition of success isto make money, you're not going to
period. I'm sorry like that oneof them might they might get lucky and
be in a market in an areathat has, you know, an anomalous
situation. But I can promise youthat as a rule, most of them

(01:08:36):
won't make money, but that doesnot mean that they are not successful as
long as you went into it knowingyou're going to create. You've got someone
who will fund the project, backthe expenses. Do it, have fun,
make create cool art. I wantto drink it. I want you
to make it, but you knowat the end of the day, you're
going to need to find a wayto fund it. Okay, what defines
a successful brewery today and how's itdifferent from five to ten years ago.

(01:09:00):
Think you get two choices. Thenumber one thing that you really have to
consider is that a successful brewery intwenty twenty four America is not what we
would think of as a brewery.It is a bar or a restaurant,
or a combination of both that happensto have beer. If you're leading with
beer. If the number one thingthat you put on your Instagram is the
new IPA release with Strata hops versuswhat you have before, you're screwed.

(01:09:20):
You got to have more so youcan be successful opening a brewer today.
I think you can. I thinkit's harder than it's ever been, and
I think it's going only going toget harder. But again, what I
say you can open a successful brewery. What I mean is you've got to
temper that. So if you wantprofitability, it's going to be slim.
You're going to need to work there. You're going to need to actually create

(01:09:41):
revenue with the position that you haveand be very strategic to who you hire.
Kelly Myers, our guest, Hownot to start a Dan podcast?
How not to start a Dan brewery? How can people find it? Where
can people listen to it? Sothe book of the podcast, the podcast,
the podcast is on everywhere. It'sAmazon, Apple, I've got it
shared it all over place if youshould be able to google it if you
need to, and they'll they'll sendywhereyou got to go in the book books

(01:10:02):
on Amazon exclusively right now. Andthen we just got a scoop that there's
a second book in the works.That was the whole point of the podcast.
I wanted to get to one hundredepisodes, but I'm at seventy.
We'll see how long I made beforeI start writing the second book. All
right, Kelly Myers, our guest, make sure to check out his podcast.
His podcast is very entertaining and ifyou're a brewer. You know,
on a brewery you might learn somethingto be successful. Kelly mar thanks for

(01:10:24):
stopping by studios. Hi, thanksfor having me appreciate it. This is
what's on tap radio. Hang withus. We got one more segment.
We'll be right back. And theteacher said, no, Bobby, there's
no such time as bureau clock.Fire that teacher. This is what's on
tap radio. We don't thank ourfriends at Tantrik Brewing Company located Alligan,

(01:10:45):
Michigan, right there on the KalamazooRiver. Beautiful sites, beautiful beer,
beautiful food. And yeah, yousee the Buera logic guy in there hanging
out. Stop by, get afree what's on tap radio? High five?
Great beer, great times, greatfood. Located an alligant, Michigan,
Tantrik Brewing Company. All right,big shout out to our friend Kelly

(01:11:08):
Meyer stopped by the show How notto Start a Damn Brewery podcast. I
will tell you that we did theinterview, we recorded it. That's why
Chad wasn't around during the interview becausehe was on assignment. But I will
tell you that after the interview wasdone, we went and enrolled for an
additional thirty minutes. That will bereleased coming up soon. And man,

(01:11:30):
did that boy have a lot tosay, including his thoughts on some up
and coming breweries opening. I askedhim about Buffalo by your Brewing Company,
Buffalo by your Brewing Company, andI asked him about his thoughts on them
closing, and he shared his thoughts. All this is so much more.
There's a great, great interview comingup. Check out our Anywhere podcast or
found thanks to our friends over atCast Branding. But this segment What's on

(01:11:55):
Tap Radio the last segment of theweek, brought to you by our friends
over at Tantric Brewing Company. Yes, located in downtown Alligan and my hometown
brewery. I'm there probably too often. No, there's no such thing.
Support your local brewery. Get outthere and if you're ever in the g
R area, you need to swingin to Tantric. It's only what thirty

(01:12:16):
five minutes outside of downtown And ifyou see me there free What's on Tap
Radio? High five great beers,great food, great scene. It's just
small time, small town vibe.Easy for me to say small town vibe,
but big beers and just great flavor. And I want to thank them
for continuing to support What's on tapRadio, And speaking of What's on Tape

(01:12:40):
radios show about beer, beer drinking, James talking about money and about putting
puzzles together. Remember that's my parent. Yeah, I'm gonna do a podcast.
You make a million dollars with thatidea. But I'm gonna just tell
you right now. I think it'sgonna taste more like Champagne Velvet, which
was the beer with a million dollarflavor, but tastes more like a dollar
fifty according to and then we triedthe sixty dollars nachos. But James,

(01:13:03):
I have I had to do this. I saw Liberacchi on the label,
and I saw a bunch of nachoson a Steinway piano, and there it
is, dude Liberachi playing for nachos. James, I give you the Triple
India pale Al twelve percent, onehundred and twenty dollars nachos. They're twice

(01:13:24):
the price of sixty dollars nachos.They use. What kind of cheese?
It must be some really really reallyfancy French cheese or something. This is
from who farted? I mean sorry, hoof Hearted. Hoof Hearted Brewery out
of Connecticut, which by the way, we're staying with Connecticut beers here because
we had Evil Twin beer and that'sConnecticut, and so now we've got who

(01:13:45):
Farted Connecticut beer. We've got EvilTwins, so and this is gonna be
another hazy Let me take a quicksip and tell you what I think here.
But it is oh whoa, whoa, it's chunky. Look, we
got the yeast in there to Okay, what are you getting out of that?
Chat? As he drinks it fromhis Boston lager? Like that a
lot better than sixty dollars. LikeI like that twice as much as the

(01:14:05):
sixty. I like one hundred andtwenty dollars Najos twice as much as I
like the sixty dollars Najos. Soyeah, pretty, Actually this tastes more
like a hazy ipa and has lesssweetness to it. I like it,
all right, So that's what wehave. Thank you who Fearted for making
me laugh and also making these wonderfulbeers. All right. Gotta to get
a couple of stories in before weget out of here for the week.

(01:14:29):
But I like a good field goodstory, and this story is how a
case of beer saved some men's Lives. But if you didn't know this,
I hadn't really talked about it onthe show at all, whatsoever. I've
been talking about how I've been doinga lot of yard work, doing a
lot of yard work because my housewas hit by a tornado last week.
A tornado ripped through Katie, Texas, where I live, where I broadcast

(01:14:53):
studios, and my house was hit. Luckily, no one was injured,
minimum damage. I will talk aboutwhat happened, because yeah, we're okay.
But apparently what happened this tornado touchdownI about a mile from my house
and a parking lot of a barcalled the Bourbon Street Sports Bar shortly around

(01:15:14):
three am one Wednesday morning, wherefive employees were in the bar, but
luckily, luckily, no one wasinjured. Luckily it was no one customers
were injured because it was after threeam and you know, they were already
closed. But yeah, all fiveworkers were in the back of the building
when the tornado destroyed the front ofthe building. So people of faith would

(01:15:36):
call it a miracle. Others wouldsay it's a lucky coincidence. But the
tornadoes did suck in front of thebuilding, so the front of the building
got all destroyed, but luckily themen were not injured because they were in
the back of the bar cleaning upa broken case of beer bottles. So,
according to the owner of the bar, the bar back dropped a case

(01:15:56):
of beer in the back corner andeverybody was helping clean up. An employees
called around two forty nine am saying, in a tornado, I'd sucked the
front wall of the bar into theparking lot. But luckily all five men
were physically okay. Also, additionally, the tables, chairs, pool tables
in the front of the bar werewet, dirty, but otherwise unscathed.

(01:16:17):
But yeah, saved by a caseof beer, all because they were cleaning
up glass that they They weren't inthe front, because there could have been
somebody in the front maybe mopping oryou know, cleaning up in the tables
or something. But yeah, theywere on the back clean up this mess
when a tornado ripped the front ofthe building off. This is going to
be a side plot or just likea side like a side shot in the

(01:16:40):
movie that we produce. We justgot to come up with a good name
for about a tornado that goes throughWest Houston and a craft brewer who does
a podcast, right, a podcastpuzzle ber who does podcast and does does
two podcasts, one about old ladiesput and puzzles together and one about beer.

(01:17:01):
By the way. One lasted oneepisode and the other one last has
been on for over ten years.I'll let you figure out which one's which.
And the only reason he and hisfamily survive is because people need to
eat his wife's food and he hasa beer fridge. And that's it,
because you got to have the foodconnection too, because not everybody drinks beer,
so you can't make it about justbeer. Meanwhile, you're gonna look

(01:17:25):
and off you know screen, right, there's gonna be five guys who are
saying, thank goodness for that brokencase of beer. We're alive all because
of that case of beer. BourbonStreet Sports Bar in Katie, Texas was
just the front was destroyed, althougheverybody was safe because they were out in
the back cleaning up case of beerthat I dropped. But yeah, so

(01:17:46):
this tornado touchdown. This bar isabout a mile from my house, and
the winds from this tornado flew throughmy neighborhood and I had this giant pine
tree in my front yard. Sawthe picture it's probably about one hundred and
something feet and the way the windspushed the tree, the tree fell not

(01:18:10):
onto my home but into the street. No cars wouldn't hit your car either.
No cars were damaged. My housewasn't damaged. Luckily. It was
late at night. Like I said, it was about three in the morning
when the storm went through, andnobody was on the road. But yeah,
I woke up the next morning andI knew this storm had come through.

(01:18:31):
It was very loud, and itwoke the kids up. The kids
were all terrified. It was alight show. We lost power on three
AM, so we didn't have anypower. So I get up and I
look in my driveway and I realized, oh, there's a giant branch in
my driveway. I need to goout and clear that because my wife and
I had to go to work.So I go out there and it was
very dark, and so I putmy flashlight on to realize it's not a

(01:18:51):
branch in my driveway. No,it's a whole ass tree. My whole
ass pine tree was in it rightnow. I mean that thing is he
Yeah, I'll post I haven't postedto our what's on tap radio social.
I've posted on my personal social butI'll post it on What's on Tap Radio
just so you can get an ideaof just how big this was. But
I want to give a special shoutout to tell my neighbors who came and

(01:19:13):
helped them cleaned up. You know, they brought chain sauce. I had
a neighbor that dragged the tree intothe street with his truck, and because
of that, the county that Ilive in, Harrison County, they came
and brought chain sauce and chopped myentire tree up, used a giant cherry
picker thing and picked it up,put in a dump truck and haulered it
off. But yeah, very lucky, very lucky that that tree did not

(01:19:35):
fall onto our home. But ifyou know, yeah, if you know
where James lives, you've heard thehold my beer and watch this crashing into
signs if you're going through his neighborhoodand you and you're like, wait,
isn't there supposed to be a stopsign here? Yeah, that's that's sign.
That was not James crashing into iton the way home after drinking too
many beers. No, he wouldnever do that, Never drink and drive

(01:19:56):
folks. Ye, but yeah,there's a I'm missing because the tornado took
it and I got a photo ofit here. That's right the house.
So again we're very lucky, andso are these guys who are saved by
a case of beer. And thatis this addition of What's on Tap Radio,
we have got to say goodbye.I'm hearing the music. But I
do want to thank Kelly Meyer fromHow Not to Start a Damn Brewery Podcast

(01:20:18):
for stopping by. I also wantto thank Harbor Light Phil for hanging out
also along with our sponsors. Oursponsors being Tantrick Brewing, Superior Past Control
be a Logic Conference Events, Rinaldsonac Insurance Group, the back of a
grille keeping the lights on, HarborLight Brewing, and course sponsoring our podcast
cast branding. So for mister BilllachiChap, he'll be my brew good James
the same. Thanks for checking outWhat's on Tap Radio. We hope you

(01:20:38):
enjoyed it and we hope that youwould join it for another action back radio
show next week. See it then, folks, cheers

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