July 16, 2025 • 41 mins
Welcome in, country road travelers! This week on Craft Beer Republic, Flex, the Louisville Chugger, is back from his road trip all over the east-ish part of the south. He’s got tales of missed opportunities, life-changing beers, and kids riding ponies. Greg is currently on a road trip and is drinking local to pass the time. Hulk Hogan is being sued over his beer, breweries are closing up shop, and a driver in California is really drinking on the go!
Beers We’re Drinking:
- Greg visits the local bottle shop and picks up Recursion IPA from Bottle Logic Brewing in Anaheim.
- Flex picks up what he thinks is the best beer ever; Bootsy Brewski from Fretboard Brewing.
Flex tells us all about his road trip. He survived the family road trip through Ohio and Kentucky without having to hurt anyone, good for him! He kicked things off in Cincinnati with a meal so good he couldn’t stand up afterwards. And the beer he had was life changing… but could he ever find it again? Then he ended up at Jungle Jim’s grocery store with world class bathrooms and beers you can drink while you shop. He then jumped over to Kentucky for some horse riding, no bourbon tasting, and a mortgage payment worth of souvenirs at Buc-ee’s.
In the News Flight: Silver City Brewing is sold, Urban Chestnut acquires O’Fallon Beer brands, and Denver’s TRVE Brewing is closing down.
In Booze News:
- Hulk Hogan’s Real American Beer is being sued again.
- A California driver got pulled over with a few too many roadies in the car.
Flex: Instagram: @flex_me_a_beer
Craft Beer Republic: CraftBeerRepublic.com
- Instagram: @CraftBeerRepublic
- Facebook: CraftBeerRepublicPod
- Threads: CraftBeerRepublic
- Voicemail: (805) 538-2337
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:15):
Welcome in everybody.It's the craft beer republic.
Thanks for drinking.Thanks for joining.
I am Greg and I am being joined bymy own little Louisville Slugger.
And that's Flex.What's up, big fella?
Hey, man, I survived a.Family road trip.
I am very proud of you.I'm pleasantly surprised and I
can't wait to hear about it.Literally living proof.
(00:39):
Quick spoiler, quick teaser for thelisteners. Did you murder anybody?
Uh, not a single person.Okay, the story is gonna suck,
then. No. Just kidding.Oh, those fucking family road trips.
Uh, thank you all for listening.Thanks for joining all that good
stuff. Find us on the socials.@CraftBeerRepublic @flex_me_a_beer
underscores in between.Apologies up front if you hear
(01:04):
some sirens or the people nextdoor to me fucking or whatever.
I am in Orange County in a hotelroom.
The internet is quite garbageand the walls are quite thin.
So we will see how this goes.Might turn into a porno show
quite quickly.I was just gonna say not a porno
show, but I wouldn't hate the latter.Well, give it some time.
(01:27):
Give it about 30s.We'll see what happens.
I closed all the Blue Owl it takes.Me too. I mean. Yeah.
Not a 32nd joke.Good night everybody.
I've closed all the blinds andcurtains. Anything I can close.
I still keep hearing, like,loud cars driving by.
So, uh, apologies in advance.We'll see how this goes.
(01:50):
Um, all right,before we get into some things,
I really need to get into this beerbecause, uh. Well. I'm thirsty.
I Love My Beer. I Love My Beer.I Love My Beer. I Love My Beer.
(02:14):
Well,because I am in the county of orange.
And that's California,I thought I will go hit up their
finest bottle shop and see if Ican find something local.
I found it was literally calledfine liquor and spirits.
Nothing but. The finest.Only the finest at fine liquor
and spirits. The name like that.Bound to find a winner.
(02:38):
So I found Bottle LogicBrewing's Recursion IPA.
It is 6.5%, has 85 IBUs and a 3.9 anduntapped with almost 11,000 ratings.
So I'd say that's pretty impressive.Wow. From the brewery, they say.
The culmination of our recursion.West coast IPA experiment brewed
(03:03):
with El Dorado, Simcoe,Mosaic and Columbus.
Then just dry hopped with Mosaicand Simcoe.
As you can see,I don't know the colour of this
because I'm in a hotel and don'thave a glass to pour this into.
Yeah, it is in a can, I can,I can see that I can co-sign a can.
Pretty colorful can.I don't uh, I don't hate the can art.
(03:26):
Yeah. No, that's a really neat can.Yeah, that's kind of cool.
Uh, the schnoz is fairly piney.A lot of dank. Lot of pine.
I feel weird putting my nose ina can hole.
Let me stick the old, uh,Tongue-jobber in here.
Ooh, don't cut it.Had enough injuries this weekend.
(03:46):
Uh, the flavors really follow suit.Hold on. One more sample.
He's thirsty. I'm thirsty. Boy. Uh.Lots of dank, West Coast resin.
A little bit of, I want to say,grapefruit.
Something citrusy and pithy in there.Has a nice light body to it.
Not overly malty.Fairly light and crispy for a
(04:10):
for a Westie.Which we all know I appreciate.
And, um, you know, I'd drink again.I think this beer came out to be,
uh, a single.I think it was like six bucks
for the single.Would I spend $24 on a four pack?
Probably not.But I'm enjoying this one. $6 worth.
(04:31):
I like this new rating system wehave. Me too.
It's kind of growing on me.Yeah, and it's pettier than
normal rating systems.And if it's kind of like a,
it's like a put up or shut up kind ofthing. Yeah. Yeah, it really is.
And if nothing else,I'm definitely petty.
So this this works out quite well.Uh, all right, let's let's, uh,
(04:55):
jump into it here.Flex had a little birthday road
trip last week.You know, it wasn't because of
the birthday, but.But the timing worked out nicely.
But the timing worked out because.Just because it's the week I
take off every summer. Sure.Well, how'd it go?
Um, best drive to I've ever had. Wow.It was wildly smooth,
(05:18):
so I just wanted to start there.Only had to stop once. Halfway.
The kids had to go to the bathroom.Sure.
My wife wanted to pass on allthe roadside gas stations,
and she looked at one that was like,seven miles out of the way,
which I was fine with.You know, I,
I it's a reputable stop, so.Um, but aside from that,
(05:41):
it was a very wonderful drive.Ohio, like the southern part of Ohio,
is shockingly beautiful.And I can't say I'm surprised to
hear that northern part,because I've never really I
don't remember driving through.I did it once,
but I don't remember it.Uh, a lot of, like, rocky formations
on the side of the highway,which you would never think.
I just think flat.You just think flat, right?
(06:03):
Midwest. So it was nice.It was surprisingly enjoyable.
Uh, drive. Hot as balls. Um.And, you know,
anywhere southern south of Wisconsin.It's hot in here in the summer,
so it's going to be even hotter.You know.
Down there wasn't the South having,like, a heat wave this last week
or something? Yeah.I mean, it was really anywhere
from like 90 to 95 all week.So the heat was brutal.
(06:27):
It rained a little bit,checked out Findlay Market in
downtown Cincinnati.It's, uh, from what my wife said,
supposedly the oldest publicmarket in the the country,
which you can fact check that Ididn't look into any of this at all.
But then the trip had it startedoff on the highest note.
I had the best meal of maybe myentire life.
(06:49):
There was a restaurant, I believe itwas called French Krust and company.
And it was this cutesy littleFrench themed restaurant at the
end of the market.And I got a French dip sandwich.
Because, you know,when in France. Right? Oui, oui.
And just everything from the bun.It was on the beef. The cheese.
(07:16):
They had not like a traditionalaju to dip it in.
It was like this homemade dip.And it came with, uh.
I don't know if I'm pronouncingthis right. Bechamel. Bechamel?
Bechamel. Yeah.So I would take a slab of that,
put it on the bite I was gonna dip.Then I would dip that into the dip,
(07:40):
and I dip, you dip, we dip.And I was rock hard.
Hand on your hip.Yeah,
I was rocked up the entire meal.I could not shut up about how
delicious it was, and I didn't careabout anything else in the world at
that moment. Nice. It's phenomenal.And then, to boot, I had a phenomenal
beer. Funny story about that beer.Um, which I wouldn't mind diving
(08:04):
into it right away if you don'tmind my beer.
Oh, you know,let's just fucking do it right now.
In a world where craft beer is king.A world where muscles are bigger
than growlers, only one tongue canguide us. One man, one tongue.
One Tongue-jobber.In this world, we must find out
(08:27):
what is Flex drinking?Okay, so anyway,
anytime I take a trip,travel outside the state. Whatever.
Um, I always look for local brews,right? That's what we do here.
OC you're looking for some OC shit?We're researchers.
Um,they had some rhinegeist on the menu.
(08:48):
They had some Sonder brewing, whichI've never heard of Sonder before.
And then they had a rotating taphandle at this place.
And I said, I asked the lady whatthe rotating tap handle was.
She was kind of quiet.The music was the people were kind
of loud, the music wasn't loud,and all I heard was IPA.
And I said, yeah, I'll take that.It sounds wonderful.
(09:11):
And it came in a fretboard brewing,glass fretboard brewing like a
guitar fretboard. Sure.And it was that pale yellow hazy
color. Mhm. And I got my sandwich.I'm already rocked up.
Now I'm getting this beer and I'mlooking at this beer and I'm like,
(09:32):
I'm at the brim, man.I'm filled up to the brim.
And I took one sip of this beerand it was like I entered the
gates of heaven.It's like I just splooged everywhere.
It was top notch.So I asked the lady again.
As I left, I said, hey, what was thatbeer called again that you gave me?
And she said it was Bootsy IPAby Fretboard Brewing. All right.
(09:57):
What are the odds I'm gonna findthis fucking beer in the wild here?
Well, we went to this grocerystore called Jungle Jim's.
It's a tourist attraction. Okay.They have a section for, like,
every country in the world. Food.Uh, they have an entire corner of
the store devoted to hot sauces.Their spice aisle, I heard,
(10:18):
is I didn't enter it, but is.Everything is alphabetical order
for spices. Oh.Which is kind of brilliant. Yeah.
Uh, they had, like, a 32 footsection of just Kraft bottle sodas.
This place was overwhelming.It had a collectible store in it.
It had a toy store in it.It had a tiki bar in it.
(10:39):
It had a, uh,like 20 taps of beer that you could
get and just buy the beer and thenshop around and drink the beer.
They had a candy storedepartment in it. Jesus.
And then, you know, they had,like, the normal produce and
dairy and meat and.But this place, if you've never
heard of it, you've never seen it.I'd highly recommend looking it
(11:01):
up just to see what it's about.They have, like, the world's best
bathrooms or something like that.Like cleanest. Or they're.
They look like porta potties onthe outside.
Like you open the door to a portapotty, and then it's like you walk in
and it's one of those bigger on theinside than it looks on the outside.
Apparently it's like world renowned.I've never heard of it,
(11:21):
but I would definitely recommend it.All right, so back to this beer,
right?Fretboard Brewing Bootsy IPA walk
into their liquor department,which again, very overwhelming.
So much stuff.I didn't even look through half
of it, but lo and behold, I findBootsy IPA from Fretboard Brewing.
Daddy, it's got this Jimi Hendrixlooking character on the can.
(11:44):
He's got a guitar Our fretboardbrewing right on it and they got
the name Bootsy.It's all like disco star.
It's really fun.Can and it's a 7% IPA, 21 IBUs.
Uh, it says in collaboration withthe Bootsy Collins Foundation.
So I guess I'm not really toosure what that is. So skip ahead.
(12:07):
Get home from the trip.I said, you know what?
I'm gonna have one of the beers.That beers is fucking phenomenal.
And I poured out Greg.And this is what it looks like.
Clear. It's clear. It's amber.Copper. Um, it is not hazy.
It is an American IPA.It looks very old school.
Very, very old school.So whatever beer I had in this
(12:28):
restaurant.Was not the beer that the lady
told me I had. That's fantastic.So now I have absolutely no idea
what beer that was.Don't you love when it's like,
the time that somebody swore to methey'd had poured me a hazy little
thing, but it was the clearestbeer I'd ever put in my mouth.
(12:49):
I love that story. It never gets old.Uh. So then, you know.
So here, you know, this is apretty classic American IPA.
You know, it smells like.It smells like white pine.
A little grapefruit hoppy,a little hoppy.
Yeah,that's what the old nose buds say.
Then I guess, without further ado,I'm gonna tell you guys what a
(13:10):
traditional American IPA tastes like.Never had one of these before.
Oh, yeah. That's, uh. Super.This one's actually super light
and crisp. Okay. Real low.Like I said, 21 IBUs. Very low.
It's not lingering.Hardly any bitterness.
Real clean finish.But you get that hint of pine,
you get the hint of citrus pith,and it's a good beer.
(13:36):
Don't get me wrong.Not what you're looking for.
This isn't the beer that changedmy life.
And then, you know, just because Ikind of skipped all this because
I'm telling this long story.Uh, 4.7 thousand check ins.
It's got a 3.71 and untapped.And they say.
So this this is kind of big newshere.
Uh, in collaboration with theBootsy Collins Foundation.
(13:58):
This award winning IPA is full offruity flavors but low in IBUs.
Get this three time gold medal winnerat the US Open Beer Championship.
Wow.2019, 2021 and, uh,
2019 through 2021.And then a silver medal winner in,
uh, 2022. So impressive.Yeah, I guess, you know,
(14:18):
I'll take it.This is a wonderful beer,
but it's not the beer thatchanged my life. What?
What was the restaurant you got that,uh, life changing beer from?
Let me just make sure of it.I'm pretty sure it was called
French Crust and Co.Oh, it's just called French crust
Cafe and Bistro. I'm sorry.I'm gonna see if I can find
(14:40):
their tap list.But it would be difficult because,
uh, it was a rotating tap handle.It doesn't say they only list
three beers and then rotating.Yeah, yeah. So not helpful.
Yeah. Mine was the rotating.Should we call them right now and ask
them what their rotating handle?I honestly almost thought about doing
that. I'm not even kidding you.When I got home and I poured
(15:00):
this and I really just wanted toknow what I actually drank.
I was like, I wonder if I could justcall them and be like, hey, I visited
you this past week and I would liketo know what this beer really is.
Should we do. It on the air? Yes.Are they even open? I don't know.
I'm looking. Oh, no.Because it's gonna be almost 11:00
there. What are their hours?Oh, yeah. They close at 3 p.m..
(15:22):
Yeah. Their time? Yeah. Damn.I was I was getting ready to
dial some numbers.That's so fucking great. But, yeah.
So that was the highlight ofCincinnati. Really?
Um, next day, we caught a Reds gameat Great American Ballpark. Nice.
Had a couple beers there,and I did make a list of all the
different beers that I did try there,except for the one I'm drinking now
(15:45):
because, you know, um, but I andI did buy a beer and jungle gyms.
I bought, uh,Bodie IPA from Columbus Brewing.
It was like a regular, like,traditional double IPA.
Uh, I think untapped has it at like afour, two one. Let me tell you what.
If that was A421,then Stone IPA should be A421
(16:07):
because it had that same rough,super bitter enamel shattering.
Uh, every time I took a sip of it,I kind of had to, like, grind my
teeth. And, um, it was a lot.Uh, then I had a truth IPA from
Rhinegeist at the Reds game.Uh, I had a operatic from Brink
(16:29):
Brewing, and that was anotherclassic American IPA, uh,
gavel banger from Taft Brewing.I like the name again.
Just a real A classic.They had a lot of like American IPAs,
and they had a red IPA on tapthat the guy tried to sell me.
I said, I'm sorry, sir.Those are usually really malty
(16:49):
and I'm just not that into it.Hashtag beer snob.
So that was all the beer I hadin Cincinnati.
Caught the Cincinnati Zoo.What a phenomenal zoo.
Oh, really good.So the Cincinnati Zoo is phenomenal.
That was Cincinnati in a nutshell.Really.
My final thoughts on Cincinnati.Super old city. Super dingy city.
(17:10):
I did have a friend who told me itwas like, uh, when he found out I
was going, he said, Cincinnati iskind of like a lesser Milwaukee.
Why would you go there?And I thought he was just kind
of being overdramatic about thewhole situation.
Uh, and then we went there andit was just old everywhere.
Um, which. That's fine.Like, old can be cool,
but could also be gross.You know, when you're driving with
(17:33):
your kids on the outskirts ofdowntown and they have these tennis
courts that don't have nets anymore,and they're, you know,
puddled over and there's growth,you know, going on to the courts.
And then you kind of start lookingaround and you're like, oh,
I don't know if this is a veryreputable area. Minus one star.
(17:55):
Yeah. We made it out alive.The hotel was decent.
Uh, they had a bar on the secondfloor and on the roof,
and it was. A rooftop. Bar.It was cool, but it was raining
the day we were gonna go up there.Lame. So then we actually went up.
We were still gonna sit inside,and I saw the beer menu because I saw
the beer menu at the on the lowerlevel bar. Like a day before. Sure.
(18:18):
So I assume they would have thesame stuff at the roof.
They had like all A and B stuffon the roof, and they had all
local shit on the second floor.So I took one look at the menu and I
said, yeah, let's just go downstairs.And I forgot I did actually have
an urban artifact beer down there.And it was, uh,
like a fruit punch start, uh,fruited ale, like a tart ale.
(18:43):
And that was very wonderful.And I forgot that they were in Ohio
as well. So that was I. Did, too.And I was looking up their building.
I wasn't able to make it there.I didn't make it to any breweries
in Ohio, but their facility isin like an old church.
That's kind of cool. Yeah.So I thought that was kind of cool.
Kind of wild.Um, then we made our way to Kentucky,
which all along the Ohio River.Um, just gorgeous, by the way,
(19:07):
like big rolling green hills.I never thought Kentucky was
hilly or scenic or any of that.You just always think like.
Or anything good.Basketball and white trash,
right? Exactly right.I mean, you say Kentucky,
what else crosses your mind?And, like, horse racing, I guess
bourbon, but that's it. Okay. Yeah.But the first two easily, you know,
(19:31):
basketball but gorgeous scenery.It was probably my favorite
drive Five scenic wise I've everhad in my life.
Second to the Ozarks in Missouri.That was gorgeous.
Uh, but, you know, Kentucky was fun.We did, uh, there was a, like,
a public market in the hotelnext to us.
So he caught that, uh, there wasactually a brewery in there as well.
(19:54):
So that was kind of neat.Caught some dinner there, had some
solid pizza, some pretzel bites.Uh, had an IPA there,
and I had a gosa.The gosa wasn't great,
but that's too bad.You know,
when in Rome you gotta try gosa. See?Then, uh, we hit up the Louisville
Slugger Museum and the factory tour.That was amazing. That's cool.
(20:15):
It was one of my favorite partsof the whole tour.
You get to learn all about,you know, how they grow the trees,
how they cut the trees.And, um, I got to hold the Christian
Yelich bat. I got to hold, uh.My hometown boy. Yeah, I love him.
Uh, I got to hold a Brice Turangbat for the Brewers as well.
Uh, because they had all thesecubby holes right at the start of
(20:36):
the factory, and there was a acubby for each team in the league.
And then they had a players nameplate for each team.
And the Brewers just so happenedto be Christian Yelich.
And uh, again, I got to the brim.You know, I was I was ready to blow.
Right. Uh, yeah.So I just that whole tour to see
how they do everything and justfantastic. Absolutely fantastic.
(21:01):
Uh, checked out Churchill Downs,the Kentucky Derby. Uh, Derby.
Very fancy. That was immaculate.I couldn't believe how large
that place was.Uh, 80,000 people, they say,
fit in the grandstands and another40 to 50,000in the infield.
Holy shit. That's a lot of people.This place is absolutely enormous.
And you could look at picturesof it or videos or anything,
(21:24):
and it just won't do it justiceuntil you actually get in there.
And it made me think,I don't know if I could ever actually
go to a derby that many people.So many people. So many people.
And can I, um, can I be blasphemousfor a second here, please?
Horse racing. Don't give a shit.I don't really either. Yeah.
(21:45):
You know, but if somebody said,hey, I got an extra ticket to
the Kentucky Derby, it's almostlike a once in a lifetime thing.
Yeah, like I'd go for the spectacle,but. Right. Just to say you. Ben.
Yeah, but I'm not paying allthat money to go sit amongst
200,000 people or whatever. No.Yeah, and I wouldn't either,
but it was really cool to checkit out. Check out the history.
(22:06):
You got to walk through the museum aswell. So that was all super neat.
That was day one.Day two checked out Kentucky
Horse Park.You know,
that was like more for the kids.Um, just kind of where they
people donate money to have theirhorses kept there for like,
the year and taken care of and,uh, did some horseback riding.
That's really what the end goalof that was.
(22:28):
Uh, I checked on a Buc-ee’s. Greg.I was waiting for Buc-ee’s. Um, okay.
I want to know about the beersituation.
So the Buc-ee’s the horse park wegot to early in the morning first.
Uh, like, they opened at nine.We got there at 940,
and the first available horsebackriding tickets left were 245.
(22:49):
They were like, all right,we'll hang out here for like an hour.
Buc-ee’s was still 40 minutes away,so we're gonna drive out,
get some lunch, check out Buc-ee’s,drive back and get in our horseback
riding. So I was unaware of this.There is a whole separate lane to
pull into Buc-ee’s to wait in.Like the gas pump line.
(23:10):
They had a 150 gas pumps. Holy shit.Every single one of them was
taken and about half the world'scheapest gas.
Half of them had a car behindthe other cars waiting to fill
up and gas. Sure.So we said fuck that,
we had a half tank.We don't need to wait in line
(23:30):
for gas.It's like going to Costco for gas.
Yeah, it was crazy.So then we walked into the store and
the way my wife described it wasDisneyland or Disney World because
we've never been to Disneyland.It was like Disney World on cocaine.
So like bigger. Chaotic.Oh fuck that then. Like people.
(23:53):
It was like everybody was shoutingand like, everybody was running to
grab something because they didn'twant somebody else to get it,
even though there was a shit tonof everything.
It's like Black Friday at Buc-ee’s.The food lines were absurd.
Like a line of people justwaiting for more chicken tenders
and French fries.The only place that didn't have
(24:16):
a line was the bakery.You know, they did, like,
some cookies and some other stuff,but, uh,
they have this circular island in themiddle of the Buc-ee’s where they,
they do the brisket sandwiches,the pulled pork sandwiches,
the chicken sandwiches. Um.Other barbecue stuff.
I think they have one more sandwich.They'll chop up the sandwiches,
(24:37):
and they get all the sandwichesprepared and wrapped.
And then every time they put outnew sandwiches, they, like,
yell something.I couldn't tell what the fuck
they were yelling.And then they yell something.
And then every other employee inthe store yells it back. Oh, God.
Um. Extremely chaotic. Delicious.Though I will say I had a
breakfast burrito.The smoked brisket,
(24:58):
breakfast burrito.Brisket, potatoes, beans, maybe.
Cheese, I don't know.That rocked my world.
And I had this regular smokedbrisket sandwich as well. Oh my God.
It was good,but it wasn't burrito good.
Oh, well. I mean, what is right?But yeah, I fucking filled up hard on
food there. Um, no Buc-ee’s beer.They did have they did have a few
(25:20):
local breweries, and by a few, Imean two. And then they had come on.
Fine spirits and wine has morelocal breweries than that.
They had that Rhinegeist truth IPA,which is like their flagship.
And then it had one other likeOhio beer.
And I was kind of disappointed inthe selection. It's pretty lame.
And the fact that there was noBuckeyes beer, I'm disappointed.
(25:43):
Buc-ee’s I expected more out of you.But so here's the thing.
So this was all for the kids, right?They see all their videos and
all their YouTube influencersand shit go there.
And so the kids got, you know,stuffed animals and water
thermoses and stickers and thisand that and blah, blah, blah.
You know, I got a t shirt,I won't lie. Nice.
(26:04):
They have all this own brandedfood and candy and we got some
gifts for other people.We ended up spending like $250
at Buc-ee’s. Jesus.We got a lot of stuff though.
We really did.So as the cashier is ringing all
this stuff up, I was that dad.I was like, oh,
can you tell we're first timers?And he said, oh,
(26:24):
this isn't even bad. Oh.I said, really? And he said, yeah.
He said, we'll get people that havecome in here 15 times over and
we'll spend $700 every time. Nope.What the fuck? That is unacceptable.
That is like you.Everything in your house is Buc-ee’s.
(26:48):
Everything you eat is Buc-ee’s.Everything you wear is Buc-ee’s.
That's crazy. That's nuts.I can see Flex spending that much
money on their breakfast burrito,but not on Chotchkie's. I would.
$8 for a breakfast burrito.I would buy $800 worth of
breakfast burritos.They were giving 100 burritos, stat!
So we spent about an hour in there,and then we had to book our ass
(27:11):
back to horseback riding.And then here's another funny
story for you.Before we get away from Buc-ee’s
my last Buc-ee’s question. Yes.Were you able to to drink inside
of Buc-ee’s? No. There's no, uh.I don't think so.
Damn it, I just thought,because, like, you got, like,
breakfast burritos and whatnot,maybe grab yourself a beer to
(27:32):
have with your breakfast burrito.I could have got a six pack.
Like they had the beer cooler.Sure, but nothing.
Nothing you could drink right there.Correct. Okay. Got it. Sorry.
I'll shut up now.No, that's fine, that's fine.
That was a good question.So the whole plan for the day
was horse park. Buc-ee’s.And then to stop at a couple
(27:52):
distilleries.My wife was actually the one who was
like, hey, let's stop at places,pick stuff up.
Yeah, we talked about this.She wanted you to hit a couple
bourbon spots. Yeah, she was like.It was shocking.
I almost didn't think it was real.I didn't so little did my wife know,
which I knew, but she did not.And I don't blame her for it.
(28:14):
All the distilleries are onlyopen from 9 to 5. Oh, sure.
Just like wineries, right? Yeah.So 9 to 5. That's it.
And I'm not a selfish guy.I am a family man.
I would never take fun orexperiences away from my kids.
Mhm. The trip was not about me.Horseback riding finished at 4:00.
Oh no.Then the kids wanted to go into the
(28:38):
gift shop and buy a few things.No. And I was okay with it.
You know, it's all about them. It is.So we walk out of the gift shop at
about 415, and my wife says, hey,where do you want to go first?
Like hotel.And I said, I don't even think it's
worth it. She said, what do you mean?Said, well,
(28:59):
everything closes at 5:00.She said, well, what time is it?
I said, it's 415.And she was actually like
legitimately shocked.And she said, I expected to get back
to the hotel at like ten tonight.Whoa. She's like, I thought we would.
She was ready to party.She was ready to just let me go
(29:21):
at it because we were gonnaoriginally stop at Woodford?
Sure. So we were gonna do a tour.I was gonna have a drink or two.
You know, buy a bunch of shitand head on our way.
Maybe stop at another place.You know, not tour, but.
So she said she's like, no,she's like, we're going to one.
She said, pick one.So daddy picked Buffalo Trace. Oh.
(29:45):
I figured it was the same distanceaway, time wise as, uh, Woodford.
And I think they were on thesame exit as well.
But we pulled into that parking lot,Greg, at 451. Just in time.
We walked into the front officewhere they card you,
and they put a wristband on youbecause they scan your wristband
and shit to make sure you're,you know, 21, in the gift shop.
(30:09):
So we walk out of the office,and the gift shop is about
a hundred yards away from thefucking check in office. Oops.
So we was booking it and weentered the gift shop at 456 and
I panic bought just two bottlesof Buffalo Trace. Oh.
I got a bottle of Eagle Rare.Oh, Brian.
(30:31):
Intern Brian likes himself someeagle rare.
But my wife was wonderful enoughto do a separate transaction
because it was one bottle ofrare per customer. Mhm.
They do some root beer therethat I got to try in my
four minutes of being in there.So got some of the root beer.
Uh bought a couple gifts,I got a shirt and uh that was it.
(30:53):
And the entire time on the drivehome the next day,
all I could think to myself is,why didn't I just buy, like, ten
bottles of trace? Why didn't. You?They were something stupid,
like $27 a bottle.It's like, why didn't I just buy,
like, ten bottles and there's nolimit on it?
That's all I thought about on myway home.
(31:13):
But I had four minutes to shop andthen check out, and I completely
panicked. Oh, buddy. Yeah.Well, I'm sorry that your your
whiskey or your bourbon tastinggot cut short. That's all right.
It, you know,maybe we'll end up there again,
but at least I got something outof it. Chalk it up to a fun trip.
(31:34):
The ride home was abysmal, but,uh, you know, all everything.
All business.Tons of traffic, tons of Tri-State
traffic between Indiana, Illinois,Wisconsin. It was, like, seven hours.
It was terrible. Mm. No, thanks.So. But. Yeah.
All in all, super solid trip.I'd say like, eight out of ten.
All right, a great time.I had a really great time.
(31:54):
Had some good beverages. Yeah.Long story. I'm sorry about that.
Yeah, a lot of talking.I'll tell you and the listeners, uh,
we did have a little bit of technicaldifficulties earlier. Hopefully.
I did a good job of editing that out.But while Flex was reconnecting and
then picking his story back up,I emailed the French place
asking them what beer it was.So I'm really hoping they respond.
(32:16):
That is amazing. We shall see.I just said hi.
We were there last week.One of your rotating taps,
I believe it was some sort ofhazy IPA I saw in Alaska. Hello.
We were at your establishmentlast week. I am not drunk.
I am not drunk. Nor was I then.You should not remember me.
Well, fantastic.I'm glad you had a good trip.
(32:37):
Nice. Yeah. Birthday week? Yeah.It was, uh, the perfect mix of
activities and then rest. You know.Because with the kids,
we'd still get back to the hotelbetween, like, seven and eight.
There's one night we went to thebaseball game, got home like,
after ten, but. Sure. But yeah.So it was enough time to get
home or to the hotel and justlounge for like,
(32:58):
2 to 3 hours and then go to bed.That's nice. That's always nice.
Yeah. Very wonderful. Good.Um, before I forget, because I kind
of did top listening city shoutout Chicago again. Whoa, Chicago.
Yeah, that's very nice of you.So, uh.
All right, a little news to getthrough before we get out of here.
Haven't done this in a while.We're gonna do the news flight.
And if you guys are new to the show,The news flight is just a few
(33:21):
random stories that I'm gonnarip through real quick.
Just like a flight of beers.No one savors that shit.
Get the paddles. Clear.
(33:42):
So, uh, another day,another brewery sells Seattle based
wine centric platform Ackley brandshas acquired Silver City Brewery,
based out of Bremerton, Washington.Silver city marks Ackley's second
foray into craft beer followingthe company's acquisition of Mac
(34:02):
and Jack's Brewery in 2023.Also, Urban Chestnut acquires
O'Fallon Beer brands.Urban Chestnut Brewing Company
has acquired the beer brands ofO'Fallon brewery,
which ceased operations after 24years at the end of last year.
The move comes at the heels of UrbanChestnut emerging from chapter 11
bankruptcy, with Brian Traverseas a key as a key investor.
(34:27):
A 15 year old brewery was mirroredin lawsuits in recent years.
And then finally,and I've been to this one.
Denver's True Brewing closedlast week.
Heavy metal craft brewery TrueBrewing out of Denver shut down.
Founder Nick nones announcedthat on Facebook on July 3rd.
They closed July 12th.He said it hasn't been an easy
(34:49):
choice, but this brewery has runits course and for a huge number
of reasons, it's the right time tosend this thing off into the lake.
Trial trailed by a fiery arrow.And also Davis sent that to me.
So shout out to the homie Davis,who, by the way,
is going to be in your hood prettysoon on vacation. Oh, really?
Coming up to Wisco, I was like, well,enjoy those cannibal sandwiches.
He's my wisco guy, right?Yeah, he's your wisco guy.
(35:11):
He's he's the one that corroboratesall your weird Midwestern shit.
Love that shit. Love that guy.Yeah. Cannibal sandwiches.
Need more Davises around you.Don't we?
You guys should go out for Sammy.It's not really a real sandwich,
but, you know,he can come to my butcher shop.
I'll grind him up some meat.Whoa, that sounds like innuendo.
(35:32):
I'll grind your meat, big boy.Uh, a little booze news.
Hulk Hogan's real American beerconcept swiped by former executives.
According to a lawsuit,the parent company of Hulk Hogan's
Real American Beer is being suedby a licensing firm that alleges
the concept for the lager brand wasswiped by its former executives.
(35:54):
Chicago and Vegas based brandinghouse Kama Holdco filed the lawsuit
July 8th in US District Courtagainst its former president and
board chairman Chad Bronstein,former chief of legal and
licensing officer Nicole Crosby,Real American Beer and 25
unnamed Dough's Kama allegesBornstein and Crosby. Excuse me.
(36:16):
Crosby breached their executiveagreements by taking plans developed
in 2023 while working at the firm tostart the real American beer brand
with former pro wrestler Hogan,the racist asshole, last year.
Karma alleges the defendantsactions breached their executive
contracts and violated federaland state trade secret protection
laws by misappropriating Karma'sintellectual property,
(36:37):
including business plans, conceptsand marketing strategy for Hulk
Hogan's real American beer brand.Karma is seeking at least $10 million
in damages, as well as attorney'sfees and costs at a jury trial.
Additionally, the firm is afterrestitution of 348,000 from Bronstein
and 231,000 from Cosby. Brother.So I saw that beer on vacation
(37:01):
when we were at that jungle gyms.Did you know?
I think they were in six packsand I'm talking it was like a
3 or 4 pallet display.And they was on they was on sale
for something like 2.99 or 3.99.For a six pack. Yeah.
It's so bad. It's $0.50 a can.Yeah, I'm not even kidding you.
It was like I saw the price, andI'm just like, that can't be real.
(37:24):
And then I saw what beer it was,and I was like, oh, yeah, okay,
this makes sense now.I mean, all Hulk Hogan hate aside,
I can't imagine it's good.Uh, first of all,
the guy had stopped drinking upuntil he released this beer brand.
I would probably, I don't know,I'm assuming it would have a Busch
light over a real American beer.Yeah, I feel like it's on that level.
(37:45):
Busch?Uh, a motorist in California
found with open containers.A motorist in California wine country
suspected of driving under theinfluence. Multiple containers.
Containers. Plural. Got it.Suspected of driving under the
influence last week and had anopen container of alcohol in the
cup holder.And you want to guess how many empty
cans of Bud Light in his vehicle?Oh, I'm gonna go with an even 14.
(38:10):
Okay.You are so off Often it is so
many more than that.Like an unrealistic amount.
Like 9670 Jesus.70 empty cans of Bud Light in
his vehicle.The driver,
who has not yet been identified,caught the attention of police while
struggling to stay in the lane in hislane in the Sonoma County town of.
(38:32):
I have no idea what this is.Sure. Who knows?
About 45 miles north of SanFrancisco, while conducting a field
sobriety test, it was determinedthat the driver was more than
three times the legal limit,with a BAC of 0.27, almost 0.25.
(38:54):
Placed under arrest for suspicionof DUI, suspicion of DUI,
and driving on a suspended license.Once he was arrested, a search of the
inside of his car was completed andover 70 empty beer cans were located.
I feel like a lot of peopledrink in their car.
Like more than you would expect.Probably.
(39:14):
We had this guy two years ago.We do, uh,
venison processing into, like,steaks and sausages at work. Sure.
After the first of the year,if anybody's listening after the
first of the year,and this guy came in to pick his
order up and it was a big order.So I said, hey,
do you need help taking this outside?He said, yeah, sure.
So I pulled the cart up to theside of his truck,
(39:36):
and he opens his passenger door,and the floor of the passenger seat
is just littered with empty beercans. Oh, Jesus. I'm just like, uh.
And he, like, he just acted like itwas fucking normal. Ain't no thing.
He said, oh, yeah,just toss it right there on the seat.
And I'm just staring at theseempty beer cans like, this isn't.
(39:59):
Good for. Anybody. Right?But, yeah, I'll take your money
for your sticks. Thank you.You're right. That sounds dirty.
I kind of I'm a dirty guy.Taking money for sticks. Yeah.
You are a dirty guy. Uh. All right.That feels like a great place to
leave.Oh, by the way, there was a
picture of all the beer cans thatthey laid out on the guy's hood.
It was pretty great.Maybe I should post it.
(40:21):
Or story it or something.Check the gram.
Laid out on his hood like thecops took him. That's funny.
Yeah, they must have just taken him.Probably counting them,
because I'm sure every beer canhas another charge of something,
so hopefully. Yeah.If you're that dumb to do that,
I hope. Oh, absolutely. Yeah.So anyway. All right, that's it. Uh.
(40:41):
Follow us. Like I said, on the gram.Maybe I'll get that picture posted.
@CraftBeerRepublic and@Flex_me_a_beer underscores in
between. Hi, Vanessa. Hi, Vanessa.Make sure you call us at
(805) 538-2337.I hope everyone out there in the
world of drunkenness is staying verywell hydrated. And on that note.
Good night everybody.
Welcome in everybody.It's the craft beer republic.
Thanks for drinking.Thanks for joining.
I am Greg and I am being joined bymy own little Louisville Slugger.
And that's Flex.What's up, big fella?
Hey, man, I survived a.Family road trip.
I am very proud of you.I'm pleasantly surprised and I
can't wait to hear about it.Literally living proof.
(00:39):
Quick spoiler, quick teaser for thelisteners. Did you murder anybody?
Uh, not a single person.Okay, the story is gonna suck,
then. No. Just kidding.Oh, those fucking family road trips.
Uh, thank you all for listening.Thanks for joining all that good
stuff. Find us on the socials.@CraftBeerRepublic @flex_me_a_beer
underscores in between.Apologies up front if you hear
(01:04):
some sirens or the people nextdoor to me fucking or whatever.
I am in Orange County in a hotelroom.
The internet is quite garbageand the walls are quite thin.
So we will see how this goes.Might turn into a porno show
quite quickly.I was just gonna say not a porno
show, but I wouldn't hate the latter.Well, give it some time.
(01:27):
Give it about 30s.We'll see what happens.
I closed all the Blue Owl it takes.Me too. I mean. Yeah.
Not a 32nd joke.Good night everybody.
I've closed all the blinds andcurtains. Anything I can close.
I still keep hearing, like,loud cars driving by.
So, uh, apologies in advance.We'll see how this goes.
(01:50):
Um, all right,before we get into some things,
I really need to get into this beerbecause, uh. Well. I'm thirsty.
I Love My Beer. I Love My Beer.I Love My Beer. I Love My Beer.
(02:14):
Well,because I am in the county of orange.
And that's California,I thought I will go hit up their
finest bottle shop and see if Ican find something local.
I found it was literally calledfine liquor and spirits.
Nothing but. The finest.Only the finest at fine liquor
and spirits. The name like that.Bound to find a winner.
(02:38):
So I found Bottle LogicBrewing's Recursion IPA.
It is 6.5%, has 85 IBUs and a 3.9 anduntapped with almost 11,000 ratings.
So I'd say that's pretty impressive.Wow. From the brewery, they say.
The culmination of our recursion.West coast IPA experiment brewed
(03:03):
with El Dorado, Simcoe,Mosaic and Columbus.
Then just dry hopped with Mosaicand Simcoe.
As you can see,I don't know the colour of this
because I'm in a hotel and don'thave a glass to pour this into.
Yeah, it is in a can, I can,I can see that I can co-sign a can.
Pretty colorful can.I don't uh, I don't hate the can art.
(03:26):
Yeah. No, that's a really neat can.Yeah, that's kind of cool.
Uh, the schnoz is fairly piney.A lot of dank. Lot of pine.
I feel weird putting my nose ina can hole.
Let me stick the old, uh,Tongue-jobber in here.
Ooh, don't cut it.Had enough injuries this weekend.
(03:46):
Uh, the flavors really follow suit.Hold on. One more sample.
He's thirsty. I'm thirsty. Boy. Uh.Lots of dank, West Coast resin.
A little bit of, I want to say,grapefruit.
Something citrusy and pithy in there.Has a nice light body to it.
Not overly malty.Fairly light and crispy for a
(04:10):
for a Westie.Which we all know I appreciate.
And, um, you know, I'd drink again.I think this beer came out to be,
uh, a single.I think it was like six bucks
for the single.Would I spend $24 on a four pack?
Probably not.But I'm enjoying this one. $6 worth.
(04:31):
I like this new rating system wehave. Me too.
It's kind of growing on me.Yeah, and it's pettier than
normal rating systems.And if it's kind of like a,
it's like a put up or shut up kind ofthing. Yeah. Yeah, it really is.
And if nothing else,I'm definitely petty.
So this this works out quite well.Uh, all right, let's let's, uh,
(04:55):
jump into it here.Flex had a little birthday road
trip last week.You know, it wasn't because of
the birthday, but.But the timing worked out nicely.
But the timing worked out because.Just because it's the week I
take off every summer. Sure.Well, how'd it go?
Um, best drive to I've ever had. Wow.It was wildly smooth,
(05:18):
so I just wanted to start there.Only had to stop once. Halfway.
The kids had to go to the bathroom.Sure.
My wife wanted to pass on allthe roadside gas stations,
and she looked at one that was like,seven miles out of the way,
which I was fine with.You know, I,
I it's a reputable stop, so.Um, but aside from that,
(05:41):
it was a very wonderful drive.Ohio, like the southern part of Ohio,
is shockingly beautiful.And I can't say I'm surprised to
hear that northern part,because I've never really I
don't remember driving through.I did it once,
but I don't remember it.Uh, a lot of, like, rocky formations
on the side of the highway,which you would never think.
I just think flat.You just think flat, right?
(06:03):
Midwest. So it was nice.It was surprisingly enjoyable.
Uh, drive. Hot as balls. Um.And, you know,
anywhere southern south of Wisconsin.It's hot in here in the summer,
so it's going to be even hotter.You know.
Down there wasn't the South having,like, a heat wave this last week
or something? Yeah.I mean, it was really anywhere
from like 90 to 95 all week.So the heat was brutal.
(06:27):
It rained a little bit,checked out Findlay Market in
downtown Cincinnati.It's, uh, from what my wife said,
supposedly the oldest publicmarket in the the country,
which you can fact check that Ididn't look into any of this at all.
But then the trip had it startedoff on the highest note.
I had the best meal of maybe myentire life.
(06:49):
There was a restaurant, I believe itwas called French Krust and company.
And it was this cutesy littleFrench themed restaurant at the
end of the market.And I got a French dip sandwich.
Because, you know,when in France. Right? Oui, oui.
And just everything from the bun.It was on the beef. The cheese.
(07:16):
They had not like a traditionalaju to dip it in.
It was like this homemade dip.And it came with, uh.
I don't know if I'm pronouncingthis right. Bechamel. Bechamel?
Bechamel. Yeah.So I would take a slab of that,
put it on the bite I was gonna dip.Then I would dip that into the dip,
(07:40):
and I dip, you dip, we dip.And I was rock hard.
Hand on your hip.Yeah,
I was rocked up the entire meal.I could not shut up about how
delicious it was, and I didn't careabout anything else in the world at
that moment. Nice. It's phenomenal.And then, to boot, I had a phenomenal
beer. Funny story about that beer.Um, which I wouldn't mind diving
(08:04):
into it right away if you don'tmind my beer.
Oh, you know,let's just fucking do it right now.
In a world where craft beer is king.A world where muscles are bigger
than growlers, only one tongue canguide us. One man, one tongue.
One Tongue-jobber.In this world, we must find out
(08:27):
what is Flex drinking?Okay, so anyway,
anytime I take a trip,travel outside the state. Whatever.
Um, I always look for local brews,right? That's what we do here.
OC you're looking for some OC shit?We're researchers.
Um,they had some rhinegeist on the menu.
(08:48):
They had some Sonder brewing, whichI've never heard of Sonder before.
And then they had a rotating taphandle at this place.
And I said, I asked the lady whatthe rotating tap handle was.
She was kind of quiet.The music was the people were kind
of loud, the music wasn't loud,and all I heard was IPA.
And I said, yeah, I'll take that.It sounds wonderful.
(09:11):
And it came in a fretboard brewing,glass fretboard brewing like a
guitar fretboard. Sure.And it was that pale yellow hazy
color. Mhm. And I got my sandwich.I'm already rocked up.
Now I'm getting this beer and I'mlooking at this beer and I'm like,
(09:32):
I'm at the brim, man.I'm filled up to the brim.
And I took one sip of this beerand it was like I entered the
gates of heaven.It's like I just splooged everywhere.
It was top notch.So I asked the lady again.
As I left, I said, hey, what was thatbeer called again that you gave me?
And she said it was Bootsy IPAby Fretboard Brewing. All right.
(09:57):
What are the odds I'm gonna findthis fucking beer in the wild here?
Well, we went to this grocerystore called Jungle Jim's.
It's a tourist attraction. Okay.They have a section for, like,
every country in the world. Food.Uh, they have an entire corner of
the store devoted to hot sauces.Their spice aisle, I heard,
(10:18):
is I didn't enter it, but is.Everything is alphabetical order
for spices. Oh.Which is kind of brilliant. Yeah.
Uh, they had, like, a 32 footsection of just Kraft bottle sodas.
This place was overwhelming.It had a collectible store in it.
It had a toy store in it.It had a tiki bar in it.
(10:39):
It had a, uh,like 20 taps of beer that you could
get and just buy the beer and thenshop around and drink the beer.
They had a candy storedepartment in it. Jesus.
And then, you know, they had,like, the normal produce and
dairy and meat and.But this place, if you've never
heard of it, you've never seen it.I'd highly recommend looking it
(11:01):
up just to see what it's about.They have, like, the world's best
bathrooms or something like that.Like cleanest. Or they're.
They look like porta potties onthe outside.
Like you open the door to a portapotty, and then it's like you walk in
and it's one of those bigger on theinside than it looks on the outside.
Apparently it's like world renowned.I've never heard of it,
(11:21):
but I would definitely recommend it.All right, so back to this beer,
right?Fretboard Brewing Bootsy IPA walk
into their liquor department,which again, very overwhelming.
So much stuff.I didn't even look through half
of it, but lo and behold, I findBootsy IPA from Fretboard Brewing.
Daddy, it's got this Jimi Hendrixlooking character on the can.
(11:44):
He's got a guitar Our fretboardbrewing right on it and they got
the name Bootsy.It's all like disco star.
It's really fun.Can and it's a 7% IPA, 21 IBUs.
Uh, it says in collaboration withthe Bootsy Collins Foundation.
So I guess I'm not really toosure what that is. So skip ahead.
(12:07):
Get home from the trip.I said, you know what?
I'm gonna have one of the beers.That beers is fucking phenomenal.
And I poured out Greg.And this is what it looks like.
Clear. It's clear. It's amber.Copper. Um, it is not hazy.
It is an American IPA.It looks very old school.
Very, very old school.So whatever beer I had in this
(12:28):
restaurant.Was not the beer that the lady
told me I had. That's fantastic.So now I have absolutely no idea
what beer that was.Don't you love when it's like,
the time that somebody swore to methey'd had poured me a hazy little
thing, but it was the clearestbeer I'd ever put in my mouth.
(12:49):
I love that story. It never gets old.Uh. So then, you know.
So here, you know, this is apretty classic American IPA.
You know, it smells like.It smells like white pine.
A little grapefruit hoppy,a little hoppy.
Yeah,that's what the old nose buds say.
Then I guess, without further ado,I'm gonna tell you guys what a
(13:10):
traditional American IPA tastes like.Never had one of these before.
Oh, yeah. That's, uh. Super.This one's actually super light
and crisp. Okay. Real low.Like I said, 21 IBUs. Very low.
It's not lingering.Hardly any bitterness.
Real clean finish.But you get that hint of pine,
you get the hint of citrus pith,and it's a good beer.
(13:36):
Don't get me wrong.Not what you're looking for.
This isn't the beer that changedmy life.
And then, you know, just because Ikind of skipped all this because
I'm telling this long story.Uh, 4.7 thousand check ins.
It's got a 3.71 and untapped.And they say.
So this this is kind of big newshere.
Uh, in collaboration with theBootsy Collins Foundation.
(13:58):
This award winning IPA is full offruity flavors but low in IBUs.
Get this three time gold medal winnerat the US Open Beer Championship.
Wow.2019, 2021 and, uh,
2019 through 2021.And then a silver medal winner in,
uh, 2022. So impressive.Yeah, I guess, you know,
(14:18):
I'll take it.This is a wonderful beer,
but it's not the beer thatchanged my life. What?
What was the restaurant you got that,uh, life changing beer from?
Let me just make sure of it.I'm pretty sure it was called
French Crust and Co.Oh, it's just called French crust
Cafe and Bistro. I'm sorry.I'm gonna see if I can find
(14:40):
their tap list.But it would be difficult because,
uh, it was a rotating tap handle.It doesn't say they only list
three beers and then rotating.Yeah, yeah. So not helpful.
Yeah. Mine was the rotating.Should we call them right now and ask
them what their rotating handle?I honestly almost thought about doing
that. I'm not even kidding you.When I got home and I poured
(15:00):
this and I really just wanted toknow what I actually drank.
I was like, I wonder if I could justcall them and be like, hey, I visited
you this past week and I would liketo know what this beer really is.
Should we do. It on the air? Yes.Are they even open? I don't know.
I'm looking. Oh, no.Because it's gonna be almost 11:00
there. What are their hours?Oh, yeah. They close at 3 p.m..
(15:22):
Yeah. Their time? Yeah. Damn.I was I was getting ready to
dial some numbers.That's so fucking great. But, yeah.
So that was the highlight ofCincinnati. Really?
Um, next day, we caught a Reds gameat Great American Ballpark. Nice.
Had a couple beers there,and I did make a list of all the
different beers that I did try there,except for the one I'm drinking now
(15:45):
because, you know, um, but I andI did buy a beer and jungle gyms.
I bought, uh,Bodie IPA from Columbus Brewing.
It was like a regular, like,traditional double IPA.
Uh, I think untapped has it at like afour, two one. Let me tell you what.
If that was A421,then Stone IPA should be A421
(16:07):
because it had that same rough,super bitter enamel shattering.
Uh, every time I took a sip of it,I kind of had to, like, grind my
teeth. And, um, it was a lot.Uh, then I had a truth IPA from
Rhinegeist at the Reds game.Uh, I had a operatic from Brink
(16:29):
Brewing, and that was anotherclassic American IPA, uh,
gavel banger from Taft Brewing.I like the name again.
Just a real A classic.They had a lot of like American IPAs,
and they had a red IPA on tapthat the guy tried to sell me.
I said, I'm sorry, sir.Those are usually really malty
(16:49):
and I'm just not that into it.Hashtag beer snob.
So that was all the beer I hadin Cincinnati.
Caught the Cincinnati Zoo.What a phenomenal zoo.
Oh, really good.So the Cincinnati Zoo is phenomenal.
That was Cincinnati in a nutshell.Really.
My final thoughts on Cincinnati.Super old city. Super dingy city.
(17:10):
I did have a friend who told me itwas like, uh, when he found out I
was going, he said, Cincinnati iskind of like a lesser Milwaukee.
Why would you go there?And I thought he was just kind
of being overdramatic about thewhole situation.
Uh, and then we went there andit was just old everywhere.
Um, which. That's fine.Like, old can be cool,
but could also be gross.You know, when you're driving with
(17:33):
your kids on the outskirts ofdowntown and they have these tennis
courts that don't have nets anymore,and they're, you know,
puddled over and there's growth,you know, going on to the courts.
And then you kind of start lookingaround and you're like, oh,
I don't know if this is a veryreputable area. Minus one star.
(17:55):
Yeah. We made it out alive.The hotel was decent.
Uh, they had a bar on the secondfloor and on the roof,
and it was. A rooftop. Bar.It was cool, but it was raining
the day we were gonna go up there.Lame. So then we actually went up.
We were still gonna sit inside,and I saw the beer menu because I saw
the beer menu at the on the lowerlevel bar. Like a day before. Sure.
(18:18):
So I assume they would have thesame stuff at the roof.
They had like all A and B stuffon the roof, and they had all
local shit on the second floor.So I took one look at the menu and I
said, yeah, let's just go downstairs.And I forgot I did actually have
an urban artifact beer down there.And it was, uh,
like a fruit punch start, uh,fruited ale, like a tart ale.
(18:43):
And that was very wonderful.And I forgot that they were in Ohio
as well. So that was I. Did, too.And I was looking up their building.
I wasn't able to make it there.I didn't make it to any breweries
in Ohio, but their facility isin like an old church.
That's kind of cool. Yeah.So I thought that was kind of cool.
Kind of wild.Um, then we made our way to Kentucky,
which all along the Ohio River.Um, just gorgeous, by the way,
(19:07):
like big rolling green hills.I never thought Kentucky was
hilly or scenic or any of that.You just always think like.
Or anything good.Basketball and white trash,
right? Exactly right.I mean, you say Kentucky,
what else crosses your mind?And, like, horse racing, I guess
bourbon, but that's it. Okay. Yeah.But the first two easily, you know,
(19:31):
basketball but gorgeous scenery.It was probably my favorite
drive Five scenic wise I've everhad in my life.
Second to the Ozarks in Missouri.That was gorgeous.
Uh, but, you know, Kentucky was fun.We did, uh, there was a, like,
a public market in the hotelnext to us.
So he caught that, uh, there wasactually a brewery in there as well.
(19:54):
So that was kind of neat.Caught some dinner there, had some
solid pizza, some pretzel bites.Uh, had an IPA there,
and I had a gosa.The gosa wasn't great,
but that's too bad.You know,
when in Rome you gotta try gosa. See?Then, uh, we hit up the Louisville
Slugger Museum and the factory tour.That was amazing. That's cool.
(20:15):
It was one of my favorite partsof the whole tour.
You get to learn all about,you know, how they grow the trees,
how they cut the trees.And, um, I got to hold the Christian
Yelich bat. I got to hold, uh.My hometown boy. Yeah, I love him.
Uh, I got to hold a Brice Turangbat for the Brewers as well.
Uh, because they had all thesecubby holes right at the start of
(20:36):
the factory, and there was a acubby for each team in the league.
And then they had a players nameplate for each team.
And the Brewers just so happenedto be Christian Yelich.
And uh, again, I got to the brim.You know, I was I was ready to blow.
Right. Uh, yeah.So I just that whole tour to see
how they do everything and justfantastic. Absolutely fantastic.
(21:01):
Uh, checked out Churchill Downs,the Kentucky Derby. Uh, Derby.
Very fancy. That was immaculate.I couldn't believe how large
that place was.Uh, 80,000 people, they say,
fit in the grandstands and another40 to 50,000in the infield.
Holy shit. That's a lot of people.This place is absolutely enormous.
And you could look at picturesof it or videos or anything,
(21:24):
and it just won't do it justiceuntil you actually get in there.
And it made me think,I don't know if I could ever actually
go to a derby that many people.So many people. So many people.
And can I, um, can I be blasphemousfor a second here, please?
Horse racing. Don't give a shit.I don't really either. Yeah.
(21:45):
You know, but if somebody said,hey, I got an extra ticket to
the Kentucky Derby, it's almostlike a once in a lifetime thing.
Yeah, like I'd go for the spectacle,but. Right. Just to say you. Ben.
Yeah, but I'm not paying allthat money to go sit amongst
200,000 people or whatever. No.Yeah, and I wouldn't either,
but it was really cool to checkit out. Check out the history.
(22:06):
You got to walk through the museum aswell. So that was all super neat.
That was day one.Day two checked out Kentucky
Horse Park.You know,
that was like more for the kids.Um, just kind of where they
people donate money to have theirhorses kept there for like,
the year and taken care of and,uh, did some horseback riding.
That's really what the end goalof that was.
(22:28):
Uh, I checked on a Buc-ee’s. Greg.I was waiting for Buc-ee’s. Um, okay.
I want to know about the beersituation.
So the Buc-ee’s the horse park wegot to early in the morning first.
Uh, like, they opened at nine.We got there at 940,
and the first available horsebackriding tickets left were 245.
(22:49):
They were like, all right,we'll hang out here for like an hour.
Buc-ee’s was still 40 minutes away,so we're gonna drive out,
get some lunch, check out Buc-ee’s,drive back and get in our horseback
riding. So I was unaware of this.There is a whole separate lane to
pull into Buc-ee’s to wait in.Like the gas pump line.
(23:10):
They had a 150 gas pumps. Holy shit.Every single one of them was
taken and about half the world'scheapest gas.
Half of them had a car behindthe other cars waiting to fill
up and gas. Sure.So we said fuck that,
we had a half tank.We don't need to wait in line
(23:30):
for gas.It's like going to Costco for gas.
Yeah, it was crazy.So then we walked into the store and
the way my wife described it wasDisneyland or Disney World because
we've never been to Disneyland.It was like Disney World on cocaine.
So like bigger. Chaotic.Oh fuck that then. Like people.
(23:53):
It was like everybody was shoutingand like, everybody was running to
grab something because they didn'twant somebody else to get it,
even though there was a shit tonof everything.
It's like Black Friday at Buc-ee’s.The food lines were absurd.
Like a line of people justwaiting for more chicken tenders
and French fries.The only place that didn't have
(24:16):
a line was the bakery.You know, they did, like,
some cookies and some other stuff,but, uh,
they have this circular island in themiddle of the Buc-ee’s where they,
they do the brisket sandwiches,the pulled pork sandwiches,
the chicken sandwiches. Um.Other barbecue stuff.
I think they have one more sandwich.They'll chop up the sandwiches,
(24:37):
and they get all the sandwichesprepared and wrapped.
And then every time they put outnew sandwiches, they, like,
yell something.I couldn't tell what the fuck
they were yelling.And then they yell something.
And then every other employee inthe store yells it back. Oh, God.
Um. Extremely chaotic. Delicious.Though I will say I had a
breakfast burrito.The smoked brisket,
(24:58):
breakfast burrito.Brisket, potatoes, beans, maybe.
Cheese, I don't know.That rocked my world.
And I had this regular smokedbrisket sandwich as well. Oh my God.
It was good,but it wasn't burrito good.
Oh, well. I mean, what is right?But yeah, I fucking filled up hard on
food there. Um, no Buc-ee’s beer.They did have they did have a few
(25:20):
local breweries, and by a few, Imean two. And then they had come on.
Fine spirits and wine has morelocal breweries than that.
They had that Rhinegeist truth IPA,which is like their flagship.
And then it had one other likeOhio beer.
And I was kind of disappointed inthe selection. It's pretty lame.
And the fact that there was noBuckeyes beer, I'm disappointed.
(25:43):
Buc-ee’s I expected more out of you.But so here's the thing.
So this was all for the kids, right?They see all their videos and
all their YouTube influencersand shit go there.
And so the kids got, you know,stuffed animals and water
thermoses and stickers and thisand that and blah, blah, blah.
You know, I got a t shirt,I won't lie. Nice.
(26:04):
They have all this own brandedfood and candy and we got some
gifts for other people.We ended up spending like $250
at Buc-ee’s. Jesus.We got a lot of stuff though.
We really did.So as the cashier is ringing all
this stuff up, I was that dad.I was like, oh,
can you tell we're first timers?And he said, oh,
(26:24):
this isn't even bad. Oh.I said, really? And he said, yeah.
He said, we'll get people that havecome in here 15 times over and
we'll spend $700 every time. Nope.What the fuck? That is unacceptable.
That is like you.Everything in your house is Buc-ee’s.
(26:48):
Everything you eat is Buc-ee’s.Everything you wear is Buc-ee’s.
That's crazy. That's nuts.I can see Flex spending that much
money on their breakfast burrito,but not on Chotchkie's. I would.
$8 for a breakfast burrito.I would buy $800 worth of
breakfast burritos.They were giving 100 burritos, stat!
So we spent about an hour in there,and then we had to book our ass
(27:11):
back to horseback riding.And then here's another funny
story for you.Before we get away from Buc-ee’s
my last Buc-ee’s question. Yes.Were you able to to drink inside
of Buc-ee’s? No. There's no, uh.I don't think so.
Damn it, I just thought,because, like, you got, like,
breakfast burritos and whatnot,maybe grab yourself a beer to
(27:32):
have with your breakfast burrito.I could have got a six pack.
Like they had the beer cooler.Sure, but nothing.
Nothing you could drink right there.Correct. Okay. Got it. Sorry.
I'll shut up now.No, that's fine, that's fine.
That was a good question.So the whole plan for the day
was horse park. Buc-ee’s.And then to stop at a couple
(27:52):
distilleries.My wife was actually the one who was
like, hey, let's stop at places,pick stuff up.
Yeah, we talked about this.She wanted you to hit a couple
bourbon spots. Yeah, she was like.It was shocking.
I almost didn't think it was real.I didn't so little did my wife know,
which I knew, but she did not.And I don't blame her for it.
(28:14):
All the distilleries are onlyopen from 9 to 5. Oh, sure.
Just like wineries, right? Yeah.So 9 to 5. That's it.
And I'm not a selfish guy.I am a family man.
I would never take fun orexperiences away from my kids.
Mhm. The trip was not about me.Horseback riding finished at 4:00.
Oh no.Then the kids wanted to go into the
(28:38):
gift shop and buy a few things.No. And I was okay with it.
You know, it's all about them. It is.So we walk out of the gift shop at
about 415, and my wife says, hey,where do you want to go first?
Like hotel.And I said, I don't even think it's
worth it. She said, what do you mean?Said, well,
(28:59):
everything closes at 5:00.She said, well, what time is it?
I said, it's 415.And she was actually like
legitimately shocked.And she said, I expected to get back
to the hotel at like ten tonight.Whoa. She's like, I thought we would.
She was ready to party.She was ready to just let me go
(29:21):
at it because we were gonnaoriginally stop at Woodford?
Sure. So we were gonna do a tour.I was gonna have a drink or two.
You know, buy a bunch of shitand head on our way.
Maybe stop at another place.You know, not tour, but.
So she said she's like, no,she's like, we're going to one.
She said, pick one.So daddy picked Buffalo Trace. Oh.
(29:45):
I figured it was the same distanceaway, time wise as, uh, Woodford.
And I think they were on thesame exit as well.
But we pulled into that parking lot,Greg, at 451. Just in time.
We walked into the front officewhere they card you,
and they put a wristband on youbecause they scan your wristband
and shit to make sure you're,you know, 21, in the gift shop.
(30:09):
So we walk out of the office,and the gift shop is about
a hundred yards away from thefucking check in office. Oops.
So we was booking it and weentered the gift shop at 456 and
I panic bought just two bottlesof Buffalo Trace. Oh.
I got a bottle of Eagle Rare.Oh, Brian.
(30:31):
Intern Brian likes himself someeagle rare.
But my wife was wonderful enoughto do a separate transaction
because it was one bottle ofrare per customer. Mhm.
They do some root beer therethat I got to try in my
four minutes of being in there.So got some of the root beer.
Uh bought a couple gifts,I got a shirt and uh that was it.
(30:53):
And the entire time on the drivehome the next day,
all I could think to myself is,why didn't I just buy, like, ten
bottles of trace? Why didn't. You?They were something stupid,
like $27 a bottle.It's like, why didn't I just buy,
like, ten bottles and there's nolimit on it?
That's all I thought about on myway home.
(31:13):
But I had four minutes to shop andthen check out, and I completely
panicked. Oh, buddy. Yeah.Well, I'm sorry that your your
whiskey or your bourbon tastinggot cut short. That's all right.
It, you know,maybe we'll end up there again,
but at least I got something outof it. Chalk it up to a fun trip.
(31:34):
The ride home was abysmal, but,uh, you know, all everything.
All business.Tons of traffic, tons of Tri-State
traffic between Indiana, Illinois,Wisconsin. It was, like, seven hours.
It was terrible. Mm. No, thanks.So. But. Yeah.
All in all, super solid trip.I'd say like, eight out of ten.
All right, a great time.I had a really great time.
(31:54):
Had some good beverages. Yeah.Long story. I'm sorry about that.
Yeah, a lot of talking.I'll tell you and the listeners, uh,
we did have a little bit of technicaldifficulties earlier. Hopefully.
I did a good job of editing that out.But while Flex was reconnecting and
then picking his story back up,I emailed the French place
asking them what beer it was.So I'm really hoping they respond.
(32:16):
That is amazing. We shall see.I just said hi.
We were there last week.One of your rotating taps,
I believe it was some sort ofhazy IPA I saw in Alaska. Hello.
We were at your establishmentlast week. I am not drunk.
I am not drunk. Nor was I then.You should not remember me.
Well, fantastic.I'm glad you had a good trip.
(32:37):
Nice. Yeah. Birthday week? Yeah.It was, uh, the perfect mix of
activities and then rest. You know.Because with the kids,
we'd still get back to the hotelbetween, like, seven and eight.
There's one night we went to thebaseball game, got home like,
after ten, but. Sure. But yeah.So it was enough time to get
home or to the hotel and justlounge for like,
(32:58):
2 to 3 hours and then go to bed.That's nice. That's always nice.
Yeah. Very wonderful. Good.Um, before I forget, because I kind
of did top listening city shoutout Chicago again. Whoa, Chicago.
Yeah, that's very nice of you.So, uh.
All right, a little news to getthrough before we get out of here.
Haven't done this in a while.We're gonna do the news flight.
And if you guys are new to the show,The news flight is just a few
(33:21):
random stories that I'm gonnarip through real quick.
Just like a flight of beers.No one savors that shit.
Get the paddles. Clear.
(33:42):
So, uh, another day,another brewery sells Seattle based
wine centric platform Ackley brandshas acquired Silver City Brewery,
based out of Bremerton, Washington.Silver city marks Ackley's second
foray into craft beer followingthe company's acquisition of Mac
(34:02):
and Jack's Brewery in 2023.Also, Urban Chestnut acquires
O'Fallon Beer brands.Urban Chestnut Brewing Company
has acquired the beer brands ofO'Fallon brewery,
which ceased operations after 24years at the end of last year.
The move comes at the heels of UrbanChestnut emerging from chapter 11
bankruptcy, with Brian Traverseas a key as a key investor.
(34:27):
A 15 year old brewery was mirroredin lawsuits in recent years.
And then finally,and I've been to this one.
Denver's True Brewing closedlast week.
Heavy metal craft brewery TrueBrewing out of Denver shut down.
Founder Nick nones announcedthat on Facebook on July 3rd.
They closed July 12th.He said it hasn't been an easy
(34:49):
choice, but this brewery has runits course and for a huge number
of reasons, it's the right time tosend this thing off into the lake.
Trial trailed by a fiery arrow.And also Davis sent that to me.
So shout out to the homie Davis,who, by the way,
is going to be in your hood prettysoon on vacation. Oh, really?
Coming up to Wisco, I was like, well,enjoy those cannibal sandwiches.
He's my wisco guy, right?Yeah, he's your wisco guy.
(35:11):
He's he's the one that corroboratesall your weird Midwestern shit.
Love that shit. Love that guy.Yeah. Cannibal sandwiches.
Need more Davises around you.Don't we?
You guys should go out for Sammy.It's not really a real sandwich,
but, you know,he can come to my butcher shop.
I'll grind him up some meat.Whoa, that sounds like innuendo.
(35:32):
I'll grind your meat, big boy.Uh, a little booze news.
Hulk Hogan's real American beerconcept swiped by former executives.
According to a lawsuit,the parent company of Hulk Hogan's
Real American Beer is being suedby a licensing firm that alleges
the concept for the lager brand wasswiped by its former executives.
(35:54):
Chicago and Vegas based brandinghouse Kama Holdco filed the lawsuit
July 8th in US District Courtagainst its former president and
board chairman Chad Bronstein,former chief of legal and
licensing officer Nicole Crosby,Real American Beer and 25
unnamed Dough's Kama allegesBornstein and Crosby. Excuse me.
(36:16):
Crosby breached their executiveagreements by taking plans developed
in 2023 while working at the firm tostart the real American beer brand
with former pro wrestler Hogan,the racist asshole, last year.
Karma alleges the defendantsactions breached their executive
contracts and violated federaland state trade secret protection
laws by misappropriating Karma'sintellectual property,
(36:37):
including business plans, conceptsand marketing strategy for Hulk
Hogan's real American beer brand.Karma is seeking at least $10 million
in damages, as well as attorney'sfees and costs at a jury trial.
Additionally, the firm is afterrestitution of 348,000 from Bronstein
and 231,000 from Cosby. Brother.So I saw that beer on vacation
(37:01):
when we were at that jungle gyms.Did you know?
I think they were in six packsand I'm talking it was like a
3 or 4 pallet display.And they was on they was on sale
for something like 2.99 or 3.99.For a six pack. Yeah.
It's so bad. It's $0.50 a can.Yeah, I'm not even kidding you.
It was like I saw the price, andI'm just like, that can't be real.
(37:24):
And then I saw what beer it was,and I was like, oh, yeah, okay,
this makes sense now.I mean, all Hulk Hogan hate aside,
I can't imagine it's good.Uh, first of all,
the guy had stopped drinking upuntil he released this beer brand.
I would probably, I don't know,I'm assuming it would have a Busch
light over a real American beer.Yeah, I feel like it's on that level.
(37:45):
Busch?Uh, a motorist in California
found with open containers.A motorist in California wine country
suspected of driving under theinfluence. Multiple containers.
Containers. Plural. Got it.Suspected of driving under the
influence last week and had anopen container of alcohol in the
cup holder.And you want to guess how many empty
cans of Bud Light in his vehicle?Oh, I'm gonna go with an even 14.
(38:10):
Okay.You are so off Often it is so
many more than that.Like an unrealistic amount.
Like 9670 Jesus.70 empty cans of Bud Light in
his vehicle.The driver,
who has not yet been identified,caught the attention of police while
struggling to stay in the lane in hislane in the Sonoma County town of.
(38:32):
I have no idea what this is.Sure. Who knows?
About 45 miles north of SanFrancisco, while conducting a field
sobriety test, it was determinedthat the driver was more than
three times the legal limit,with a BAC of 0.27, almost 0.25.
(38:54):
Placed under arrest for suspicionof DUI, suspicion of DUI,
and driving on a suspended license.Once he was arrested, a search of the
inside of his car was completed andover 70 empty beer cans were located.
I feel like a lot of peopledrink in their car.
Like more than you would expect.Probably.
(39:14):
We had this guy two years ago.We do, uh,
venison processing into, like,steaks and sausages at work. Sure.
After the first of the year,if anybody's listening after the
first of the year,and this guy came in to pick his
order up and it was a big order.So I said, hey,
do you need help taking this outside?He said, yeah, sure.
So I pulled the cart up to theside of his truck,
(39:36):
and he opens his passenger door,and the floor of the passenger seat
is just littered with empty beercans. Oh, Jesus. I'm just like, uh.
And he, like, he just acted like itwas fucking normal. Ain't no thing.
He said, oh, yeah,just toss it right there on the seat.
And I'm just staring at theseempty beer cans like, this isn't.
(39:59):
Good for. Anybody. Right?But, yeah, I'll take your money
for your sticks. Thank you.You're right. That sounds dirty.
I kind of I'm a dirty guy.Taking money for sticks. Yeah.
You are a dirty guy. Uh. All right.That feels like a great place to
leave.Oh, by the way, there was a
picture of all the beer cans thatthey laid out on the guy's hood.
It was pretty great.Maybe I should post it.
(40:21):
Or story it or something.Check the gram.
Laid out on his hood like thecops took him. That's funny.
Yeah, they must have just taken him.Probably counting them,
because I'm sure every beer canhas another charge of something,
so hopefully. Yeah.If you're that dumb to do that,
I hope. Oh, absolutely. Yeah.So anyway. All right, that's it. Uh.
(40:41):
Follow us. Like I said, on the gram.Maybe I'll get that picture posted.
@CraftBeerRepublic and@Flex_me_a_beer underscores in
between. Hi, Vanessa. Hi, Vanessa.Make sure you call us at
(805) 538-2337.I hope everyone out there in the
world of drunkenness is staying verywell hydrated. And on that note.
Good night everybody.
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