The Shifty: A Bell's Brewery Podcast

In the season finale of The Shifty, we talk with Bell’s Brewery Founder and President Larry Bell about things such as the changing culture of craft beer, the artwork displayed in the Eccentric Café and a little Harry Potter. Larry and his brewery have come a long way since the early days of brewing in a 15-gallon soup kettle. We take a look at where we’ve been, how far we’ve come and where we’re headed in this episode. Show notes and transcipt

One of the things Bell’s is known for (besides our beer) is artwork. Our labels and packaging have featured everything from animals to magicians, and there’s even more engaging art on the horizon. To learn about what goes into producing label and packaging art for Bell’s, we talked to Graphic Designer April Russell and Senior Graphic Designer Alex Smith for this episode of The Shifty. During the episode, April and Alex shared with us the process of transforming Larry Bell’s vision and turning it into tangible works. They also shared with us what it’s like to create art in such a fast-paced industry as well as the artistic process for works such as Arabicadabra.

HR... at the bar? In this episode of The Shifty, we spoke to two of our HR specialists -- Mike Fuerst and Carrie Yunker. Carrie is the director of HR at Bell’s, and has been with the company for 15 years. Mike has been with us for 18 years and is currently a training specialist. During the interview, we touch on the history of HR at Bell’s and how the company looked 20 years ago. Mike talks about his rock ‘n roll roots and Carrie talks about the early days, when the company belonged to “surley dudes”. Shownotes and transcript.

In our fourth episode, we got up at the crack of dawn to speak with a few of our third shift packagers. Because we distribute so much beer around the country, we need to be brewing 24 hours a day. Our packagers come in at 10 p.m. and typically work until 7 a.m. We talked with Josh Seman, Brenden Wimes, and DeMeyer White about what a day-to-day for them looks like, and the multiple roles they fill as they work throughout the night. Check out show notes and a transcript here.

In the previous episode of The Shifty, we discussed brewing with Andy Farrell and Karli Small from our Comstock facility. We also spoke to Lucia Baker about her experiences as a Project Engineer at the B1 location. Lucia gave us a great look at the mechanics of B1, which got us curious about the rest of what goes on there. Now,we’re giving you a brief look at the actual brewing that takes place in our original brewhouse. To do this, we spoke with Pat Tkacz and Chris Walsh about the brewing they do there. This episode details everything from the day-to-day operations to the differences in the Comstock and downtown breweries. You’ll even get to learn about Pat and Chris’ introductions to brewing; processes that involved both the Czech Republic and a Coach purse. Show notes and transcript

In our second episode, we discuss the brewing process with some of the folks who oversee it. First, we speak to Andy Farrell, brewing innovation manager at Bell’s, and Karli Small, brewing manager. They give us a break down of their day to day, and how their work relates to the rest of the company. Lucia Baker, a project engineer for the new pilot system being installed at Brewery 1 (or B1, as we like to call it). Transcript and show notes.

Here at Bell’s, we’re constantly trying to foster the relationship we have between what we do and who we do it for. In an effort to strengthen the connection between brewing beer and the people who drink it, we’ve decided to let you in on a look behind-the-scenes. The Shifty is a new podcast we’ve created to tell the story of Bell’s through the stories of the people who work here. We share a post-shift beer and great conversation with people from several different departments in order to show you how our beer goes from tank to table through a short series of approximately 20-minute-long episodes. In episode one, we speak to Land Steward Jake Grevenstuk about his work on the hop yard and sustainability at Bell’s. This episode shows you where it all begins: the land and the people who take care of it. We also speak to Land Steward Bonnie Steinman and Director of Operations John Mallett about their contributions to Bell’s. The Shifty can be found on iTunes, Stitcher and bellsbeer.com. We’re hoping this series will give you a fun look at Bell’s that you’ve never had before, and you might even learn a thing or two along the way. Transcript

The Shifty is a new podcast from Bell's Brewery where we chat with the people behind the beer. We'll share beers with folks on our brewing, creative, land stewardship and human resource teams, as well as the man who started it all, Larry Bell.