The Afterparty Podcast /w Strip Club Concierge Las Vegas!

Donate at http://wbez.org/beer to be entered to win a pair of VIP tickets to the Oak Park Microbrew Review!

We spoke with Van Havig, founder of Gigantic Brewing Company in Portland, Oregon when he was in Chicago last December. He shares insights on the beer industry from his background as an economist. We also discuss new breweries opening in Chicago- including Homaru Cantu's new project. High end wine forgeries also come up- and how they caught one of the Koch brothers in their snares. We drink Heady Topper by The Alchemist and Lakefront Brewery's My Turn Series: John, a Dark Lager with Cherries.

We talk with WBEZ's Alexandra Salomon about her recent trip to Germany where she visited Hamburg's only craft brewery, Ratsherrn. We also discuss the new definition of traditional ingredients by the TTB and Schlafly's decision not to expand to Illinois after all. We drink Rockmill Brewery's Saison Super.

We interview Half Acre president Gabriel Magliaro inside the building they just bought in Chicago's Bowmanville neighborhood about the brewery's expansion plans, including the restaurant they're adding to their Lincoln Avenue location. We drink Brewery Ommegang's Fire and Blood Ale in honor of Game of Thrones. We discuss the newly signed Stone Law in South Carolina, Trader Joe's new venture with Golden Road Brewing and how often drinkers are fooled by "crafty" beers.

We sample the music and beer called Rosabi from Dogfish Head and Julianna Barwick. Sound Opinions host Jim DeRogatis joins us to help assess the connection between this music and beer. We also talk about mapping the brewer's yeast genome, brewpub distribution rules in Illinois and remember Rogue Brewing founder Jack Joyce. We also drink New Glarus Berliner Weiss.

We interview the head brewer of Firestone Walker, Dustin Krall. He explains how their brewing process compares with winemaking. We also discuss the Stone Bill in South Carolina, the community aspect of craft brewing and the ascendancy of craft beer cans as art objects. We drink Firestone Walker's Wookey Jack Black Rye IPA. "What's a brewery doing in wine country?" http://wbez.org/podcasts

We talk with Todd Haug, the head brewer at Surly Brewing during Dark Lord Day 2014. He's also an accomplished metal musician and appeared in the David Lynch film "Wild At Heart." We drink Surly Furious IPA as well as Begyle Brewing's Root Cellar Rye Amber Ale in honor of Chicago Craft Beer Week. We also talk about the difficulty of selling packaged beer in Ontario, whiskey pigs and the best "Under 21" redirects on craft brewery websites. We recommend three events for Chicago Craft Beer Week.

We spoke with 3 Floyds' head brewer Chris Boggess at Dark Lord Day 2014 in the 3 Floyds brewpub in Munster, Indiana. He elaborates on the brewery's planned expansion and plans to make Dark Lord whiskey. We also talk about Pete Coors' recent interview, sentiment analysis of Americans' tweets on beer and the big sales slump for AB InBev in the first quarter of 2014. We drink an Organic Apricot by Samuel Smith Old Brewery.

We went to Dark Lord Day to answer the question, "Why are craft beer and metal linked?" We asked the question to Three Floyds' Chris Boggess and Barnaby Struve, Surly's Todd Haug, Firestone Walker's Dustin Krall and Adem Tepedelen author of The Brewtal Truth Guide to Extreme Beers. We also talk about BrewDog's latest scuffle with the UK's beer authority, new developments in Florida's growler laws and the possibility of Mikkeller and Three Floyds opening a brewpub in Europe. We drink Lagunitas Brewing's Hairy Eyeball.

In our final Florida show we drink our way across the state with Richard Sherfey, one of the owners of Redlight Red Light Beer Parlour in Orlando. We also talk about the Small BREW Act, which seeks to cut federal tax on small craft brewers in half and the nude beer festival scheduled for June in Pennsylvania. We drink Against the Grain's All Funked Up: A Rick Astley Joint.

We visit Cigar City Brewing in Tampa, Florida to talk with brew master Wayne Wambles. We cover their relationship with Brewhub, the Hopped Upon The High Seas project, the origins of the Florida Weiss style and Hunahpu's Day. We drank Big Sky Brewing's All Souls Ale Imperial Saison.

We examine Brewhub, a new venture from former Anheuser-Busch executives that attempts to use contract brewing to help craft brewers grow their business. The first of six locations is in Lakeland, Florida and we got a tour from brewmaster Dr. Paul Farnsworth. We also try out the smoked liquids kit from The Poor Porker, also located in Lakeland.

We talk with Anna Blessing about her new book, Locally Brewed: Portraits of Craft Breweries from America's Heartland. We also discuss the Brewers' Association's new Top 50 craft breweries of 2013, Ten Ninety Brewing's purchase of Big Chicago Brewing and beer brewed with prehistoric yeast. We drank Three Floyds Brewing's Topless Wytch Baltic porter.

We visit New Glarus Brewing on our Wisconsin road trip and explore the Hilltop facility with Randy Thiel, Quality Assurance Director for the brewery. He also takes us to their still-under-construction "wild fruit cave" to get an early look at their open fermentation efforts. We also discuss the Stone Brewing eastward expansion, using technology to track beer freshness and whether Portland is over-beered. We drink New Glarus Coffee Stout and Wild Sour Ale. We also have Deschutes Fresh Squeezed IPA. See photos from the tour here http://bit.ly/1h2J1pR

We tour Madison, Wisconsin's craft beer scene with beer writer Kyle Nabilcy. We stopped at Ale Asylum, Dexter's, Karben4, The Malthouse and Daisy's Cafe. We drank a lot of beer including Hopalicious by Ale Asylum, Satisfaction Jacksin by Ale Asylum, Fantasy Factory by Karben4, Deep Winter Coffee Stout by Karben4, Milk Stout by Lake Louie Brewing, Porter by Port Huron. See photos here http://strangebrewspodcast.tumblr.com/post/79903760514/our-guide-to-madison-beer-with-photos