The Gnarly Gnome: All The Podcasts

I had a big pumpkin episode planned for this week, but as it seems to go from time to time things didn’t quite work out as I had hoped. Here I was, left alone in the studio with a fridge full of beer, and pumpkin on my mind. I just talked very briefly this week about pumpkin beer and a little broader about fall beers. What makes a good fall beer? What are my favorite styles to drink this time of year? It’s all hard hitting questions that I know you guys are chomping at the bit to have answered. I do what I can. We’ll be back to normal next week!

This week is a little, uhhh… different. This isn’t what the show was supposed to be, and it certainly isn’t “normal”. Lucky (or unlucky) for you, I have a few thoughts in my mind that I could sit and ramble about for a little bit, so that’s exactly what I’m going to do. Of course, it’s still a beer podcast – so the whole time I’ll be sipping on one of the new Italian Pilsners from HighGrain, called Giulia. Maybe, just maybe, we’ll even dive into what makes it an Italian pilsner a little bit. We’ll be back to normal next week – thanks for hanging in there! Make sure you share the show with a friend, and go get your tickets to Beer, Booze and Bonks! From The Beer Fridge * HighGrain – Giulia, Italian Pilsner

I love a good collaboration beer. It brings folks together and immediately reminds me of all the things that I love about the community side of craft beer. When this idea first started floating around, I knew that I had to be a part of it (and not just because my “real” name happens to fall in line with the theme at hand). This is a goofy, fun reason to get together, but the beer that came out of it is really, really fantastic. The concept was that each member of the collaboration came up with an ingredient that when combined would (hopefully) turn into something delicious! Andy Bird (with Braxton as of brewing this…) came up with Gin Barrels, Andy Foltz from Casual Pint wanted Mosaic hops, Andy Clawson from Paradise wanted Vienna malt and Galena hops, McCleese over at Brink wanted Maris Otter and Galaxy hops, and Andy Reynolds at Alexandria came at it with Simcoe. Me? My contribution ended up as “We definitely don’t need fruit”. Guests This Episode * Andy Reynolds – Alexandria Brewing Company From The Beer Fridge * Alexandria Brewing Company – All The Andys (Brewed by some of the Andys)

I can finally let this cat outta the bag, and thank god – I hate keeping secrets! Recently I teamed up with the awesome folks over at the Fowling Warehouse, and with Merrell from Cincy By The Pint to create what we know is going to be a beer festival unlike any other festival that you’ve ever seen before. Every beer is handpicked by Merrell and me, the food trucks are hand selected, there’s gonna be mystery beer machine picks by us… it’s gonna be pretty awesome. So… in an effort to introduce you to ‘Beer, Booze, and Bonks’ I met up with Merrell at Nine Giant Brewing in Pleasant Ridge to grab a couple beers and talk about the festival and what we’ve been planning. I hope that you are as excited about this as we are. Guests This Episode * Merrell Wood – Cincy By The Pint (Check Out The Website Here) From The Beer Fridge * Nine Giant – Light Years, Festbier * Nine Giant – Deadcrush, Saison

I really, really love a good Oktoberfest… the beer, and the parties that come around them. Sonder definitely knows how to throw a great one, too. I sat down with a few friend to talk about just that… we drank a few beers and dove into why “Oktoberfest is a feeling”. From there we meandered around a few other topics including some beer trends, and what makes all this work. This one makes me really happy, I live for nights like this! It might be a little chaotic a time (there were definitely beers…) but I hope you get as much joy from hearing the show as we did from making it! Guests This Episode * Danny Herold – Sonder Brewing* Justin Neff – Sonder Brewing* Mark Lortz – The Common Beer Co.* Josh Engel – March First Brewing* Tom Stover – Warped Wing From The Beer Fridge * Sonder Brewing Company – Oktoberfest

It’s been a year since I sat down with Garrett Hickey at Streetside Brewing Company, and I feel like every single time we get to chat over a beer, the world looks completely different as it did before. The brewery keeps adapting to the world around them, while further defining who they are and this time is no exception to that. They’re in the middle of planning their big fifth anniversary celebration, while at the same time prepping things for their Demogorgon day in October, and we cracked into a couple beers to talk about it all. From Pastry stouts to NE IPAs and Fruited Berliners… there are a ton of great things that you can get excited about from Streetside! Guests This Episode * Garrett Hickey – Streetside Brewery From The Beer Fridge * Streetside/Pontoon – Unlimited Power* Streetside – Bourbon Barrel Aged Four Horsemen* Streetside – Barrel Aged Toasted Coconut and Vanilla Demogorgon

I hate the term gateway beer, because it makes it seem like you should only be drinking these beers as a way “in” to something “better” – and as we see in this episode, some of these are still pretty tasty, and some of them still deserve our respect. This episode is a little bit different than a normal episode of Cincy Brewcast – I met up with Marco, and we hit up a very… different type of location for the show. We drank a few beers that you might not have dove into in recent time… and had a blast doing it. Guests This Episode * Marco Penilla – Cellar Dweller From The Beer Fridge * Guinness – Irish Stout* Killian’s – Irish Red* Blue Moon – Belgian Style Wit

It’s been quite a few years since Listermann Brewing Company opened their doors, and as they prepare for their 13th anniversary party, it seems like it might be a good time to sit down with them and talk about the road that they’ve travelled to get here. In the last year or so there have been a lot of changes around the brewery, which opens up a great topic of who they are today. What defines the Listermann personality? We explored it all, from the beer to the people to all the little things that come in the middle. Listermann is never done evolving, and I’m thrilled that we get the chance to be along for that ride. Guests This Episode * Dan Listermann – Owner* Matthew Daniel – Head Brewer* Abby Bricking – Taproom Manager* Jessica Gorman – Head of Marketing* Jon Vollman – General Manager From The Beer Fridge * Listermann Brewing Company – Sotto Basement Lager Show Links * Listermann – Facebook* Listermann – Twitter* Listermann – Instagram

When I tell you that I have been waiting to do this show for the last four years – I’m not making that up. They are getting ready to celebrate their fourth anniversary, and this is the first “official” show that we’ve done together… it’s been a long time coming. This episode goes through it all, Brian McGinnis is the head brewer and co-founder of Grainworks and we started with his road through starting as a homebrewer all the way to where they are today as a growing craft brewery. We explored their actual growth itself – with their recent taproom expansion and how it helped them survive through Covid last year. Of course… we drank a few beers, too. Brother James and Katie Albers walked us through not just some of the fun new stuff that they’re cranking out currently – but how it all fits into the current landscape of craft beer across the region. This is a great one! Guests This Episode * Brian McGinnis – Co-Founder and Brewer* James (Brother James) Czar –  Manager of Sales and Education* Katie Albers – Hop Hustler (Southern territory sales rep) From The Beer Fridge * Grainworks – Oktoberfest* Grainworks – Sunrise* Grainworks – Scottish Mists* Grainworks – Misty Mountains

This week is a big one for the folks out at the Casual Pint in Hamilton, and as you know from how many times I’ve found myself recording shows out in Hamilton in the last few months – I’m in love with the city and how hard it’s working to turn their downtown area into a destination for folks all across Cincinnati. If you do the math – it means I’m thrilled to get back out and record at Casual Pint during their anniversary celebration! The Cincinnati beer news has had plenty of big things happening, with the biggest for me probably being the word finally hitting the streets that Warped Wing is about to open up a new location in Mason. I sat down with Casual Pint’s Andy Foltz (you remember that guy, right?) and we talked about not just their celebration, but dove in deep to the Warped Wing news, too. The conversation quickly moved into some of the other “outside breweries” that we’ve seen come into town, and what makes non-cincy breweries become part of the scene or not. It’s a big conversation that I can guarantee we aren’t done having on the Brewcast! Guests This Episode * Andy Foltz – Casual Pint, Hamilton From The Beer Fridge * Christian Moerlein – Wootz, Oktoberfest* Sonder – Strawberry, Jalapeño Record Hop Show Links * Volume 7, Episode 14 – This Pint Is Casual, And This Episode Is Awesome! Hamilton, Again!

When we last sat down with the folks at Middletown’s N.E.W. Ales it was March of 2020. The brewery was brand new, excited for the future, and they had big plans on running their nano brewery as a production only space for the near future. I don’t want to spoil anything if you just woke up from a coma, but 2020 was pretty messed up. Everything changed. N.E.W. Ales was forced to very quickly do something that craft breweries have proven to be great at – adapt. The brewery started doing beer to go, and then put together a fantastic outdoor beer garden, and then a small taproom in their space. When I say small, I’m not just exaggerating – it’s tiny – but that’s part of their magic. This week we sat down, had a few beers and talked about what makes it all work. How do you shift with things when you’re that new? They’ve handled all of these changes better than a lot of folks would have anticipated them to – and the beer that they’re putting out is great, too. It’s certainly worthy of a long conversation! Guests This Episode * Beth O’Harra – N.E.W Ales* Nikki Heupel – N.E.W Ales* Wes Heupel – N.E.W Ales From The Beer Fridge * N.E.W. Ales – Wonder Twins, Powers Unite* N.E.W. Ales – Still Not As Bitter As Your Ex

It’s a different world, this “craft beer” thing that we’re currently in. Gone are the days that you can just throw together a brewery, put a picnic table or two in your warehouse and operate a successful business. You have to do more, and you have to do better. You can see clear evidence of this when you look around Cincinnati at the places that have opened. This show is about that other side that people desire. Cartridge Brewing Company made it a point to create a business that not only caters to craft beer fans, but as a restaurant to foodies, and as a full service bar to cocktail nerds, too. I am a cocktail nerd. On this episode of Drinking With The Gnome, we roll through some cocktails and talk about that process of creating a great cocktail menu that satisfies as many people as possible. Thank you to the folks at Cartridge Brewing Company for the hospitality (that means “thanks for the drinks and the conversation!!!”) and if you haven’t been out there to have a cocktail in addition to a beer – well… you know what to do! Guests This Episode * Kyle Hackbarth – Cartridge Brewing Company* Lindsey Hackbarth – Cartridge Brewing Company* Sara Haarman – Cartridge Brewing Company What’d We Drink? * 1890 – Cartridge’s twist on the Paloma* GMP Old Fashioned – You know it… their version of an Old Fashioned* Hairpin Turn – Islandy, Fruity… this is right up my alley.

Craft beer isn’t just about what’s in your glass – I’ve spent a lot of time trying to get that point across. That’s sort of the focus of this week’s episode of Cincy Brewcast, too. I say sort of because it was a last minute show addition after a (very justified) cancellation from Braxton this week (Huge congrats to Evan Rouse and his wife on the addition of their baby girl to their family – it warms my heart to think of those two as parents!). The folks at Cartridge were kind enough to drop what they were doing and invite me over to the brewery for an episode of the Brewcast (they even treated me to dinner, and sent my wife some beer home too… they know how to keep peace in my house just as much as they know how to create a beautiful brewery experience!) What makes drinking craft beer so amazing, if it’s not just about what’s in your glass? We dive in deep, drink a few beers and talk about the beer experience that we all love! Guests This Episode * Kyle Hackbarth – Cartridge Brewing Company* Lindsey Hackbarth – Cartridge Brewing Company* Adam Mills – Head Brewer, Cartridge Brewing Company From The Beer Fridge * Cartridge Brewing Company – Airborne* Cartridge Brewing Company – Drop Zone* Cartridge Brewing Company – Escape* Cartridge Brewing Company – Fuse (Passion Fruit)* Cartridge Brewing Company – Prost

Beer Festivals are near and dear to the hearts of many craft beer drinkers – it’s where we used to scour the room for the things we had never heard of before, or the things we were afraid to commit to when we were shopping in the store. As we continued on our craft beer journey, they became the places that we we go to socialize with groups of friends, or find the rare kegs that didn’t hit distribution that often. We’ve always loved them… but they’ve grown and changed. Craft Beer Festivals can get a little… different sometimes, and not that different is bad – but sometimes we want a festival that’s classic, that makes us feel good – and especially one that we might not have to drive downtown to get to. If any of that sounds familiar, that hopefully you’re aware of Brews in the Burbs – a beer festival that is classic, yet feels revolutionary. The beer list is amazing. Food trucks aplenty, and live music to keep the night going. This outdoor festival is so much fun that I had to record an episode from this years event. I was joined by a few familiar faces (and some new-to-the-show ones too) to help paint the picture of what makes Brews in the Burbs so freaking spectacular! Guests This Episode * Brad Lovell – Lakota Optimist Club* Danny Herold – Brews in the Burbs Board Member/Sonder Brewing Company* Brian Brownlow – BC’s Bottle Lodge* Ben Comer – BC’s Bottle Lodge From The Beer Fridge * Hoof Hearted – Bjorn Dork (Cognac Barrel Aged)

This episode was a little…uh… experiment. I wanted to record this week’s episode live at the Clear Mountain Food Park in Batavia, and while – I did – it wasn’t very smooth. As always seems to be the case it turned into an experiment that didn’t function the way I wanted it too. Some technical issues bounced around for the first live stream. I got it all fixed, but you’re left with a little shorter episode today than you’re used to. With my apologies – give it a listen, and get yourself out to the Food Park to see for yourself what they’re doing out there. Not only is it a fantastic addition to the area, it’s an incredible beer garden for this city, too. Huge thanks to Tony from the Queen City Mobile Food Truck Organization for hanging out with me over a few beers and talking about the park! Guests This Episode * Tony Lange – Queen City Mobile Food Truck Organization From The Beer Fridge * Paradise Brewing – Czech Yourself, Pilsner