The Brewing Network Presents | The Session

In this episode of The Session we are joined by Rodg Little and Geoff Scott from Sacramento's Oak Park Brewing. Rodg and Geoff have a great story, bringing their special brand of community oriented beer to the Oak Park neighborhood and beyond. The team at Oak Park has worked tirelessly to build out their brand within the community, while also advocating for and supporting the black brewing community. Listen in as they describe the special events and collaborations they have cultivated to serve their neighbors, as well as helping to establish the National Black Brewers Association. The beer is great and the story is even better with this talented and passionate team of brewers.

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All the way from Edmonton, Canada, Blind Enthusiasm Brewing Company joins us on The Session to discuss mixed fermentation and more. Founder Greg Zeschuk fills us in on his journey as a video game engineer turned brewer and how mixed fermentation beers captured his passion. Now Blind Enthusiasm has one of the largest barrel programs in all of Canada and produces world class, Belgian inspired beer for all to enjoy.

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Shaun O'Sullivan from the 21st Amendment Brewery is back on The Session to discuss the latest at 21A and the state of the industry. Shaun and his business partner Nico Freccia have grown 21A from its beginnings as a neighborhood brewpub in San Francisco to a regional brewery with national distribution. Along the way Shaun has seen many changes in the industry and gives his insight here into where things are headed.

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On this episode of The Session, Justin is joined by Dick Cantwell, Denham DSilva of Deep Liquid, and Teresa Psuty from Crooked Lane to talk about how AI can converge with craft beer and help brewers connect with consumers. Rather than let our data be used against us just as a marketing tool, Deep Liquid seeks to democratize data, and AI, and let consumers and brewers consult on beer recipes, flavor profiles and more. As a start, we gathered together five of our favorite breweries and asked them to participate in one of the first AI beer projects in the U.S. Tune in and find out how!

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In our final show stop of the 2023 BN On The Road Summer Brewery Tour, Justin and The Beard® stop in to Modern Times in San Diego to speak with new owner, Garrett Marrero. We know Garrett as the founder of Maui Brewing Company, of course, but his latest bold move in the craft beer scene was to purchase the struggling Modern Times. Now under the Craft Ohana umbrella, Garrett lets us know the reasons behind the purchase, how it all went down, and what's next for his growing empire.

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The Session "On The Road" continues with Jeff Bagby at Bagby Beer Company in Oceanside, CA. Jeff has been a fixture in the Southern California craft beer scene for years and has racked up medal upon medal for his brews. He's continued that output at Bagby Beer Co. and never disappoints when it comes to producing world class, classic styles. Justin and Beardy learn about some unique techniques and ingredients too, including a popcorn beer. Spoiler alert...it was great! Tune in and learn to brew from one of the best.

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The third stop on the 2023 Brewing Network Summer Brewery Tour is Radiant Beer Company in Anaheim, CA. We are joined by co-founders Jonas Namura and Andrew Bell and learn about their young, but already multi-award winning beer.

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The Brewing Network Summer Brewery Tour continues with a stop at 14 Cannons Brewery + Showroom in Westlake Village, CA. Justin and The Beard® spend time with Co-Founder and Brewmaster Nic Bertolin to learn about this unique brewery. In doing so, the lager tour continues with some stellar hoppy lagers from Nic's brewery, as well as an award winning Baltic Porter. We learn about how the brewery also operates as a showcase for a construction company that specializes in opening breweries, and for equipment manufacturers. Tune in and get all the details on this special On The Road edition of The Session!

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Justin & Beardy take The Session on the road with a first stop at There Does Not Exist & Liquid Gravity. As part of The Brewing Network's Summer Brewery Tour, we stop in San Luis Obispo, CA. to visit our old friend Brendan Gough from Liquid Gravity. We also invited Max Montgomery from There Does Not Exist to join the show. We dive into the incredible branding of TDNE, as well as their stellar lagers. Tune in and learn how Max does it all and get to hear the great Beardy back on the show too!

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On this episode of The Session, Justin hits the road and heads up to South Lake Tahoe, CA. to visit South Lake Brewing Company. Chris and Nicole Smith followed their dream to open a brewery in their beautiful home town and, with more than a fair share of adversity, have become one of the best craft breweries around. Tune in and learn about how this year's 'Snowmaggeddon" affected the town and their brewery, as well as how last year's fires nearly shut them down entirely. We also learn about how amazing Tahoe water and a high elevation present challenges and advantages alike for this small town brewery. Cheers!

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Jean-Claude Tetreault from Trillium Brewing Company joins Justin on The Session this week. Originally hailing from Boston’s Fort Point neighborhood, Trillum has grown into a powerhouse of a brewery, with the mindset of homebrewer, a farmer, and a hospitality fanatic. J.C. tells about their expansion over that last 10 years, teaches us techniques for world class New England style IPA's and talks about his passion for farm brewery agriculture.

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Adair Paterno from Sante Adairius Rustic Ales joins us in the studio to talk about their unique brewery and brews. We discuss the upcoming California Craft Beer Summit, as well as her time on the board of the California Craft Brewers Association. We also dive into their incredible mixed fermentation beers and learn about their expansion to three locations throughout the greater San Francisco Bay Area.

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Brewmaster and Co-Owner Julian Shrago from Beachwood Brewing joins The Session this week. We discuss the upcoming California Craft Beer Summit, at which he is a speaker. We also talk about current supply chain issues facing the brewing industry and how Beachwood has grown over the last several years.

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This week on The Session we welcome several of the best West Coast brewers from the Bay Area and beyond into the studio! Tune in and hear from Riip Beer, Faction Brewing, Ghost Town Brewing, Wondrous Brewing and Pizza Port as they discuss our favorite style of craft beer. We also discuss the future of AI's role in making beer and how robots could actually bring consumers closer to brewers through collaboration and information sharing. To facilitate that, a new project from Deep Liquid is working to use AI to help brewers make better beer. Robot beer!

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Jon Berkland of Narrative Fermentations out of San Jose, CA. joins us on The Session to discuss starting up his brewery during the pandemic. Jon brews amazing lagers and ales, including some controversial slushy beers, and so much more.

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Homebrew heroes Nathan Smith and Vito Delucchi join us on The Session this week to discuss homebrewing the perfect Pale Ale! Nate spent a lot of quarantine time during the pandemic trying to find the perfect Pale Ale recipe. Along the way he ran into a few hiccups, including the elusive hop creep. Using tips he's learned from the past, as well as a stable of pro brewer friends, Nate found some techniques to help along with his journey. Listen in while Nate and Vito share their knowledge on the subject and outline best practices so you can brew the perfect West Coast Pale Ale.

Check out the Firestone Walker Pale Ale homebrew kit and DVD HERE

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The Great American Beer Festival 2022 Brewery of the Year, Ghost Town Brewing, joins us on The Session this week. Hailing from Oakland, CA. these guys know there stuff, especially when it comes to IPA's and hops in general. They won Gold in the Imperial IPA category two years in a row, and several other medals in the last few years alone. Tune in and find out some of their secrets, as well as how they put in a new brewhouse right along side their old one, only to find out it didn't work... Yeah, it's a doozy of a story and a great time with the Ghost Town crew.

Also, check out the Ghost Town Gold Medal Winning recipe for Nose Goblin HERE

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Co-Owner & Lead Schmoozer Chris Ritter and Brewer Stephen Ruddy from Oakland United Beerworks join Justin in-studio on The Session this week. We get to taste through and learn about their stellar classic style brews, including a GABF Silver Medal winning Schwarzbeer, a fabulous Baltic Porter and mouth watering Nitro Dry Stout. Along the way, we also learn about the tragic story of how ALS rocked the Ritter family, and the heartwarming tale of a family keeping their sons dreams alive in the brewery they own and run. This one is a must listen folks!

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This week on The Session we welcome the three brothers (well, sorta...) from Movement Brewing Company. Hailing from Rancho Cordova, California, these guys brew up great beer and a ton of fun. You can tell this family likes to party as much as they like making great beer, and that's our kinda brewery! Tune in and learn all about the movement, from Movement!

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In this special edition of The Session, Justin heads across the pond to France to attend the 11th anniversary block party of Brasserie Outland, a brewery he helped inspire back in the day. As part of the festivities, brewers from across Europe came to celebrate and Justin was able to sit down with three of the most prominent brewers in France. Tune in and learn about the French Craft Beer scene, both past and present, and find out why you too should be headed to France for world class craft beer.

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Founder Steve Sartori from Altamont Beer Works returns to The Session to talk hops and yeast! Now a favorite of Justin's, the crew discuss how they get so much juicy hop flavor in their highly quaffable brews. You'll be surprised at how they do it and you'll want to listen all the way through for the best tips and tricks that you can use in your beers.

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Vinnie Cilurzo from Russian River Brewing Company returns to The Session to talk hop creep, canning lines, TPO and more! As always, we learn a ton from the legendary brewer and have a great time while we're at it.

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This week on The Session, Jamil Zainasheff and Jason Ledford (from True Symmetry Brewing) bring us beer from Moersleutel Craft Brewery in the Netherlands. On a recent trip through Europe the pair went to Moersleutel and met Head Brewer, Jorge Tomé. Jorge, originally from Spain, relocated to the Netherlands to work at the brewery and now makes some of the most interesting and unique beers we have ever tried. Listen in to learn about his original take on ingredients, styles and balance. Jorge knows his stuff and it shows in every beer we tried.

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This week on The Session we are joined by Ryan Frank and Austin Sharp from Headlands Brewing Company to discuss their current growth and how a new location saved the brewery. With a new home in Lafayette, CA. and a new (to them) production brewery in Pittsburg, CA. the brewery is ready to take on a new life. We learn about their commitment to the outdoors and the plane itself, as well as a few of their wonderful beers.

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This week on The Session we welcome back to the studio, Christian Kazakoff. Christian has been on the show a few times over the years, and each time with a different brewery. His latest home is at Canyon Club Brewery in Moraga, CA. Christian has always been able to nail classic styles, but also bring in new hops and techniques to the fold to compliment his extensive brewing chops. Tune in and learn from one of the best the Bay Area has to offer as we dive into the brews of Canyon Club!

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Owners Josh Kopp and Chrissie Pinney from Hana Koa Brewing Company from Honolulu, HI. join The Session this week. Tune in and learn about their hard work and humble beginnings at small breweries and even our very own Hop Grenade Taproom in California, to their amazing brewery in Hawaii. All along they've kept to their roots and mission to make the world a better place through great beer and philanthropy.

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Chris White and Kara Taylor from White Labs Yeast & Fermentation come back on The Session to talk yeast, fermentation and Pure Pitch® Next Generation technology. These two are The Brewing Network's official yeast guru's and we always learn a ton when they are on.

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Tim Obert, Founder of Seven Stills Brewery & Distillery from San Francisco, CA. joins us this week on The Session. They've experienced a rapid rise from their humble beginnings in a rented storage you unit to a 17,500 square foot state of the art facility in San Francisco's Mission Bay District. They're also America's first licensed brewery and distillery, starting a trend that continues to grow today.

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Jamil Zainasheff returns to The Session for the first time since selling his brewery, Heretic, and subsequent firing from the company. Jamil tells his side of the story and discusses the state of the brewing industry along with friends from True Symmetry Brewing Company from Suisun City, CA. Tune in and get the scoop!

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Mare Island Brewing Company joins us on The Session to discuss the history of Mare Island and the brewery that is helping to keep it alive. Co-Founders Ryan Gibbons and Kent Fortner have built a truly unique brewery in an historic decommissioned Naval shipyard and their dedication to the history, the men and women who worked there, and the legacy that surrounds them shows in every single thing that they do. Tune in listen to one of the coolest and most important brewing stories we've ever had on The Brewing Network.

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Brendan and Celeste Gough from Liquid Gravity Brewing Co. join us in the studio to talk about this year's Welcome to California beer collaboration with four different California breweries. Teaming up with Altamont Beer Works, Burgeon Beer Company, Casa Agria Specialty Ales and Humble Sea Brewing Company, they produced four distinct and truly West Coast beers. Learn about those and the inaugural Brewers Olympics held in San Luis Obispo on this episode of The Session.

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Joining the consolidation revolution, Japanese beer companies have entered the American Craft Beer scene with some big moves. Joining Kirin Holdings, who purchased New Belgium a couple years back, Sapporo has also continued its expansion with the recent acquisition of Stone Brewing Company in San Diego. Listen in as we welcome Ry Beville, Publisher of Japan Beer Times to give his insight into what's been happening.

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On this episode of The Session, Chris Graham and Justin Crossley attempt to homebrew Tasty's Dortmunder Export Lager Recipe for the 2022 National Homebrew Competition. Yes, you heard that right...Justin is back to brewing! Tune in and hear why the guys decided to take on the challenge of entering the largest homebrew competition in the world and how they came to decide on this unique beer style. We taste the beer on the show so you can hear how it came out. We were also joined by our brewing helpers Vito Delucchi from MoreBeer, Matt Sager from Danville Brewing Company and Tasty's son, Lee McDole.

Check out the links below to learn about all the awesome MoreBeer! and Komos brewing products we discussed on the show Also, be sure check the show page on The Brewing Network for pictures of our brew day and to download the recipe:

BrewZilla All Grain Brewing System With Pump

FermZilla All Rounder Fermenter - 7.9 gal / 30 L

BrewBuilt™ IceMaster Max 2 Glycol Chiller w/ Two Built in Temperature Controllers and Pumps

KOMOS® Kegerator with NUkaTap Matte Black Stainless Faucets - This is the one Justin owns

KOMOS® Rubicon Jockey Box (2 Tap) - Front Entry - This is the one Justin owns

And here you can browse the awesome line of Duotight fittings and EVABarrier Double wall draft tubing

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This week on The Session we are joined by Natalie Boltz Keller and Mark Keller from Bruehol Benicia Brewing in Benicia, CA. Bruehol Benicia Brewing specializes in German style pilsners, lagers, West Coast style Ales, and a variety of IPAs. Tune in and hear their story!

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Co-Owner Ryan Fry from Sudwerk Brewing Company joins us in the studio this week to discuss German lagers and the evolution of the Sudwerk brewery and brand. Ryan and his business partner Trenton Yackzan took over the brewery from Trenton's grandfather and have steadily been evolving it into the modern and award winning brewhouse that it is today. If taking home mid-size brewery of the year at the 2021 Great American Beer Festival wasn't enough proof, their incredible beers they brought to the show certainly were. This crew is the real deal.

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Side Gate Brewery & Beer Garden, the newest brewery in Concord, CA. joins The Session to talk about their journey from homebrewing to pro brewing.

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Derek Gallanosa and Cory Meyer from Moksa Brewing Company return to The Session to talk about their amazing rise as one of the best breweries in California. From delicious, complex and unique Pastry Stouts to brilliant West Coast IPA's and delicious Hazy IPA's, these guys do it all. Tune in and learn about some of their techniques and original takes on styles. We also welcome Shaun "Sully" O'Sullivan from the 21st Amendment Brewery back to the studio as our esteemed co-host alongside Justin Crossley.

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For our first ever SF Beer Week Tasty Night, we record a star studded Session in honor of our Craft Beer Hero, Mike "Tasty" McDole. Tune in and hear from homebrewers turned pro under Tasty's guidance, pro brewers who are still inspired by his techniques today, and of course his co-hosts who love him dearly.

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A blast from the past! Chad Moshier, the Session's former producer, joins the show as the Brewmaster at Bankhead Brewing Co. out of Rowlett, Texas. Chad is in town for our very special Tasty Tribute Night at The Hop Grenade. Much has changed in Chad's life since the good ol' days of living with Justin at the Rat Pad. He's now a husband, father, and Master Brewer. Tune in and learn about Chad's beer, his brewing philosophy and what lies ahead for our good friend.

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New Executive Director of the American Homebrewers Association, Julia Herz joins The Session to talk about the past, present and future of homebrewing. Julia has had an extensive career in the Craft Beer business and brings a fresh perspective to the hobby.

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This week on The Session Justin and the crew welcome Arizona Wilderness Brewing Company to the studio. Founder Jonathan Buford, Co Owner Patrick Ware, and Head of People and Culture, Johanna Lortsher are reinventing what it means to be a small brewery. By creating a blueprint for sustainability, ethical brewing and employment, and environmentally conscious sourcing, Arizona Wilderness is forging a new path for themselves and others to follow. From HR practices that seek to empower their team members to communicate their needs safely, to working with local farms and environmental groups to conserve Arizona's precious resources, these folks are pushing themselves to become better people, employers and brewers.

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In our first live and in-studio Session since the pandemic began in 2020, host Justin Crossley is back at the helm with some very special guests. First off, just like on our very first show way back in 2005, Chris Graham from MoreBeer! joins the Session, this time as co-host. Chris and Justin are also joined by Jacque and Ryan Fields from Wild Fields Brewhouse in Atascadero, CA. We discuss their truly fantastic beer and Ryan's take on the brewing process, including fermenting super dry beer and adjusting the grain bill to maintain mouthfeel. We also discuss the ongoing pandemic and how it has affected all of our businesses. Plus, Chris Graham is his old self and gives away some great MoreBeer! brewing gear! Tune in and welcome back to the Session!

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Located in the Brookside neighborhood of Kansas City, BKS Artisan Ales have found a fair bit of success in their slow-growth approach to running a brewery. Starting small and adding tank after tank in their brew house, while opening their doors to a packed tasting room, enabled BKS to grow at the pace they set, not the distributor. Plus, their beers are good so, that helps!

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Who sends in not one but FOUR bourbon barrel-aged beers for JP to try? Brian from Bravery Brewing, that's who! On today's show, we chat with former homebrewer Brian Avery, who got his homebrewing act together and opened up Bravery back in 2012. Since then, he's been making beers that not only the public likes to drink, but he does as well. Not to mention his extensive barrel program, which we talk about in depth.

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It's a busy show this week, as JP chats with not one but two guests! Up first, Jared Veldheer, who is a former NFL player and current hombrewer, who recently started his own beer-related podcast called, "The Jared Veldbeer Podcast". Then, it's time for Matt and Sarah Luker from Transplants Brewing Company, two former homebrewers who turned pro after only two years!

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The LA craft beer scene keeps on expanding, and we're here for it. On today's show, Chris and Zambo from Paperback Brewing Company joins us as we talk about Chris' homebrewing path and how a random email led him to leave his high-falutin Hollywood advertising job to open a brewing in the heart of Glendale, CA ... eventually. Zambo takes us through six of his beers (or maybe it was seven), and gives us the scoop on how he blends hops, addresses supply chain issues, and specific details on kettle souring.

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Reno, Nevada is known as the Biggest Little City in the World, That rings true for a lot of what Reno has to offer, especially when it comes to it's craft beer scene. Lead Dog Brewing is part of a growing number of breweries in the Reno-Sparks area, boasting an incredible resume of beers at any given time. Today on the show, we chat with Thomas Wisdom about how Lead Dog got started, what kinds of beers they are making, and how to move forward in an ever-changing marketplace.

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Bakersfield has been experiencing a massive growth in the craft beer scene over these last few years, and today we chat with one of those breweries that keeps pushing things forward - Temblor Brewing Company. The folks at Temblor have a knack for using ingredients in an evenly-handed way, and that shows in the beers they produce!

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Chris Graham has appeared on The Session in the past to tell us the best ways to homebrew on the cheap. However, we felt it was time to get him back on to go the other way and tell us all the cool high-end homebrew gadgets on the market today! Before we get to that, though, JP and Chris chat about Chris' hike up to the peak of Mt. Whitney, where he and business partner Olin, brewed a batch of pale ale at over 14,000 feet!

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Non-alcoholic beer has been pretty straight-forward for decades. Light lagers with nothing really to them. The team at Athletic Brewing set out to change that back in 2018, and they haven't looked back since. Creating flavorful craft beers with no alcohol is the mission, and Athletic is making that mission a success.

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Located in Raytown, Missouri, Crane Brewing Company has been turning out creative beers since 2015. On today's show, we chat with Chris Meyers, co-founder of Crane Brewing, to learn a bit about his brewing background, what crazy beers they are dreaming up, and how Crane is involved in supporting their local community.

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Out of the shadows of The Rare Barrel steps Berkeley's latest craft brewery ... Hello Friend! Located on the "clean side" of The Rare Barrel brewery, Hello Friend is driving loads and loads of non-soured beer into the hands of the masses here in the Bay Area. Today, we chat with Stephan and Tommy of Hello Friend, to find out just what it takes to keep the sour side sour and the clean side clean. Plus, Nate and Teresa join JP tonight, to coach him through the plethora of IPA.

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Having an abundance of lagers in the market might be new to some of us, but for the state of Kansas, it's just called "the menu". So how does a brewery choose to pair down their craft offerings and target the Standard American Lager market in a state that practically drinks nothing but those styles of beers? The boys from Kansas Territory Brewing join JP on this week's show to talk about that choice, and how they made a pivot like that work for them.

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The city of Bend, Oregon, is somewhat of a mecca of craft beer in the Pacific Northwest. Smack dab in the middle of that scene is Tony Lawrence, owner and brewer at Boneyard Beer. Tony has been in the game since the '90's, and has seen the social kaleidoscope change what beer is back and forth over the years, but that hasn't changed his views on what makes beer BEER. Tony chats with us about hist brewing history, how he approaches making a new beer, and his new CBD venture.

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What is your definition of "local brewery"? If the answer is simply tied to geography, get ready to expand that idea a bit more, as Kelsey and Matthew from Exhibit 'A' Brewing Company join this episode of The Session! The brewers at Exhibit 'A' have made it their mission to use as much locally grown grain as possible in their beers, and that commitment to quality is paying off in the end product. Plus, they love cats, so you know JP was happy to talk to them!

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Oregon is known for great beer and wine, but their cider scene deserves some of the spotlight, too. Dave Takish, from 2 Towns Ciderhouse in Corvallis, joins The Session to talk about all things cider! He goes into some cider history, cidermaking methods, apple varieties - and much more. It was a great talk, paired with even better 2 Towns Cider.

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Producing great-tasting, consistent sour beer is tough, but the folks at Alesong Brewing and Blending make it seem easy! Maybe it's the numerous awards they have won at the Great American Beer Festival, or their approach to ingredients and blending. Whatever the secret is, you can count on Alesong to release some fantastic beers. We had a great time chatting and drinking beers with Doug and Brian Coombs, and trying to learn a bit more on what makes a great mixed fermentation beer!

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A bit of paradise comes to The Session, as Hana Koa brewing joins us for a chat and a few beers! Lagers seem to be the topic of the day, as we discuss the drinking habits of Hana Koa customers. Don't worry, there's some hazy beer talk as well! There was even some mild singing involved ...

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From homebrewers to craft beer brewers, Bailey and Chris opened Crusader Brewing to bring great beer to their community. Located in Bakersfield, CA, Crusader aims to produce beer that engages the local beer drinker, and hopefully drags them away from macro beer in the process. We chat about how they are doing just this - and more - on today's show!

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Legendary homebrew guru John Palmer joined the cast of The Session to bring us back to our homebrewing roots! With the help of Dr. Homebrew co-host Brian Schar, John jumps in-depth into several homebrewing fundamentals that we should all know in order to brew good beer, and some stuff that we don't need to worry about as much.

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California has a rich beer brewing history - from kicking the whole "micro beer" phase off, to housing some of the most influential breweries on the market today. Now, We can say we have a 100% gluten-free brewery within our borders! Buck Wild Brewing, out of Oakland CA, is California's first and only all gluten-free brewery. Not Gluten-reduced ... gluten-free. That's a big deal. Today we chat with Mike, founder of Buck Wild, to learn more about his journey into homebrewing, and how that led him to open his own place.

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Vista, CA might just be flying under your craft beer radar, folks. Five Suits Brewing is part of the larger San Diego beer scene, and the city of Vista was just named "Best Craft Beer Community" by fellow beer drinkers. Nick, brewer and owner of Five Suits, walks us through a few of his more popular beers, and discusses how the breweries in this small-ish town have built Vista into a great place to have a beer in!

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There's no shortage of good beer in New Mexico, and to prove that, we chat with John and Tyler from Rowley Farmhouse Ales, out of Santa Fe. Rowley has been playing with a number of unique yeast strains and beer styles, dialing in their processes and recipes, all while making drinkable, tasty beer. The Rowley boys clue us in on their beer-making philosophy, and what it takes to make it in the beer world of Santa Fe.

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Sure, middle America is basically LagerTown USA, but not all beers being produced out there have to fit within that cold-stored mold. The boys at McFleshman's Brewing are churning out some well-crafted English ales, in addition to their lager line up. We talk about how offering a wide variety of both German and English-style beers has been for the community, as well as what it's like to run several beer engines at the pub.

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Listening to The Brewing Network won't get you much, but it WILL get you a ton of great brewing information, and sometimes that's enough. In fact, it was just what Chad needed to open Grey Wolf Brewing in Norco, CA. Drawing on his homebrewing knowledge - and probably a ton of information from TBN - Chad is turning his community into a craft beer center, one drinker at a time.

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If the military taught Joshua Romaker one thing, it's how to overcome obstacles. From his early days as a homebrewer, to his unique ways of generating enough money to open his brewery, not much held Joshua down. On today's show, we learn a bit more about The Star Spangled Brewing Company, Josh's head brewer Allen, and the beer style they are trying to create.

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Liquid Gravity Brewing is the brain-child of Brendan Gough. Coming from such breweries as Central Coast and Firestone-Walker, Brendan achieved his goal of opening his own space in January of 2020. Then the lockdown hit, spinning his plans off into deep space. We chat with Brendan about his journey into craft, how he approaches tailoring recipes to his unique setup, and what the pandemic meant to him and how he course-corrected.

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Portland is home to one of the best beer scenes in the country. So how does a brewery make a name for itself in the land of Craft? Today we chat with Adam and Andrew from Old Town Brewing to talk about just that. From IPAs to Red Ales to Pilsner, Old Town is turning out some great craft beer in the Pacific NW!

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Ronin Fermentation Project, buried deep in the Sierras of California, is the passion project of Charlie Johnson. Charlie joined Teresa and JP to chat about his craft beer timeline, traveling during COVID, and how to find success making beer in a small town nobody has ever heard of.

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The world of Sake and the world of Beer tend to run parallel at times. They both are steeped in tradition, and they both have their fair share of folks who want those traditions to stay the same. Then there are brewers like Josh, who come in and try to shake things up a bit. Josh started Setting Sun Sake to introduce sake to the beer world, and his approach seems to be working. Come and learn about how sake is made, and why Josh wants to upset the sake cart.

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Brewing in Arizona presents it's challenges, but Luke and the team at Wren House are doing some great things out in the desert. Of course there are the standard hazy IPAs, and we taste a couple of those on the show, but there is also enough room up on the beer board for a steady stream of lagers. Luke cluses us in on the production of these beers, and how things are going for this young-ish Arizona brewery.

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Eric Baumann is the brewer/distiller/owner of Karrikin Spirits. Located in Cincinnati, Ohio, Karrikin is pushing out some great beers, while also innovation on their spirits side. We talk with Eric about what got him into beer, how he made his journey back home to Cinci, and how you market cocktails in a can when they aren't really cocktails.

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Joran and Shawn - the two guys behind Halfway Crooks Beer - come from two very different backgrounds, but somehow still managed to meet up and combine their passion for lagers (and weird beer labels) into something magical. Sully and JP chat about lager beer, brewery vibes, and having an inviting brand that the sole purpose is to push lagers unto the masses.

Lagers.

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From his early days in the craft beer scene, Dave McLean had always been interested in the malting process. Fast forward 20 years, and dave is now heading up a craft malt house in Alameda, Ca, providing freshly malted grain to brewers and distillers nationwide. How important is fresh malt? Are there any funny puns to be made in the malt world? How erotic can ice cream really be? Find out all these answers and more on this episode of The Session!

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Keeping the Pacific Northwest covered in lager beer isn't an easy task. Lucky for them, there's Kevin and the folks from Wayfinder Beer! Located in Portland, Or, Wayfinder is primarily a lager house that also does a fair amount of ale brewing. But when your flagship is a Helles (with a 4-step mash), you're probably doing lagers right.

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The Bay Area craft beer scene is ever-growing, and today on The Session, we talk to one of the fresh faces making great beer out here - Five Suns Brewing. Jess Jackson, owner and brewer at this Martinez brewery, joined JP on this week's show to talk about his path from homebrewer to craft brewer, and how his small brewery is positioned to ride out the pandemic.

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Frequent guest and friend of the show Dave Marliave makes his return to The Session! Dave's history in brewing (and life) has been full of challenges, especially with the closing of Flat Tail brewing, but that didn't stop him from pushing forward and getting back into the craft beer game. New Spring, is Dave's latest project, and we were happy to catch up with him to talk about his journey to his new location, what New Spring means to him, and what he has coming on the horizon.

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Sitting in the "backpack" of Fairfield, sits Suisun City, home to True Symmetry Brewing Company. Jason, brewer and owner of True Symmetry, comes on The Session to talk about his days as a homebrewer, his move to pro, and what a small brewery has to do these days to stay open. Jason and JP are also joined by Jamil and Teresa - plus two special guests!

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As 2020 winds down, what better way to shift into a new year than to have a whole show dedicated to homebrewing? We invited Marshall Schott from Brulosophy on the show to give us the five more popular homebrewing subjects (according to brulosophy.com), and a little bit about each experiment.

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Joe Kesteloot is our guest today, from Peace Tree Brewing out of Knoxville, Iowa. Peace Tree is known in the area for their stubby bottles, and their best-selling Belgian Blonde Ale, of all things! We talked about his short-lived days as a homebrewer, making the jump to professional, and sample a few of his beers!

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Jamil and the Heretic Brewing team are known for making world-class beers. So when we realized they are also crafting some great canned cocktails, we were intrigued. The canned cocktail market is big, but the products have usually been sub-par. Today we chat with Jamil about how he approaches the cocktails Heretic makes, and how it's similar and yet different than crafting beer.

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Red Clay Brewing, from Alabama, Zoomed back into The Session this week. Having just been on last year, they have a lot to talk about - mainly their collaborations with Master Sommelier Emmanuel Kemijii. We chatted about using weird ingredients while still trying to adhere to some sense of beer styles. Among the usual beer chatter.

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Mother Road Brewing Company definitely walks the walk. Located in Flagstaff, Arizona, they are a company that is committed to providing a supportive workplace for their employees, as well as including their local community in the direction of their beers. Michael's brewery is set up for success, inside and out, and we had a great time chatting with him!

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The Brewing Network got together to pay our respects to Mike "Tasty" McDole. His passing leaves a gigantic Tasty Cookie-sized hole in our hearts, both on and off the air. Tasty's impact in our lives can never be measured, but it can be celebrated, and that is what we tried to do with this social distanced foregathering.

Tasty was a brother to us all, and we'll miss him. Join us as we raise a pint in his honor.

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Last time Lee Bakofsky was on The Session, he was brewing beer for Eagle Rock Brewing, one of the staples of the LA craft beer scene. Now, he's moved to a brand new brewery called Party Beer Co., so we chat with him to learn all about how you transition jobs as a brewer - and open a new spot - during a pandemic.

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Today on The Session we are joined by the fine people from Imperiale Beer Project, in Brentwood, California. Not only are they still in business during the pandemic, but they opened their doors at the height of the California shelter-in-place announcement. We chat with former homebrewer and Club D.O.Z.E. member Vito DeLucchi, and owners Brandon and Jessica Freel, on how this whole project came to be, and how things have progressed since opening.

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In the age of COVID, breweries are finding it harder and harder to find their way through the shutdowns and into a survivable business model. Danville Brewing Company is no exception. We chat with brewer Matt Sager, to find out how the shutdown affected him, how they fought their way back into the marketplace, and what happened to all that beer they had to let sit in the tanks while they were closed.

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Hop Revolution & Hallertau Brewery from New Zealand join the Session to talk hops, COVID-19 & more. Tune in and find out about how New Zealand's newest hop farm's first harvest went back in February & March. Also, Hallertau Brewmaster Stephen Plowman talks about what makes New Zealand hops so special.

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COVID-19 has flipped the craft beer industry on its head, but what happens when you have to move your entire brewery in 26 days during a pandemic? Dave Marliave from Flat Tail Brewing Company knows exactly how that goes, and we chat with him on this Shutdown Special.

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Gary Glass from the American Homebrewers Association joins The Session, along with Brian Cooper & Oleg Shpyrko, who are both running for Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) Regional Rep positions. Learn about HomebrewCon online from Gary, and how you can vote for your West Coast Regional Rep for the BJCP from Brian and Oleg.

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Alex Wallash and Jay Goodwin from The Rare Barrel join us on another special edition of The Session during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

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Natalie & Vinnie Cilurzo from Russian River Brewing Company join us for this COVID-19 Special Edition of The Session. In yet another format change (sorry folks), we have been streaming live video to Facebook a couple times a week in order to bring more content home to you. As part of that, we decided to record the audio and make it part of our Session podcast feed as well. So that is what you are hearing here. Tune in and find out what one of America's most celebrated breweries is doing to stay alive and keep us all stocked with fresh beer during the pandemic. You can also find the live video interview on our Facebook Page.

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In this COVID special edition of The Session, we are joined by Arizona Wilderness Brewing Company from Gilbert, Arizona. The brewery was hit pretty hard by the shutdown, but share their story of resilience and compassion in this candid interview.

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In this special, and weird episode of The Session, we change formats to meet the demands of the current global pandemic crisis. Host Justin Crossley is back in the studio, but this time all by himself to try and make a little sense of what's happening, and how The Brewing Network intends to proceed as we all attempt to get through this. As part of the process, J interviews Nico Freccia, Co-Founder of 21st Amendment Brewery, to discuss lender forgiveness for breweries during the crisis.

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In light of the current shelter-in-place situation we find ourselves in here in the Bay Area, we decided to postpone this weeks Session with True Symmetry Brewing, and instead have cut together a few clips from past shows. We even have a current interview from Justin and our pals down at Hop Revolution in New Zealand! It's a great mix of old BN and current topics, and we hope you enjoy it. Sully and Teresa joined JP as he introduces these clips, recorded in his tiki room (hence the photo).

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Aram Cretan and Matt Hunter, two of the guys behind Federation Brewing Company, traveled from the Port of Oakland to be on The Session and to tell their story. They not only brought several beers for us to talk about, but they brought some laughs and some good stories about coming up in an industry that ebbs and flows like most others. especially with the coronavirus rapidly spreading around the world. Sully and Tasty join JP as host for this fun and exciting chat about local beer!

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The Session continues as we welcome David Lin of Comrade Brewing Company out of Denver, Colorado. David won two medals at the 2019 Great American Beer Festival, as well as being named "Small brewery of the Year"! We talk about moving from homebrewer to brewery owner, making killer IPAs, and how a brewery can be responsible and take care of its employees while still being successful.

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Del Cielo Brewing, out of Martinez, CA, joins us in the studio for this episode of "The Session"! Owners Luis and Cielomar take us through the evolution of this almost two-year-old brewery. From Luis' homebrewing days to his current position as head brewer - and everything in between! Plus, it's the triumphant return of Kim Schimke to the studio, so join us as she goes into too much detail about her stint in the hospital and her road to recovery!

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In this special bonus episode of The Session, we take the show on the road to Sierra Nevada Brewing Company's Torpedo Room, in Berkeley, California. As part of Sierra Nevada's 40th Anniversary celebrations, they have fixed the original brewhouse that Founder, Ken Grossman, built by hand to a trailer to take it on the road. We catch up with Ken at the Torpedo Room, along with Charlie "The Pope of Foam" Bamforth, for an exclusive interview about innovation in brewing. Along the way, we get some really cool stories from both brewing legends, share a few laughs, and find out what they really think about craft beer and innovation in the industry...

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Livermore is the edge of the East Bay beer scene, but there's no shortage of great breweries out there. Today we talk with one of those - Shadow Puppet Brewing! Craig Danielson and Will Hutchison hung out in the studio and shared six of their tasty beers with JP and Sully. These guys have a knack for producing not only nice lagers, but drinkable high gravity beers. We talk all about that and more on this episode of The Session!

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This week on The Session, we are joined in the studio by Revision Brewing Company from Sparks, Nevada. We are joined by Co-Founders and Brewers, Jeremy Warren and Jeb Taylor, as well as Co-Founder and VP of Sales and Marketing, Darla Robert. Revision comes in to a studio rattled by Justin's sudden fall from sobriety, but counters with a stellar list of award winning beers that excite us all. This one is a show for the books folks, so just tune in and listen to the mayhem!

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This week on The Session, we welcome Crucible Brewing from Washington State. We are joined by President and Head Brewer, Dick Mergens, who brought us a healthy sampling of beers to try. Dick doesn't believe in having a house yeast, having brewed with over 30 different strains, and his creativity shines in the sample he brought. His sour beer, Rest In Peaches, almost makes Justin ditch is sober experiment! Tune in and get all the info from one of Washington's finest.

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Ocean View Brew Works from Albany, California, joins us in-studio on this episode of The Session. A small, community-based brewery, the OVBW team make some great beers and aren't afraid to buck the current climate and brew classic styles that they love. We get to try a stellar American Lager, a Bitter that's not bitter, a French Ale that we love (and they argue about), and a Black Lager that takes the cake. Tune in and learn about their process, techniques, and one of the coolest little communities in the Bay Area.

Plus an update on Justin's sobriety...WTF is the world coming to?!?

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The Session is back this week after the long holiday break with Downtown Sacramento's Alaro Craft Brewery. Owner, Ray Ballestero, and Head Brewer, Chris Keeton, join us in the studio and tell us about the unique history of Alaro, which opened in an iconic craft beer location in Midtown Sacramento. With big shoes to fill, the Alaro team set themselves apart, while also paying homage to a California craft beer pioneer, Rubicon Brewing Company. Tune in and learn about the beer, the food, and why Alaro values elegance over gimmicks in their entire concept.

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Charlie Bamforth, A.K.A Dr. Bubbles, joins us once again on this episode of The Session. Last we spoke to Charlie, he was just about to go into retirement from the UC Davis Brewing Science Program. However, that hasn't slowed Charlie down one bit! The doctor has two books on the way, including In Praise Of Beer, which is available for pre-order now. He's also been consulting for the legendary Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, writing about football (the real kind, he says), and keeping a close eye on the beer industry he's been working in for over 30 years.

Later in the show, we get a visit from some Brewcasters that we haven't heard from in quite some time. Tune in and end 2019 Brewing Network style in this episode of The Session!

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Block Three Brewing Company from Ontario, Canada, joins us on this episode of The Session to talk about Canadian Craft Beer. Tune in as Co-Founder, Graham Spence, and Head Brewer, Kevin Freer, teach us about Canadian Craft Beer and the beers of Block Three Brewing. With a heavy focus on barrel-aged and mixed fermentation beers, we learn about their techniques, including the use of a koelship to produce unique fermentation profiles.

To wrap things up, we spend a good amount of time discussing the state of the Craft Beer industry in the U.S. and argue about what it means to be "craft". It's a good ol' classic long show where we let our colors fly...

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This week on The Session, we welcome Mike Marr, Owner and Brewmaster at Buffalo Creek Brewing, from Long Grove, IL. to the show. Mike specializes in traditional German and Belgian style ales and lagers, with a few other styles sprinkled in to appease his homebrew roots and add variety.

There might be a little meltdown in there too...

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Flatland Brewing Company from Elk Grove, CA. joins us in studio on this episode of The Session. Co-Owner/Brewer, Andrew Mohsenzadegan, and Brewer/Cellar Dweller, Mack Sant talk to us about how they got started brewing, and how sour beer is their passion.

We also hear about J's private parts, and a new plan to bring the BN in the road in 2020!

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Jason and Ryan from Ogopogo Brewing came all the way up from San Gabriel, CA to hang out with The Session crew, and the result was a great bit of radio. Both guys are former homebrewers and have large amounts of brewing knowledge, in addition to having an extensive background brewing at large facilities. Brewing a wide range of beers - from hazy to lager - Ryan and Jason work hard to bring quality beer to market.

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In this episode of The Session, 2019 National Homebrew Competition Ninkasi winners, Nicholas McCoy and Jeff Poriot, discuss homebrewing for competition. This duo of champion homebrewers go through every detail of how they approach brewing for competitions and share their knowledge with us. From choosing what competitions and categories to enter, to deciding on specific ingredients to use, Nick and Jeff cover it all.

We also learn about how Justin narrowly avoided spending 72 hours in jail while in Mexico for Cerveza Mexico...

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In this episode of The Session, we welcome the crew from Alvarado Street Brewing Company, out of Monterey and Salinas, California. We are joined by Co Owner and Director of Brewing, JC Hill and Lead Brewer and Haze Master General, Biggie. Alvarado Street has made some serious waves in the Craft Beer world with their stellar beers and focus on hop forward hazies and IPA's. Tune in and learn how to get the most out of your hops with tips and tricks from one of the best in the west!

We also check in with our friends from Hop Revolution in New Zealand to find out how their first ever crop of New Zealand hops are progressing.

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In this episode of The Session, we speak to John Corbin and Kerry McGinnis from Red Clay Brewing Company in Opelika, AL. Red Clay focuses on getting classic styles right and they prove it to us with a great Heffeweizen, Scotch Ale, Biere DeGuarde, and more. We also get a follow up from everyone's new favorite feedback listener, Ron, and we sadly, say goodbye to Beardy...

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This week on The Session, we speak with Common Roots Brewing Company out of South Glens Falls, New York. These folks have an incredible story after suffering a devastating fire at their brewery that nearly wiped them off the map. Now, just months later, we learn about their amazing recovery, the community that supports them, and of course, the beer that just couldn't be left in the ashes. Christian and Bert Weber share their inspiring tail with us as we taste some of there wonderful craft beer creations.

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This week on The Session, we welcome the folks from The Tap Brewery, from Bloomington, Indiana to our studios. We are joined by Head Brewer, Jarrod May, Assistant Brewer, Matt Grimm, and Cellarperson, Zach Rapattoni. Tune in and learn about this fast growing brewery and their focus on classic styles, turning out tons of different beer styles each year. They also brew a lot with local honey, unique fruits, and other diverse adjuncts to keep things interesting in the brew house. We also hear from our good friend Dave Marliave at Flat Tail Brewing, and you really won't believe his response to an angry listener email he received...

As heard in this episode, check out our newest sponsor, Manscaped, and get 20% off, with free shipping, when you use coupon code BREWING.

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Winning a medal at the National Homebrew Competition is the dream of many of us. On this week's Session, we talk with four homebrewers who have achieved that dream in order to learn all we can about how they are making some of the best beer in the country. Not only did we get some great tips, but these guys were kind enough to give us the recipes for their respective medal-winning beers, plus some tidbits needed to replicate them perfectly. So settle in, sharpen that pencil, and get ready for some homebrew geekdom!

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In this episode of The Session, we are excited to welcome New Zealand's newest, and largest, single hop farm, Hop Revolution. Founder and plant scientist, Susan Wheeler, and CEO Jason Judkins, came all the way from New Zealand to visit American craft breweries and appear on our show to talk about their exciting new venture. We learn about the history of hop farming in New Zealand, as well as Hop Revolution's unique founding that is tied to rugby star, Terry McCashin, from the famous All Blacks. Susan and Jason are surprisingly, and refreshingly, forthcoming about the project ahead of them and how much they have to learn and how they will lean heavily on brewers to guide them all the way through their first harvest in 2020. Tune in and get the scoop on this exciting new hop venture!

We're also joined by Shaun O'Sullivan from the 21st Amendment brewery, and get a visit from Kim Schimke of @kimsbaybrews fame (and also our Brewing Network social media minion).

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This week on The Session, we welcome Harmony and Levi Fried from Long Beach Beer Lab to the studio. Levi and Harmony have extensive education, training, and professional experience...in medical science and classic pastry making and baking. And this is where the fun begins! The dynamic duo left their previous careers behind to marry their passions (personally and literally) and open a beer lab (brewery) and bakery in Levi's hometown of Long Beach, California. Today we learn how the two met and how they ended up here, sharing incredible creations and living their dream of owning their own business together. Levi is also on a mission to document the results, and find the perfect scenario, to produce the perfect quick fermentation beers with Kveik Yeast. By our taste tests, he's getting close. And finally, much to our surprise, we get a visit from Mike "Tasty" McDole who jumps back on the mic and is definitely his good ol' self. It's a classic Session you shouldn't miss!

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In this episode of The Session, we are joined by Brewmaster and Co-Owner, Justin Beardsley, from Eight Bridges Brewing Company, out of Livermore, California. Eight Bridges focuses on producing difficult styles very well, and puts quality control at the top of their list of priorities. We learn about Justin's refusal to use inferior ingredients, and how he started with humble homebrewing roots and has now built a successful family craft beer business.

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Humble Sea Brewing Company from Santa Cruz, CA. joins us in-studio on this episode of The Session. Cofounder and Brewmaster Nick Pavlina, along with Cofounder and Creative Director Frank Scott Krueger, talk to us about their very humble beginnings (no pun intended), and how they managed to start their brewery with a one barrel brew system and $10,000. Today they make their creations on a 10 barrel system and serve out of their Santa Cruz tasting room. We learn about their delicious beers, unique philanthropic efforts, and the clever system they have devised to name all of their beers. We also just have a great time getting to know them, and might have even managed not to insult them in the process. Or did we...?

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Lynn Litchfield from Toasted Barrel Brewery came all the way out from Salt Lake City, Utah, to be on The Session with us. As a long-time Brewing Network Listener, he felt it was the only way to do it! Lynn is a former homebrewer/barber/concrete guy who became a commercial brewer/concrete guy/barber on the side. Some things never change, I guess. Lynn's focus is on kettle sours and mixed fermentation, with a few IPA's thrown in for good measure. 

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In this episode of The Session, we are joined by Marcus Baskerville from Weathered Souls Brewing Company in San Antonio, Texas. Marcus flew out to join us in-studio and brought some incredibly unique creations to share. From a stellar American Light Lager (brewed with a very unique yeast from White Labs, WLP925 High Pressure Lager Yeast) to an Imperial Milk Stout that he boiled for 24 hours, Marcus runs the gamut of styles and does them all very well. We also get to meet his family, which includes his retired Correctional Officer and proud father (we get great stories our of him) and his cousin (also our good friend) Terrence The Black. We round out the show with a bit of beer news that Sully shares his expertise on, and end with a bang after a good ol' fashioned 3 hour Session.

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East Brother Beer Company, from Richmond, CA. joins us in the studio for this episode of The Session. Head Brewer, Paul Liszewski and Co-Founder, Rob Lightner, share with us their incredibly well made craft beer, focusing on classic styles, fresh from the brewery. We get to taste killer examples of Vienna Lager, Bohemian Pils, Oatmeal Stout, and West Coast Double IPA. Each one nails the style and reminds us of why we brewcast. We also learn about the unique community they reside in, that has a long history in the San Francisco Bay Area, and is worthy of  its own brewery the likes of East Brother.

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This week on The Session, we welcome Ian McCall from Riip Beer Company in Huntington Beach, California. Riip  started out as a nano brewery using a MoreBeer Brew Sculpture to craft their beers. Today, they are an award winning brewery destination with some serious brewing chops. Tune in and learn about their fabulous beers (we're big fans now!). Also, JP, Sully and Justin reminisce about the old days of the BN and we learn about Sully being super-human on last week's show after a major health crisis. 

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This week on The Session, we are joined in-studio by Burgeon Beer Company, out of Carlsbad, California. Listen in as Co-Founder and Head Brewer, Anthony Tallman, and Co-Founder and Director of Operations, Derek Van Leeuwen, talk to us about their unique and charitable business model that supports environmental initiatives. We'll also learn about their love of hoppy beers, of which many of theirs have earned them medals.

In addition to all the great Burgeon Beer discussion, we celebrate the return our great friend Shaun "Sully" O'Sullivan, from the 21st Amendment Brewery, as a recurring co-host on the show!

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Ghost Town Brewing, from Oakland, California, joins us in-studio to talk about how hoppy beers are not what they seem. We are joined by Head Brewer, Justin Burdt, and owner, Ryan Nosek, to talk about their lightening fast growth and love of unique hops. We revitalize an old discussion on early IBU's vs. late additions, learn about some old school recipe techniques, and taste some great examples of several styles of great craft beer!

We also reminisce about old fan songs dedicated to Beevo, and the crew declares who, in all of history, each of the Brewcasters would like to hug...

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The Session crew heads up to Windsor, CA to broadcast live from the all new Russian River Brewing Company! Vinnie and Natalie Cilurzo invited us to their spectacular new brewery for a day of tours, fun and incredible beer. To round out the day, we set up in the entirely unique, and so so cool, Koelschip room. Vinnie and Natalie custom built this room to create spontaneously fermented beer, and even filled it with wort that day so that one day in the future (maybe 2-3 years) we will have a Brewing Network, spontaneously fermented, Koelschip beer!

Tune in and learn all about the new brewery and so much more. Plus, one of our favorite parts of the day was when we made Beardy do a blind taste test of a Russian River hazy beer AND a Russian River clear beer. After all the comments about his dislike of the hazy style, tune in and find out if he can really taste the difference...

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This week on The Session we welcome Solid Ground Brewing, from Diamond Springs, CA. to the studio. We are joined by co-owners KC Sare and Scott Johnson. These guys love brewing clean fermented, continental ales and lagers, but they bring us some big surprises! They've got some big brewery process chops that they use in their brew house that gives them a unique perspective on craft beer. But what sets them apart is their attention to detail and their combination of viticulture and brewing science to create craft beer that defies its own category.

We are also joined by one of our favorite homebrew guru's, Gary Glass, to talk to us about this year's HomebrewCon in Providence, RI. And later, we get a call from Dave Marliave, from Flat Tail Brewing, (or Marliavoovooveevov as we like to call him...sometimes) who is on another quest to save the world, while defiling himself. But it's for a truly wonderful cause that's close to our hearts here at the BN and we hope you'll give it a listen and even support his heroic efforts.

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This week on The Session, we welcome the folks from Baerlic Brewing Company, from Portland, OR. to the studio! We are joined by Baerlic President, Ben Parsons, CEO, Rik Hall and Lead Brewer, Stephen “The Bear” Helwig. Learn about how and why Baerlic is Portland's largest self-distributed craft brewery, as well as why they have some strange obsession with denim vests... And they share some damn good beer with us! Also, we get a visit from a couple of old friends that remind us of the good ol' days! And if that's not enough, we introduce you to our newest team member and co-host, Teresa Psuty, from Crooked Lane Brewing Company in Auburn, CA.

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This week on The Session, we are joined by our old friend Christian Hood (a.k.a. Krotchrott) from the very early days of The Brewing Network. Well Christian is all grown up now with his very own brewery, Swan Brewing, in Lakeland, FL. We get to try many of their unique creations (Imperial Coffee Blonde anyone?) and learn about the long journey from homebrewer to professional brewer from one of our favorite listeners of all time.

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Allegory Brewing from McMinnville, Oregon joins us in the studio this week on The Session. Founder, David Sanguinetti and Head Brewer, Charlie Van Meter, bring us some of there excellent Pacific Northwest creations and collaborations. Hailing from the Willamette Valley in Oregon, Allegory sources many local hops, fruits and other ingredients to keep their beer fresh and uniquely Oregon.

We are also joined by our friend (and Social Media Director) Kim Schimke, who spends the whole show with us this week and makes some crazy suggestions about team building exercise for the BN crew. Oh, and Justin has a breakthrough when talking about his team of mental health professionals...

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This week on The Session, we welcome Ryan Wagner from the Guinness Open Gate Brewery and Barrel House in Baltimore, MD. Ryan takes us through the transformation in brewing and brewing projects that Guinness has been undertaking in recent years. We get to try some of the classic Guinness beers as well as a few of the new beers they have recently launched. Tune in and learn more about this historic brewing icon and find out what else we can expect from Guinness in the coming years!

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This week on The Session we welcome Sunriver Brewing Company, from Sunriver, OR. to the show. We are joined by Director of Brewing Operations, Brett Thomas. Brett takes us through the history and expansion of Sunriver Brewing, as well as a few of their delicious beers. A self-proclaimed "Hop Guy", Brett makes the Pacific Northwest proud with his flavorful and hoppy brews, which earned Sunriver Small Brewing Company and Small Brewing Company Brewer of the Year honors at the 2017 Great American Beer Festival. Brett gives us a few tips and tricks about using hop extracts from Yakima Chief Hops, and impresses us all with with how Sunriver embraces changes in the craft beer marketplace.

We are also joined by our long time friend Lucas Ohio, who performs a couple live songs for us to get us ready for his upcoming set at Spring Brews Fest 2019!

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This week on The Session, we welcome Cleophus Quealy Beer Company, from San Leandro, CA, to the studio to talk about their unique take on craft beer. Owner and Brewmaster, Dan Watson, along with General Manager, Jessica Clare, talk to us about their penchant for beers that don't adhere to mainstream styles and process. 60% of their beers come out of their exciting barrel program, with a strong focus on sours, saisons, fruited, and mixed fermentation beers. Tune in and learn all about the wonderful beers of Cleophus Quealy and take away some techniques you can use in your brewery too!

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This week on The Session, we welcome Secret Trail Brewing Company from Chico, CA. to the studio! Owner and Head Brewer, Charlie Barrett, Assistant Brewer, Jake Dickman, and Sales Rep, Monte Cano, all chime in to tell the stories behind the beers of Secret Trail. We'll learn about how Secret Trail changed zoning laws in Chico to allow for a brewery taproom like theirs, as well as how they stepped up to help the community after the tragic Campfire devastated the region. We also talk about their unique uses of Kolsch yeast, their take on traditional styles, and we have a ol' fashioned Session meltdown, complete with a Justin rant!

Tune in and learn all about one of Northern California's newest and most exciting breweries and have fun with the crew from the BN and Secret Trail!

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This week on The Session, we welcome Bale Breaker Brewing Company from Yakima, Washington.

Crafting fresh-off-the-farm brews from the middle of a hop field, Bale Breaker is a family-owned brewery located in the Yakima Valley. Backed by four generations of hop farming experience, Bale Breaker started in 2013, and has grown to become the fifth largest independent craft brewery in Washington.

Hops are in the family's DNA: the great-grandparents of sibling-owners Meghann Quinn, Kevin "Smitty" Smith, and Patrick Smith first planted hops in the Yakima Valley in 1932, the year before Prohibition ended. Now, Meghann, Smitty, Patrick and Meghann's husband Kevin Quinn are crafting brews that celebrate the world-class hops grown in their backyard.

With a 30-barrel brewhouse at a 27,000 square foot facility, Bale Breaker crafts four year-round canned beers, including the widely celebrated Topcutter IPA, and a diverse offering of seasonal beers on draft. Tune in and learn more about Bale Breaker!

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This week on The Session we welcome long time friend of the Brewing Network, Garrett Marrero, from Maui Brewing Company. Garrett has made a career out of respecting local craft beer and has been building one of the best examples of how craft can engage, support, and enhance community. Learn about the origin of the ever popular Coconut Porter style of beer, as well as many other fantastic Maui brews as Garrett takes us through the history of his brewery and the beer styles that have helped define the nature of craft beer in America.

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The team at Laughing Monk Brewing has been supplying the San Francisco Bay Area with great Belgian-style beers since 2016. Their attention to detail and ensuring the beers are drinkable and full of flavor has made Laughing Monk a hot commodity on any tap list. Today on The Session, Amelia Franklin and Karl Bauermeister sit down with us and explain their philosophy on brewing not just Belgian-style beers, but any beer they turn out of their San Francisco brewery. Plus, they give us the scoop on what's in store for SF Beer Week!

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How does a cross-country bike ride in Spain lead to an 8-year journey to open a brewery in California? Well the founders of Camino Brewing Co. in San Jose, California did just that! Allen Korenstein and Nathan Poulos joined us in the studio tonight to talk about their epic journey from humble homebrew beginnings to a 10bbl setup in the South Bay. There, they brew everything from lagers to barrel-aged beers, all while keeping things approachable and fresh. Plus, they are both lawyers, so if you don't drink their beer, they will literally sue you.

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Sacramento, CA has been experiencing a flood of new breweries recently, and sitting at the heart of it is New Glory Craft Brewery. It's hard to imagine that a six-year-old brewery would be considered "old", but in this market anything goes. To tell us more about New Glory and the Sac brew scene, Kyle Leddy and Trevor Davies joined us in the studio - and they brought beer!

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Hailing from Spokane, Washington, The Hidden Mother Brewing has been making waves in the beer scene since February 2018. Mike and Remington (yes, that's his real name), made a special trip to the studio just to be interviewed by us. So already you know there is something wrong with these two. Mike also came dressed in a taco costume, which explains the puns.

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This week on The Session, we welcome The Booth Brewing Company to the show to talk about taking craft beer all the way from Seoul, South Korea to Eureka, California. The Booth started their brewing adventure in Seoul and recently opened a brewery in California to bring their special flavor to the largest craft beer market in the world. We are joined by Dave Franklin and Youngwon Lee, who tell us the story of The Booth and share a few of their favorite brews with us.

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This week on The Session we welcome The Civil Life Brewing Company to the show. Based out of St. Louis, MO, Head Brewer Dylan Mosley speaks with us about the session-able and English style ales that they specialize in. Learn about their brewing history, the St. Louis beer scene, and the techniques Dylan employs to keep their beer fresh as long as possible.

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This week on The Session, we welcome Chris Burcher from Wolf Hills Brewing Company, from Abingdon, VA. to the show. Chris talks to us about the rise of the hyper-local brewery and how he pulled back his distribution to focus on his own local market. We have a great, and refreshingly honest, discussion about how focusing on local allowed Wolf Hills to reduce costs and increase profitability. Chris found more accurate data in his local market that allowed him to better predict how his brewery would run when maximizing their local presence. Plus, we get to taste a huge mistake made in the brewery that turned out great, but leaves Chris with a decision to make on what to do with all that beer. Finally, we get to speak with our old friend Gary Glass from the American Homebrewers Association about the organizations 40th birthday, coming up on December 7th, 2018. Gary talks to us about their history, as well as some legislation being dealt with in North Carolina that affects homebrewers. To wrap it up, we discuss HomebrewCon 2019 and how excited we all are that it\'s in Providence, RI. this year! All in all, it\'s a fun show with some great info!

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This week on The Session, we welcome back to the studio Shaun O\'Sullivan from 21st Amendment Brewery, along with Dick Cantwell from Magnolia Brewing Company, as the two discuss their latest collaboration, Eclectic IPA Month. Each brewery will brew 6 artisanal craft beers, for a total of 12 IPA\'s for fans to enjoy throughout November. Tune in and learn what\'s new at Magnolia since Dick took the help, and what our old friend Sully has been up to as he continues to change the landscape of craft beer.

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This week on The Session, we welcome Evan Watson, Owner, Brewer and Co-Founder of Plan Bee Farm Brewery in Poughkeepsie, NY. Evan\'s brewery focuses on making beer exclusively from ingredients grown in the state of New York, with many of them grown right on the brewery farm. We learn about how Plan Beer Farm Brewery is able to create its own unique terroir by sourcing ingredients hyper-locally and creating a true farm to glass experience for their customers.

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This week on The Session, we welcome Mark Osborne, founder of Adroit Theory Brewing Company from Purcellville, Virginia. Mark tells us all about his small brewery that has brewed well over 600 different beers in just 4.5 years! They love variety and shared several of their current selections with us on the show, including BLVCK Celebration, and Imperial Porter brewed with Orio Cookies that was a big hit with the hosts. Justin tries to crush a full pint of the 9.9% ABV beer to prove how much he likes it. Tune in and find out how that went, as well as learn about the other brews the crew all loved.

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The folks from Epidemic Ales joined us in the studio for this episode of The Session. In addition to being Concord\'s only brewery, the team at Epidemic Ales are brewing the official beer of the 1st annual Concord Octoberfest! Learn all about how these beer-lovers started as homebrewers and grew into a commercial brewery that\'s already expanding despite being so young. We talk a little hop blend design, a bit of malt selection advice, and at the end of it Warren gives a homebrew recipe for a festbeer.

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This week on The Session we welcome Charlie Brodell, Head Brewer at Bent Paddle Brewing Co. from Duluth, MN. Charlie talks to us about their traditional styles, as well as a few new beers from their Unfusion Program. Tune in and learn about the great beers of Bent Paddle!

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This week on The Session, we welcome back our old friend Shaun \"Sully\" O\'Sullivan from the 21st Amendment Brewery, along with Fieldwork Brewing Company, to talk about their new collaboration beer, \"A Terrible Idea\" hazy IPA. The two breweries discuss their collaboration, why they chose hazy IPA as a style, and what you can expect from their newest craft beer.

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This week on The Session we welcome Armistice Brewing Company from Richmond, CA. This brother and sister duo teamed up to provide a local taproom experience for their community and offer the freshest beer possible. After homebrewing for years and winning multiple prestigious awards, Alex and Gregory Zobel decided to take their passion for great beer to the next level and opened Armistice. Tune in and learn about their quest to make the perfect hazy IPA, their love of English style ales, and how they opened their small brewery to serve their community.

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In this episode of The Session we speak to Ryan Holmes from Imperfect Produce about his beer project. Imperfect Produce fights food waste by finding a home for ‘ugly’ produce. They source it directly from farms and deliver it to customers’ doors for 30-50% less than grocery store prices. Ryan teamed up with local brewers to use their produce in unique beers as well. Learn about how the beer project got started and also hear from Orion Lakota, Head Brewer at Freewheel Brewing Company in Redwood City, Ca. about how they use Imperfect Produce in their beer.

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Nate Seale, head brewer at Family Business Beer Co., joins The Session to chat about the Texas craft beer scene, how to make his own beers stand out in an over-saturate market, and how having an actor as the owner of the brewery presents it\'s own new set of challenges. Family Business Beer Co. is owned by Jenson Ackles, of \"Supernatural\" fame, and has become somewhat of a pilgrimage for many fans of the TV show, craft beer knowledge aside. So what does it take to not only keep good beer flowing but also to be a hub for new beer fans? Find out!

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On this episode of The Session, Mary and Ross Hudspeth from Four Generals brewing in Renton, Washington joined us to talk about our favorite subject ... lagers! They sent us three lagers, an English Bitter, a Milk Stout, and of course ... a hazy IPA. It was enough beer to keep the style curmudgeons happy while still getting some progressive information out there. Which is rare.

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John Brand, owner and brewer over at Open Outcry Brewing in the Southside of Chicago, was our guest for this episode of The Session. Leaving his former life in the fast-paced world of futures trading to open a brewery,  John sent us a few examples of his handiwork, and clued us in on the world of Chicago, his neighborhood, and why he wouldn\'t dream of being anywhere else.

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The Bay Area has loads of great brewers, and no club represents that better than Club DOZE. A few DOZErs took home awards at the National Homebrew Competition, so we wanted to sit down with them to talk about their beers, their strategies, and hopefully get some recipes. Vito Delucci took Silver in Australian Sparkling Ale, and Sean Monahan won Bronze in American Barleywine - both were in studio for this homebrew-centric show. Plus, Sean brought in a few bottles of his beer to try - pretty cool!

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Craft Beer in Japan is on the rise, and today we talk to an expat who is helping that rise: Gareth Burns of Be Easy Brewing. Our old buddy Ry Beville, of the Japan Beer Times, brought Gareth and his brewer Masahiro - along with their \"everything\" gal Chika, all the way out from Northern Japan just for this show! Gareth was stationed in Japan and fell in love with not only his surroundings, but the craft beer scene there, and decided to make that his new career path. He brought along two beers for us to try - a Czech Pils and a Pale Ale - making JP and Tasty the first two folks in the US to try beer from Be Easy. Pretty cool! We also talked (and tasted) some regional Sake!

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This week on The Session, we welcome Lakefront Brewery from Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  Sibling founders, Russ and Jim Klisch, start the interview with tales of the early days of the brewery, which was founded in 1987. We\'ll learn about their days as homebrewers and what is was like to start one of the first craft breweries in the U.S. Later we are joined by Brewer Tyler Senz and Special Projects and Beer Engine/Hard Wood Specialist Derek Sproveri. Sharing healthy serving of fine beers with us, the team talks about their process, innovative sustainability program, one-off special beers, and much, much more.  

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The Great Mitch Steele returns to The Session! Just 5 months after opening New Realm Brewing in Atlanta, Mitch is back on the air with us, and we couldn\'t wait to crack open the beers he sent. Mitch talked a bit about why he chose Atlanta, his thoughts on hop blends, and how it feels to be brewing Pilsners and not just hoppy beers. It was a great show, for sure!

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Normally on The Session, we talk with brewers about the challenges they faced in gathering funds, securing a location, or even in working with their particular city. On today\'s show, we are joined by our good buddy/friend Dave Marliave from Flat Tail Brewing up in Corvallis, Oregon. Dave came all the way down to the studio to tell us about his issues in dealing with a couple of topics that we\'ve never really touched on before: distribution and franchise laws, and how these two things are contributing to the death of craft beer. Dave has been having numerous issues in these departments as of late, so this show is a catharsis of sorts for him, while providing a slew of great information at the same time.

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Joining the long list of homebrewers-who-listened-to-The-Brewing-Network-and-turned-pro, Teresa Psuty from Crooked Lane Brewing Company came into the studio today to talk about all things Crooked Lane. Teresa cam from a biotech background, and after attending brewing school - as well as learning from some of the best brewers in the state - she decided to open her own place up in Auburn, CA. Crooked Lane runs the spectrum of beers they produce: from Helles to Doppelbock, NEIPA to plain ol\' IPA, Teresa works hard to make sure she does the beer justice.

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Old school meets new school on today\'s episode of The Session, as we chat with the fellas from Brunswick Bierworks in Toronto, Canada! Mike Laba, co-founder and VP, and Lodewijk Swinkles, Brewmaster, give us a rundown of what Brunswick is all about. Turns out, they are a brewery custom built for partner brewing and collaborations, which is something we\'ve never heard of before. Lodewijk is a 7th generation brewer, and if that isn\'t enough of a pedigree, he came to Brunswick straight off of a 14-year stint at La Trappe! Needless to say the man knows how to brew beer.

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On this episode of The Session we take a turn toward the professional brewers and discuss California employment laws that affect your brewery. We are joined by legal expert Joel Van Parys from Carothers, DiSante and Freudenberger to help us wade through some of the common issues that arise with brewery employees. Learn about  best practices in hiring, day to day management, and even termination. It\'s another pro show here on The Brewing Network!

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Deep in the heart of Virginia, John Hovermale and the crew at Escutcheon Brewing are hard at work making a wide variety of great-tasting beers of both the warm and cold fermented variety. John spent some time with us going through his beers, the history of the company, and just what the hell an \"escutcheon\" even is.

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Russian River Brewing Company is back on The Session and we couldn\'t be happier! For the first time ever Natalie Cilurzo joins Vinnie in our studio and we\'re so happy to have her. The dynamic duo spend a ton of time with us talking about all thing Russian River, including their all new production brewery, currently under construction. We also dive into a few of the RR beers we\'ve come to know and love, and a couple we haven\'t talked about before. As always, Vinnie dishes out gems of brewing knowledge throughout the show, and Natalie talks about what takes place behind the scenes to build Russian River to where they want it to be, now, and into the future. Learn about what to expect from the new brewery as well as techniques that span sour, dry hop. malt, cool ships, lagers and more!

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This week on The Session we are joined by the legendary Speakeasy Ales and Lagers from San Francisco, CA. After operating as one of the longest running craft breweries in the U.S, Speakeasy had fallen on hard times recently, but has been revived anew and is back with the beer we\'ve come to know and love. Listen in as Clay Jordan, Director of Brewing Operations, tells us about the history of Speakeasy and how it has come to its current state in the industry. Plus, we get to share in some great classic Speakeasy beers that remind us of what craft beer is all about in California.

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This week on The Session we welcome Moksa Brewing Co. from Rocklin, CA. to the studio. Moksa is a very new craft brewery to the scene but has been making instant waves in the market. Tune in and learn from Head Brewer Derek Gallanosa, and Brewer Cory Meyer, about how they\'ve managed to hit the ground running and produce such great beers right out of the gate. We taste some of their first IPA\'s and Imperial Stout\'s, hear about collaboration brews and find out what makes Moksa tick.

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This week on The Session we welcome Modern Times Beer to the studio! We are joined by Barrel Program Specialist, Alex Williams, and Head of Special Projects, Andrew Schwartz, to talk to us about their employee owned brewery and craft beer. We dive into their love of fresh craft lagers and their robust barrel program. Alex and Andrew tell us all about their special yeast cultures and various projects from Modern Times.

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This week on The Session, we welcome Philipsburg Brewing Company from Philipsburg, MT to the studio! We are joined by Ben Johnson, Head Taproom Brewer, who brought us a TON of beer to taste. We learn about the many different styles they create, as well as their brand new small batch/barrel aged/sour series and get to be some of the first to taste the beer. We also learn about their many efforts to support their local community and their innovative packaging approach.

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This week on The Session we are very proud to welcome the legendary Sierra Nevada Brewing Company into the studio with us! We are joined by Beer Content Manager Terrence Sullivan and Head Innovative Brewer James Conery. Terrence has a hand in just about everything with Sierra Nevada and James is in charge of new product development. We discuss the rise of Sierra Nevada and its legendary history in craft beer, as well some of the very cool new offerings from Sierra. Always at the forefront of American Craft Beer, Sierra Nevada holds a special place in the hearts of long time beer fans and we get to hear about all the ways the brewery has, and continues, to impact craft beer globally.

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This week on The Session, Justin travels back to Fort Collins for another live webcast from The Hop Grenade Taproom. Jeffrey Callaway from the Colorado State University Fermentation Science and Technology program joins the show to talk about their professional brewing studies. Also on the program, we speak to Adam \"The Instigator\" about his project, Beer Fight Club.

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This week on The Session we feature Seismic Brewing Company. Brewmaster Andy Hooper joins us on the show to talk about classic styles of beer and sustainability practices that will lead the future of Craft Beer. Tune in and find out about Seismic\'s unique position in the industry to further research in sustainable brewing, as well as the wonderful styles of beer the brewery produces.We discuss Andy\'s take on dry hopping, which spans across a couple different philosophies and also learn about a couple hop varieties we haven\'t discussed before. Finally, just to cover it all, we talk about barrel aging and the affects it can have on beer. Andy has a unique take on that and shares it all with us.

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Hazy beers are a touchy subject on The Session as of late. Love 'em or hate 'em, someone on this show has an opinion on this crazy movement, and we strive to get to the bottom of it all with Noah Bissell of Bissell Brothers brewing! Noah got his start as a homebrewer listening to The Brewing Network, and graduated up to professional status soon after. He gave some great insight into why he makes hazy beer, what yeast he uses, and even a couple of recipes!

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Matt Fox, the head brewer and co-owner of Alameda Island Brewing came by the studio for this episode of The Session. A local favorite, Matt is making a name for himself in the Bay Area with well-balanced beers across many styles, which is something of a rarity in this market. We taste four of his beers, including the uber-popular NEIPA style. Yes, both Warren and JP survived and are recovering nicely.

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The Session is back in Fort Collins this week at The Hop Grenade Taproom! This time we welcome Peter Bouckaert from New Belgium and the all new Purpose Brewing and Cellars. Peter is a legend in the industry and shares his very unique take on beer making, as well as life. He's a master of his craft and has spent his career making world class craft beer. Learn about his time building New Belgium into one of the top breweries in the U.S. and about how his new project, Purpose Brewing, is completely different. We also speak with Andrew Fitzgibbon from local taphouse Tap and Handle about how he got his start in the Fort Collins beer scene, as well as Chris Lazzery from local bottle shop Craft Beer Cellar.

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This week on The Session we speak to Luke Shropshire and Garrett Hickey of Streetside Brewery in Cincinnati, Ohio. Streetside has made a name for themselves with great sours and kettle sours, as well as fresh New England IPA's. Tune in and hear about what makes Streetside so popular and their love local beer and community. We also taste a new version of Beardy's Vienna Lager that he's brave enough to bring in after Doc ripped him apart last time. Let's see how the classic lager stands up this time.

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This week on The Session we welcome Chris Hodge from Oregon Specialty Fruit to talk to us about using fruit in beer. Oregon Specialty Fruit is the premier provider of aseptic fruit purees to brewers and Chris walks us through what makes their purees ideal for brewing. We are also joined by Gary Glass of the American Homebrewers Association to talk to us about the recent homebrew survey conducted by the AHA.

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The Session welcomes Ry Beville, publisher of the Japan Beer Times, back to the show. This time we are discussing the continuing trend of acquisitions of craft breweries in America, now by large Asian breweries. We are also joined by Robin Ottaway, president of Brooklyn Brewing Company. We discuss the recent acquisition of San Francisco's Anchor Brewing Company by Sapporo, a distribution merger between Kirin, Brooklyn Brewery, 21st Amendment and Funkwerks, and what we can expect to see next as the trend continues. Ry explains the interest of Asian breweries in American craft beer, and how some of them are claiming to be craft as well.

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This week on The Session we welcome Mother Earth Brew Co to the show. Joined by Vice President Kevin Hopkins, we explore the stellar and balanced beers of Mother Earth including a ginger infused blonde ale, a bourbon barrel blended Russian Imperial Stout and a beautifully balanced Mosaic IPA. Kevin tells us about brewing at two different facilities in two different states and how consistency is achieved, as well as how classic styles dictate a brewers chops. We also taste a homebrewed Vienna Lager (or is it?) from JP and find out how much Justin loves Beevo. All this and more on this episode of The Session!

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We've done Brewing on the Cheap a few times now, but not in a long time. On this episode of The Session, we invite Chris Graham from MoreBeer! back into the studio to catch us up on all the new ways we can build a basic homebrew system on the cheap. It seems the homebrew world has exploded in recent years, bringing an influx of great equipment at a reasonable price - something unheard of 10 years ago. Then, on the other side of the equipment coin, Chris takes us through the price-is-no-object equipment we can buy once we all hit the lotto. In the middle there we chat with Natalie and Vinnie Cilurzo from Russian River Brewing Company about their Sonoma Pride foundation, and Steve Doty from Shady Oak Barrel House about how those two companies are raising money to help their community rebuild from the devastating wildfires we are experiencing here in NorCal.

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On our first live Session from The Hop Grenade in Fort Collins, Justin, Beevo and Beardy welcome Joyride Brewing to the show. Hailing from Edgewater, Colorado, Joyride makes some stellar brews and shares their story with us. We get to taste several of their beers and learn about how Joyride came to be from founder Dave Bergen. We also get a surprise visit from our old friend Will Kemper from Chuckanut Brewery and learn about what's new with our favorite lager brewer.

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Tonight on The Session we welcome Gowan's Heirloom Ciders to the show to talk about their California ciders. Established in 1876, Gowan's has been producing quality cider from their orchards in California's Anderson Valley for well over a century. We talk to cider maker Sharron Gowan about the family business and she teaches us a few things about how to make cider.

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This week on The Session we welcome Upland Brewing Co. to the show. We are joined by Pete Batule (Head of Brewing Operations), Matt Wisley (Innovation Lead Brewer) and Adam Covey (Quality Manager) as they teach us about sour beer in Indiana. Tune in and learn about the Indy beer scene and how they are working with local microbial's to build a sour program that is second to none. We also get to try a few of their amazing beers, so that makes us happy!

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Steve Luke, Founder and Head Brewer of Cloudburst Brewing joins us in-studio on The Session. Cloudburst, from Seattle, WA. is one of the newest breweries in the Seattle region and is making some stellar craft beer. They experiment with tons of different hops, including wet hops, and rarely brew the same beer twice. Tune in and learn about their brewing philosophy and the ways Steve and his team look at making beer better for locals.

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On today's episode of The Session, we had planned to have the great Shaun "Sully" O'Sullivan in the studio to catch us up on all the great stuff going on with the 21st Amendment, but he fell ill at the last minute and had to back out. So instead, we called on our old friend Mr. Nate Smith to help prevent JP from putting his head through a wall, and to help him talk to Tasty about the collab he did with Sully called "Tasty IPA". It was a short show, but a good one and full of homebrew information, to boot!

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This week we welcome Creative Director Kevin Ashford from Figueroa Mountain Brewing Company to the show to share his insight on the classic styles of brews from this great California brewery. We enjoy their excellent examples of German Style beers and talk about what makes classic, balanced beers.

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This week on The Session, Justin returns to the hot seat as host after a long hiatus while working on The Hop Grenade, Fort Collins. Here to join him is Motorworks Brewing from Bradenton, FL! Tune in and listen to Bob Haa and Barry Elwonger discuss the Florida craft beer scene and their love high quality brewing. We taste several of the Motorworks brews, including their coffee porter, Midnight Espresso, that contains coffee beans roasted right at the brewery! The guys have a real passion for beer and give us a few great tips and tricks, including how they make their Pulp Friction IPA, which was deemed to have one of the best aromas in a beer the BN has ever laid our noses on.

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Local Homebrewer-turned-pro Matt Sager joins us for this episode of The Session, something that we have been trying to make happen since his brewery, Danville Brewing, opened in late 2016.  Matt has had a cool journey through his pro career, and we were stoked to sit him down and dig into it.  Warren and JP talked about a potential new segment called "Style Creep", which will probably never happen.  Thankfully.

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We love lagers on The Session, and would probably sell Doc and Tasty in a package deal for a keg of really great Helles. Lucky for us, Jace Marti from August Schell Brewing came out to the studio to hand-deliver their fantastic line of lager beers.  Schell's is the second-oldest family-owned brewery in the country - founded in 1860, they have survived hard times, prohibition, a changing beer scene, and through it all learned how to reinvent themselves ... all while producing solid lager beer. Jace also talked to us about his new Berliner Weisse program, and those beers were tasting just as good.

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John Gillooly and Devonne Buckingham from Drake’s Brewing joined us in the studio for this episode of The Session. John has been in the beer industry for over 20 years, and Dee came up as a homebrewer – until she ran into John, that is. Together, along with the rest of the crew at Drake’s, they make some amazing beers across a variety of styles, but they are known for their hop-forward beers. Today, we talk about their Aroma series, what makes a good hop blend, and what makes up a good theme song.

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Washington, D.C. has been at the forefront of the good beer movement for a long time, most likely unbeknownst to the rest of the country. On this episode of The Session, we talk with Greg Engert who is part owner and Beer Director of Blue Jacket Brewing in D.C., in addition to managing craft programs across numerous other restaurants in the area. Greg sent us four beers to discuss, and they ranged from a dry-hopped Kolsch to a barrel-aged Imperial Stout. We also chat about our recent HomebrewCon adventures, and JP complains about his scoresheets. Again.

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Today we talk with Aaron Inkrott from the great Saint Arnold Brewing Company, out of Houston, Texas.  Aaron came up as a homebrewer, working at various beer bars and breweries (and of course listening to The Brewing Network), before landing a gig volunteering at Saint Arnold.  Eventually, he was tapped to start training in the brewery, and the rest is history.

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Big Ditch Brewing Company from Buffalo, NY. joins us on The Session this week. Tune in as President Matt Kahn discusses the beers of Big Ditch, his love of sessionable brews and his history as a homebrewer and cell culture media technician. We try several of Matt's favorites from the brewery, including wheat and rye beers and learn about the brewing process at Big Ditch.We also, once and for all, formally lay out the Brewing Network death pool. We wanted to know where we stand so invited medical professionals to the studio to check us out and outline who is most likely to kick the bucket first. It's good ol' fashioned irreverent BN fun for your listening enjoyment!

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All the way from Seattle, it’s Lucky Envelope Brewing! Owner and brewer Barry Chan actually came down just for this show, which always makes us feel good. In addition to making some traditional lagers and such, Barry is known for playing around with different ingredients, like his Two Pepper Pale ale, or his replica of a 5,000 year old Chinese beer recipe. We chat about all of these things and more on The Session!

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Today on The (mighty) Session, we welcome back Dr. Charlie Bamforth, who came all the way down from his digs at UC Davis to chat us up about his new book on Freshness, among other things. As these things generally do, topics diverged and we talked about a bunch of various industry hot spots like clarity. When you have a brain like Charlie's on the show, it's hard to stick to a standard line of questioning, after all.

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Florian Kuplent, Co-Founder and Brewmaster at Urban Chestnut Brewing Company in St. Louis MO. joins us on The Session to talk about their "unconventional-minded yet traditional" style of beer and brewing. Listen in as Florian tells us about his background in German brewing techniques, as well as his extensive resume. Florian has brewed in several places in the U.S. and Germany, and even had a stint at Anheuser Busch. We learn about the fine art of crafting great lagers, as well as many other traditional styles, with a touch of modern flare to make things unique and interesting.

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The Brewing Network welcomes Eel River Brewing Company to The Session this week. Brewery Production Manager Matt Vivatson talks with us about new hops, super quaffable beers and brewing the beers that his family business likes to drink. We get to try an awesome American Pale Ale, a fruit beer that surprises the whole crew, a barleywine that reminds us of what they're supposed to be like and both a DIPA and an IPA that showcase an abundance of hops in the right way.

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This week on The Session we welcome Neshaminy Creek Brewing Company from Croydon, PA. Head Brewer and owner Jeremy Myers talks to us about lagers and shares some of their special barrel projects with us. We then discuss hoppy ale brewing and the highly debated New England IPA trend.We are also joined by Melanie Pierce from the Keep a Breast Foundation. Melanie talks to us about the amazing work of the foundation to increase breast cancer awareness and education and is also joined by our old friend Roger Davis from Faction Brewing. Faction is hosting the 4th annual Brewbies Fest and Roger gives us the lowdown and what you can expect.

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We are going south for this show, all the way to Florida, to chat with Ashley and Thomas from Barley Mow Brewing! Ashley is the head brewer there, and we talk about her journey from what seemed like great brewery to great brewery, ultimately landing the head gig at Barley Mow. She sent out four of her beers - including a Milk Stout, which we enjoy - and they were all tasting really great. Ashley was one of those brewers who offered up grain bills and hops freely, so hopefully you can get a nice base recipe going for these 4 beer styles.

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This week The Session welcomes Basqueland Brewing Project from Spain to the show. We talk with brewer Ben Matz about the burgeoning Craft Beer seen in the region and how his brewery fits in the market. Ben tells us about the challenges of producing and selling beer in an unknown market, as well as the styles and types of beer that the Spanish region embraces. We end the show with beer news and a little meltdown from our long lost host, Justin Crossley.

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Today on The Session, we welcome Ilan from Insight Brewing in Minneapolis! Ilan seems like one of those brewers who already had a lifetime of brewing experience before he started Insight, traveling the world and brewing at some amazing places. We chatted about his brewing history, his start as a homebrewer, and how he found the perfect business partners to start his own brewery. Then we dive into the beers, of which Ilan sent 5, and they were all solid examples of Insight's talent and love for brewing. It was a great time, and we look forward to more when we visit them during NHC!

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Mike Sumaya came out from Full Circle Brewing in Fresno to talk about the emerging beer culture in California's 5th largest city. He brought two beers with him - one was an Imperial Stout with cold brewed coffee added to it, and the other was his version of a New England IPA. We had tried different versions of this style before, but never one as murky as Mike's, so it was good to see what other people are making out there. We also do some Beer News and drink some of JP's homebrew (and didn't choke).

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The Session welcomes back Marshall Schott from the insanely popular Brulosophy blog! Normally, he sends us one beer to try on the show, but this time he fired out two, which is great for us because we get extra beer. One was part of his Hop Chronicles series, taking a single hop and trying to get some ultra-detailed information on flavor and aroma, and the other was the classic triangle tests we have done a few times before. We always learn something when Marshall is on, and this show was no exception.

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Julian Shrago from Beachwood Brewing joins us live on The Session this week! Julian makes some of the best beers in the country, as evidenced by his many awards, including Best Large Brewpub in the world at the 2016 World Beer Cup. Julian will be in-studio, traveling up from his Long Beach location with lots of beer for us to talk about. Beachwood really covers all styles of beers really well so we can learn a lot from this show, not just hops (although Julian kills it with hops too!). We also make Julian read some if his "bad" beer reviews online. Hilarity ensues.

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Join us this week on The Session as we welcome Barley Forge Brewing Company and their partner in crime, the OC Mashups Homebrew Club from Orange County, California. We are joined by Barley Forge Operations Manger Sean O'Shea and OC Mashups COO, Kyle Sherman. The two tell us about the collaborative relationship between the brewery and their local homebrew club. We discuss the many unique beers that result from the relationship and learn how other breweries can do the same. Tune in live to participate in the chat room or call in at 888.401.BEER.

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The Session welcomes Jester King Brewery back to the show! We haven't had time to catch up with Jester King since their first appearance back in 2013. They are an authentic farmhouse brewery committed to mixed culture and spontaneous fermentation. Founder Jeffrey Stuffings and new Brewery Production Manager Averie Swanson join us on the show to talk about their new SPON series of beers that are 100% spontaneously fermented. We'll learn about the traditional methods Jester King employs, including the use of a coolship, to brew and ferment in the traditional Belgian method to produce truly unique, spontaneously fermented brews.

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Simon Olney from Ol Republic Brewing joins us on The Session to talk about their wonderful Continental Style beers. Located in Nevada City, CA. these guys are brewing amazing examples of traditional UK and German style beers that have won several awards and represent true examples of their styles. We discuss the process of layering flavors, using traditional ingredients to make the beers accurate, and how to get the most flavor out of traditional techniques like spoonding. We also get a visit from Nathan Smith and Nicole Erny, and Justin is back at the helm fresh off his first trip to New Orleans.

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The folks from Founders joined us in the studio for some Midwest beer talk! We only had a small amount of time with them tonight, so we jumped right in and pushed Feedback to the end of the show. Founder Dave Engbers, Curriculum Coordinator Mike Wilcox-Steil, and their newly minted historian Francesca Jasinski, gave us some great information on how the brewery started and what the beer landscape was like way back in the early 1990's. It's always a great time chatting with brewers who have been in the game this long, and Founders was no exception!

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We dropped our usual Christmas show in favor of some homebrew education! Jamil came down from Heretic and joined Alex from Fieldwork and Beardy as we sat around talking about collaboration brews. Mainly what the process is when commercial brewers plan a beer so we as homebrewers can collaborate on our own recipes. Then we got into the details of actually crafting a recipe on the air – what ingredients to use and why, what parameters to hit, etc. At the end, we got a pretty killer stout recipe out of it, which is our holiday gift to you! Brew it and tell us about it! We also played a new game called, “Spread ‘Em!”

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The great Shaun "Sully" O'Sullivan from the 21st Amendment Brewery returns to The Session to let us know what's happening in the world of 21A. The Brewcasters get reacquainted with Sully as he describes his latest creations; El Sully, Blah Blah Blah IPA, El Camino (un)Real and more. We also discuss and taste 4 seasonal/holiday beers and give our recommendations on what to look for when purchasing seasonal beer this holiday season.

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Jeff Hansen, COO and Co-Founder of Wildcard Brewing Company, and Head Brewery Andy Crocker, join us on The Session this week. Located in Redding, CA. Wildcard is one of Northern California's newest breweries. Jeff and Andy tell us about their brewing education in England, their affinity for malt forward beers, and their popular hoppy styles. We also conduct a tasting analysis of off flavors with Craig from Aroxa, the makers of the flavor tasting kits used by the Cicerone Beer Certification Program and others to examine beers and beer styles.

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Marshal Schott from Brulosophy is back again with another blind triangle test for The Brewcasters. This time Marshall has been very secretive with us so we are not influenced in our blind tasting with too much information. Listen in and see how we do with another great Brulosophy experiment. Marshal also discusses a new project, The Hop Chronicles, that helps us learn more about the unique features of individual hops.

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This week on The Session we welcome Dave Marliave from Flat Tail Brewing Company back to the studio to talk about his latest crazy project. Dave and his friends decided to to take a motorcycle ride for six days on the Oregon Back Country Discovery Route and brew small batches of beer along the way. The challenge required them to brew on only camping/backpacking equipment and use natural resources to brew the beers. They had to sort through challenges such as changing fermentation temperatures, mobile fermentors, limited resources, and more. They even had to use saliva to introduce enough enzymes to produce an effective mash....gross! Listen in and find out how the experiment worked out and see if The Brewcasters are willing to taste the challenged beer.

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This week on The Session we are joined by co-founder and brewmaster Dave Padden from Akasha Brewing Company in Sydney, Australia. Dave made the trek over to the states to be in studio and bring us some fresh beer from Oz. Listen in as we talk hops, both American and Australian, the high cost of beer down under, and how Dave brews some of the best beer in his entire country.

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The Session is back this week with Altamont Beer Works from Livermore, CA. Owner and brewer Steve Satori and his Lead Brewer Chris Norberg, along with their new brewer Anna, all join the show to talk about their passion for simple and clean, hop forward beers. They also bring bring along a fantastic wit beer, and an even more impressive beer from their newly launched sour program. Tune in and learn about their brewing philosophy, where they learned to brew, and why their beer is so impressive. Also, Justin is back at the helm and talks a little about his travels, strip clubs and who is now at the top of the death pool. It's a fun Session!

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We welcome local brewery Almanac to The Session, finally! These guys have been turning out some great beers since 2010, and they show no signs of stopping. Jesse Friedman, who is one of the co-founders, and Phil The Barrel Guy made the journey - along with several tasty beers - to chat with us about their philosophy on making beer and how to be creative in a growing market. "Farm to Barrel" is their tagline, and Jesse is a passionate believer in paring beers with food, so it's easy to see why the beers are the way they are - well balanced, complex, and damn good! We talk about their barrel program for a bit, as well as how they deal with Brett strains and their fruit additions, two things they are known for. It was a great show and the guys really brought it strong!

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Daniel Addey-Jibb, co-owner and brewer at Le Castor joins us for The Session on this episode. Located about 40 minutes outside of Montreal, Quebec, Dan and his team brew some really amazing farmhouse beers for those lucky enough to find them. Many are aged and bottled with Brett, giving them even more complexity than normal. His core style seems to be Saison, but he switches it up by adding different ingredents, such as Grapefruit zest and cracked peppercorns, sour cherries, oak - all of which are Brett-finished. The beers were great, and Dan was very generous with his time and beer. Then our friends from FourPure out in London happened to be in the studio, and shared their "juicy" IPA with us - which was not cloudy and soupy at all and we thanked them profusely for this.

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It's a weird show today, folks! A great, weird, wonderful show - our longtime friend Phil Lowry came all the way out from England to chat with us about what's going on in the beer scene across the world. Phil has been in the industry for around 20 years, doing everything from brewing to selling beer and hops to serving it to the public. The man has loads of insight into craft beer and he brought a literal box load of beers along for us to drink as well. In addition, he brought along Chris who brews at a brewery called Pohjala in Estonia, who brought many of his beers for us to try. Loads of dark beers, barrel aged, and super well-balanced. So not only did we get to drink some amazing beers that we can't find out here, but we learned loads about the new hot spots of craft beer around the world, like South Africa and Estonia if you can believe it, as well as some new hop names to be on the lookout for. It was a real fun show to run, and Phil and Chris could each have anchored their own show with the amount of information they gave out. Perhaps the best part of the evening was finding someone tinier than Doc!

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Long-time listener and ultimate winner of our long-lamented television show B.Y.O.B. TV, Steve Doty, is our guest for this episode of The Session. In 2014, Steve opened Shady Oak Barrel House in Santa Rosa, and has been producing some of the most sought-after farmhouse beers in the state. In fact, he was named best new brewer in 2014 by the folks at Rate Beer! Steve talks to us about what it takes to run a barrel house all by yourself, how he approaches blending his beers, and what strange stuff the TTB makes him put on his labels.

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The fellas from Fieldwork Brewing out of Berkeley, CA came by the studio to chat about what makes their beers so damn good! Head brewer Alex gave us more than a little information on brewing beers with hardly any specialty malts and how to focus those bold hop flavors that Fieldwork is known for. We also chat about the industry in general, and how Fieldwork is expanding into not one but two additional markets with satellite tasting rooms.

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This week on The Session we welcome The Ale Apothecary from Bend, OR. Paul Arney, Founder and Brewmaster, joins us to talk about his cottage brewery in the hills, and the very unique style of brewing that he employs. The brewery is built on his own property, where he lives, and he has chosen to take a slower, more historic approach to producing his slow ales, that are often sour, always complex, and very very good. Tune in and learn about his brew system that seems to be comprised almost entirely of wood barrels and how each of his beers takes on a two year life of its own before finding it's way into his honey infused bottles. Learn about his entirely local raw material sourcing and much, much more.

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This week on The Session we welcome Brewmaster Darron Welch and Sales Manager Ryan Lishka from Pelican Brewing Company in Pacific City, OR. Tune in and learn about the diverse beers at Pelican and how they view the beers as complimentary to foods, moods, weather and more. Darron has been at this for more than 20 years and his skills come out in the beers and the interview. You're gonna want to learn from this guy! We also speak with Tom Mcormick from the California Craft Brewers Association about the upcoming 2016 California Craft Beer Summit in Sacramento. u4idy8rt

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This week on The Session we welcome Berryessa Brewing Company to the studio to talk about their wonderfully dry and flavorful craft beer. Brewmaster Chris Miller and Sales Director Doug Walker come in and share a variety of their beers, from a clean Mexican (Aztec) Lager, to a beautiful 3 year old soured IPA. Tune in and learn about their techniques to keep beers attenuated and how they like to ferment and bright tank beer longer to ensure quality. u4idy8rt

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This week on The Session we welcome two great homebrewers from D.O.Z.E. to teach about turbid mashing. Matt Sager and Vinnie Delucchi conducted a brewing experiment to determine if going through the lengthy steps of a turbid mash are worth the result in lambic beer. Listen in and learn about the process of turbid mashing and how they worked their brew day to get the best results possible. u4idy8rt

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The Session welcomes Austmann Brewing from Trondhiem, Norway to the show. Beau Schiner, an American expat brews for Austmann and shares his experience coming up as a homebrewer turned pro in Norway, ant talks about the unique brewing experience of a Norwegian brewer. We learn about traditional Norwegian spirits, barrel aging, open fermentation in Yorkshire Squares and more! We also tackle some beer news and last weeks uncomfortable "rant" from Justin.

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This week on The Session we welcome back the great Adam Corolla to the show as he teams up with King Harbor Brewing in Redondo Beach, CA. to brew an IPA called Endless Rant IPA. Tune in and learn how the beer came about as you also hear from King Harbor co-owner Tim Dunbabin and Head Brewer/Co-owner Phil McDaniel.As if that was not enough, we also welcome our first South African brewery to the show tonight. Marc Fourie from Riot Beer in Capetown, South Africa, joins us on the show to discuss the South African craft beer scene and the beers of Riot Beer.

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The Session is back this week to welcome Steve and Barri Altimari from Highwater Brewing Company to the show. Steve and Barri have been in the industry for years around the San Francisco Bay Area and have really made a mark with their unique style of beer that blends culinary experimentation with traditional brewing styles. Listen in as they describe their amazing sour beers, as well as their more traditional blends that bring exciting ingredients to craft beer. We also talk with Levi and Harmony Fried about the homebrew scene in Israel, and their new brewery project in Long Beach, CA. They share some great homebrew and give insight into a part of the world that we don't often think of when it comes to beer.

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Jeff Bagby of Bagby Beer Co. joins The Session this week to talk about his award winning beer from Oceanside, CA. Jeff has been making killer beer in the industry for years and, after a very successful stint at Pizza Port Brewing Co, opened his own brewery in 2014. Jeff talks with us about his award winning beer, west coast style hopping and more.

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The Session welcomes Logan Plant, founder of Beavertown Brewery in the UK, to the show. Logan talks about is unique beer, his influences and why he got into craft beer.

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The man behind Brulosophy is back tonight! Marshall Schott joins us for more homebrew exbeeriments, and another in-studio tasting. After being off for two weeks we have a good chunk of feedback to wade through, and Tasty leaves us rolling on the floor with yet another patented Tasty-ism.

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On this episode of The Session we welcome Australian homebrewer turned author, Peter Symons, to the show. Peter spent the last four years researching and writing his new book, Bronzed Brews, Home Brewing Old Australian Ales. Peter walks us through historical Australian beer styles and gives insight into the enormous undertaking of researching for a book of this nature. Listen in and learn about styles that no longer exist, how the book can help you brew them, and how Peter and his team of homebrewers recreated history in a brew kettle.

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Our two favorite homebrewing kooks, Drew Beechum and Denny Conn, join us as we talk about their new book, "Homebrew All-Stars". Not only is it a book with recipes from some amazing homebrewers, but Denny and Drew break down personalities of homebrewers to figure out how we can brew better beer. We also talk a bit of Beer News, and get a visit from our Aussie pal Brendan, who chats about the Australian beer scene.

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This week The Session welcomes Rhinegeist Brewery to the show to talk about their style of brewing from Cincinnati, Ohio. Learn about their take on hoppy beers, new trends in brewing styles, techniques and more. We also do a little beer news and discuss Doc's brewing on the PicoBrew Zymatic!

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This week on The Session our favorite Mad Scientist Colin Kaminski from Downtown Joe's in Napa, California hit the studio to let us in on a few different projects he has been working on in the brewery. We started by discussing the addition of Alpha and Beta Amylase to various parts of the mash and fermentation to dry out beers, and we sampled a Triple IPA that he got to finish under 0.999 FG by using this technique! Then we talked about water chemistry and how Colin has changed his thinking on water adjustments and what this means for you. As always, Colin is a mad scientist and talks about how he can tell which of Napa's 3 water sources are being used just by tasting the water during his morning shower!

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This week on The Session we welcome Eagle Rock Brewery from Los Angeles to the studio. We hear from Co-Founder Jeremy Raub, Barrel Master Lee Bakofsky and Head BRewer Eric Garcia about the growth of Eagle Rock, how they built their brewery from dairy tanks, and their exciting new barrel program. Also, fresh off of our Spring Brews Festival, we talk about the event this past weekend here in Concord. We end with a good ol' fashioned Session meltdown.

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Join us tonight on The Session as we welcome filmmaker Jared Stutts and Brewmaster Brenden Dobel to the show to talk about their upcoming release, Brewers By The Bay. The movie documents the history of craft beer in San Francisco. We also welcome Justin back to the helm tonight, returning from his, well, we don't really know. But he's back.

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The Session welcomes Seven Still Brewery and Distillery to the studio this week to talk about their unique brand of distilled spirits. Listen in as we learn about how they use craft beer to make artisan spirits. Also, we get a special surprise with the return of a very special Brewcaster that we haven't heard from in a long long time...

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The Session is back this week with Pizza Port Brewing Company Director of Brewing, Sean Farrell. Listen in as we learn about one of the most award winning breweries in the U.S. and what makes their beers to great and successful in competitions.

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This week on The Session, we welcome the homebrew scientists from Brülosophy. The Brewcasters speak with Marshall Schott about the beer experiments he carries out, which are much like a Mythbusters for homebrewers, getting to the bottom of common misconceptions and myths about brewing. Tune in and learn all about Marshall's Brülosophy!

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The Session welcomes Drake's Brewing Company Brewmaster John Gillooly to the studio tonight to talk about their latest release, 2016 Hopocalypse. This beer has become a cult favorite among hop heads and we'll be tasting and discussing 4 variations on the beer. John is a master with barrels, as well as modern hop usage, and will walk us through techniques, tips and tricks to making these complex craft beers.

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The great Dan Gordon of Gordon Biersch Brewing Company is back on The Session this week, and this time he is joined by the legendary Dr. Charles Bamforth of the UC Davis Brewing Science Program! Join us as two great brewing minds discuss the latest in beer education and technology.

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This week The Session welcomes the wonderful women of Grisette Nouveaux and the Pink Boots Society to discuss women in beer and diversity in brewing. We will be discussing homebrewing, pro brewing and opportunities for women in brewing.

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It's that time of year when the BN unwinds and celebrates a little with our annual Christmas show. This year, JP takes the helm as Justin is out sick. Tune in as the crew finishes up the runner-up Brewcaster Challenge between JP and Moscow, as well as challenges each other to our annual game of Name That Christmas Tune. Enjoy the show and Happy Holidays from The Brewing Network!

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This Monday, the grand return of Chris White and the White Labs team is upon us! Chris and Mike White, along with Analytical Manager, Kara Taylor, will be in the studio for The Session to discuss yeast, fermentation and all the new developments at White Labs since we saw them last. Tune in and learn from the best name in fermentation!

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The Session welcomes Craft Beer marketing expert, and author of Craft Beer Marketing and Distribution - Brace for SKUMeggedon, Mark Colburn to the show to discuss how you can take your homebrew to the next level by becoming a successful professional brewer. Mark will guide us through the steps it takes to successfully brand, market and bring your beer to the marketplace.

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Hops are still one of the most important ways to add a unique signature and complexity to a beer. Unfortunately hops are also one of the most variable ingredients, especially in the homebrew supply channels. Unlike craft brewers, the homebrewer is not going to Yakima to do selection! The homebrewer has less control. In this episode of The Session, Nathan Smith helps us discuss how to stay on target and find quality knowing that hops are highly variable. We investigate and discuss what we can do to identify the variables when it comes to deciding how to select and use hops, how to limit those variables, and how to adapt and be flexible when you cannot have ideal control over the variables. We're also joined by The Homebrew Chef, Sean Z. Paxton, to help us learn about ways to beer up our Thanksgiving menus.

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This week, fresh off a GABF silver for his Dry Stout, Moylan's Brewing Company brewmaster Derek Smith joins The Session to cover the Strong Pale Ale he made in collaboration with Brewcaster Nate.

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The Session welcomes old friend Chris Graham of MoreBeer back to the studio to discuss techniques and equipment that will help your brew day become more efficient and help you brew better beer faster.

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This week The Session welcomes Central Coast Brewing Company in San Luis Obispo, CA. They won a gold medal for their Pale Ale in one of the most crowded categories at this year's Great American Beer Festival, so you know this brewery is really at the top of its game. Tune in and find out how they are doing it!

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The Session welcomes Scratchtown Brewing Company founders Caleb Pollard and Mike Kilmek to the show. Tune in to find out how this two year old craft brewery is surviving and thriving making great beer for the tiny town of Ord, Nebraska.

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This week the Brewcasters are joined by the crew from Creature Comforts Brewing Company. When this gem of a brewery from Athens, Georgia isn't making some of the best beer in the south, they're working to change some of their home state's restrictive beer laws. Tune in and catch their story, along with this week's beer news, a new BN game, and much more.

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The Brewcasters return from Denver and The Session is back on the air! Tune in as some of the 2015 Great American Beer Festival's biggest medal winners join the show to spill some of the secrets of their success. This episode also features this week's beer news, which includes exclusive interviews with Green Flash's Chuck Silva and Meg Gill from Golden Road.

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This week, it's the best of The Session! Tune in for the most memorable, informative, and funny moments from the first nine months of what has been a great 2015 thus far. You'll hear Brewcaster near-death experiences, in-depth conversations with contemporary professional brewing luminaries, cutting edge homebrew tips and tricks, some good old fashioned BN radio games, and much more.

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El Segundo Brewing Company was created out of a love for beer. Well, hoppy beer at least. Rob Croxall, proprietor and brewer, was a longtime aerospace finance guy who left a cushy corporate job to risk it all on craft beer. Why? Tune in and find out as this Southern California gem joins The Session tonight!

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Galmegi Brewing Company was the first craft brewery to open in Busan, South Korea. Galmegi also happens to brew some of the best craft beer on the Korean Peninsula. Tune in to The Session and catch their story, along with an introduction to the next phase of The Brewcaster Challenge, another round of Beer Or Not Beer, and much more.

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The Session returns this week as the crew from The Libertine Pub and Brewery heads up the California coast to join the Brewcasters in-studio. Tune in and hear all about the old-world brewing methods, along with a few new proprietary ones, that they employ to brew their awesome wild ales. From hot rocks to their traditional coolship to their extensive use of wine and bourbon oak barrels, find out what creates the extremely complex and unique flavors found in their beers.

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This week, The Session covers sustainable brewing practices for both home and professional brewers. Tune in as old friend Morgan Cox from Concord's Ale Industries, along with new friend John Niedermaier from Michigan's Brewery Terra Firma, lead a crash-course in the sustainable methods they employ for the resource-intensive process that is brewing. From water reclamation to harvesting waste BTU's, these guys will help you be a "greener" brewer.

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This week, The Session is stoked to welcome the crew from Cellarmaker Brewing Company to the studio. Cellarmaker has been an awesome addition to San Francisco's brewing scene, producing small batches of experimental beers. They've made the choice to abandon a set production schedule and flagship beers in favor of a continuous rotation of different styles, constantly experimenting with different hops, grains, barrels, and yeasts. This episode also features coverage of the Utah beer scene, some surprise cameos, and much more.

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Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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