The Good Listening To Show: Stories of Distinction & Genius

Best of Bristol: Hippos Can Fly! A Lager Love Story recorded LIVE at Lost and Grounded Brewers in Bristol, with Co-Founder Alex Troncoso, in the Brewhouse of his Dreams!

• Chris Grimes - Facilitator. Coach. Motivational Comedian

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When Alex Troncoso speaks about brewing beer, his voice carries the weight of 32 years spent perfecting his craft across continents. As co-founder of Lost and Grounded Brewers in Bristol, his journey from Guatemala to Australia, Belgium, London, and finally Bristol reveals more than just a quest for the perfect pint—it's a story about finding home.

"Eventually you don't want to be different anymore," Alex recalls his late father saying, words whose wisdom only became clear after launching a brewery far from his Australian roots. This intimate revelation anchors a conversation that weaves through personal growth, craftsmanship, and the philosophy behind building something authentic in an increasingly homogenized world.

Lost and Grounded isn't just a brewery—it's a manifestation of Alex and partner Annie Clements' values. Their flagship Keller Pils, an unfiltered lager inspired by Germany's hop fields, represents their commitment to simplicity and quality. "Brewing is where art meets science and has a beer," Alex explains, comparing their approach to the difference between mass-produced bread and artisanal sourdough—both bread, but worlds apart in character and soul.

Perhaps most compelling is Alex's candid reflection on the mental toll of relentless achievement. After spending years defining himself through accomplishments, he discovered a liberating truth: "If you define yourself by achievements, what happens if you don't achieve? You feel terrible." This hard-won wisdom has led him to a place of unprecedented optimism, where the brewery's success is measured not just in sales but in balance and purpose.

With their flying hippo logo representing humility and inclusion, Lost and Grounded has grown from seven people to thirty-five, weathering COVID and emerging stronger. As Alex puts it, "Without the people, this is just a shed full of stainless steel." It's this human-centered approach that makes their story resonate far beyond the world of craft beer.

Discover how patience, passion and purpose combine to create something truly special in this thoughtful exploration of craft, community and finding your place in the world.

Tune in next week for more stories of 'Distinction & Genius' from The Good Listening To Show 'Clearing'. If you would like to be my Guest too then you can find out HOW via the different 'series strands' at 'The Good Listening To Show' website.

Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE & REVIEW wherever you get your Podcasts :)

Thanks for listening!

Chris Grimes:

Welcome to another episode of the Good Listening To Show your life and times with me, chris Grimes, the storytelling show that features the Clearing, where all good questions come to get asked and all good stories come to be told, and where all my guests have two things in common they're all creative individuals and all with an interesting story to tell. There are some lovely storytelling metaphors a clearing, a tree, a juicy storytelling exercise called 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, some alchemy, some gold, a cheeky bit of Shakespeare and a cake. So it's all to play for. So, yes, welcome to the Good Listening To Show your life and times with me, chris Grimes. Are you sitting comfortably? Then we shall begin. Would you please welcome your host for this evening's performance of the Good Listening To Show broadcasting live from lost and grounded brewers in Bristol, mr Chris Grimes, oh, no, keep going, keep going, oh, keep going and stop. Wonderful, you're just too kind. So welcome to the show.

Chris Grimes:

I'm Chris Grimes and welcome to Lost and Grounded Brewers, where we're broadcasting live across the interweb as well, and this is a very special series strand to the Good Listening To show called Best of Bristol, bristol Voices, where I'm here to help promote and amplify all the best of all the creative endeavours that are in our home city and community of Bristol, hurrah. So thank you for coming live and I speak Ute, and thanks to my daughter, I know what the acronym IRL is. Do you all know that we're all here IRL, which is in real life? Thanks very much, and that's the main thing. So let's get going. Would you please welcome my very special guest all the way from standing next to the bar in the brew house of his dreams, because this is his gaff.

Chris Grimes:

Would you please welcome the co-founder of Lost and Grounded Brewers, purveyors of fine lagers and speciality ales, mr Alex Troncosso. Marvellous, what a lovely entrance, and hello Welcome to Marvellous. We have water here, didn't we? What a lovely entrance, and hello Welcome to your own show. Oh, thank you. Take a seat, lovely, and thank you for furnishing me with a clear head, which actually is part of Bristol Breweries.

Alex Troncoso:

Yeah, yeah, I mean we've stocked that here for quite a while now because we don't make alcohol-free beer and we know the guys there. They often actually buy some of the venues that they have always supported us and it's kind of nice just to have their beer here as well.

Chris Grimes:

Yes, and that lovely sort of mutual support of all the breweries, and it's a big scene in Bristol now. So welcome to the show. This is the show in which I invite movers, makers, shakers, mavericks, influencers and also personal heroes into a clearing or serious happy place of my guests.

Alex Troncoso:

Am I your hero?

Chris Grimes:

You are Because who said I couldn't organize a piss up in a brewery? Here we are, we're doing one and I'm on a bit of a trailblaze to curate free beer, free show events, because it's just a wonderful thing to come along to. But also I'm really, really excited to find the story behind the story of Alex Troncoso. I'm going to let you in a moment, I'm just going to blow a bit of happy smoke at you when I really enjoyed researching you before today. Did you know that if you Google Alex Troncoso, up comes a Chilean padre, which? Have you noticed that before?

Alex Troncoso:

I haven't.

Chris Grimes:

So there is another one who's not going to be coming on tonight, the Chilean padre. I actually got a bit lost watching a video about him, which had nothing to do with the wonderment that you have created. My father was Chilean. Was he there you go, yeah, and so the name Troncoso. Let's get going with that. Everyone might expect it's Chilean or Italian sounds a bit Troncoso, but of course we all know, or I know, that you're not from there. So where does Troncoso come from?

Alex Troncoso:

So it's a Spanish name from Galicia. So there's actually a little village called Troncoso in Galicia and then I guess a lot of people at some point migrated from there to South America, so to Chile, where my half, my family, is from. Yeah, it's funny when we had an event here the other week I don't know many Troncosos and there's a vet here from Spain and she said oh, actually my grandmother's a Troncoso so you haven't met many Troncosos, but you're hearing of them. Yeah, yep so wonderful.

Chris Grimes:

So you're from australia originally. I know you moved over here, you were lost and then you found, and then now you've grounded here in bristol. So you're a brewer of old, but in search of a brewery. What made you decide to base yourself here in bristol?

Alex Troncoso:

well, I was born in guatemala, old man was working there and then I grew up part of my life in the us. When I I was 16, moved to Australia, did high school there, went back to the US, did my degree. After my degree went back to Australia, worked in Tasmania that's where I'm partners from. I was also co-founder of the brewery and then we lived in Tassie, brisbane, melbourne, perth, brussels, back to Australia, to Perth, then back to Melbourne, then to London, and then we're on the way to Cornwall one day for a weekend away. And then we were driving and I looked on the map and I was like, oh, it's a bit. You don't know what the traffic's like here, you know, so it could be a bit far.

Alex Troncoso:

We kind of looked on the map and a friend of ours in Melbourne he still lived in Bristol he said, oh, it's me, can you hear that? And I was like, what are you talking about? And he's like everyone's laughing. So I mean, we love London as well, but it was something like there seemed to be something a little bit more felt a little bit more like home here. So we came back a bunch of times and then eventually we decided, well, what if we got new visas Because I was sponsored at Camden. So what if we got new visas? What if we found a place to live? What if we found the extra investment? What if we found a place to build a brewery? And then yeah, we did it, we pulled it off.

Chris Grimes:

You were working in London at the time with Camden Brewery.

Alex Troncoso:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Chris Grimes:

And your brewing prowess goes way back to home. Brewing in the early 2000s, I yeah 1993, actually so 32 years. There you go, and you mentioned Annie. This is Annie Clements, who is your co-founder Yep and a husband and wife team Different surnames so are you actually married?

Alex Troncoso:

No, we're not, but we've been together for almost 27 years, I think, so it's, yeah, a long time.

Chris Grimes:

And I've heard that Annie is the one most responsible for naming each new beer, naming it sort for naming each new beer.

Alex Troncoso:

as it comes along, it sort of gets a bit of the creative side. I mean, annie was originally a social trainer, so people with acquired brain injuries and that sort of thing. She always had this thing about being a writer because she loves literature and reading and this is almost like her story in a way. So it's her story, like everything coming out of her brain. So when we come up with a new idea it's like see what this Women's Day one so together sounds better. A lot of the women in the brewery were all involved in it. Well, actually all the women in the brewery were involved in it.

Chris Grimes:

And is that a fairly new one? Together sounds better.

Alex Troncoso:

Yeah, it was for International Women's Day, that one. I mean, we always have been together a long time, but we've never worked together. I think we sort of balance each. I'm from a brewing background, so for me not so much, Although this isn't that new to me, but having our own business is quite new.

Chris Grimes:

And it is a fantastic majestic setup here at Lost and Grounded. What's the sort of kit you need? And just talk us through what you need to do to sort of get the beer made.

Alex Troncoso:

Brewing can be quite simple. It can be like you know, I used to homebrew and judge in homebrew competitions. You can make amazing beer and very basic stuff, but what we have here is really focused on making lagers. So behind us here is like a beautiful German brew house, if you want, like an amazing brewery. There's kind of about half a dozen companies around the world. Most of them are based in Germany, and then of those ones this is kind of like one of the top ones. So it's our little like Rolls Royce of breweries.

Alex Troncoso:

But the reason we're called lost in the ground of brewers, not lost in the ground of beer brewery, because it's the people that make the beer, because that's just a thing with pipes and I say that all the time like without the people this is just a shed full of stainless steel and like hanging out in a shed full of stainless steel like isn't that fun. I can assure you that because in the early days we were selling bugger all beer. There's only seven of us here and it's a very lonely place, almost like this tumbleweed you talked about and when you said we were selling bugger all beer.

Chris Grimes:

That's not an actual brand name, is it Bugger?

Alex Troncoso:

all beer. I remember the first couple of years were like extremely difficult, but we made it through and in the end, like we started with seven of us, now there's 35 more or less on the team and in terms of the timeline, how long has Lost and Grounded been founded for?

Alex Troncoso:

Nine years. We started planning about a year in advance and then, once we actually got everything together, we actually did it really fast. So we went from raising the final money to actually brewing beer within like six months. So we just kind of went for it.

Chris Grimes:

And in terms of your reach, I know that you distribute nationally a little bit internationally as well. So what's the reach now?

Alex Troncoso:

Yeah, I mean we've sent beer far afield at times, like there's some in Japan at the moment but really our kind of aim is sell about half our beer in our radius of Bristol and then the other half's more or less in London at the moment. You know, if you had your ideal world, you'd probably sell everything you could as close as possible. If you look at a lot of the German family brewers that are in Bavaria, it's like they make probably five times the amount of beer we're making and they sell everything within about 25 kilometers.

Chris Grimes:

And it's Belgian and German beer that you got most passionate about in terms of the process and the magic that you do.

Alex Troncoso:

Yeah, I mean most of my career before this was at Little Creatures in Australia, so that's like a well-known pale ale brewery and actually at that point in my career and in my brewing kind of life I loved pale ale. It was like my number one thing. But actually over time I found that I got more and more fascinated with how to make lager. It's quite difficult in a way, and that's why we first went to Camden Town Brewery when we left Australia and then was there a few years and then, yeah, did this. And when we set this up we just said, well, what would you do if you, how would you make the most delicious unique beer you could, which is like, say, keller Pills, which I'm having here and we have lots of equipment here. That is all like. Little differences in processes is what we do, and all those little things actually make a much bigger impact, you know.

Chris Grimes:

So we're going to get you on the open road of the structure, the curated structure now, of the Good Listening 2 show. There's going to be a clearing a tree, a lovely juicy storytelling exercise called 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. There's going to be some alchemy, some gold, a couple of random squirrels, a cheeky bit of Shakespeare, a golden baton and a cake. So it's all to play for.

Alex Troncoso:

You've said this before.

Chris Grimes:

I have. It's part of my pattern, like you've sold beer before and I'm so happy. You've grown from bugger all beer to plenty beer, which is fantastic. So, first of all, a clearing is your serious happy place? I believe we're in the brew house of your dreams, so it wouldn't surprise me if this might be it. But you're allowed to go global with this. Where, would you say, your serious happy place is? Where does alex troncoso go to get clutter-free, inspirational and able to think?

Alex Troncoso:

you know I was thinking about this and, if I think back just recently, we're in berlin and we're at this beer garden and the thing I really liked about it was it was like just amazing beer, but there's only three to choose from. You have have like your Helles, you have a Dunkle, you have a Weiss beer, that's it. So you got one of three amazing beers to drink, really simple foods, and just this amazing beer garden where, like, there wasn't even actually any music playing or anything, but it was just all the chatter of people and just talking and we were just there having a beer and just thought, actually this is good.

Chris Grimes:

It's like I don't want to leave. I had to leave eventually.

Alex Troncoso:

But yeah, so your your serious happy place is a berlinian beer garden, yeah, or some kind of beer garden like that. You know just where, actually. And I do like simplicity. I mean we make lots of different beers here, but actually 80 we would make his lager and I do like simplicity and like less is more in a way, and I did just. You know, my ideal bar is almost like just go into a bar and they's just like one tap of beer, but it's just absolutely delicious. Yes, so there's no confusion then.

Chris Grimes:

And if Annie and you tuned into the laughter in Berlin. I'm hoping that Annie wasn't tempted to up sticks and everyone now would go gallop and stand.

Alex Troncoso:

Yeah, you know, I did say, oh, maybe we'll build a brewery here, but I think it was something along.

Chris Grimes:

Are you absolutely crazy. So you're very much staying here, but I love the fact that your serious happy place is the Berlin Garden and, just to put a sort of what three words pin in a map, whereabouts in Berlin is this place?

Alex Troncoso:

That was the Café Amnunzi. So it's basically at the Tiergarten, which is like the massive kind of park in central Berlin, and then they've got a series of lakes there and that's one of the cafes and, as you've mentioned them, I can get in touch with them now and have the next show.

Chris Grimes:

Yeah, yeah. So here we are, then, in your clearing, and now I'm going to arrive, a bit existentially, with a tree in your clearing and I'm going to shake your tree to see which storytelling apples fall out. Go where you like, how you like, whatever you like into this structure, but this is where you've had five minutes since we met a few months ago and you signed up to do the show, where you're going to talk about four things that have shaped you, three things that inspire you, two things that never fail to grab your attention. And then the one is a quirky or unusual fact about you. We couldn't possibly know about you until you tell us. Just to reassure you, it's not a memory test, I'm going to curate you through it. So, first of all, can you talk about four things that have shaped you, alex?

Alex Troncoso:

One for sure would be my partner, because over the years, and especially more recently, she's kind of like just helping me to learn to be a bit more patient, I think, and I will often just rush into things. I'll just come up with an idea and be like no, no, no, no. She's like, well, hang on, I haven't even, like, had breakfast yet, just like you know. Slow down, I think. Yeah, but yeah, it sort of balanced me out a little bit, because I probably do get a bit obsessive and I had a lot of years where I worked really, really hard and just like relentlessly In retrospect, like life was just on hold for years and years and years while I just tried to build my career and all the rest of it.

Chris Grimes:

You've got a tenacity and a passion to get stuff done, but that can come at a cost, obviously.

Alex Troncoso:

Yeah, exactly. So I'd say that's first. I think second would be living overseas. I mean, my father was an immigrant. He left Chile when he was in his late 20s. He worked all around the world. He was in mining, so he worked in US, guatemala, where I was born, and what type of mining was it A lot of coal, mining, copper, gold, different things like that.

Alex Troncoso:

He worked in Venezuela as well. He worked in Australia for a lot of years and he spent the last 20 years of his life in Kazakhstan, actually. So he was there still following the mining path. Yeah, yeah, still following mining. So he barely had a holiday in his life. So he just eventually falls off the twig. But I think the one thing that, um, he said to me once not long before he died, he said you know, eventually you don't want to be different anymore. And I know what he means now, because actually starting a company is hard enough. Starting a company on the other side of the world with no support, it's actually really bloody hard, and then having that startup phase feed right into, like the covid, all the rest of it, that all this went through was, like you know, kind of holy shit, and I know what he means. Now it's like eventually you just want to go back to where you just blend in and you, um, and say his quote again it was sometimes you just don't want to be different anymore.

Alex Troncoso:

Yeah, and I think his aim was to eventually move back to Chile, but he never did so. I think that's sort of interesting, and I think as well, when we worked in Belgium, we lived there, we were in the lap of luxury pretty much.

Alex Troncoso:

We got relocated over by a big global brewer. We got put in an apartment, we got given a relocation allowance, we had good salaries, everything. They're going to give us French lessons, everything, but it's still like bloody hard. You know, you think when you're somewhere on holidays and you think, oh, that's sweet, everyone speaks English. But then when you're there and you think that leads you to think like lots of expats around the world, you know, even if you can find it difficult, how is it for like a refugee?

Chris Grimes:

yes, it's bloody impossible you know if you, if you had to deal with all that but with no security at all. So you had a sort of background and a dna of wanderlust because of your dad's traversing around the planet. You sound like you've had your own wanderlust, but then you've grounded and you found a home and I'm hearing or feeling that you haven't got a pull back to going back to Australia or to Chile.

Alex Troncoso:

No, I mean we'll eventually go back, but I mean right now, I think we've finally gone like you know what, we've worked really hard. We have an amazing team. Now, you know, everything's more or less running itself now and it's sort of like when we take a step back which is probably what we didn't do enough of over time is like take a step back, yeah, and you just go like, wow, you know, this is pretty cool, I think. And are you a father as well? I didn't ask that. I know we don't have any kids. We have a couple, a couple of cats. You know we've always had pets, but yeah, we don't have any kids.

Alex Troncoso:

It's interesting actually here now, as we're growing in the and the team's getting older and starting to have children's kind of interest, and for me, which is kind of a more recent thing I worked really bloody hard for most of my career and I think it was only more recently, like probably the last five years, where I really actually realized what I've been dealing with my whole life is like having this thing of like having to learn how to live with depression, which I didn't really know I had at the time. I think when I look back, you know I had several like quite depressive episodes over time, probably linked to stress and different things, but it's definitely been a cycle and I think the stress of doing this has definitely uncovered that. Learned a lot from that process about actually how to do that. And I think it's like I didn't do a lot of sports when I was young but you know, was driving myself so hard for so long, like. So I did my chemical engineering degree, then I finished that, then I kind of like got into brewing, then I did a diploma in brewing and then a graduate thing in brewing and then I did a master's in business and it's just all going from one thing to the next. But it's almost like working so hard, it's just like slingshotting onto the next thing. Yeah, almost like you're thinking like I've achieved all this, so you know I'm great.

Alex Troncoso:

But the problem is, as I learned, it's like if you define yourself by your achievements, what happens? Like if you achieve something, you feel great. What happens if you don't? You feel like shit. If you actually focus more on your sense of self and your self-worth, it doesn't matter if things. You might feel a bit happier, you might feel a bit sad for a while, but actually, on balance, you're just kind of like that and that's been quite an interesting thing to uncover about myself the last few years.

Alex Troncoso:

I was having a beer with a guy the other day. He's a German guy and he kind of said to me you know for sure one thing's for certain we don't live to 150. So I was like you're right actually. So we've worked really hard, we've got to this point. Actually it's time to start enjoying it a bit more and don't actually be so caught up and sweating the small stuff. Don't be so caught up in everything. Actually just try and enjoy it a little bit more, which is kind of like our, our next mission. That's what we're on now. So it's not about um, you know we're selling beer, we're in growth, everything's great, the team's great. Um, survive covid, survive covid. You know we're. The business is looking after itself.

Chris Grimes:

So it's like now take a step back so you found an even keeling or more of a plateau of not sweating the small stuff. Do you feel you've got there now? I mean, obviously it's a trial to be in business. I'm sure it's not over.

Alex Troncoso:

No, no, I mean it's not over, but I did say the other day I said I actually feel even I've done all these things in my career like a little creatures was amazing. Like we built. I was in charge of building like three new breweries there. We went from a team of not many when I started to like I had about 40 in production and then ended up being quite big. I said to Annie the other day I was like actually this is the first time in my life in which I felt a sense of optimism. I think I was so caught up in always worrying about what was going to happen or what was going to be the next project or what was going to be the next thing that I was going to do yes, to like, prove myself is Annie here now?

Alex Troncoso:

no, she didn't, she couldn't make it, but I think she might be watching at home, I think. So I think it's the first time I said actually I sort of feel like quite optimistic in a way and quite calm, and I don't actually know if I felt this way before well, I'm extremely happy to be interviewing you at that point, which is lovely.

Chris Grimes:

Fourth shapeage fourth shapeage.

Alex Troncoso:

I think education. Actually it's kind of funny. I think a lot more about my father now that he's not here than actually when he was here and I didn't live with him for most of my life. But I think the one thing that he was big on like he came from quite a poor background in Chile and it was like education was the only thing that helped him get out of that. Since then I was always focused on education and I try and encourage some of the team here, like start thinking about what you're going to do. And I kind of said to someone the other day it's like this is my opinion. I could be full of shit. You know you don't have to believe me, but you know you might want to start thinking about what happens if you want to leave Lost on Ground in one day. What happens to you later on? Like how are you going to?

Alex Troncoso:

navigate it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I've done a lot of education and I've enjoyed it.

Chris Grimes:

And do you have siblings as well? Is your mum?

Alex Troncoso:

still alive. Yeah, yeah, so my mum's still alive. She's in Washington State. I have a step-mom in Australia. I have siblings all over the place, so I think in total there's actually eight. Last count, last count, there's about eight. Maybe there's some hidden around somewhere.

Chris Grimes:

Have they all descended.

Alex Troncoso:

No, there's a couple, live in Kazakhstan. A couple.

Chris Grimes:

Oh gosh, your dad really did.

Alex Troncoso:

Yeah, yeah, he's all over the place. I have a sister in Chile, got a little brother in Washington DC, got a sister in Hawaii, got a couple of sisters in.

Chris Grimes:

Seattle. Nobody else is in the brewing game, presumably.

Alex Troncoso:

No, no, no. I mean, I was originally meant to work in petroleum refining, so it was like that sounds fun, doesn't it? In what sorry Petroleum refining, like making petrol. You know, that should have been my future, but this is more fun, I think.

Chris Grimes:

Yes, you bring something more drinkable.

Alex Troncoso:

Yeah, exactly.

Chris Grimes:

So that's great for shape. It is now three things that inspire you, alex.

Alex Troncoso:

Troncoso, I like seeing people that are quite altruistic in their vision or dream of what they want to do, like if they're really precise in what they want to do. Like I said about my ideal bar that has one tap, it's almost like if you go to a restaurant and it has really really specific criteria about what it does, it's the worst thing you do in a restaurant. The menu's this big, it's like well, you're kind of trying to be everything to everyone. Yeah.

Alex Troncoso:

And that's why, like I said earlier, we don't make alcohol-free beer. There's demand for it, but we can't be everything to everyone, so let's really just try and focus on what we do. So I think that's first. I think, second, looking at some of the music industry, especially some of the stuff from around Bristol, it's quite inspiring when you see like and I kind of talked to some people who are in music about this how just having a band is almost like it's just like any other business. It's like it comes down to your creativity, your product. So you know your music, everything, your management, your funding, your access to the market, your, your promotion, all that sort of stuff, and actually it's making beers exactly the same you know, you need a fan base as well, obviously yeah, yeah and it's, it's all those things together.

Alex Troncoso:

And it's quite interesting if you look at, say, like you know, idols, for instance from Bristol, and you look at like wow, like you know the way their whole group is doing things you know, and that's coming down to the management and the promotion and all the rest of it. I think that's really, really inspiring.

Chris Grimes:

It's like the machinery of success.

Alex Troncoso:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. It's kind of. You know the funny thing. Like someone told me once, I'm a bit more of like a gentleman socialist. I'm not a very good capitalist. So I'm good at making beer, I'm good at giving it away. I'm not very good at selling it.

Chris Grimes:

Yes.

Alex Troncoso:

But fortunately other people are good at selling it.

Alex Troncoso:

I haven't heard that. A gentleman socialist, that's a nice expression. And yeah, it's like, actually, a lot of it comes down to money, unfortunately. A lot of it comes down to like even if you have a great idea, you have a great product, if you don't have the money, then you're kind of stuffed, you know, and it's like having that formula of everything like marketing the team and I kind of say this to people all the time it's like given unlimited money. Like you know, you can build a salesperson, you can hire whatever, but you can't buy a team. Really, you have to make it. And you can't buy culture, you have to make it.

Chris Grimes:

You always need a bit of an agitation of pain in order to be creative. I think, yeah, yeah, push and survive and keep going.

Alex Troncoso:

And I think out of as we know, like COVID, like out of a bit of distress, comes creativity, and now we're more than four times bigger than we were before COVID.

Chris Grimes:

That's incredibly relatable. This whole idea that I'm doing got going out of adversity during the pandemic. If it wasn't for the pandemic I wouldn't even have this idea. But I'm still very delighted to be here now having had that idea. But it definitely came out of pain.

Alex Troncoso:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's interesting when you see all these different things and it's nice to see the success that people get. Sometimes I thing that I, like you know I said about people being really precise in what they do. I think when anyone's like really, really genuine in what they do, I think it shines through in the end and that could be anything. It's like you know, it could be a button factory down the road, but if that person just loves buttons, they can make the most wicked buttons in the world. You know, it's like to see that passion in people is quite inspiring. It's almost like you see the some of the guys in Japan that have been either a woman or a man.

Chris Grimes:

They've worked in the same ramen place for like 70 years and they're still there, but they actually just it's just like a precision operation about what they do, of course, in Japan you've got the idea of an ikigai, which is that centre point in life between what the world wants, what you're good at, what it needs and what you can get paid for. And if that's selling ramen or brewing beer or doing a podcast, that's good.

Alex Troncoso:

I'm going to have to look that up.

Chris Grimes:

Have you not heard of ikigai? It's a Japanese beautiful construct, as I just explained. Has anybody else heard of ikigai? It's not just some have some haven't.

Alex Troncoso:

That's wicked.

Chris Grimes:

Yes and it's quite onomatopoeic. It sounds like it would be spelt.

Alex Troncoso:

You know, when I was in my early career, I always used to think, like when I worked in Tasmania, I worked in the iron ore mine.

Alex Troncoso:

So we had an iron ore mine up in the rainforest and we slurried it up, processed it, put it in a pipeline through the rainforest 50-odd miles, it popped out on the coast, it got rolled into little balls and put through these massive furnaces that were like three times the height of this building, making hundreds of thousands of tons a year. And I was there only for about a year or so because I was like I do not want to be doing this. But you know, there was guys that worked there for like years, like years, like decades, and I used to think to myself like what the hell, like how can someone do this? Because I'd always be thinking about the next thing. But actually I had this epiphany one day. I thought actually they're happy, yeah, yeah. And I think that's the hardest bit and I think everywhere Andy and I have been, it's been like yeah, where do you actually finally feel you belong? I think it's not.

Chris Grimes:

So does Bristol feel like home now?

Alex Troncoso:

Yeah, but I think you know part of us. Eventually we'll go back to Australia, but I don't know when it's kind of like how long?

Chris Grimes:

Long is a Piece of String? But yeah, so I think that's three things that inspire you, and now we're going to talk about. This is borrowed from the film Up. If you've all seen the film Up, there's a moment where the dog goes oh squirrels. So what are your two squirrels? Squirrels or monsters of distraction? I'm just revealing this picture. This is apparently what squirrels do when they see a spectacular nut. So they're in awe of us and what we're doing, and in fact, oh, they're looking at the audience too. So your two squirrels, what are your two monsters of distraction, sometimes called our shiny object syndrome? So what two things in your life never fail to stop you in your tracks and make you go? Oh?

Alex Troncoso:

squirrels On one side. I do love I know nothing about art, right, but I do love like street art and actually seeing the scale of what some people have been able to create. It was kind of funny when we did this the mural on the front of the brewery here. There's a guy named Gage Graphics and he's based in Bristol.

Chris Grimes:

This gentleman in the front row has just had a mural on his garden wall done by this very same chap.

Alex Troncoso:

Oh yeah, so it was him and his mates came and did it and they kind of had a look and they were like it's probably one of the bigger ones we've done and literally they just like they just did it in like two days, where they had like a hundred cans of paint, scissor lift and they just kind of gritted it out and they just did it. You know, but he does amazing, does amazing work. But I I do love seeing that and like I went to chile like years ago, probably 2007, and my father's from is in valparaiso and there's actually amazing street art when you go up into like all the, all the hills and all the different neighborhoods and it's yeah, it's quite, yeah, amazing. I just took photos of it all. So that's one thing. What's another thing that always catches my attention? I can't help it.

Alex Troncoso:

Like I do love numbers and if there's a problem, I just I'd love to try and like You're a mathematician at heart then Well, yeah, I do, I kind of joke because I love spreadsheets, because I don't have any emotions, you can just get whatever answer.

Chris Grimes:

You. It's year nine now. It hasn't happened yet. So you love a spreadsheet that's a great squirrel.

Alex Troncoso:

Some would say it's quite a dull squirrel, but I'll yeah. No, I like a problem, I like trying to figure problems out.

Chris Grimes:

Okay, and now it's the one which is a quirky. We can go back to the tree now if you'd like. So the one is a quirky or unusual fact about you. We couldn't possibly know about you until you tell us. I was born on a place called way way to nango, way baiting, and way way to nango, I missed out, away, away, away away.

Alex Troncoso:

They grow coffee there, apparently because I met the brewer once and he's like, oh, they have amazing coffee there, but I've been there once.

Chris Grimes:

They never went back again this is the shout out for the way, way to bang. Wait, wait, wait till they go to nango coffee shop, right, lovely, okay, so we've shaken your tree, hurrah, now we stay in your clearing, which is still in the Berlin beer garden, and now we're going to talk about alchemy and gold. So, when you're at purpose and in flow, what are you absolutely happiest doing? And this could be your ikigai what are you here to reveal to the world? What are you absolutely happiest doing?

Alex Troncoso:

Even though I don't do much anymore. Actually, I love seeing the crew do good. We've done all this and once upon a time I knew how it all worked. But I'm way out of the loop now. I'm miles out, I've been put out to pasture. But I love seeing the team do well and I love seeing some of the crew doing things that I did many years ago now and the debris breakdown, the troubleshooting, everything. They just figure stuff out and get on with it and I love seeing the basics of just like malt and hops and so you still love the chemistry. Take a bit of yeast in and just like the art of how do you? There's actually a saying in a book, like in a homebrewing book, by a guy named Charlie Papazian. It says brewing is where art meets science and has a beer and it's kind of like you have all this history.

Chris Grimes:

Say that again Brewing is where art meets science. And has a beer, yeah.

Alex Troncoso:

And it's like you have all the science of it I love all the history of it as well and then you combine it. You know, when you go to some of like the traditional family breweries in Germany and just see, like, not technology, like this, but they just use it just to make this delicious, beautiful, simple thing, you know, our whole mission was how do you make a really simple, delicious beer just using an old-fashioned ingredient Of itself.

Chris Grimes:

that's alchemy brewing into gold. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's a lovely answer.

Alex Troncoso:

And also, like we often do it now with tours, because we have a lot of production going on and at any one time you can typically taste, let's say, kelleb pills at two weeks old, three weeks old, four weeks old, all in the tanks, and you can actually see the impact that lagering does to something, because the lager in a lot of ways is just a word to people.

Chris Grimes:

And that's the real signature brew for you the keller pills.

Alex Troncoso:

Yeah, yeah.

Chris Grimes:

And what is the difference? Two weeks, three weeks, four weeks?

Alex Troncoso:

Most industrial lager, you know, not all of it, but a lot of it is made as quick because it's an economics thing. So it's sort of like 10 days, whatever. So in and out. But when you're making beautiful lager it's like a process of aging champagne and leaves. So when the champagne's in the bottle with the yeast and it's maturing, that yeast is doing something, it's helping the palate round out, it's doing all these little things and actually lagering properly is like doing that.

Alex Troncoso:

And the analogy is, if you go into a factory that's making white bread, you get that white bread. It could be whatever brand. You can make a sandwich, you make toast, it's fine, you eat it. But you go into the local sourdough bakery that's also making white bread, but it's actually has texture, it has been made by hands, been made by people, and it also makes toast in a sandwich. But they're completely different things, but they're both white bread, you know, made with passion and with love, yeah, and it's like that with lager, you've got lager this industrial commodity, or you have lager this beautiful kind of thing.

Chris Grimes:

I remember the German brew Castle Main 4X back in the day, which must be completely like.

Alex Troncoso:

whereas that's a bit of a I went to school in Brisbane actually, and the Forks Brewery was like the big red 4X. At the time, australia used to be like a monopoly per state basically. So it used to be like in Queensland you drank Forex. In New South Wales you drank Toohey's. In Victoria you drank Melbourne Bitter or Victoria Bitter. But it's all different now, but it used to be that way. You know, if you had a brewery, like if I could just have only our beer sold in Bristol, it would be like Utopia, wouldn't it? For me anyway, yes, maybe not for everyone They'd be like oh jeez, that's kind of like a very simple way to look at it.

Chris Grimes:

And it's totally appropriate that your happy place in Alchemy and Gold is doing what you're doing and loving it doing it. So now we're going to award you with a cake, and this is the final suffused with storytelling metaphor. Do you like cake, alex?

Alex Troncoso:

Yeah, I like cake.

Chris Grimes:

And if you had to choose a type of cake, what would? It might be Chocolate, Chocolate. Okay, that wasn't hard to decide. Now you get to put a cherry on your cake and this is stuff like now. What's a favorite inspirational quote that's always given you sucker and pulled you towards your future?

Alex Troncoso:

So I have a few. You know, man's not a camel, that's one. But no, I think this is another joke, one like pressure makes diamonds, that's a good one. So when all the chaos is on, just don't worry about it, just keep going, because pressure does make diamonds. It takes, you know, it's very high pressure and it might take a million years, but eventually we get there.

Alex Troncoso:

My very first job as a process engineer in the iron ore mine, I worked for a guy. He's from Northern Ireland, he's worked for chemical plants and everything, and he said to me just be good at something. So, no matter what you end up doing, just be good at something. So if you're going to be a chef, try and be the best chef you can be. If you're going to be a brewer, try and be the best brewer you can be. It's pretty much almost like the Japanese thing you're saying yeah, back to the eating idea. And now if I was going to stay a process, you know, be an amazing person's engineer, but specialize in something, and yes and do it.

Alex Troncoso:

And I, that's kind of stuck with me a little bit. You know, everything we've done here we haven't half done any. Anything like part of the grounded name is someone that's is sensible, knows it's important. So for us it's like all those little things that we do is all like intentional, it's not optional. So when there's a lot of noise with other breweries making lager and all the rest of it, at times you get worried because it's like just more competition. But actually in fact, if you kind of look at it and go well, we've got a very clear view of what we're doing and it's a full-time commitment.

Chris Grimes:

Staying close to your own compass, pointing true north. It's sometimes called your differentiating factor, the thing that sets you apart in all of our choices that we make.

Alex Troncoso:

The other thing I like is, um, the guy I worked with once. He said yeah, what would you do if you're the only one? So pretend you're the only one, what would you do? And actually, if we're the only ones, we would do this. So that hasn't changed. So there's all this noise out there, all this chaos and noise, and especially with all the social media and everything you can see oh my god, what are they doing?

Alex Troncoso:

oh my god, did you see what they did? But actually we, we're just doing us. So it's better to actually take a step back and go. You know what we're doing us and have that kind of confidence. It's like, sort of say, you get a point in your life where you don't mind eating dinner alone, especially if you travel a lot for work. You get more comfortable just sitting there having your dinner, whereas at first you feel really awkward about it. And I think it's getting that little bit of confidence in what you're doing to not have to worry about everyone else.

Chris Grimes:

And I'm delighted for you. You've arrived at this sort of metaphorical plateau where you've stopped pushing to find it because you've found it and it's now growing in its own clearing, if you like, here at Boston Grounders.

Alex Troncoso:

Yeah, yeah, you know, in reality it's actually brilliant. You know, a few years ago I would have been like oh my God, it's not going right, it's brilliant.

Chris Grimes:

With the gift of hindsight, what notes, help or advice might you proffer to a younger version of you?

Alex Troncoso:

You know that saying they say about it's going to take three times longer, take three times more money, that's pretty bloody accurate. So we had to.

Chris Grimes:

Of course we changed it. It's going to take three times longer and three times as much bloody money. That's a good sucker for us all.

Alex Troncoso:

That is true. I mean, you know this is more business. One of our shareholders said to me once he's like he said in the early days he'd been involved in another brewery in the finance side and he said that business was undercapitalized and they didn't have the money. And he said the best way to put yourself in an early grave is be involved in that situation. And I definitely would agree with that. But you kind of got to learn these lessons. Provided your plan is not ridiculous, stick to your plan and eventually, like try, just trying to see it through, and um, that's what we've done here. I mean, yeah, it's been quite dicey at times, but you know we're still here to tell the tale so the best things are dicey times, but yeah, nothing, nothing comes easy.

Chris Grimes:

I yes. So we're ramping up. Very shortly to talk about Shakespeare, to borrow from the Seven Ages of man. Shortly the speech to talk about legacy. But just before we get there, this is the construct where I'm going to include introducing the idea of pod to give. So this is pass the golden baton please. So the idea is, I'm going to invite you, having experienced this from within, in order to keep the golden thread of the storytelling going. Who would you most like to pass the metaphorical golden baton onto within your network?

Alex Troncoso:

alex, yeah, so I was thinking about this and, um, we do have some guys that do some film work for us that I'd probably like. So they're called latent pictures and they are actually going to be documenting the friendly festival we're having here on saturday, so with the sleeper mods and other bands playing, and they, their whole mission is how to give underrepresented people like opportunities in the kind of film, video production side of things, because especially anything to do with creative fields or art is like it's either about who you know or it's about you have to work for free or you have to do all these things. And, yeah, and their thing is about how to give people opportunities where they can actually get paid and actually get proper experience and actually start to make their own way in the industry. Then, sure, so a bit of a leg up, I would say. A couple of young guys. I feel like they're young guys. I don't know 50 now. I suppose they're young. It depends whether they think you're old or not?

Chris Grimes:

Yeah, I guess You're getting much older nowadays.

Alex Troncoso:

I saw a guy the other day or today was here one of these from one of our wholesalers and I hadn't seen him for a lot of years. I was like, gee, here's a lot more grain now. I was like what happened? I was like, yeah, it's been about eight years Getting wiser.

Alex Troncoso:

yes, just started out of their own steam, you know, and I think it'd be great for them to kind of tell you the story about where they're coming from and how they see they can sort of amplify their efforts throughout the industry, because there's amazing creative people in Bristol, you know.

Chris Grimes:

There are indeed, absolutely. And you said Leighton Pictures. Is that right? Yeah, yep, yep, thank you. That's a lovely golden baton pass. And now then, inspired by Shakespeare, all the world has achieved with all the better women, really, players. We're going to talk about legacy. Finally, how, when all is said and done, alex troncoso, co-founder of lost and grounded here in bristol, how would you most like to be remembered?

Alex Troncoso:

yeah, well, this is a bit philosophical. I was thinking about this earlier. I think in the end it's like people come and go all the time. I think I'd just like to be known as someone that's a good person, that has helped do good things. I think is the only you know. That's it really, because I think I could try and say, oh my God, I want to be the most amazing logger in the world, whatever, but brands come and go as well, so one day that brand will just get faith. Nothing lasts forever and I think, just like you know, whoever I've worked with over time just know that actually there's a good person that's done good things, and I think that's pretty simple. Yeah, don't need to get too complicated.

Chris Grimes:

We're going to do a bit of an audience Q&A in a moment. So just have a think about if you'd like to ask Alex any questions based on what you've just heard. And I've got a bit of a feedback brick here, so does anybody have a question? Then I'll throw the brick at you. It's very soft and very comfortable and then, if you'd like to, you can ask a question. So does anybody have any questions please?

Speaker 4:

Really interesting story, Alex. Thanks for sharing it. I've lived in Bristol for a number of years and seen a number of breweries sort of rise from the ground over the last few years particularly. I just wonder how you'd characterize your relationship with them. Do you regard them as competitors or sort of friendly chums? How do you hold them in your?

Alex Troncoso:

head. I think we're all kind of existing and it is challenging because there's only so much independent trade around Bristol, although there's lots of pubs around. If you're actually in the business you know like oh, that's a Green King pub, that's a Youngest pub, that's an MMB pub, and there's actually the number of customers you can have. If you don't want to work with the big pub groups Like at the moment we don't work with any big pub groups your kind of customer base starts shrinking like that. So we can't overlap quite a bit.

Alex Troncoso:

But I think the interesting thing is we're all kind of doing our own thing to an extent especially us, because we're mainly on the lager side of things and it has been interesting to see, like the different growth. You know. Like you know, we've obviously done what we've done and expanded a lot over the years. Weimer True has just done a new brewery, you brewery in the last couple of years. Bristol Beer Factory is commissioning a new brewery. So there's a lot of growth out there. It's just a matter of us kind of peacefully coexisting with each other and then don't try and compete with each other too much. Actually there's a whole bigger piece of the pie out there that we can work towards.

Alex Troncoso:

I think it was kind of funny in the earlier days I think it was pre-COVID. It used awards. I think it was kind of funny in the earlier days I think it was pre-covid like it used to be like every single brewer in town. We all knew each other and we'd always be down in king street and it'd always be two o'clock in the morning. You end up in the beer emporium or something you know and it was like, um yeah, quite kind of it's like wild west days back then.

Alex Troncoso:

So yeah pretty fun, but yeah, no, yeah, we're all a little bit older, a little bit. Uh, don't know if we're wiser, but we're older anyway.

Chris Grimes:

And, as I said at the beginning, it's a testament to the collaboration that here I am being offered by you. Clearhead, which is a Bristol brewery non-alcoholic lager, yeah, yeah, and there's room for it, because you're not doing that and it's not competing.

Alex Troncoso:

Yeah, and I mean with Bristol Beer Factory as well. We co-sponsor End of the Road Festival. Yeah, another two years to go. And like we supply the lager, they supply the payload.

Chris Grimes:

You know, it kind of just works nice room for some more questions, if you have any. Does anybody else have a question?

Speaker 1:

it seems to me that pubs are really struggling at the moment. You know, sort of since covid sort of pubs are really finding it hard. As someone who's involved in the brewing industry, you know what do you think about the future of pubs. Is it something that concerns you at all?

Alex Troncoso:

um, I'm not concerned about pubs as much. I'm the part of me thinks like geez, young people aren't drinking anymore. It's like that is changing as well. Like, um, I was talking to someone the other day and, um, you know they're similar age to us they were talking about, you know they're, they're out to 2 o'clock in the morning, got home and then I think one of their daughters told them to be quiet. It's like it was the opposite way around. So she's not drinking anymore because she's seen you guys now. But that was kind of funny.

Alex Troncoso:

But I mean, it is hard. I think, are there a lot of pubs out there? There's a lot of pubs out there. Is there too many? I'm not sure.

Alex Troncoso:

But what we find with our customer base? I mean we pretty much deal with independent trades. We have beer in Waitrose, but we don't have beer in any which is very small in the scheme of things, the supermarkets. We don't have beer in Sainsbury's, tesco, anything like that. And it's kind of a deliberate thing. We actually want to be dealing with small customers. It takes longer and it takes more people, because people like to buy beer from people. You know and we're talking about trade customers you have to go in see the bar manager, then see the owner, then convince the owner, then it's quite drawn out.

Alex Troncoso:

But what we find with our customers is places that have a really great reason for existing actually are doing like well, I think it's when you're getting that. It's sort of like if you um, yeah, if you're going to be middle of the road, it's a great place to be run over. It's like you don't, you don't want to be middle of the road. So it's like either decides you know you need to decide what you're going to be it's like we get stuck in that bit. You're just kind of stuffed. Um, so we finally I think people are doing well are actually doing like quite well, you know, and it's weird how quickly the price has normalized. I mean, when we first moved to the UK it was like £4 a pint was the standard in London even, you know. And it's like now I don't think anyone really bets on it if it's £6.50 or whatever. You know, it's just kind of like normal and it's almost frightening how quickly that has shifted in the last couple of years from the cost of living and everything.

Chris Grimes:

Another question from the back here.

Alex Troncoso:

Oh jeez, we've got a heckler in the room. This is Sophie from our team. By the way, how do you see Lost and Grounded growing in the next five to ten years or so? Is it something? To do with the brewery size. You're going to have your next job.

Alex Troncoso:

Good question. Yeah, I think it's nice to grow. People ask me all the time how come you need to grow, how come you can't just stay where you are. But it's actually really difficult to do that. It's actually really very difficult to maintain a business that's just doing that, because you either kind of you can maybe do that, but you kind of want to do that, or you're probably going to be doing that. So it is difficult.

Alex Troncoso:

You know, I think we could make a lot more beer. You know, I think we could sell a lot more beer. I think we have something really unique here. I think it's like. You know, my idea would be any single place that's serious about their beer. They sell whether that be a restaurant, a, a bar, whatever it should have keller pills.

Alex Troncoso:

It's like if you want to have the most unique lager in the country, you have that one. You know. If you don't, then it's just about the price. And it was just about the price. You're ending up at that middle of the road bracket because if it's just about the price, um, you know there's other very cheap pub chains out there. I won't name them, but there's very cheap ones out there and you're not going to be able to compete with that. So it's like, you know, we kind of make the beer we make because you know it's a little bit hazy, it's unfiltered, because my philosophy is all the big lager brewers out there, all the big global brands, they'll be far better at making that beer than we'll ever be. So why would we try and recreate that? Let's do our own thing, let's make our own stamp on things because, um, we're not going to be able to compete with efficiency, we're not going to be able to compete with distribution, we're not going to be able to compete financially.

Chris Grimes:

All we can compete with is creativity, really so sounds like it's an economy of scale attached to purpose and the imperative of the icky guy again.

Alex Troncoso:

That's the problem. It's like essentially water, right? So we're essentially selling water with a bit of booze in it.

Chris Grimes:

Thank, you for doing that. Lovely Time for maybe one more question if you'd like to ask a final question.

Alex Troncoso:

Where do you get your hops from? We get a lot of our hops from actually from Germany, from the Hallertau area, some from Tettnang and actually on the Keller Pills can, that's actually the hop fields of Tettnag and that's like Constance there. And it was a visit I had to the hop fields in Germany where kind of my inspiration for Keller Pils came from, and I was there during the hop harvest and had this unfiltered Pilsner, which is what Keller Pils is, and it just seemed like the most basic, just lemony, fresh, beautiful, simple beer. And that's when I kind of had this epiphany fresh, beautiful, simple beer. And that's when I kind of had this epiphany I thought, yeah, not everything has to be complicated. So a lot from Germany, a little bit from the US, but we mainly make lager and we don't kind of rely too heavily on the faraway hops More sustainable, I guess.

Chris Grimes:

Were you disappointed because you had some to sell?

Alex Troncoso:

But the hop industry is very interesting because it's almost like they're not traded on any open market, right. So you can't just go into the financial section look at the futures prices for hops. It's, you know, there's even the company we get most of our hops from. They have about 800 farmers in Germany that they're all buying from. That's all consolidated, and then they actually it's only them knowing the supply and demand of everything. So it is is kind of interesting. Very controlled is in like by those few firms you know like you got a couple of the firms. Each have about a control, about a third of the world tops.

Chris Grimes:

So, um, they've been around for a long time where can we find out all about lost and grounded online on the world wide web?

Alex Troncoso:

so you go to our website, lostandgroundedcouk. We're on instagram as well, at lost and grounded brewers, probably like one of the longest online on the worldwide web. So you go to our website, lostandgroundedcouk. We're on Instagram as well at Lost and Grounded Brewers, probably like one of the longest Instagram names ever, and also on LinkedIn, you know, because I've noticed you don't have an ampersand for the and grounded.

Chris Grimes:

You've gone lost and grounded.

Alex Troncoso:

Yeah, that's deliberate as well. We were kind of just going through that the other day and we say we always spell our and yes and um it's the care and attention of just a bit more detail like yeah oh, and I forgot to ask you about your logo, which is a hippo in flight.

Chris Grimes:

So how did that come about?

Alex Troncoso:

well. So we really like animals and annie kind of had these different ideas about having a globe and then, with this brilliant illustrator named alexia tucker, she's sort of in bristol and um, we just found her on a website called Drawn in Bristol and it had all these independent illustrators on it. So to this day we've never used an agency or anything to do any of this. And for the original core beers that have the illustrations, lex just came over to our house and her and Annie sat in the kitchen and they just talked about what we feel like and one of the things that came out of it was this kind of flying hippo care in the world and we thought two of our key values to be humble and inclusive, and we figure like hippo is not the rock star of the animal kingdom. It's like um apparently kills a lot of people and stuff, but don't worry about that, um it kills more than crocodiles actually but um, but hippos, yeah, very self-assured.

Alex Troncoso:

Actually. Hippo will just stand in the middle of the crocodiles.

Alex Troncoso:

It doesn't actually care and the crocodile is leaving it alone and it's kind of like you want this kind of humble, humble animal, because the most important thing right is actually doing a good job. You know, to me, and I think, diversity in team is really good, but the worst thing is if you end up with a team with all the same people and it's like me, I don't care what kind of music you like, I don't care what food you like, anything. What's really cool about working with someone is, um, someone, that's a great job and you know, the best way to lose a friend is to work with someone you know.

Alex Troncoso:

Yeah yeah, the best way to make a new friend is to work with someone you don't know. So it's like Nice philosophy, yes, but you've got to be a bit of a dreamer.

Chris Grimes:

So our hippo is like if you work hard enough you can carry the world. So it's a hippo, which is the highest paid person's opinion. But that's the sort of dark side we don't have that here.

Alex Troncoso:

We're not talking about that Wonderful.

Chris Grimes:

So, as this has been your moment in the sunshine, in the good, listening to show Stories of Distinction and Genius, is there anything else you'd like to say? Alex Troncoso?

Alex Troncoso:

No, just, I'm glad someone came. Eh, this is good you did Small, I'm glad someone came. Eh, this is good you did Small, but beautiful and perfectly focused. Yeah, the other day we had this festival on the weekend. We've been so focused on it. And then we remember this is coming up. We were like, wow, of course Chris Brown is coming. And then the other day we were like, has anyone actually got a ticket or not? And it was like, okay, yeah, all right.

Chris Grimes:

So here you are. You're a small, wonderfully welcome.

Alex Troncoso:

Yeah, I'd just like to say thanks for coming along and everyone just listening to the bit of the story and you can hear my anecdotes anytime Just come back. Just come back, leave your wallet on the bar. You can tell the stories again.

Chris Grimes:

And I really enjoyed your riffing on liking the construct of how a band functions. And you're talking about being in the middle of the road and getting run over. There is that joke about. Have you heard about a band called the Cat's Eyes?

Alex Troncoso:

They're a middle-of-the-road band. There was even a band in the 70s called Middle of the Road. It's kind of like how more middle of the road you can get than that Exactly Insane.

Chris Grimes:

So a couple of announcements for me about the show. If you'd like to have a conversation with me about guesting in the show, the website for the show is the good listening to showcom. The next live show in bristol is where I'm delighted to be having rob bryden coming to the red grave theatre on saturday, the 5th of july. That's rob bryden coming into the show as well. You've passed the golden baton. Thank you very much indeed to layton pictures. Also, you mentioned your love of your father earlier on in the show.

Chris Grimes:

There is a new series strand to the show which I'm very excited about, which is called LegacyLifeReflectionscom, which is to use this storytelling construct to record the story of somebody near, dear or close to us for posterity, without any morbid intention, but lest we forget before it's too late. So have a look at LegacyLifeReflectionscom. And indeed my own father is a bit of a sort of mascot for it because with the gift of hindsight, I interviewed my dad in the halcyon days of his 80s before he slipped into a crater of declining health. He died last August. But now that I still have that recording, it's obviously incredibly precious, because what we always miss the most when that precious special someone is gone is what they sounded like. So if you feel that that could be helpful to you, look at LegacyLifeReflectionscom and also TheGoodListening2Showcom.

Chris Grimes:

I've been Chris Grimes, but, most importantly, could we give a huge round of applause for Lost and Grounded co-founder Alex Troncoso. Thanks, and the piss up in a brewery has come to an end. Thanks, and the piss up in a brewery has come to an end, but the bar is still open. Follow that man to the bar, thank you very much Good night.

Chris Grimes:

You've been listening to the Good Listening To Show with me, chris Grimes. If you'd like to be in the show too, or indeed gift an episode to capture the story of someone else with me as your host, then you can find out how care of the series strands at the good listening to showcom website, and one of these series strands is called best of bristol bristol voices, helping to celebrate and amplify all the best of all, the creative endeavors, the movers, the makers, the shakers and the mavericks, the influencers and the personal heroes, all from my hometown of bristol in the united kingdom. Best of bristol bristol voices episodes can also be filmed and recorded live in front of an audience of the creative entity's choice, as well as streaming to all the usual social media channels as we do so. So, yes, get in touch if you'd like to find out more about Best of Bristol Bristol Voices. Tune in next week for more stories from the Clearing, and don't forget to subscribe and review wherever you get your podcasts.