Transcript
00:00:00 INTRO
Whether your beer is in a bottle can or glass kick back and relax, it's better on draft.
00:00:17 Ken
Welcome everybody. The craft Beer news episode for September 15th, 2023. It is better on draft. My name is Ken. Thank you so much for joining us. I truly appreciate it. On this Friday night. We do not have a regular episode two nights. We just have a news episode and we decided we wanted to bring back Jeff.
00:00:36 Ken
To talk a little bit more because you didn't really get a chance to talk too much on the interview with our guests. So, Jeff, welcome. What are you drinking?
00:00:44 Jeff
Thank you, Ken. I am drinking a double dry hopped double IPA from transient artisan ales and it is called mind to devour with lots of spooky eyes and.
00:00:58 Ken
And of course we've.
00:00:59 Ken
Got Wendy. Wendy. What are you drinking?
00:01:01 Wendy
I pulled out the big dogs today. I'm only drinking one because I've got. I can't make my camera work. The Ascension throwing it is a imperial style aged in Maple syrup and bourbon barrels. It's pulling in at 13.1%.
00:01:18 Wendy
So I didn't think I needed a second beer today.
00:01:22 Ken
I wouldn't think so either. I personally am starting to slowly make my way through and I've got myself a original milkshake stout, compliments of Rochester Mills Brewing. I got a chance to see Eric Bridgman over at the UP Beer Festival today. As or not today last week.
00:01:43 Ken
So got a chance to catch up with him, get some information.
00:01:45 Ken
See how he was doing personally.
00:01:48 Ken
As he has been a massive supporter of the show all the way back since episode one in 2015, so we're we're glad he's still alive. Kick in and he's still working over there, so that's good. I personally just came back from a.
00:02:02 Ken
Massive beer tour.
00:02:03 Ken
Up in the UP, in which I had so many amazing breweries.
00:02:07 Ken
Including the UP Beer Festival, which was a beautiful 65 and sunny on the order docks of Marquette.
00:02:16 Ken
Which again as I tell people it is a festival you do not want to miss as you also may notice Dan is not here today. If you follow us on all of our social medias, that's at better on draft. He's out in New Zealand, so he's hanging out in New Zealand and of course our editor Ed is hanging out on the Lansing Brew.
00:02:36 Ken
Trail this weekend, so he's trying to hit all of the Lansing Brew trails so we are all getting out there and drinking beers for the last two weeks, Wendy or Jeff, have you guys gone anywhere? Done anything fun or drink any beers that you want to mentioned that you liked?
00:02:55 Jeff
Can't say that I've been to anything special or unique as far as partaking in a beer. I have been going working my way through.
00:03:03 Jeff
These double dry hopped.
00:03:05 Jeff
Offerings from transient, artisan and and anything I can find from Arvon Brewing in in Grand Rapids and just enjoying enjoying those at home for.
00:03:13 Jeff
The most part?
00:03:17 Wendy
I got the chance to brunch at batch on Sunday and I had I think it was called the Mangoes of madness.
00:03:24 Wendy
Holy crap, was that good.
00:03:26 Wendy
That was delicious and I will be spending some time there this weekend for their Oktoberfest. I'm pretty excited about that.
00:03:34 Ken
If you really, really want to.
00:03:37 Ken
Make your mouths drool. Batch Brewing on Facebook Post so many great food photos.
00:03:42 Ken
Of what they're cooking.
00:03:43 Ken
Over there. So go give them a follow on Facebook. We are live on Twitch, YouTube, Facebook. It's all app that are on draft you.
00:03:52 Ken
Can interact with us.
00:03:54 Ken
Like River, Ethan says that it's fast beer season, which if you went to the beer festival like I did, there were so many Martins oktoberfests different beers of the season to drink. So I was definitely in heaven. Garry's joined us in the chat as well over on Facebook.
00:04:14 Ken
But I want to talk a little bit today to ask you guys, you know what we're talking about, travel going to breweries.
00:04:21 Ken
And spending money.
00:04:23 Ken
I did get from.
00:04:24 Ken
The website americancraftbeer.com.
00:04:27 Ken
A little bit of.
00:04:29 Ken
Information regarding how much it is costing for a case of beer right now, and it is the cheapest for a case of beer, and I'm guessing this is your standard bud Light Miller Lite cases of beer. We're not talking about crazy expensive, you know.
00:04:46 Ken
A4 pack of worldwide stouts.
00:04:50 Ken
And the the cheapest beer is over in Illinois, while the most expensive of course is in Alaska. My question to you guys, as beer prices have gone up from supply chain issues to ingredients to manufacturing to literally every single part of the world of beer prices have.
00:05:09 Ken
Gone up, causing us to pay a little bit more. Do you drink less? Do you care much about the the prices when you're looking at a specific beer to drink? Or do you even with the old adage of look at price per ABV?
00:05:27 Ken
How do you go about?
00:05:29 Ken
Spending your your hard earned money at the bar right now, we'll start with Jeff.
00:05:34 Jeff
I would say I have decreased my consumption, but that may be not so much economics as it is just life changing, you know, becoming a married man in the last year and having a family to take care of and and all of that stuff. But yeah, it it is an expensive habit if you want to make it a a regular thing.
00:05:54 Jeff
And I am a big fan.
00:05:56 Jeff
Of trying beers out at different venues, but also trying single beers at liquor stores or or beer stores. So instead of getting like a six pack of the same beer or six pack or 12 pack of the same beer, I often get 6 singles and they'll often have a discount if if you get 6 or or more at a time.
00:06:17 Jeff
And so yeah, it is definitely affected how often I'm willing to splurge for a beer, and I do check prices as I'm buying them, but I it don't let the prices stop me necessarily, but it may, it may inhibit whether I have that extra beer that I'm craving.
00:06:38 Jeff
Before leaving or or returning home.
00:06:42 Ken
Before I, I ask Wendy, I went to Keweenaw Brewing, and if you've never been to Kewanna brewing before, I was sticker shocked with the complete opposite way. As a pint of any beer there. And I mean any beer was 350. And when I saw this I.
00:07:03 Ken
I I did like.
00:07:04 Ken
A double take. I didn't necessarily know it.
00:07:06 Ken
Like I knew.
00:07:06 Ken
I was going there for a beer or so when.
00:07:08 Ken
You're for for me.
00:07:09 Ken
Like price didn't matter because I wasn't going for anything rare or crazy, and which they don't have there.
00:07:16 Ken
UM and I.
00:07:17 Ken
Remember, looking at the photo before.
00:07:19 Ken
I'm going to post it on the social media and I just see.
00:07:24 Ken
The price and I'm like am I am.
00:07:25 Ken
I seeing that right and it was 3.
00:07:26 Ken
50 and I'm so I got a pint, Julia.
00:07:31 Ken
My fiance got a pint and.
00:07:34 Ken
The the two of us were like it was like.
00:07:36 Ken
7 bucks and like, what do you mean? $7.00 like it just blew my mind to see something that cheap that I probably would have spent more time drinking over there.
00:07:45 Ken
But when do?
00:07:46 Ken
You what about you? Like, do you are? Are you a little bit more cost conscious when you're going to bars or breweries compared to say 2019?
00:07:57 Wendy
Oh, it's definitely a lot more expensive now.
00:08:01 Wendy
I don't. I guess I don't buy as much at the store, though I will say I tend to also go to stores that I can buy singles so that I can try a bunch of different stuff. The last time I went, I actually.
00:08:16 Wendy
Was joking with the.
00:08:18 Wendy
Guy at the counter that I'm like, no, I have to spend less than $100 and I did, but it was literally like $75 and it wasn't even a full case of beer.
00:08:31 Wendy
So I I guess it depends on what's going on, whether I buy a lot of stuff, if there's a lot of new stuff.
00:08:39 Wendy
That came out that particular time I ran into wild work. So because we don't get it here very often, I wanted.
00:08:46 Wendy
To make sure.
00:08:46 Wendy
That I picked that up.
00:08:51 Wendy
I don't think it. I'm not out as much drinking because of the prices, though I think it's more just like Jeff said, it's life. You know, my free time has been cut drastically in the last few weeks, so if I'm going someplace, I'm going to make sure that it's someplace that I can.
00:09:13 Wendy
And I'm not very happy as much as I used to be able to.
00:09:19 Ken
Yeah. I think for me, I I don't look at I as what I used to. I I will say I will admit it. I don't know if you guys have ever done it, but I used to be a BV per dollar type of person like I'm there to get not necessarily the cheapest drunk.
00:09:37 Ken
The most efficient, drunk and sometimes it's getting a specific beer or going to booze like liquor spirits. So for me I used to to be like oh, I can't tell you how many times I used to do like 2-4 locos in a night. And that was my night because.
00:09:56 Ken
Like you know, I can get drunk on 5 bucks and have a good old time.
00:10:02 Ken
Now for me, however, I the the the price of beer. Obviously I've noticed has gone up. I know a lot of Brewers are talking about, you know, they they feel bad having to raise the prices, but in the same token like you have to, you can't be in the business to lose money like you have to make money in some sense. And the only way to make money is to raise the prices.
00:10:22 Ken
A little bit.
00:10:24 Ken
So I understand where they're coming from. I understand that we have to, you know, eat those costs as well.
00:10:32 Ken
But for me I I've noticed while I'm out, I don't necessarily go for that second beer anymore.
00:10:41 Ken
I'm usually A1 and done kind of person. Normally I would go and drink, you know, 2 pints somewhere or if I'm drinking, say, watching a lions game at Buffalo Wild Wings like I'd have a lot more than I normally would and now it's just like I almost kind of want a soda. Like I don't. I don't know if maybe I'm.
00:11:01 Ken
Tired of beer and would quite possible for doing the show for almost 8 years now, seven years and 50 weeks. So maybe that's the thing. But in in the same token like I I'm a creature of habit and sometimes I just like.
00:11:21 Ken
I don't. I don't like the buzz anymore.
00:11:24 Ken
I also don't like the mornings.
00:11:25 Ken
After the bus.
00:11:27 Ken
So I think.
00:11:27 Wendy
That's the worst part.
00:11:30 Ken
I think for me, yeah. For for me, saving money on going out is necessarily one thing. But not wanting to feel like trash the next day or the next two days from drinking to where.
00:11:44 Ken
I guess I'm.
00:11:45 Ken
Agreeing with the both of you, life choices have made me choose differently when it comes to beer.
00:11:51 Jeff
And for me, it's also age like I'm 50 now, you know, drinking in my 20s and 30s, I was up for the parties, going to concerts and, you know, 2-3 in the morning. I'm a big gotta buy voices fans. Their concerts would last for four hours until 2:00 in the morning. And that was great. When I was 20 or early 30s. But now 50, it's like 2 beers in and I'm ready for my nap on the couch. So.
00:12:11 Jeff
It's it's just a, it's.
00:12:12 Jeff
Just a fact of life.
00:12:14 Ken
I know I'm going to a show after this too, and I'm I'm ready and like having to drive out to Ann Arbor to go see a show and then drive back.
00:12:23 Wendy
Oh my gosh, you're driving, driving to Ann Arbor from Ypsilanti.
00:12:27 Ken
Yes, yes, the.
00:12:28 Ken
Whole whole 10 minutes.
00:12:30 Wendy
Oh, and that old overnight.
00:12:32 Ken
I did. I did. I'm.
00:12:34 Jeff
Bells is in our backyard and and we've had a couple of concerts that we were going to go to and then we get to the.
00:12:39 Jeff
Night of and it's kind of like I don't think we can do it tonight.
00:12:42 Wendy
Oh, I hear that.
00:12:44 Ken
I did.
00:12:45 Wendy
If I have.
00:12:45 Wendy
Too many one.
00:12:46 Wendy
Night. I can't. I just over. Like it overloads and I just shut down and I'm like, Nope, can't do it anymore. Too many things.
00:12:54 Ken
I did the.
00:12:55 Ken
Proper. Sorry I keep interrupting you guys. I was going to say I did the proper pop punk back to backs over in Michigan with the not the simple plan show with some 41 and offspring and then the night before it was like New Found Glory and the starting line and a few others. And I'm just like.
00:13:15 Ken
I don't know how I used to be able to do it, but that those were also Freedom Hill and Pine Knob. So those are a little bit of hikes for me. There is no easy way to get from Pine Knob to my place at ipsilanti without just taking just side streets the entire way.
00:13:33 Wendy
There's nowhere to get.
00:13:34 Wendy
There's an easy.
00:13:35 Wendy
Way to get to Pranav from anywhere except pine NAB and on concert nights. They probably say the same thing.
00:13:38 Ken
That's true.
00:13:43 Ken
I'm I wouldn't be surprised.
00:13:46 Ken
But Wendy, what did you want to talk about today?
00:13:48 Wendy
So I feel like it's kind of a slow beer. Newsweek. I did find an article about solar powered beer. Apparently there is a brewery in England, one Planet Brewing in Surrey.
00:14:03 Wendy
Is set to launch its first 100% solar powered beer. It's a 5.5% hazy IPA that they're initially going to be selling in kegs, but will be available in a limited supply of cans come October.
00:14:17 Wendy
They're also using homegrown hops whenever possible. Apparently they have hats that are within a mile of the brewery, so they're trying to use as fresh as possible. They're looking to distribute to selected partners where it can be done in a sustainable way using by using reusable packaging and an electric dray. I don't know what that is.
00:14:37 Wendy
Meant to look it up before the show as soon as possible. Their distribution is only going to be offered within a 30 mile radius of the brewery.
00:14:45 Wendy
So hogs back is the brewery that is there, managing investor, the managing director, Rupert Thompson, said their investment to one launch to launch one planet is an evolution of the ambitious sustainability agenda that has been fundamental to hogs back from the outset, and we are proud to have been the.
00:15:06 Wendy
Founding investor behind this new venture, it is, we believe, the first UK brewery to make the commitment to brew using only solar power generated on.
00:15:15 Wendy
Site we are working.
00:15:16 Wendy
Hard on the.
00:15:17 Wendy
Next steps to take one Planet Brewing beers.
00:15:19 Wendy
To as close.
00:15:20 Wendy
TO0 carbon as we practically can for all the elements that we can control with the minimum of offsetting, ideally within the next year.
00:15:28 Wendy
So I found this article interesting because we do have a number of worries that we have talked with over the past year that are have a lot of investment in sustainability measures. And I was just wondering what you guys take is on it. Are you?
00:15:47 Wendy
Interested in supporting breweries that are?
00:15:51 Wendy
Looking to make themselves more sustainable? Does that play a factor in choosing what you purchase?
00:16:00 Ken
For me, not really. This isn't one of the things that really pique my interest when it comes to why I do or don't support a brewery, simply because the the baseline is just that. It's just regular.
00:16:20 Ken
Use your power. Use your water, do everything normal as as normal as it was, you know, say, 1520 years ago when brewing beer.
00:16:29 Ken
So I do appreciate when there are these types of.
00:16:36 Ken
Programs that allow the the brewery to act a lot better for Mother Nature, as Todd Parker on Facebook says, Dark Horse and Arbor are both South solar and have been for years.
00:16:49 Ken
So we do have some here in Michigan, but it doesn't move my needle personally to go to that brewery.
00:16:57 Ken
Or buy that beer beer.
00:16:58 Ken
Because of their commitment, like if anything, it should be the the standard. Like a lot of people should have these types of commitments of working, but within the brewery and the brewery, the brewery world like a lot of them already do. Other types of recycling from spent.
00:17:18 Ken
Rain from power from like capturing carbon so.
00:17:22 Ken
A lot of these breweries already do it so.
00:17:25 Ken
You know, I I would probably be against one that thumbed their nose at it, but I wouldn't necessarily be pro one over the other.
00:17:37 Jeff
Yeah, I'd. I'd agree with Ken. I I wouldn't seek out a brewery because they are using solar power or other sustainable methods. But I I definitely would give them a thumbs up. And and if I like their beer, I'd, I'd feel better and maybe a little more loyal to them. You know, over time it it's hard.
00:17:53 Jeff
To say it it it.
00:17:55 Jeff
It may just be the.
00:17:56 Jeff
Economical thing to do the long term economical thing to do it. It probably won't be done, or increasingly because it is the right thing to do, it will be because energy is expensive.
00:18:09 Jeff
And if you can find a more sustainable, cheaper way to do it, that doesn't also harm the planet, then I think people are gonna do that for as much for economic reasons as they are for social or or, you know, the greater good.
00:18:24 Wendy
With my volunteer background, I tend to find that I I kind of always paid a little more.
00:18:30 Wendy
Attention to that thing.
00:18:32 Wendy
Recently though, with the classes that I've been taking at school, I feel kind of like clueless where she's like, ugly, like or college. Like, there's this ugly head.
00:18:42 Wendy
I'm in an environmental science class right now and they really, I think my teacher would be really happy to know that it.
00:18:48 Wendy
Really has made me think about what my carbon footprint is in the world again, it's been years since I've taken a look at that and I did realize that.
00:18:59 Wendy
When it comes to choosing a beer, when I'm at if I'm.
00:19:02 Wendy
Standing in front.
00:19:03 Wendy
Of a cooler and there are seven or eight different beers that I've all had. I'm going to pick the Alaskan brewing or the Sierra Nevada Brewing beer first because I know of the sustainability efforts that they put into their beer.
00:19:16 Wendy
So I think it does impact me in a way. Again, I'm if it wasn't good beer, I probably wouldn't.
00:19:25 Wendy
It it does in a way affect me. So I was just curious as to what you guys think. I I agree that I think this trend is going to increase that we'll see more breweries doing.
00:19:36 Wendy
That kind of thing. I think a lot.
00:19:38 Wendy
Of them already do.
00:19:39 Wendy
Though I think that's just the nature of the business that.
00:19:44 Wendy
A lot of the.
00:19:45 Wendy
Brewers and the people who own breweries are a lot more conscientious about what.
00:19:49 Wendy
They're putting out in the world.
00:19:53 Ken
Yeah. I think with one you you brought up the point which is really good that you're you're still going to drink the beer that you like. You're not going to buy a beer, you're you're not going to go out of your way to buy a a, quote, UN quote bad beer. We're.
00:20:07 Ken
Not calling any beer.
00:20:08 Ken
Bad, but a, quote UN quote bad beer.
00:20:10 Ken
Just because they have sustainability.
00:20:12 Ken
Programs I think a lot of these.
00:20:14 Ken
Breweries do have.
00:20:14 Ken
Their own sustainability programs, each one just does something a little bit different, but.
00:20:20 Ken
A lot of them might not.
00:20:22 Ken
Necessarily have the capabilities.
00:20:24 Ken
They might not own the the property that they're on, therefore they can't install solar panels without like going through their the the owner of the building. And of course, then they don't own the solar panels. The owner of the building owns the solar panels. So.
00:20:40 Ken
There are a lot.
00:20:41 Ken
Of things because I don't want to discredit.
00:20:44 Ken
The brewery, when they're it's kind of out of their control, so I that's why I think that if it's a brewery that kind of thumbs their nose at it and purposefully like brags about it because they don't believe in recycling and reuse and you know, dealing with the spent grain and that kind of.
00:21:04 Ken
Things like when we had Alaskan on just a little bit ago and they were talking about all the things that they have to do. But when they talked about spending grain and how they don't have the capabilities of donating because they don't have the agriculture to feed for spent grain up there, so.
00:21:22 Ken
There are is ways to, I think do well.
00:21:26 Ken
For the environment.
00:21:29 Ken
That a lot of breweries do, and I think they should promote that. I think a lot of breweries should be able to be like this is what we do. This is how we have.
00:21:36 Ken
How we either.
00:21:37 Ken
Become not carbon negative, but lower our carbon footprint.
00:21:41 Ken
This is how we.
00:21:42 Ken
Where we donate.
00:21:43 Ken
Our stuff like that, those are the kinds of things that I love looking at. However, at a brewery like.
00:21:48 Ken
It tell me what you do for your community because I see the future breweries and these beer pubs at, you know, being the center of these communities. So that's what I want to see. I don't make the decision to go because they do it, but I like I want.
00:22:08 Ken
You know there there are times where I want them to.
00:22:11 Ken
To brag, I'm.
00:22:12 Ken
Trying to think of.
00:22:14 Ken
The gentleman that we had on the show.
00:22:15 Ken
From Michigan State.
00:22:17 Ken
When he talked about agriculture within the craft beer industry and how you know the effects that each has on each other, the crops having on the beer and then the beer production having back within the community from spent grain, from CO2.
00:22:36 Ken
Christians, I really wish I remember his name and I I can't. Oh, my gosh, it's it's bothering me. I'll figure it out before we go off the air. But on the on Twitch, mutt bone. Ask me what happened to me. Did your you keep your fest instantly make this show old?
00:22:56 Ken
I I so we did a lot of walking. We went to a lot of waterfalls, a lot of hiking trails, and I'm not necessarily in the best shape in the world. So along with the drinking, the terrible diet, when you're on the road and you're eating. And of course there's not.
00:23:14 Ken
Much choices when you're in the UP except for like, you know, the local diners. Unless you're in a big city and those diners are a lot of burger and fry joints, so pasties.
00:23:31 Ken
Pasties pasties every. I do that. Every time pasties like these. These are the kinds of things. Like we went to each channel. And of course they had, like, a wood fired pizza stove there. So we had to get the.
00:23:43 Ken
Wood fired pizza.
00:23:45 Ken
And you're eating snacks with all the driving on the road? Yeah.
00:23:48 Ken
So it's I think I just, I still haven't fully recovered, I never gave myself like a day or two like I got home and then I worked the next day. So I think that's why I'm feeling a little bit old right now.
00:24:01 Ken
But I also don't see myself as I used to like going to on the rocks or something until 2:00 in the morning, closing the bar and singing karaoke all night.
00:24:11 Ken
Gary says and cherry pie. I'm not a big sweets guy.
00:24:15 Ken
Are you guys sweets, guys, sweets, people?
00:24:18 Jeff
I I like ice cream and I like some candy, but I don't like sweets with my beer.
00:24:26 Ken
Do you like sweets in your beer like milkshake stout or adjunctive chocolate peanut butter caramel?
00:24:35 Jeff
That's about the only time I would want like some chocolatey notes or or any kind of a sweet flavor to it the the lactose milkshake IPA's. There have been a couple I.
00:24:46 Jeff
I think are OK, but by and large I'm not a I'm not.
00:24:48 Jeff
Drawn to those.
00:24:52 Ken
From our friend in New Zealand, Wendy Wendy is our friend in New Zealand. Dan says that you guys are old. That is true. I am getting old here. Wendy, you're a sweet person.
00:25:06 Ken
What are some of your favorite sweets?
00:25:08 Wendy
I actually chose I I've given up a lot of sweets so.
00:25:12 Wendy
That I can continue drinking.
00:25:15 Wendy
So I really like it when my beer is sweet that way, like I'm a big fan. I'm pretty sure I I pulled out this throwaway so that Dan can't pick about on me about all the adjuncts that are in it, though I don't think just Maple syrup aged is a big deal, but.
00:25:34 Wendy
Anytime I'm bringing something with more than one ingredient in the title, he likes to joke with me.
00:25:41 Ken
I I think.
00:25:42 Ken
Two is the limit. Two is OK when when.
00:25:45 Ken
You get to 3.
00:25:45 Wendy
And I don't know.
00:25:47 Ken
That's, I mean, that's also fair too. I mean, it's damn.
00:25:49 Wendy
I I like it all. I like it sweet. I like it to take if they. If you're telling me it's going to be a German chocolate cake, I want to be able to taste all the parts of the German chocolate cake. So I don't care how many stuff, how many things you put.
00:26:02 Wendy
In there.
00:26:03 Jeff
Maybe I just haven't had the good sweet beers, because usually they they just leave something on my tongue, like a little like a syrupy residue or something. It's just the mouth feel of of too much sweet for my beer. It's just it just becomes a little too much.
00:26:15 Jeff
For me there.
00:26:16 Ken
Are some breweries that just do adjuncts wrong, like it's just every time you taste it?
00:26:17 Wendy
I get.
00:26:23 Ken
It tastes like the theory of that adjunct, like it tastes like the theory of chocolate. The you know, like you kind of.
00:26:32 Ken
Like rubbed some peanut butter on the sides of the.
00:26:36 Ken
The tank before you built made it.
00:26:38 Ken
But there's some like.
00:26:39 Ken
If it tastes really, really good, but it's not too overly sweet like I can't do sugary sweet, that's that. That's for me. What I don't like about sweets is when they're sugary sweet, which are most sweets, but I like a little bit. So bland white vanilla ice cream like I had my first vanilla ice cream cone and.
00:26:59 Ken
Probably a decade when I was on my trip in the UP and I'm like, I don't want sprinkles, I don't want.
00:27:05 Ken
Fudge I don't want.
00:27:06 Ken
Shock. No. The the person looked at me like, do you want anything out? I'm like, no. Just just. I want a scoop of ice cream. Leave me alone.
00:27:12 Wendy
It's so boring. I am a person though.
00:27:16 Wendy
Who totally believes that?
00:27:18 Wendy
Steak is a vessel for frosting to.
00:27:23 Wendy
Be put in your mouth like there's no other reason to have cake. Then for the frosting. I also would prefer ice cream over cake so.
00:27:34 Ken
I I was that person at the party where I would like knife off most of the frosting on the top of the.
00:27:41 Ken
Cake and just give me like I for brownies.
00:27:44 Wendy
You're my favorite people because then I can.
00:27:46 Wendy
Take your frosting.
00:27:47 Ken
I'll go for it. Yeah, that absolutely. I I don't like pumpkin pie, but I don't want, like, cool whip on it or anything like that. Like, I just want a little bit.
00:27:57 Ken
Of pumpkin pie.
00:27:58 Ken
And that's it. I I'm very I'm very, very picky when it comes to my sweets.
00:28:04 Ken
My my family all knows my little ticks like I want a brownie, but I don't want anything inside the brownie or anything on top of the brownie. I just want a basic *** brownie. Just just brownie mix.
00:28:16 Jeff
That's it. That's it.
00:28:18 Jeff
You throw nuts in there and that you know that throws.
00:28:20 Jeff
The texture off it throws.
00:28:21 Wendy
Ohh not should.
00:28:22 Wendy
Not be good.
00:28:25 Jeff
I agree. Totally agree.
00:28:27 Ken
Ah, well, this is a craft beer podcast and this is the craft beer and news segment and we've got one more.
00:28:33 Ken
Article to go over.
00:28:35 Ken
And I know I kind of talked about the UP Beer festival, but Jeff, what did you want to?
00:28:40 Jeff
Talk about today. So I found an article recently by Axios from an A writer out in Denver.
00:28:47 Jeff
About a decline in the craft beer festival and they go on to acknowledge that some of.
00:28:58 Jeff
The beer festivals are shrinking, they said. Great American Beer Fest last year sold 20,000 less tickets at 300 fewer breweries involved in the event. A couple of regional Colorado longtime brew fests have gone on pause and cancelled their events for 2023. Another one in.
00:29:19 Jeff
Oregon pulled up stakes, at least temporarily this year, and so as as those of you that have gone to some beer fest more recently than I have, I'm I'm wondering.
00:29:31 Jeff
Have you noticed a change in the beer festivals? Obviously there was a disruption with the pandemic, but even going back further than that, do you do you sense that things are changing and when it comes to not just people's interest in beer festivals, but people's interest in craft beer overall?
00:29:52 Wendy
I'll start so I.
00:29:56 Wendy
I'm on right, so I.
00:29:59 Wendy
Think that this article isn't giving festivals a fair shake?
00:30:03 Wendy
Yet I think people are still.
00:30:08 Wendy
Leery about what they're doing and traveling.
00:30:11 Wendy
Not as much as they used to.
00:30:13 Wendy
So I don't think that people are going out as often as they were.
00:30:18 Wendy
And they're being a little bit pickier about which events they choose to go to.
00:30:24 Wendy
And I think it's also not taking into account the fact that Bruce took a really hard hit during COVID and it might not be in their budget to go to a festival in Colorado or a festival out of state they're trying. They're just starting to come back out to festivals in their own state.
00:30:45 Wendy
So I I don't think, I think it's still too early to say that there is going to be a a huge.
00:30:50 Wendy
Decline 100%.
00:30:54 Wendy
I think eventually they will start to come back. People are going to want to do it. Another thing that I don't know that this event is taking into consideration is.
00:31:07 Wendy
But the fact that.
00:31:07 Wendy
Things cost so much right now.
00:31:10 Wendy
You know, we're looking at the UAW strike. There's the writers strike and Hollywood, like, all these things are happening that are affecting our bottom line.
00:31:21 Wendy
And what money we have coming in, I think people are paying a lot more attention about what money.
00:31:25 Wendy
They're putting out.
00:31:30 Ken
Yes. So Dan and the chat, both him and I went to JBF last year and they did sell out. But if I'm not mistaken, it was a much smaller room, smaller venue for the system. So I think that's why like, of course, if you offer less tickets and you sell out, sure you sold out, but yes, you're selling.
00:31:50 Ken
Us for me, going to these festivals like I've noticed significantly, even the festivals that are now only one day like the the fall beer fest, the Spring Beer fest.
00:32:08 Ken
Definitely less breweries are attending less people are there. I think the Guild is very obvious. I remember the days when these festivals would sell out and you were getting tickets from scalpers and you were paying a premium.
00:32:23 Ken
To go because.
00:32:24 Ken
Both like Fridays usually didn't sell out, but Saturdays.
00:32:27 Ken
We sold out.
00:32:30 Ken
I remember one year waiting in line with friends, and one person didn't have a ticket and she wound up getting in just under a DD ticket just so she could at least hang out with us, and they were selling like enthusiast memberships just to try to get people to to get in there with the tickets. So there's I I beer festivals like.
00:32:49 Ken
There's in Michigan.
00:32:50 Ken
I think there's four beer festivals today and tomorrow monroes got a beer festival. I'm I'm trying to look in here. Center lines got a beer festival. Wyandots got a beer festival.
00:33:02 Ken
And I feel like there was one more on this list that I just do not.
00:33:07 Ken
See, but of course.
00:33:09 Ken
Ohh, the Brewton Michigan Milford is this weekend too, so yeah, there are plenty of beer festivals going on. I think they're a lot smaller for our beer fest.
00:33:21 Ken
Cutter on draft Beer Festival, which is over on October 7th at Jimmy John's Field. The brew and Fall Beer fest. Come see us? We will be there.
00:33:32 Ken
These festivals, big and small, I think, are not necessarily selling out as as much as they used to. And the again, these breweries also don't have the ability to send people everywhere anymore. Like that's where a lot of money is, because why would you send product without sending someone?
00:33:50 Ken
To talk about it.
00:33:53 Ken
You want them? You you want that person.
00:33:55 Ken
To be there to sell it, and if they're.
00:33:57 Ken
Busy just trying.
00:33:57 Ken
To keep tap handles at bars and sell out shelf space at says tuna liquor in Rochester Hills, just South of that 59 and Rochester Rd.
00:34:07 Ken
They don't have time to go to.
00:34:08 Ken
These festivals. So yeah, I think beer festivals, they'll they'll always be there. I think everybody wants to get out now, but I think there's also a point where there's there might be too many smaller festivals where people are picking and choosing.
00:34:28 Ken
Instead of just going out weekly so I know I talked in like a a big old circle, but that's that's my theory on on the festivals UP festival, there's a lot of people there but there.
00:34:39 Ken
Was still, I think.
00:34:42 Ken
I think they said there was like still almost 1000 tickets for.
00:34:47 Ken
The line is open, so there is still plenty of room for other people to be there.
00:34:52 Jeff
Have you ever tried a beer or brewery at a beer fest and then went made a point to go visit that brewery? That was, let's say, now more than an hour away because you tried their beer at.
00:35:01 Jeff
A beer fest.
00:35:05 Wendy
Toppling Goliath.
00:35:06 Wendy
I went to. I drove 14 hours so.
00:35:11 Wendy
16 hours actually.
00:35:14 Wendy
So yeah, definitely have.
00:35:14 Jeff
Yeah, my wife and I were there just three months ago.
00:35:19 Ken
I don't recall the last time that I have purposefully driven to a brewery more than an hour away just for their beer. I have gone to breweries for other reasons like going to Hwy. Brewing on the way up to the UP.
00:35:39 Ken
Or hey, I'm in Kalamazoo for XY and Z. Let's go to presidential brewing or let's go to bells or something like that. But it has been there. There's, I don't think there's ever been a beer that's got me to say. Ohh man. I need to go to this place today.
00:35:59 Jeff
Yeah. Well, I'll be honest, I.
00:36:02 Wendy
Texas and other brewing.
00:36:04 Ken
Are you?
00:36:05 Wendy
6 means another brewery that we went to space. We went to a festival that they put on themselves specifically because we had them at a festival in Indiana.
00:36:18 Ken
Gary mentioned on the Facebook page. I think about festivals, who's pouring or not pouring here in Michigan, there is the the law where a lot of those people cannot pour their own beer and therefore they have to like be set aside. They have to kind of hang out to the side.
00:36:38 Ken
So there are these.
00:36:39 Ken
Rules about like, not, not necessarily.
00:36:42 Ken
Yeah, well, it depends on the license.
00:36:44 Ken
To, but most of the time when you're going to one of these.
00:36:47 Ken
Festivals it's usually a.
00:36:48 Ken
Volunteer point you go.
00:36:49 Ken
To the zoo brew with the.
00:36:50 Ken
Zoo volunteer pouring you.
00:36:52 Ken
Go to even GBF. It's all mostly volunteers pouring at GBF while everyone else is kind of Mosey and around or hanging around their booth.
00:37:03 Ken
But like yeah, I I love getting to know the people that make the beer, but again, I've I've been racking my brain trying to figure out if a brewery that I made a point to go to because I've had their beer or even had their beer at a.
00:37:20 Ken
A festival like for me visiting a brewery is almost secondary now to travel.
00:37:26 Jeff
Yeah, yeah. If I'm there, I'll I'll look for the craft Brewers or the craft breweries, but I I don't go there because of the craft breweries, but if it's there or it's on the way, I I definitely want to stop. If there's time I, you know, I honestly haven't been to A to a craft beer festival since the pandemic. I spent nearly 20 years in Indianapolis, volunteered at many of the microbrew.
00:37:44 Jeff
Festivals that were held there in in Indianapolis, and fortunately for me for a long time, they were a mile walk from my house. So it it, you know, I didn't have to worry about, you know, getting home because I could always stumble home. But yeah, with it, you know, Beer fest being sometimes an hour or more away, it is.
00:38:04 Jeff
It is harder for me to get to them.
00:38:06 Jeff
Uh now, but it it it you know, there was a time like the one person said if if the right breweries were pouring, I definitely made a a more concerted effort to get there. Like, you know, back before 3 Floyds was everywhere. Three Floyds showed up at a beer fest. I was like, I got. I want to make a point to go to that beer fest. So there's definitely some breweries.
00:38:27 Jeff
That are are a little out of the way that if they were at a beer fest near me or within a reasonable drive, I would consider going a little stronger.
00:38:36 Ken
Bats McGee on Twitch said I discovered clag in Sandusky, OH, at nuclear this year and ended up driving there over Labor Day weekend. I I've been to breweries for beer releases as Gary kind of mentions on her Facebook page like, yeah, I've gone for.
00:38:53 Ken
A beer release.
00:38:56 Ken
To go pick.
00:38:56 Ken
Up bottles or an allotment like I've been to no rules day or I've been to one of the many Dragons milk release days, so I've been to breweries for a specific.
00:39:12 Ken
Beer, but I don't think I've ever gone.
00:39:13 Ken
Backwards where because.
00:39:15 Ken
Of a beer. I've gone to a brewery.
00:39:19 Ken
My bone also.
00:39:19 Ken
Went to. I got to get to hop.
00:39:21 Ken
And frog.
00:39:23 Ken
That we had hopping frog on the show 6 years ago on like a Sunday afternoon show. And like the turbo shandies were the lowest ABV beers and those were still four or six, six and a half, 7%.
00:39:41 Ken
Yeah, they definitely do some damage out.
00:39:43 Ken
There, but you haven't been doing a beer festival since the pandemic. Is that just life or any other reasons?
00:39:51 Jeff
Yeah, mostly. Life. I I was a little hesitant when they first started reappearing in 2021, and then, you know, life definitely changed for me. So they became a little less.
00:40:03 Jeff
A little less important, but you know there's there's been beer fest where.
00:40:08 Jeff
You know, somebody did tap a very unique or special beer just for that fest and that was and that was good. But sometimes that's late in the day and your your taste buds are kind of shot at that point and I could see given you know what, what article you presented earlier Ken is like I could see why this is not a good investment for some of the breweries, especially the ones that.
00:40:25 Jeff
Are smaller, are struggling with cash because you are basically.
00:40:28 Jeff
Outlaying cost with nothing coming back in and you know it's probably a better investment to invest in social media or your on site experience. And you know, obviously your other marketing efforts than having some somebody that's like 4 hours into a beer fest stumbling up to your booth and saying, ohh Yep, that was.
00:40:46 Jeff
That was good. If I tasted any of it, and maybe I'll remember you tomorrow. Who knows?
00:40:53 Ken
Yeah, I also don't. I was going to say I I haven't even told you the last. I couldn't. I honestly couldn't tell you. Most of the beers I had at the UP Beer Festival. Like I don't use untapped anymore. I don't check them in. I don't check them off. Like if it's a beer that I liked, I'll, you know, committed to memory. But other than that, yeah, I'm just there.
00:41:12 Ken
To the the party now.
00:41:16 Wendy
I'm the complete opposite, so I travel to try beer, so a lot of my.
00:41:24 Wendy
Travels include going to different breweries and I have a list of breweries that I have tried their beer and really want to go there. I can think of a handful of Michigan breweries that I've tried at festivals.
00:41:38 Wendy
And it's not.
00:41:38 Wendy
Necessarily a single beer, it's that I liked a couple of beers that I tried for them or I really enjoyed talking with the people that were there.
00:41:45 Wendy
Because at least at the Michigan Brewers Guild festivals, they bring people in that know their brewery, so you get to talk to them and get kind of a feel for what their brewery is like.
00:41:57 Wendy
And it makes me want to go.
00:41:59 Wendy
Visit him. What? What was?
00:42:00 Wendy
The one with all the.
00:42:05 Wendy
With the ice cream beers.
00:42:08 Wendy
There were a couple of us that.
00:42:09 Wendy
Picked it as our beer, our favorite beer of the festival.
00:42:14 Ken
Like the the summer beer was it?
00:42:15 Ken
Wasn't it, Niles?
00:42:18 Wendy
Yes. So now I'll bring. I totally want to go there because I really enjoyed the beers that I tried there. Fetch brewing. I made it. I made a specific sat there on a trip because I had had their beer and away like them at the at the festival. Like, I can think of a handful of breweries like that.
00:42:18 Ken
Living at Niles.
00:42:38 Wendy
And not necessarily at a festival, but sometimes I've tried beers at a share that somebody's brought back that put that on my short list of breweries I want to travel to.
00:42:47 Wendy
And usually if I pick a city that I want to go to, it's because there's a brewery.
00:42:51 Wendy
That I've had that I really liked and I wanted to visit. So then I look at what brews are around there.
00:42:58 Wendy
To make that trip happen.
00:43:02 Ken
The the closest that I've finally come up with is Reed City.
00:43:09 Ken
I every single beer I've had at Reed City has been a banger. Beers that I've loved their peanut butter beer like every time they bring it and they see me and they're like, oh, here we go like they know that's what I'm coming for. So the when I went to Big Rapids in February of.
00:43:29 Ken
This year I made it a point to go the extra 15 minutes N to Reed City to have some Reed City.
00:43:36 Ken
So that's like the.
00:43:38 Ken
Closest you're going to see me probably get to somewhere, but again, I didn't go up to Reed City just to have Reed City beers. I was going to Big Rapids and Reed City for those who don't know, is like 15 minutes N on 131 or 31 one of the.
00:43:55 Jeff
2131.
00:43:56 Jeff
Most likely if it's north of Big Rapids, yeah, be 131 cause we go that way for taking our daughter to Marquette for school.
00:44:04 Ken
UM.
00:44:06 Ken
I yeah, yeah, I have nothing else to.
00:44:09 Ken
Add to that.
00:44:11 Jeff
I I will say that's how we ended up at toppling Goliath. We were on our way to Rochester, MN and we passed through the Field of Dreams and in Iowa, and it was kind of in between those two endpoints. So that's how we got through there at the end of June. This this past year and definitely worth a stop because I've I've enjoyed a lot of their double dry hop beers for years too. So it's it was definitely worth checking out there.
00:44:34 Wendy
No, I planned a whole.
00:44:35 Wendy
Trip based on going to discipline.
00:44:37 Jeff
I love that I love that cause. You know, 10/10/15 years ago I probably would have done that, but not today, not today.
00:44:47 Ken
Well, that is going to do for the craft beer news segment once again, no regular episode 2 day we will be back next week, so we hope you have a great weekend, stay safe and no matter what you think of your beer.
00:45:03 Ken
We think it's.
00:45:06 Ken
Better on draft. Have a good night.