Pour Decisions for 2026

We're kicking off 2026 with a New Year’s visit to Spiral Brewing in Hastings, followed by Eisbock poking day at Northbound Smokehouse and Brewpub in Minneapolis, and a recap of the local beers Courtney tracked down while traveling to Dallas for work. We're navigating some tough and uncertain times right now as ICE activity weighs heavily on our community. This conversation is a reminder of why breweries matter. They are places of connection, comfort, and shared stories. Grab a pint and join us as we toast the New Year, local beer, and the communities that are so important to us. 

EPISODE BEERS (from Arbeiter Brewing):
Courtney: Resolution, NA Stout
Dan: Tokki, Korean Rice Lager

LINKS:

• Arbeiter Brewing
• Spiral Brewing
• Northbound Smokehouse and Brewpub
• Courtney’s Untappd
• Dan’s Untappd
• A One Pint Stand: My Interview w/ Padraigs Brewing

Visit our website at https://thebreweryadventure.com or contact us by sending an email to courtney@thebreweryadventure.com.

Be sure to subscribe to our Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/thebreweryadventure!

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 0:00

Dan, sometimes I think you preset a list of quotes or references that you need to work in during an episode and you're like tucking them off a list.

SPEAKER_02: 0:08

No, I just live in my brain.

SPEAKER_01: 0:09

That's amazing. Welcome to the Brewery Adventure. I'm Courtney.

SPEAKER_02: 0:15

And I'm Dan. We're here to dive into the world of your local brewery.

SPEAKER_01: 0:18

It's not just about the beer, it's about the vibe, the people, and the stories behind every tap room.

SPEAKER_02: 0:23

From small neighborhood spots to big bustling brew houses, we'll bring you along for the ride. So grab a pint and join us on the brewery. Cheers.

SPEAKER_01: 0:33

You did a really nice juggling act right there.

SPEAKER_02: 0:42

That's right. I you know, some you gotta put the phone down, grab the beer, clink, and say everything at the same time.

SPEAKER_01: 0:47

It was super pro.

SPEAKER_02: 0:48

Teaching has prepared me for multitasking. Because I'm hurting cats all the time.

SPEAKER_01: 0:54

Uh well, welcome to 2026.

SPEAKER_02: 0:57

I want I never thought I'd say this out loud. I want my 2025 back. Yeah. It's kind of yikes. Yeah, 2026. We're 11 days in, and so far, no is bueno.

SPEAKER_01: 1:08

No is bueno.

SPEAKER_02: 1:09

So, but hey, we're here recording a podcast and we're at Arbiter Brewing.

SPEAKER_01: 1:12

Yes. We're at home away from home. Home away from home.

SPEAKER_02: 1:15

Yes.

SPEAKER_01: 1:16

Very inclusive as soon as you walk in the door, and just feels like a good place to be right now.

SPEAKER_02: 1:20

It's a great place to be. Great place to be. Drinking great beers. I'm drinking the Toki rice lager.

SPEAKER_01: 1:27

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 1:28

The Korean rice lager. It's very good, very crisp and clean. I can see you through the bubbly glass. It's delicious.

SPEAKER_01: 1:35

I grabbed uh, well, I grabbed a non-alcoholic beer. I grabbed their resolution stout, and it's good.

SPEAKER_02: 1:43

Yeah, that's a it's a you know it's NA beers have gotten so much better over the years as far as like flavor and texture. You said here, take a sip of this. I tried it. I was like, wow, what is this? What is this? This is good. You're like, that's their NA. And I'm like, I should have known. I they do some really good NA beers here. That's fantastic. Everybody's excited about the NA beers. And I think it's nice to have quality options for people who are, you know, wanting to wanting something with uh NA.

SPEAKER_01: 2:13

I got here a little bit early and thought I'm not quite ready to start my beer drinking today. So let's try something else.

SPEAKER_02: 2:20

Which is fair. I think you know, we're in January. A lot of people are doing dry January too, and they're taking a break from that, which is which is I think if you need if that's something you need to do, that's yeah, that's good. And there's there's a lot of good ways to to do it.

SPEAKER_01: 2:32

So I just hope that you continue to go to your local brewery um to see what other options they might have for you during dry January. Because I think everybody's trying to make sure that they uh are accommodating for that and that nobody feels like they should just stay at home and not go out and socialize or hang out at their local spots like they normally would.

SPEAKER_02: 2:53

Mm-hmm. Well, and I think for a lot of people, breweries are not just a place to drink, they're a place to gather and find community and play games and the do trivia and have a meat raffle. And so like it's I think it's really good that breweries have responded by making sure that there are options for people who are taking a break from drinking to still come and enjoy the fun c communal aspect of craft beer. So I think that's a big deal. It is a big deal.

SPEAKER_01: 3:19

I think it I it can be a hard, it can be a hard month on breweries. Yeah, oh yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 3:23

Well, I mean it is historically, you know, historically January and February are just low months for the service industry in general. The restaurants, bars, yeah, tap rooms. You know, people are if you celebrate it a lot during the winter holidays, that's you know, a lot of people do resolutions centered around moderation and tiny kind of dialing back. I also think there's a monetary factor. I think p if you've had a really good time during the holidays, you went to some nice restaurants and bought like gifts for a lot of people. It's like your your your pocketbook might need a bit of time to recover as well. So there's a lot of factors of as to why people will take a break in January, but it is unfortunate that it coincides with a really tough time. And the times are tough already for restaurants and bars and breweries and wineries and all that stuff uh already. And so, you know, it's kind of just like a you know, kicking, kicking, getting kicked while you're down, which is unfortunate. So nice to come out and support. And you know, there's if you are taking a break from drinking and you are the type of person who doesn't even like to be around it, you know, there's a lot of different ways you can support your places. Go buy a gift card or something, you know, uh, because it gives them at least that sale, so you can come back and enjoy later, you know, if you're taking a break. But you know, they're they're really, and I'm not being hyperbolic when I say this, but you should support the places you like because they might not be here.

SPEAKER_01: 4:43

Yes.

SPEAKER_02: 4:44

And so that's uh that's a message that a lot of breweries are are are putting out there loud and clear, and I hope it's being received by people. I know I've been trying to like hit places. The good thing is that you know, when we uh we went to Spiral Brewery on New Year's Day and it was packed. There are a lot of people in there, and so I think that that's I've seen that at Van, I've seen that at Northbound, and so I think that's a good sign. That means I think people are are cognizant of the fact that places are struggling, and if you really want this like third space to be around, you have to go and go and support and bring a friend. Always bring a friend.

SPEAKER_01: 5:18

Bring a friend, yeah. Or take a beer home to a friend, take a beer home to a friend.

SPEAKER_02: 5:24

Bring a friend to beer program brought to you by the Brewery Venture. You buy you take the beers out of the cooler and uh we'll tell you where to send them. We'll deliver.

SPEAKER_00: 5:34

It's the best plan.

SPEAKER_02: 5:35

Courtney will show up in her four-wheel drive sleigh and just give her the coordinates, she'll drop it off. That's a great thing.

SPEAKER_01: 5:41

I could do a beer delivery service. I'm on board.

SPEAKER_02: 5:44

Yeah, get it sponsored by Waymo.

SPEAKER_01: 5:47

Has that started yet?

SPEAKER_02: 5:48

I saw one the other day when I was driving home. I'm so excited. There was a Waymo, and I'm like, oh boy. Get out of my lane. How are you doing? Yeah, yeah, it's it's I don't I don't know if I'm ready for you. You've done Waymo before.

SPEAKER_01: 5:59

I I did one in Atlanta and it was so cool.

SPEAKER_02: 6:02

I don't know. I'm like, uh I mean I I I dated someone back in the day and they were the world's worst driver, and I'm like, well, maybe that's an argument for driverless cars, but I don't know if I'm ready to get in a get in a Waymo. I don't know. Well, we'll see. We'll see.

SPEAKER_01: 6:17

I will say I I enjoyed it as a passenger. Maybe I wouldn't enjoy seeing it next to me on the road as a driver.

SPEAKER_02: 6:24

I mean, I was like, okay, are they gonna what are they doing? I mean, they were they were driving just fine. Yeah. So this is how it starts. The rise of the machines.

SPEAKER_01: 6:34

Be nice to your AI people. Exactly, exactly. Yeah, so we we did New Year's at Spiral. Yeah, that was really fun. That was super fun. And I again I was I was kind of surprised by the number of people who were out.

SPEAKER_02: 6:45

Yeah, we we met a nice, we were talking to a nice couple, they were really enjoying themselves. They go go out for beers a lot.

SPEAKER_01: 6:51

They had a a lot of suggestions for us too. So I was I was taking notes and adding to our brewery list.

SPEAKER_02: 6:57

Yeah, they were they were recommending a place in Wasc in River River Falls, yes, Wisconsin. That sounded kind of interesting, which I've never been to River Falls. I know there's some great little breweries in Menominee and Eau Claire, but uh they made it sound like River Falls might be worth a stop. It was like a a tap, was it a brew pub and a bike shop?

SPEAKER_01: 7:17

And a bike shop.

SPEAKER_02: 7:18

So that's kind of fun. They were telling us about all sorts of different times they've gone there and done little bike trails, and then you went on the website. What was the place called?

SPEAKER_01: 7:25

I'm trying to think and I'm trying to look through my notes. I know I put it in some like very cleverly labeled note file that I perhaps too cleverly labeled because you can't find it at the when we need the information.

SPEAKER_02: 7:38

That's okay, that's fine.

SPEAKER_01: 7:39

But it was it was a a brewery and bike shop in River Falls, and the cool thing, I went to their website just to kind of check out what was on there and see what they were all about. They had a whole page of various bike routes leading from their location in all kinds of different mileages and altitude changes. So whatever you're looking for in your ride, you can go do your ride there and then end up back at their place for a beer or the garage bikes and brews. What a think of that?

SPEAKER_02: 8:12

There's also a place called Crankworks Bike Shop. That's closed. Probably because the name is a little strange. But the garage the garage bikes, that's the bikes and brews. We got we'll hit that up once the snow melts and the ice is gone.

SPEAKER_01: 8:26

And the ice is gone. Because I I did say I'm not gonna call it a resolution because I don't I don't think that resolutions are a great idea. But this summer I would like to do more uh biking.

SPEAKER_03: 8:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 8:36

And more biking before we go to drink beer. Make me earn my beer.

SPEAKER_02: 8:42

Yeah, yeah, I like that idea. That's a good one.

SPEAKER_01: 8:44

And you bike too, so I think I think this could be a a fun a fun adventure on bikes with beers.

SPEAKER_02: 8:50

I wish it was a way to just like strap this mixer to my back and we just like get some wireless bikes and do we literally tap the show on the road. I don't know how that would work, but that'd be kind of fun. We can find a way. If you thought I breathed heavily holding a microphone cranking on a bike, it'd be a whole nother ASMR nightmare. But yeah, that that they they made it sound like that place was good. The beers at Spiral were delicious as always. Yes, they were porter and a brown ale. That's what I had. You had didn't you have the porter as well? You started with the porter. Did you and then you had the stout too, didn't you? That sounds right. There's a I had delicious. I've watched three people almost biff it coming in. I think the lady now the lady just fixed it, so that's okay. Just saved a life.

SPEAKER_01: 9:34

Yeah, I had I had the hard left stout and the bottom is porter.

SPEAKER_02: 9:38

That's right. Yeah, yeah. And I I had their brown ale and the porter because I've had their stout before. It's really good. All their beers are good, but it's nice. You know, I think last time we were there together, we were there in the summertime. Yeah. End of summer. And their their tap list looks a lot more reflective of the weather. It's a lot more uh malt forward, darker beers, which I love this time of year. I know you do as well. And that's uh just fun to sink your teeth into a nice chewy porter this time of year. I love it.

SPEAKER_01: 10:05

Yeah, that would that was a happy, that was a happy day. Yeah, nice way to kick off the year. Yeah, good start to the year. Beer at spiral. And then we do we do have a slight update. We finished out you finished out your porter fast. I did at St. Paul Brewing.

SPEAKER_02: 10:18

Yeah. I don't have my hat yet, though. They ran out of hats. Hopefully, I haven't checked their they said they were gonna post when they were gonna get the second shipment in, and I need to double check because I'm I got my my punch card in my pocket. I'm ready to go.

SPEAKER_00: 10:31

Uh just need to tell me when.

SPEAKER_02: 10:33

I just want to get my beanie, so then we can if we get it, maybe we could wear the matching hats at Winter Beer Dabbler or something.

SPEAKER_01: 10:39

That'd be great.

SPEAKER_02: 10:40

That'd be kind of that'd be a way we can find each other in the crowd.

SPEAKER_01: 10:42

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02: 10:43

Because if it's warm, I won't be wearing my neon orange uh snow pants, which I don't even think I wore last year because it was relatively warm.

SPEAKER_01: 10:49

So what's what's gonna be warm for you for Winter Beer Dabbler?

SPEAKER_02: 10:52

Oh, if it's like 25 degrees or under, I'll probably wear them.

SPEAKER_01: 10:56

That's snow pants?

SPEAKER_02: 10:57

Yeah. Okay. But if it's not, I'll just wear regular like warm-up pants. Soft pants, as I like to say.

SPEAKER_01: 11:02

Soft pants.

SPEAKER_03: 11:03

Soft pants.

SPEAKER_02: 11:04

Soft pants and hard drinking. That's what I like to do. Uh yeah. That's uh that'll be a thing. Yeah, so I didn't I haven't gotten my hat yet. It's a nice hat.

SPEAKER_01: 11:16

It's a really great hat.

SPEAKER_02: 11:17

I want to, I can't wait to have it and wear it. Keep my head warm. I like that it's got a little pom-pom on the top.

SPEAKER_01: 11:22

You just had such a sad look on your face when we were there and you had your final punch and you were all excited for your hat, and they were like, well, well, we ran out.

SPEAKER_02: 11:30

Oh, I just ordered more. Fine. That means that I think that means that more people came out than they thought. So that's a good thing. Because it's a fun, it's a fun beer thing to do. I like like hello. Ex-girlfriend just walked in. Hey! Wild, wild spirit. That wasn't the bad driver, it was a different one. Um, oh yeah, they're up there. That's a cute doggy. What kind of a dog? Is that an Irish setter? I think that's an Irish setter.

SPEAKER_01: 11:58

That's a dog that definitely needs to be pet.

SPEAKER_02: 12:00

It's either an Irish setter or like a is it a spaniel? Like a sheepdog. Might be a sheepdog or a sheep herder. I don't know. Where's my where's my AI Audubon guide to dogs? Yes. Yes, we will.

SPEAKER_00: 12:13

Got questions about your dog.

SPEAKER_02: 12:15

Questions about your dog. It's very vocal. Always nice to get the anna the sound animal or animal sounds. Sound animal. Animal sounds. It's always nice to hear a dog barking in a tap room. It's just a harbinger of joy. Yeah, so I'm waiting for my hat. And then hopefully hopefully they get it soon. I need to check their Instagram now. Maybe they I just assumed they were gonna send me a personal note, but they do. So let's just see if they've uh updated the They're gonna track you down. I was like, oh, a carrier pigeon. I hope it's a singing telegram, like from the movie Clue.

SPEAKER_01: 12:49

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02: 12:50

Uh your singing telegram. All right. Uh so far, no updates on the hats. Stay tuned. That's all I got for that one.

SPEAKER_01: 13:01

Sad times. It is sad. Sad hatless times.

SPEAKER_02: 13:05

I mean, it's definitely hat weather. It sure is.

SPEAKER_01: 13:07

All right, Dan.

SPEAKER_02: 13:09

Yes.

SPEAKER_01: 13:09

Yesterday.

SPEAKER_02: 13:12

Ooh. Yes, we we had quite quite a it was a brewery adventure yesterday.

SPEAKER_01: 13:18

It absolutely was.

SPEAKER_02: 13:19

We went to Northbound, Smokehouse, and Brewpub for their annual icebach poking. And if you're listening and you're like, what's an icebock? Well, I'll tell you. An icebach is in the family of Bach's. So we've got like the regular Bach, Hellis Bach, what other ones? Doppelbach. Uh, then you got icebach. And icebock is interesting because it is a very high ABV beer. I think theirs was like almost 16%.

SPEAKER_00: 13:44

It was 16%.

SPEAKER_02: 13:45

And they responsibly serve it in a, I think it was like a seven-ounce, seven or eight-ounce little thing. So you can't go, you can't go crazy unless you sit there all day long.

SPEAKER_01: 13:54

Unless you sit there and keep ordering them.

SPEAKER_02: 13:58

Uh and so it's a really nice, kind of malty, kind of chocolatey little bit of like dark fruit, but like toffee, and just like a really nice zipper of a beer. So they've been doing this icebox poking for years. However, what makes it more interesting is that for the last two years at the Great American Beer Festival, the northbound smokehouse and brew pub icebock has won gold. Yeah. Back-to-back years, which I think is really phenomenal. And Andy does a great job over there with his with all his beers, but especially with his lagers. He's won a lot of awards over the last couple of years for his Doppelbach, won a gold at World Beer Cup, meaning it was the best Doppelbach in the entire world. And then that recipe is used to create the icebach. So the icebach is a is a beer, they brew the beer, and then they freeze it so that it will begin to freeze and takes the water out of the solution. Oh. Thusly making what you have left when you take the ice out. You've essentially gone from like a 9% beer, let's say, give or take, up to a almost 16% beer. And so that's how they do it. So they freeze the keg and then they kind of monitor and shake it. And like once they it's from what Andy says, it's not an exact science, but they freeze them down to a point where they pour from that one keg into a different keg and the and the the spigot thing is on the bottom. So it takes it, so it's removing some water, making it higher alcohol. It's fascinating. Not many people do icebox, but this is a style that has gone back hundreds of years, and it's kind of interesting, and it's very good.

SPEAKER_01: 15:43

It's really good. And I I didn't realize what I was getting into. I was just like, woo-hoo, beer day. I'm in. Yeah. And then drinking it, I think in my head at a 16%, I was expecting something that was gonna taste a heavy alcohol or have kind of like a baboozy finish to it. It was so smart.

SPEAKER_02: 16:07

Yeah, there's really not a lot of sharp edges on that beer. No. And I think that's because Andy knows what he's doing and he's he's he you know lets it sit the right amount of time and it's not harsh. Also, we had our beers poked. So that was the big thing. It was their icebox poking event. And they usually do it. They try to, you know, it's either the first, this first or second Saturday of January. They kind of keep an eye on the weather, and that's when they decide when they're gonna do it. So they decided on the 10th, and it was great weather. It was like 25 degrees, yeah. A little bit of snow flurries, but it wasn't bad. Andy's out there, there's a fire, there's tons of people. The place was packed, there was a line out the door pretty much the entire afternoon when we were there. I think it finally slowed down when the sun went down, and it was fun. I, you know, you drink your beer down a little bit, because you can't poke a full beer because when you so when you put that hot iron in there, it really does caramelize in the bubbles and it's kind of fun. So you drink it down to a certain point and go out, and I went out there and I said, Hey Andy, can I get a poke? And then can you jam that fiery hot metal stick into my beer after afterwards? It was kind of funny. Um, but it it it caramelizes and totally changes the both the physical feel of the beer and awakens a lot of aromas and different flavors, and it just it's like all the best things of a roasted marshmallow. Yes. And then it makes it much creamier. I don't know. How would you describe it? I think it, I just like it, it kind of I turn mine creamier.

SPEAKER_01: 17:32

It it turns a little bit creamier, and it is the the roasted, toasted marshmallow. Like you can smell it for sure, and when you taste it, it's not like an overwhelming, oh, this is like a really sweet marshmallow kind of flavor. Right. It's just like that hint of that toasted like that caramelization of all the sugars in there, and it's nice.

SPEAKER_02: 17:49

And you don't like I mean, he holds the poker in there for a little bit, moves it around, and takes it out. I I don't know. I wonder if you left it in there for too long, that might caramelize all the sugars, and then it might be bitter. But I know that you there are you can you can poke a lot of different styles of beer. A lot of breweries do that. Yeah, and sometimes I'm like, well, okay. Watch somebody bring their IPA up there. I'm like, I wouldn't poke an IPA. No. Uh he said that somebody uh had their vodka lemonade poked, which I'm like, okay.

SPEAKER_01: 18:21

Well that's a choice.

SPEAKER_02: 18:21

That's different. But you know, it's a nice way to find out and see what you like poked and what you don't like poked. But it's I think it's like if you've got a maltier beer, I think that really lends itself to poking because of all the caramelization.

SPEAKER_01: 18:35

So it's a the other time I've done beer poking was at Bear Cave in Hopkins. Yeah. And at Bear Cave, they have like the the pour your own beers. So you grab your glass, you get to go up to whatever tap you want, and they're just charging you by volume. So there you did get to experiment with all kinds of different beers. You know, just pour a little bit in your glass, take it outside, get it poked, see what happens. Yeah. So it that that was kind of fun there to experiment with smaller portions of beer.

SPEAKER_02: 19:02

And everybody's tastes are different, so maybe some people do like poking an IPA. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01: 19:06

I I still I don't know.

SPEAKER_02: 19:09

I was taught at a very young age, don't yuck another person's jump. This is true. Yeah, but I think it makes sense to do it, stick with like that's why box are so good because box by nature are more caramely, more chocolatey, and different things like that, or like a brown ale or a stout or you know, anything like Oktoberfest will work, like a like a Martin beer that'd be because it's all it's kind of caramely nutty and yeah, you know, so you get elements of like toasted bread, and really just is adding fire to that mix is just going to intensify all those flavors and aromas, which is a really kind of fun.

SPEAKER_01: 19:42

It is fun, and it's fun to watch it's fun to watch the beer change when the poker goes in there too.

SPEAKER_02: 19:47

Yeah, yeah. So it's a fun thing. I this was my third ice no fourth icebox I've ever been to. Four side fourth icebox poking. And it was a it was super fun. I love reasons to get outside in Minnesota and And it was it was fun. There were so many people out.

SPEAKER_01: 20:02

Yes.

SPEAKER_02: 20:03

Just like a lot of like sound a lot of familiar faces in the tap room over there. There were a lot of other brewers there from different places. So that was kind of cool. We were chatting with um Dickie Lopez, the head brewer at La Donia, and um they're in a they're in the midst of a kind of a kitchen build-out. They switched to a brew pub a while ago, and now they're they're putting in more kitchen space. I mean they had that taco place in there before, but now they've they're really uh kind of going bigger with their with their food concept. Somebody's like, yeah, they're it's construction week and just kind of he seemed to he seemed a bit a bit stressed. So it was nice to see him. I saw the head brewer uh Randy Clay from Invergrove Brewing and Lakeville Brewing. That's another brew pub down there in the southern southern burbs, I would say. Good food. I've been to Invergrove, I've not been to Lakeville. I did notice on the Lakeville Brewing website they have quite a bourbon selection. So I do want to head down there at some point. And I know the owner is uh he went to the same high school I did. His older brother was in my graduating class. So Glenn Roostel is is the owner of Lakeville and one of the owners of Lakeville and Invergrove. And I I went to high school in his brother's class. Grayson Brustel. Yeah. One real nice guy. So I will always look forward to running into them at beer stuff. But uh them, uh, let's see, who else was there? The head brewer at Podregs, Dan Pund, was there, and that's how I got roped into a secondary brewery adventure, and I just oh god, it was it was glorious. So when I interviewed Dan on my podcast last spring, we had a nice chat. So Padregs is a kind of a uh pub-inspired brewery. Uh took over this the space in 612. The brand changed, and their beers are so much better now. And uh, so we were talking, and Dan was like, Yeah, I've got uh a beer. They they brew an ordinary bitter, which is a British style beer that's very low ABV, and it's not bitter. That's just the name of the beer. That's bitter. That's a that's a classification, it's not a flavor. But this prodigal pub in South Minneapolis wanted Padre's to have a beer on there, so he brewed this bitter brother. Like specifically to put at Yep, so it's like I mean, they have it at uh at Padre's and the Prodigal. It's the prodigal son, you know, the tale from the Bible. So he was like, We're going to prodigal. I'm like, I still haven't been there, and he just the look of disappointment. I know he was judging me. So I'm like, well, maybe I'll head there. Because I did take an Uber yesterday. Yes. That's very important. If you're going to be drinking and poking 16% beers, you should not be driving. So I kind of had, you know, foot loose and fancy-free, enjoying myself. And then when Andy was done poking and he came back in, I'm like, hey, Andy, you should come with me. He's like, Oh yeah, Dan did mention he's going to prodigal. I've never been there. I said, I've never been there either. That's why we should go. So a plan was made, a scheme was hatched. We ordered an Uber after we had a few more beers. Then we got an Uber, got got out of the Uber, and immediately I was just like in love with this building. Oh, and so from the outside, it just has like a neat little sign. You walk in, it's on a corner. I don't even know where. I could not tell you how to find it. I was just not paying attention. I was just excited. I was like an Uber. Yeah. Maybe that's why Waymo's will be nice because you know you can really pay more attention to where where your surroundings are if you don't have to drive. But walk in, cute, cozy pub, not ginormous, which is how I like a pub to feel. Yeah. Um, and you just it's kind of like a you walk back, there's different areas of seating when you go back to the bathroom, but there's like a nice little bar, they've got a great whiskey selection. They had Guinness on tap, and of course they had the Padre's bitter brother ale, and I had I had some Guinness, I had some bitter brother, I had some Irish whiskey, and met some new people and had some great conversation. And then Andy and I shared a Uber ride back to our we did a two-stop Uber and we got home safe, and then I had a nice big piece of Trace Leche's cake when I got home and went to bed. So I was yesterday was awesome. It was a great day.

SPEAKER_00: 24:10

Even when I saw you the first thing today, you still just had like this big happy grin on your face. That's right.

SPEAKER_02: 24:15

That's right. Because that's the thing. Here's a pro tip for you folks that are in your mid-40s. You know, if you're gonna be drinking beers all day and you're drinking seven and a half percent IPAs, that you're gonna feel like human garbage the next day. But if you're drinking low ABV beers and you're mixing in a lot of waters, you'll feel fine. I got up this morning with a spring in my step and a cake fork in my hand. I don't know how that happened, but it was it was very good. So that was that was fun. Yeah, just a nice outdoor thing. You know, another another outdoor thing to to tell people about is 56 Brewing launched on December 27th. They launched their pintometer event. They've been doing this the last couple years, whereas the price of your beer can be discounted up to if the weather gets below 14 degrees, your your beer is two dollars. The only caveat is you have to buy their plastic pintometer mug. Okay, and you have to drink the beer outside. Now they have fires, and there was a for the kickoff event, there was a hot tub and a sauna. Which was I was like, why didn't I bring my well no, the sauna is. Oh so one of their owner owners, Micah, built the sauna.

SPEAKER_01: 25:26

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_02: 25:27

He knows how to do all sorts of construction stuff. He's a genius when it comes to that. But he's also just like he has a very entrepreneurial spirit and likes to get likes to do projects. So he's he's building this sauna, and so that's what was there. So it's going to be there. So at some point, I will bring my sauna gear and just be like, go like I was like, I get that. I see everybody walking around, you know, in their bathing suits. I'm like, well, this is uh this is interesting. But yeah, so you know, beer and sauna outdoors. I think in Minnesota, you need to mix it up with your winter activities.

SPEAKER_01: 26:01

You do.

SPEAKER_02: 26:01

Um, if you just stay in, you kind of get a little bit, I don't know. I find I always find I get a little bit uh kind of emotionally out of whack. I like to get outside and and do stuff.

SPEAKER_01: 26:10

So you need the fresh air, even if it's gonna freeze your nostrils, you need the fresh air.

SPEAKER_02: 26:15

Yeah, it was kind of funny because like the the day of their pintometer kickoff, it actually wasn't that cold. But like I can imagine sitting in a hot tub if it was chilly, you'd have like icicles on your eyes and stuff like that. So it was really cool. So the pintometer, I highly suggest it. It'll go until probably at least March because it stays cool well into there. And so, you know, Micah's out there chopping firewood, they have fire pits, and then now there's a sauna. And so if you want to do the pintometer thing, you have to drink it outside. That's the only caveat. But it's kind of fun, you know. And obviously, you have a mug. I I have a mug.

SPEAKER_01: 26:49

All right, Dan. When there is a cold day, I will go with you and I will get a mug and we will have our outdoor adventure.

SPEAKER_02: 26:57

Yes, we can do that. That'll be fun. That'll be great. Because they they have just so many great beers on, you know, they've got their crispy business, which they always have, is their check pills, but they have a rye of the tiger stout that is just absolutely delicious. They've got a great brown ale, they have like their IPAs are good, like everything available. They also have THC seltzers, which are really well done. They're not super sugary, they're they're tea-based, so they're very um, I think the tea base is a good uh platform for the actual flavors that they have in them, so it's very like natural tasting and whatnot. They've got NA stuff, so they have everything across the board. If you like pinball, they have like 78,000 pinball machines. There's a lot of cool stuff. They also have two really nice event spaces, so yeah, 56 Brewing. Checking out, check them out. Uh, go get a pintometer mug and enjoy the fun beer outside.

SPEAKER_01: 27:47

That's a that's a really good idea.

SPEAKER_02: 27:48

Yeah. So yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 27:52

Get cheaper beer.

SPEAKER_02: 27:53

Kind of uh opposite of the of you know, drinking beers out in the cold. You were just down in Dallas, Texas, Dallas Fort Worth. They call it Dallas Fort Worth down there because it's kind of like is it like the twin cities similar to that where it's they're right next to each other?

SPEAKER_01: 28:06

They're right next to they're right next to each other, and I feel like they call it a metroplex.

SPEAKER_02: 28:11

A metroplex.

SPEAKER_01: 28:12

Like, why isn't it just a metro? We have a metro area, like it's a metroplex.

SPEAKER_02: 28:16

A metroplex. Ooh, that's fancy. Leave it up to Texas to just confuse ever confuse the rest of the country. Great.

SPEAKER_01: 28:24

Yeah, and I I did not feel like it was cold down there. I thought the weather was fantastic, but other people around me were like, oh, it's so cold.

SPEAKER_02: 28:32

Yeah, it is funny to to hear people like what what the what their reality of a temperature is, and then it's like, you know, in Minnesota, I tell people like, yeah, in the first like warm day in spring, it's like 45 degrees, people are outside in shorts and t-shirts. Yes. You go someplace, it's like 50 degrees, and they're wearing like winter coats. I'm like, what's wrong with you people? What are they putting the water here? It's a little different.

SPEAKER_01: 28:56

So yeah, I went down to Dallas for work and while I was there, I wanted to make sure that everything I drank was something from Texas, like local Texas beer. So I had I had a mission. Yeah. And I might have uh forced a couple co-workers to be drug along to some of these adventures.

SPEAKER_02: 29:15

That's good, yeah. Good for you.

SPEAKER_01: 29:17

Yeah, so in Dallas, um, I did get to go one night actually to a brewery, and then the other nights that I was there for for dinners or even having a drink at the bar back at the hotel, everything everything was Dallas. Mostly Dallas, some the regular Texas stuff. But really, it was really super fun. I went to Celestial Brewing in Dallas. That was the one brewery.

SPEAKER_02: 29:39

Yeah, when you told me you were going down there, I went onto like the like the Dallas craft beer Reddit site, the subreddit thing, and it seemed like there I just like you know, best breweries in Dallas. There was that was one that came up pretty often people were recommending. So I'm glad you got there. Did you what describe it for me? What was it like?

SPEAKER_01: 29:59

That feeling you get when you walk into a brewery, like you take that first step in and you just have that like exhale of I like it here. Yeah, it was that. Okay. As soon as you walked in the door, there was colorful stuff. There was artwork everywhere, there were some disco balls, um, their walls had really cool, like doodle kind of art on it. Okay. Um stuff was hanging from the ceiling, like streamers and sparkly things. It was just like this great space to walk into. There were only a couple of people there when we first got there. Um, so the the beer tender had lots of time to talk with us. Oh, cool. And he was so awesome. I can't even I've I've sent messages to them telling them how awesome their beer tender was because he was that good. I was with two co-workers who are not beer drinkers. Okay. Um one of them, my boss, I brought out with me when I was in Atlanta and went to a brewery there and got him a flight, and he kind of thought maybe he liked hazy beers and wasn't real sure about everything. The Ooh, what is this? We are being delivered gear. That was amazing. Thank you, Eric.

SPEAKER_02: 31:08

All right, what does this say? You have 30 seconds to move your car or it will be turned into a cube. What oh god, what a ha not again, not today. Not together. I was gonna move out of my car. No, the sign says figurati Italian pills straight from the filter.

SPEAKER_00: 31:24

Oh, I smelled it.

SPEAKER_02: 31:26

You smelled it.

SPEAKER_00: 31:27

I smelled it.

SPEAKER_02: 31:28

Oh yeah, yeah. This is a Italian pills, baby. This is uh this is one of the one of the great styles to drink. Uh relative I I I mean, I don't think the Italian pilsner is a new style, but it has definitely become very in vogue. There's a lot of different places that have an Italian pills on. Arbiter does the uh their their version is called Figurati. I know Black Stack has Fugazi, Bad Weather has Paisano, 56 brewed one for Nurse Fest. That was an Italian pills. So they're all over the place, becoming very great in vogue. They're really they're hoppier than some of the other pilsners out there, and like a regular, like it's way hoppier than an American pilsner for sure.

SPEAKER_01: 32:13

But but it wasn't uh it's not like a bitter hoppy.

SPEAKER_02: 32:16

No, it's very floral and herbal.

SPEAKER_01: 32:18

Deliciousness.

SPEAKER_02: 32:19

Because I think they use like a lot of noble hops. But I mean, yeah, there's a little, it's this good. Oh yeah. This is what I needed. I'm ready. I'm ready to go on that bike ride. Let's go. Let's do it. Fire the Waymo. Let's let's head to the crankshaft, or what is it called? The garage. The head to the garage. This is yum, yum, yummy.

SPEAKER_01: 32:43

That's really tasty.

SPEAKER_02: 32:44

Yeah, that's really good. That was so cool. Aaron is the head brewer at Arbiter. He's a very, very talented brewer. If you look over there on that shelf, they have quite a few awards as well. But he uh he said he did something to his ankles, so he's he's hopping around back there like a pirate. Uh really nice. He wrote that on there. That's funny. That's what it's another reason I love coming here. Yeah. The people here are so nice and they they're they just treat everybody well. That's that's the mark of a of a good spot. So and it's nice that they don't, you know, they don't mind that we were set up here and record because it's yeah, if they had bocce ball league or something, we wouldn't be able to do this. So yeah, so Dallas walked in.

SPEAKER_01: 33:24

My new BFF Andrew at Celestial.

SPEAKER_02: 33:26

BFF Andrew, the the the brewery hit you where you needed to be hit. Yeah, and it was just all all good stuff. Disco balls, cool doodle art on the on the walls.

SPEAKER_01: 33:36

Yeah, he he brought us out uh a Sour Puff Girls sour to split between the three of us. Okay. And he poured it and it was this crazy blue color. And it was so good. He would he made sure to point out the the artwork on the can has the powder puff girls facing the wrong direction. Like you see their backsides. He's like, Yeah, we had them facing forward, but then we got to cease and desist.

SPEAKER_02: 33:59

So now you know, intellectual property, you know, that's uh tricky business. Yeah, tricky business for sure.

SPEAKER_01: 34:10

But he was just he was so great. He was very patient with my non-beer drinking co-workers, found them beers that they were gonna enjoy. Yeah. He was just like the the best person they could have met at a brewery to get a good brewery experience. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 34:24

Sometimes bringing a non-beer person to a brewery can be a hard sell. Now you said you you were with your boss in Atlanta too. What what's kind of your approach if you're gonna try to get somebody who is not a beer drinker to join you on a on a brewery adventure?

SPEAKER_01: 34:39

I I beg and plead and say, I know this isn't your beverage of choice. You can get something else if you'd like, but you should just try this because maybe you'll like it. Yeah. And he's good.

SPEAKER_02: 34:49

I think I he's like, much better than, hey, do you think this rag smells like chloroform? They wake, I woke up and I was in a bar stool. What happened?

SPEAKER_01: 34:59

I think I think for him specifically, there are a lot of things that he hasn't tried ever. And he's he maybe is a little reluctant to try them, but he will he will do it.

SPEAKER_02: 35:09

See, that's good. And then the hazy especially like himself out there.

SPEAKER_01: 35:12

He's like, I I like this, this is good.

SPEAKER_02: 35:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 35:14

So and they they had three different hazys for for him to put in his flight, so he Okay. It was good.

SPEAKER_02: 35:21

And what what beers did you put in your flight?

SPEAKER_01: 35:24

Well, this is a good question. I had a couple of dark beers. I had one that was called Look What You Did, You Little Jerk.

SPEAKER_02: 35:34

Shout out to Home Alone.

SPEAKER_01: 35:37

Um, I had one called Shipwreck that was a stout.

SPEAKER_02: 35:42

Look what you did, you little jerk.

SPEAKER_01: 35:44

Yeah. I mean, I would have it wouldn't have mattered what kind of beer that one was. I would have been around. It would have been great name.

SPEAKER_02: 35:50

If if all three beers were like one was like, look what you did, you little jerk. Kevin, you're with the French call les and competent, and you're such a disease, like all three of those beers. I think that'd be cool.

SPEAKER_00: 36:01

That would have been cool.

SPEAKER_02: 36:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 36:03

Well, note to celestial brewing.

SPEAKER_02: 36:05

Yeah, well, and I've also, you know, it's funny because Drecker has a beer, I don't know no snakes. And that's also a reference from Home Alone in that movie. Which did you know that that movie wasn't an actual movie? They just like shot it for that for Home Alone. It wasn't like an old school movie. So he's like, I didn't know that. Yeah, you gotta watch the there's a Netflix series called The Movies That Made Us, and they one of the episodes they have is on Home Alone, and it's all about how that the behind-the-scenes stuff. Do you know the entire movie aside from the exterior shots of the house? Everything else was filmed in a high school gymnasium. What? They built the house, the set. They built the set. None of none of that happened in a real house. Isn't that crazy?

SPEAKER_01: 36:50

That's crazy. Yeah, that was well done.

SPEAKER_02: 36:52

Yeah, yeah, you gotta check it out. They I think they also did like um I think they did Dirty Dancing, I think they did Ghostbusters, a bunch of different ones. They also a spin-off of the movies that made us is the toys that made us, and that's even more fun because they talk about G.I. Joe guys, Star Wars, Barbie, My Little Pony, Legos, everything. They do a deep dive about how these how these things came to be. He-Man, Star Trek, like it's all there. It's uh you you can relive your childhood. It's so fun, it's so cool.

SPEAKER_01: 37:24

I'm gonna add that to my watch list.

SPEAKER_02: 37:26

Yeah, yeah. Maybe Netflix will sponsor our podcast.

SPEAKER_01: 37:30

Oh, wouldn't that be something? That'd be great. Yeah. Well, I did I did bring beers back for us. I didn't bring them with me today, but I brought back a couple of the sour pu um the sour puff girls. They also had, I think they were supposed to have released it on that day or maybe sooner, but they and I I'm not gonna say this correctly. Uba? Ube?

SPEAKER_02: 37:49

The I think it's Ube.

SPEAKER_01: 37:50

Ube. They have an Ube source that is supposed to be this really delightful purplish color.

SPEAKER_02: 37:56

And Ube is like a uh it's like a purple yam from Asia.

SPEAKER_01: 38:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 38:00

Because it's in a lot of like I've seen it in sushi, I've seen it in different different types of Asian food, but yeah, it's like a it's like a thing.

SPEAKER_01: 38:08

But it's supposed to be a really neat color in their beer. Um, I think that was supposed to have been released because he he made some comment when we first got there about like if we're looking for that, it's not on tap yet. He was really sorry. Yeah. Um and I I said, well, like I wasn't even looking for Minnesota. I can't even pronounce it.

SPEAKER_02: 38:26

Why would I? Yeah, that's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_01: 38:28

But he ended up finding some some cans in the back and brought those out for me to talk with. And then he also gave me another glass bottle of something that he was very excited to give me and told me to read the label because he thought I was gonna get excited too, except my old eyes couldn't see anything on the label.

SPEAKER_02: 38:45

Welcome to the new re the new normal.

SPEAKER_01: 38:47

I'm like holding it way out. I took a picture of it, I still couldn't read anything on it. So um a bottle of something that is probably gonna be really fun to drink.

SPEAKER_02: 38:56

Yeah, that's fun. That's cool. When you go into a new brewery, do you let them know that you're like, Yeah, I do a beer podcast, or do you not? Do you fly under the radar?

SPEAKER_01: 39:06

I eventually said something to him. Um, I think when I wanted to go put a sticker on the door. I I have a hard time telling anyone that. Once I do tell you, you're probably not gonna hear the end of it. But it's not something I ever lead with, and it's not something like I I have a hard time promoting myself that way. Like, hi, I'm Courtney, I'm with the brewery venture, I do this thing, and I'd like to talk to you about it. Yeah. I can't. Yeah, I I eventually did tell him.

SPEAKER_02: 39:31

Okay. I think you should. I think I mean it's good. I always do it. Like, well, especially like I mean, usually when I go someplace, I just take notes and people all will ask. Yeah. But I don't like I don't know. Like I guess if they ask, I'll tell them, but like it's not the first thing. I don't whip out a badge and be like, Hey, I'm a podcaster. Give give me your non IP infringing beer labels. Uh yeah, that's 'cause I mean some people I don't know. It's kinda sometimes like the f although I do think that like if people know you're a beer writer or different things you do get treated differently.

SPEAKER_01: 40:05

And I don't want that. And I I think that's part of it too.

SPEAKER_02: 40:08

Like I just want to be able to have some kind of authentic experience and I like people to know it from the standpoint of like if there is somebody like there who I can talk to about the beers then they'll usually like come out. But like I mean if I'm not you know if I don't say that then I'm just like you know somebody else but I think that happened to me when I was in Louisville I said yeah I'm here with uh on vacation with a bunch of beer writers and then the brewer came out and like introduced himself and so then you're then you're opening the door to like a much more I think enriching experience so like I get like hey I'm gonna I like talking to beer tenders.

SPEAKER_01: 40:42

Yeah yeah everybody's different and he got really excited about their beer and then I was really excited to talk about beer with him and I'm sure my two coworkers were just sitting there looking at us like what is this happening?

SPEAKER_02: 40:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 40:53

So that was Celestial did you try any other I did have other I had other beers um while we were there we went to uh a place called Electric Shuffle that had um you know like the bar shuffleboard things with the sand on the table you've got like the little puck. Um so it was a whole place that you'd reserve alleys tables of that stuff yeah but it was all it was all techie so you'd shoot your puck and it would know where it ended up and it would keep score for you and do do all the things. So there I had a deep alum IPA and a mosaic IPA from community beer company.

SPEAKER_02: 41:32

Okay cool.

SPEAKER_01: 41:32

Yeah how were those the mosaic was really good.

SPEAKER_02: 41:35

Yeah yeah really good yeah there's that was a fun that was just a fun event spot yeah well and you were saying that didn't you you said that the hotel bar had some good yeah good beer options which isn't always the case so that I feel like you got kind of lucky in that regard I got super lucky and I got super lucky again with a really good bartender at the hotel bar.

SPEAKER_01: 41:52

He was there every night and every night when I would get done with the other stuff um be later after dinner have a drink at the bar and then go up to my room. He was really great the very first night I said you have all these local beers I want you to pick one and he's like well these you know there's these two are my favorite and I said that's cool give me one of them I don't care which one it is um so he he gave me his two favorites were wise monkeys from Manhattan Project beer company and that was a Belgian strong golden ale and his other favorite was Fire Ant Funeral which is a red ale from Texas Ale Project. Okay so I had one of those on Tuesday night one of those on Wednesday night and both phenomenal okay phenomenal but then third night went back and I said hey you gave me your two favorites I'm gonna need a third of something else and he gave me um from Shiners a holiday cheer.

SPEAKER_02: 42:43

Oh yeah that's a good one.

SPEAKER_01: 42:45

It was super tasty it had like just the right amount of spice flavor to it that was really good.

SPEAKER_02: 42:50

Yeah yeah that's nice I love I love going to new new beer cities. That's cool and I was like poking around I'm like there's a lot of breweries there. You could really make you know you could probably at least spend three four days there going to breweries and still not see them all.

SPEAKER_01: 43:05

I wish I would have tacked extra days onto my work trip just to stay there and hang out and kind of explore a little bit because I think there were a lot of really good options. Yeah yeah that's fun yeah and then you had the other I had one more that was really really super good that was surprising at the airport.

SPEAKER_02: 43:22

There's some airports that have like a lot of good stuff.

SPEAKER_01: 43:25

That one it was from Revolver and it was a honey blood and honey it was a wheat beer.

SPEAKER_02: 43:33

Okay.

SPEAKER_01: 43:33

Also recommended by the the bartender at the airport um that one was excellent. Cool did it have blood orange in it it did have kind of like a a it wasn't like a super sweet flavor but it had some it maybe it was blood orange. Okay. I'd I'd say yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 43:49

Okay interesting as I'm like blood and honey that's interesting interesting name. So I'm like is that a shout out to the ingredients or you're asking me tough questions.

SPEAKER_01: 43:57

I just put the beer in my mouth and went man this is good sometimes it's best not to overthink. Don't overthink it.

SPEAKER_02: 44:05

Yeah that's right yeah well that sounds like fun so rec w uh out of five stars how would you how would you rate your experience of the of dipping your toe in the Dallas Fort Worth?

SPEAKER_01: 44:17

Five out of five five out of five yeah would recommend okay cool and again I'm I'm sad I didn't get to more places and I'm I'm sad I only got into one actual brewery.

SPEAKER_02: 44:25

Yeah yeah it's tough though sometimes when you're doing work stuff it's like if you don't have a lot of time or like if you're with a group and like everybody want you know it's like I don't I I've only been on a couple like work conferences and it's like you either make the decision okay I'm gonna be a team player and hang out with everybody. Yeah or you're gonna be the person like me who just like yeah I'm not I'm not gonna do that. I'll see you tomorrow morning and then I just you know forge my own path into the into the wild blue yonder.

SPEAKER_01: 44:57

But well and I I should say a big thank you to my boss Jeremy and to Judy for coming out with me to Celestial and kind of uh a middle finger to Colin who was supposed to come with us and decided to take a he went home to take a shower instead and then never came back out.

SPEAKER_02: 45:12

So Colin pro tip just bring a wet rag on a stick and put in your duffel bag and you can shower anywhere.

SPEAKER_01: 45:18

Like we were sitting outside you could have like sat at a different table or something we could have just shouted over to you how you doing over there stinky that's funny.

SPEAKER_02: 45:30

Yeah yeah okay I've never I mean I've I've been to Dallas Fort Worth but I was in seventh grade. Oh so I was probably not drinking beer out of drinking age I was an annoyed with my stepmom so I was listening I had my headphones in the whole time I was that little angry teenager seventh grade Dan just miserable Texas five out of five Dallas Fort Worth go check it out.

SPEAKER_01: 45:56

Hit up Celestial hit up Celestial and go say hi to Andrew because really he's gonna be like the highlight of your trip he's awesome. That's awesome I love when you run into a really good bartender at a at a place they they really do make it I mean that's well and it it's fun when they're excited to have you try the beer and you're excited to drink it and there's just excitement for everybody. Did you like that face?

SPEAKER_02: 46:17

Courtney might be having a stroke do you smell toast do you smell burning hair?

SPEAKER_01: 46:23

Alright we're gonna have one more thing. We we are here at Arbiter who most definitely has signage for ice out. They have posted on their social media their feelings toward everything going on. Many other breweries have done the same made statements posted things on on social media I know when things really took a turn this last week I was I was in Dallas I wasn't here for it I just started getting messages on my phone. I felt very disconnected and I'm not normally somebody who gets like homesick but all I wanted to do was come home and be here. Not every brewery not every company is going to put out some kind of statement or kind of dip their toe into political things even though this is it's not a political thing it's a horrible tragedy that happened. How do you feel towards the breweries that have opted to make such statements? And do you feel any differently toward breweries that maybe haven't said anything or out are not openly putting up signage or kind of taking a stand?

SPEAKER_02: 47:24

That's a good question. Personally I think you you know it it it's one of those things where when when something so horrible happens you know people are looking to see how places are going to react and it's just like a lot of people I think appreciate breweries that have come out and put out a statement that's saying IC is not welcome off the top of my head ones that have done it have been Venn, Arbiter, uh Northbound Insight Falling Knife I mean I know there's there have been a lot more and the you know it's it's interesting how how how people you know if you don't agree I mean there's a lot of disagreement yeah i you know going on politically right now that's news to nobody but I mean tap rooms are a place to sit down and have a conversation yeah about it. And I think that if you you can you can disagree you can have your stance on certain things but I just think like when something really horrific happens and you come out in support of the people who are kind of being like targeted and just like unnecessarily mistreated by everyone. I mean ICE is out here racially profiling people. Yeah you know this this isn't what immigration enforcement should be they're not using due process they're not following things they're not they're just grabbing people off the streets. That's ridiculous. That's not how it should be done the people that are in ICE are I mean they're they're not police officers they're not trained.

SPEAKER_03: 48:55

Right.

SPEAKER_02: 48:55

I mean they've had very little training I think that was pretty apparent with what happened and how those officers approached the situation. But I think personally I want to know where the safe places are yeah I want to know and and I know it's not easy. I mean I think there are I mean we've seen examples in the past of breweries in a more red area coming out in support of you know civil rights and that is immediately met with a lot of vitriol and that's unfortunate because it's a free market. People are going to spend their money where they want yeah I'm not I I've for sure how I'll tell you I don't think the brewery's around anymore but I uh it was down euphoric oh euphoric they hosted Eric Trump I mean I like I hate I hate Donald Trump with the fury of a million forest fires and I I don't like MAGA. I don't I don't MAGA people to me are are morons and they're evil. And so I'm like okay well that's that place you know in addition to their beer tasting like shit you know the owner's a a knob for hosting Trump's kid stuff like that. I I'm not going to support people who do that. But and there's there's plenty of people that will okay they're just not going to get my money. So I think just just from my personal standpoint I think it takes a lot of courage. It shouldn't take a lot of courage to come out and say hey we're on this side of this issue you know and let the let the market decide where they want to spend their money but also I think it's like nice to know that if I'm a person who's being unnecessarily harassed and targeted by this these ICE agents I know I can like find a place and you know if I want to have a beer or something I can come in here and know that like I'm not gonna be harassed by ICE or like people who are supporting ice. But let's be honest nobody who like supports ice is probably setting foot anywhere in Minneapolis because they all think it's still on fire from the George Floyd murders. So let's be clear about that. I just think like there's a lot of hate happening and it's unfortunate but you know the we get to choose where we go and spend our money. There's places I'm not going to go because I know the politics of it I mean I think on my last podcast I talked about one of the breweries I went to in Boise where I heard the N-word and it like we did some research and found out like their their owner is basically a Sarah Palin-esque nut job. I'm like oh yeah well that that tracks and you know that that was not the first it was a documented incident about racial harassment there before and I'm like I didn't know that going in I'm gonna tell everybody I know about my experience and they can choose whether they want to go and participate in the in that situation. Most of the people that I know uh wouldn't want to do that. So I'd like to know like I want to know if a place is like has is of a certain mindset where like somebody like me who's Latino would not be welcome. Yeah I don't want to find that I I don't want to discover that after I'm already there. No I want to know beforehand. But one of the things is like you know people like when when athletes come out and say something people like oh just shut up and dribble you know it's like well we're human beings and politics some people like well I don't I want to keep politics out of things that's that's not possible yeah when it's like affecting everybody. And so I just I don't know I'm I'm glad places are putting out statements and I'm actually kind of like there's some places that haven't said or done anything and I'm like wondering why and that's you know but but I I again you have to have there's for every action there is a consequence.

SPEAKER_01: 52:26

Yes.

SPEAKER_02: 52:26

And so I think like you know maybe there's some places that are like we don't want to alienate anybody we just want to stay out of it. But I think not doing anything is is not good either. So I don't know it's a it's a complicated situation. Um it's a frustrating situation. But yeah I I like I want to I want to support the places that I am aligned with and my yeah you know people who have empathy and people who you know don't want to support this like needless harassment of people. So I I like that's where I want to spend my money.

SPEAKER_01: 52:59

I being in Dallas when it happened seeing statements coming out from breweries and places that I I frequent it made me feel I don't I don't know if better is the word for it. But it it brought back that sense of community. Like people are going to come together and we're going to get through this together and there are going to be safe spaces for people to go. There will be people trying to protect other people in the community but it really it felt like people coming together.

SPEAKER_02: 53:24

Yeah well I it's kind of funny the the last time we recorded here was a day it was a it was a Saturday and it was a bunch of protests and we were originally going to go to Venn and Venn was packed with people who had just just finished up with the protest and like you know pro let's let's remind those of you listening who don't conveniently skip the parts of the Constitution that go against your sensibilities pr uh peaceful protesting is a right it is a it is a you know it's one of our uh one of our rights so you you can do that and you're you're not a a terrorist as some would have you believe that was no king's day yes that's right yeah this was no king's day so yeah yeah and and I appreciate like like there were tons of people here there was a good energy here you know and like you know and I'm sure there's places out you know in in red areas where like you know if they have a they have whatever their protests are you know their you know let's go brand in groups I'm sure are meeting like I want nothing to do with that but like if they want to have that in their third spaces they're they can do that.

SPEAKER_01: 54:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 54:26

It just not for me.

SPEAKER_01: 54:27

I just it felt like it felt like last week there were a lot more places putting out statements and kind of taking a stand and it I liked it.

SPEAKER_02: 54:34

Yeah yeah I think it's I think it's important and I think the people that are doing that are they're pretty in tune with who's coming into their tap room normally yeah so like they just want to kind of reassure re reaffirm that the yeah this is a safe space you don't have to worry you know as as as safe as you can make it but community spaces. Yeah community it's a third space and third spaces are for everybody. So like you gotta find your find your places. Yeah find where you as Bree says get in where you fit in. I love that that's that's great. So yeah that was a good question but I know some people some people just think we should just talk about beer Courtney now it's a beer podcast why you're talking about politics and whatnot it's like well it's a human thing it's not just it's a human thing and it it's it is part of the spaces that we go to.

SPEAKER_01: 55:19

Mm-hmm and I I get some places very purposely don't discuss politics like the beer tenders are not going to discuss politics with the people up at the bar. If people up at the bar just start discussing amongst themselves whatever but we're we're here this is something we're all dealing with right now it's something that's been going on here for a while and has really been awful yeah I think it needs to be talked about.

SPEAKER_02: 55:42

Yeah you're absolutely right happy to support Arbiter and Insight and Ben and back channel. If you're okay with what's going on there's something wrong with you.

SPEAKER_01: 55:51

There's definitely something wrong with you.

SPEAKER_02: 55:53

And and I'm not saying that like you know if people are here illegally then that's a problem. You know you can you can enforce that legally but they're they're like you could also enforce it humanely well exactly exactly and and I just think like I mean that body cam footage from that guy like what he said after he like there okay this is this is not this is not normal. This was my hope because I like I try to find the silver linings and everything or like assume best intentions but like if there's you can't do that in this situation. I mean that guy was just like really bad and like so yeah it's a it's a bad situation. Yeah I mean support who you want to support but also like like I said there's breweries that who haven't said anything and I'm like well waiting for that.

SPEAKER_01: 56:36

Like what yeah what are you what are you waiting for? Why haven't you said anything?

SPEAKER_02: 56:40

So but yeah I get it's tricky but I don't know. But you can still I don't know if I saw all these other places putting out statements yeah and and then it's like then the question is like well are you are you putting out a statement just to be performative or or is that really what you're about and so like I think like places have kind of missed their window. Headflyer came out and said something Modest came out and said something and like they were you know all good good places but like yeah if you haven't said anything yet now it's almost like kind of too late. I don't know I don't know that's a it'd be fun to it'd be interesting to chat with I mean I know uh conversations I've had with other brewery owners about like the the tricky part about it and and the sometimes the fallout I mean we're talking like you know sometimes brewers like have had some of their longtime investors pull out because they didn't like what what the person said and that creates a lot of stress and things like that. So I understand it is a common I wouldn't want anyone to have that but I but I also think it's like you could just you could just say well you know we we want people to feel safe it it doesn't have to I don't know yeah yeah I ended us on a serious note yeah you did I'm sorry you did oh boy that's okay and you know it's an it's an important thing to talk about you know we're both we're both members of of communities and it's important that this is a big deal to everybody and so it's good it's good to talk about let's end on a positive what's your untapped what's your what's your untapped sitting at what is your you had a bigger milestone waiting on your untapped yeah we're I'm getting close to 5,000 check-ins well I meant 4820 unique what yeah so I guess that really helps 4820 yep you know but that's not there's some people that have like 2000 unique I have four hundred and eighty four Dan Hey we gotta start somewhere keep drinking keep on drinking did you log your did you log the NA stout?

SPEAKER_01: 58:34

I did yeah absolutely and that was um that was a really delightful surprise I'm used to having uh if you order the NA beer it is a brand I won't mention in a can and I have not always enjoyed yeah yeah I was listening to somebody talk on a on another where was it it was like on it was on the radio yesterday when I was driving around and they were talking about how like NA has come a long way like from the from just like the old duels days.

SPEAKER_02: 59:02

Now it's like there's there's a lot of good stuff and yeah I mean that like Guinness Zero is good I've had Heineken Zero is good. Summit has some really good NA options I saw a couple people at Northbound drinking the Summit uh NA stout yesterday and then Fowhaus has one nah oh that's that's a really good one I think there's their NA Hellas or like NA lager. And I don't I don't know if they still do it but Dual Citizen used to have their NA elbow bender Kolsch and that was really really good too. So but yeah our biter they they always have like sometimes it's either a stout or they'll do a NA sour sometimes that's that's really good. Oh I bet that's good. It's it's nice yeah if you're doing dry January make sure you're still getting out and supporting the places and yes um you know even if they even if a place doesn't make their own they usually will carry a stock of like some pretty decent options.

SPEAKER_01: 59:51

Go visit your local craft brewery.

SPEAKER_02: 59:52

Yeah get out seriously this is the call to action go support the places you like because it's it's hard for everybody right now.

SPEAKER_01: 59:58

Hang out and talk with other People at the brewery because you're gonna leave there feeling better.

SPEAKER_02: 1:00:03

Little of the face to face, as uh Bruce Dern's character in uh The Burbs said. That's it's like uh I'm part of a face group Facebook group called The Burbs is the best movie ever, and it's it's a great place to be.

SPEAKER_00: 1:00:16

Dan, where can people find you?

SPEAKER_02: 1:00:18

People can find me at a one pint stand. I'm on Instagram, Facebook, Blue Sky, Mastodon, TikTok, and uh a onepintstand.com. I've got an article, my first article. Yeah it's a little delayed, but my first article from the Boise trip uh should be coming out in the next day or two. So you can find that on there and some great other podcast episodes that I've been doing. So yeah, a onepintstand.com or just search up a one pintstand.

SPEAKER_01: 1:00:43

You'll find Dan.

SPEAKER_02: 1:00:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 1:00:45

Um I'm Courtney. You can find me at Courtney at the breweryadventure.com if you'd like to shoot me an email, or you can hit the website thebreweryadventure.com or find us on Instagram, the brewery adventure. All the things, all the things. All right, until next time.

SPEAKER_02: 1:01:01

Yes.

SPEAKER_01: 1:01:01

Drink some beers, try some NA beers. Yeah, but go visit your local craft brewery.

SPEAKER_02: 1:01:06

Yeah, and then just just everybody be nice to each other. Yes, check in on your people. There's a lot of this just it's heavy out there. So just like, you know, just be nice. Be nice. My challenge, I tell my students this all the time, is like, hey, try to say hi to one new person a day.

SPEAKER_01: 1:01:21

Oh, I like that.

SPEAKER_02: 1:01:22

You know, just like somebody you don't know, just say hi. You'd be surprised. You say hi to somebody you don't know, their face just instantly lights up. Like it's a positive, it's putting positive energy out there. I think that's really important. That's really important. I'm gonna do that. I'm gonna go say hi to that. Starting now, let's go say hi to that dog.

SPEAKER_01: 1:01:36

Yes. All right, all right, until the next time, this is the Brewery Adventure. Cheers! Thank you.

SPEAKER_02: 1:01:45

I had my brain to it.