Beer Me Cast

Nor Cal and Beer Style Final 16

• Beer Me Cast • Season 1 • Episode 6

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This week the boys talk about the best 32 Nor Cal breweries and get the beer style march beerness bracket to the final 16

SPEAKER_02

giant epic mural of some crazy like fantasy novel looking thing. It's uh I'll I'll have to um I don't know if I don't think I posted on this.

SPEAKER_01

So it's different than their their brewery in Oakland. It's not their like actual Yeah, it's a beer garden. And uh also breweries are pretty sick mural too.

SPEAKER_02

Oh yeah no they they do great with like the kind of I I wouldn't say gothic but very dungeons and dragony metal yeah kind of art. Yeah. But yeah so we went there then we went to um San Carlos I believe it was and hit um Hoppascrewing and then hit uh Hop Dogma in Half Moon Bay and then went up to Pacifica. And uh yeah at Pacifica has the Humble Sea location I like a lot.

SPEAKER_01

Pretty sick. Yeah I've driven past it a number of times I've just never been to that location. Never have never make the time to go to it but yeah we it's close enough to that Taco Bell.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah which I'd be everyone when we were at the Laurel Heights uh beer garden for I no it's not Laurel Heights but whatever the Laurel beer garden for ghost uh ghost town the waitress or the hostess she was she's like oh are you guys visiting the Taco Bell and my wife and I just looked at each other like why would we visit a Taco Bell? She's like oh no it it's it's a Daco Bell.

SPEAKER_01

It's really cool. It's very cool.

SPEAKER_02

We did not end up visiting said Taco Bell. I don't think we missed out man missed out left the Airbnb much because it was an awesome Airbnb and we stocked up on beer on the way up but uh I will have to check that out another time.

SPEAKER_01

Get yourself a Baja Blast Margarita.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah yeah my brother so my brother came to visit us and he's like yeah we're gonna stop at Taco Bell you want a Baja Blast he did not elaborate that the Baja Blast would be frozen and alcoholic so I blame him for me not trying a frozen Baja Blast margarita.

SPEAKER_01

They're they're pretty great. They're pretty good. Next time next time but overall great road trip a lot of great breweries that are going to be on a some kind of some kind of bracket probably they gotta be on this list somewhere I would assume um and because we're already talking about the bracket I think it's time to start the podcast. This is the Beer Me Cast thank you for listening in uh my name is Jackson I'm uh co-hosted here with Mark Zanfradino who just talked about his awesome trip to Pacifica California and decided not to go to Taco Bell like a complete jerk um we don't go corporate here on the beer me cast we don't go corporate yeah okay okay um but uh you know today we're gonna be talking about some some beer man we're gonna talk about NorCal Brewers again we're getting the NorCal Brewery 32 nailed down for the bracket and then we're gonna talk about beer styles but not before we talk about what we're drinking uh which's a nice crack open um I'm gonna pour mine while Mark uh would you like to discuss what you're drinking.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah so uh speaking of my trip to Pacifica I have a Humble Sea and Firestone Walker anniversary collaboration beer for their ninth anniversary. It's a double dry hopped West Coast IPA called Clamshe Boardwalk. I believe it's in reference to some kind of Nintendo character. It's got the little puffer fish on it. But uh just just fun and uh I I love the fact that they gave you a peel-off sticker on the can.

SPEAKER_01

Like a lot of us peel can stickers anyway but they specifically made it so the sticker peels and is like cutter it's like a portion of it.

SPEAKER_02

Oh yeah it's it's uh so this is a double dry hopped with Thora, Simcoe and Mosaic and I'm not familiar with Thora.

SPEAKER_01

No, it must be a new hop. I wonder if that's like a one of those new experimental ones that caught on it's nice.

SPEAKER_02

It's got a little bit of a little bit of bitter bite on it. Um classic mosaic flavors very very very solid double dry hopped uh IPA good job First and Walker I definitely see the Firestone Walker influence on this beer I'll say compared to like a Humble C IPA in what way like what what characteristic is it cleaner it does it have more of like a specific bitterness or something or so it's got more of that classic West Coast IPA kind of hop bitter to it whereas Humble C kind of leans more toward the dry hop hazy side and it is also pretty pretty clear beer. I wouldn't say uh see-through but good good clarity. Not a lot of haze in it. But it didn't say hazy IPA it just said double dry hop to West Coast. So I think they did a good job uh to style seven point what is your uh rating out of ten I mean this is just a really good really good just seven and a half seven point eight I mean just very clean classic West Coast uh nothing nothing crazy about it. Wowing you nothing great above coin just a very clean IPA very very clean I can dig it I can dig it I would I would buy this at a store if I saw it.

SPEAKER_01

And I've got a Geist house beer here. I've got Deceptif wait wait Deceptify there's no R I think I just assumed there was an R there Yeah well I can't read it actually maybe it is D E okay D E C R E P I F Y Decrepify Decrepify Yeah decreased Yeah I mean there's this there's this old decrepit looking dude with a staff and magic like writing surrounding above him like he's a some sort of mage heading into battle looking like a badass. Oh he's um what? Epoch of Holda 37th light oh there's oh man this is nerdy shit love it um the beer itself uh you know it's got a nice reddish brown to it more red than brown clear clo crisp very nice very dumb yeah that's just that's just freaking good that's just good 4.8% crushable smooth crisp little bit of that malt sweetness it really is a malty beer as it should be just the perfect balance of that that that malty sweetness with a little bit of bitterness on the end there just to wrap it up it's just it's just a crisp good lager you know this is just this is how beer should be specifically this style it's just no notes this this defines dunkel.

SPEAKER_02

So a a strong a strong seed for contention you might say nine and a half out of ten very nice having had that beer I I would I would definitely agree and I only say nine and a half rather than ten because like there's always room for improvement right?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah that kind of thing I guess like um if I were able to compare it to like other beers of this style from other breweries and like start to pick out different little aspects of it. Maybe within the category this is the ten but yeah overall the the in the beer world I would give it a nine and a half.

SPEAKER_02

Very nice I do want to say you had mentioned their their labels are kind of nerdy.

SPEAKER_01

Um when we first heard about Geist House so mod years ago and they had that cute little ghost logo I did not foresee their branding being such like an epic novel style of can art and like wording yeah like I'll read it because why not we're on a beer podcast and there's there's things to read so it says Epoch of Holda 37th light throw star twenty lights of Thron Star have passed since time betrayed me decrepied by the reanimator's dark magic elixir trials remain unsuccessful it may require a higher form of purity possibly Halmatur Sath I sense a gathering of darkness one in which my endeavors are unlikely to disperse yet by my brand I shall remain free from future's hold until Holotar spirit calls me the Count like what I don't that is that is epic like D type you know um narration.

SPEAKER_02

They put some shit behind this they they definitely play D D right 100% the owners Yeah they have to work yeah for sure this is not a nothing wrong with that it's just it's so funny to see like such a such a very intense kind of can art for what I always assumed was going to be this cute goofy logoing right this little ghosty guy cute little ghost guy and then just very serious lore based cans which is I think metal necromancer type stuff like lore building type shit like I you know what I I gotta because I actually I got four different I got a mixed mixed four pack of four different ones so I've got to like I guess start learning see if it's uh is it their own universe or are they like building off how many of these loggers do you think you gotta get in before you were just fully involved in the lore of said beer like I'm already I'm I'm already there man I'm already within I'm already captured though I I did just uh go through seven books of uh dungeon crawler carl which is very like D D adjacent so I'm my brain's just ready for this type of dirty shirt right now um that's awesome that's sick I don't know that it's it's something different yeah this is this is you you don't get this type of shit on every can of beer you you drink.

SPEAKER_01

No you got the dichotomy of like uh a Nintendo peel and and stick label from humble c slash farsenwalker to just like intense like dark DD Geist house stuff.

SPEAKER_02

I love it. I think that probably reflects uh our our respective gaming ventures currently as well considering I've just been on you know Nintendo Switch Pocopia for Kelsey's far too many hours.

SPEAKER_01

Oh my lord how many uh how many how many sections has she unlocked oh shit uh like four something like that I want to say that's where I'm at three or four um she's got like the flying glide guy what um I don't know flying glide guy spend way too many hours like glide every uh I I just got the the rolling graveler so that's where I'm at but uh I spent far too many hours just fucking around with just the Minecraft aspect of the game.

SPEAKER_02

Just just reshaping landscapes.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah I haven't been playing as many games I've been uh been reading so very nice that's it's healthy and then watching movies. I tried to read a book while I was on vacation and I got twenty pages in and uh that's that's where I'm at with my reading ventures but when I'm done with this book I'm gonna let you borrow it because uh I need to get other I need to talk to other people about it. It's really good. And the whole series is like immersive and stuff. So Dungeon Crawler Crawl for those listening really good listen or read. Okay. Highly recommend it.

SPEAKER_02

Well I might if uh if I like the read I'll probably throw on the audiobook for my in-office days.

SPEAKER_01

So that's the thing the audiobook is next level like I I I listened before I read and the guy the narrator he has such a wide range I thought it was multiple people reading it's just one guy.

SPEAKER_02

Ooh I love that in an audiobook and um I thought the uh his main voice for the character kind of sounded like Patrick Warburton or like Kronk from uh from Emperor's New Groove you know yeah Cusco Cusco's poison um poison in the sixth in the sixth book Patrick Warburton is a guest appearing voice actor in the reading of the book I was like holy crap I that that's wild I didn't expect that but I see how it's there alright so those are beer of casts and a couple really good beers a couple good nor NorCal-ish beers let's now get into we got we we have fifty six NorCal breweries that we have narrowed down out of all of them and we gotta get them narrowed further down to 32.

SPEAKER_01

So I went through while we're we're chatting before and I I emboldened the ones that I think need to move on for sure. Just like start narrowing it down. So I'm gonna go for the ones that I emboldened and then um well why don't we do this I'm gonna go through your go through one at a time.

SPEAKER_02

Well we'll do a little do a little filter see what your bolds look like I'll have to see your unbolds and see if I have any contenders I think belong. And I didn't like go past unbolding like oh these cannot make it it was one of the things give us a baseline um because as a podcast and for those following along it it's not fun to just sift through Excel data. So for the purpose of purpose of uh uh expediting for our said viewers in our last episode we fast paced went through a crap ton of California Northern California and surrounding area sixty different breweries just so many breweries if you want to just listen to that and pick a name out of a hat just as like uh oh I want to go visit a new brewery listen to our past episode uh write a couple fun sounding breweries down and uh go visit one because you know why not we we we recommend trying to especially if you're NorCal yeah you we we we had you covered definitely um okay so should we just start we'll start at the top here and um how are that's the thing how are we going to eliminate do you want to go through the ones that I haven't listed as bracket the ones that are or go the ones I listed as bracket and see if there's any that you are are in content in contention with and then we can see how many we still need. Alright we got twenty down the road we got twenty that you've you've highlighted so as a a quick go through we have at ease field work geist house king Kong I would say King Kong might be a point of contention I'm gonna I'm just gonna put a little I think um I'm with you on that I can say I can agree with that. Where's my colors colours colours Oop wrong color reminds me of that song called colors that I haven't listened to in years. Um random brain pull new glory oak park uh I actually just revisited Oak Park um this past weekend because it was beautiful out and still really good burrito. Um Urban Roots Claims take Bike Dog Suit Work Jackrabbit Faction Ghost Town Sunmaker Fieldwork Russian River Moxa Moonraker Sierra Nevada North Coast um yeah I am okay with all those King Kong could be on the low end if we find more that we believe really belong okay so for now let's um let's make King Kong a lowercase bee I mean a a unbolden B.

SPEAKER_01

Um we can just go alright do we want to leave a highlight just as a as a return to talking point um I don't I don't think so I think we can unhighlight it okay so alright so next we we wanna we wanna add a a a a bit more so I'm gonna I'm gonna go through real quick and add a few that just pop out to me.

SPEAKER_02

Just just eye test it. Uh Drake's is a for sure phenomenal lagginess has gotta go in hen house. I was close on hen house but I'm black cameras I mean great range great location yeah and uh I mean just just for my personal bias uh Del Chiello has just never had a bad beer. What about Humble C I mean why am I blanking oh it's on the bottom that's a definite yes obviously beer cast let's go um so for me those are those are definite ins.

SPEAKER_01

Any contention um contention I mean I haven't had a beer from Blackhammer in a while that I liked but I haven't had a beer from Blackhammer in a while so I I I don't want to take it out if you've had good experience in the last few years. The last couple times I went there I was like eh it's fine.

SPEAKER_02

I think um in a in a relatively crowded San Francisco scene they uh they still reign as one of the better San Francisco breweries.

SPEAKER_01

Okay, I'm down. Uh no I don't think I have any contention um how many we got there boss so we have 25 we need seven more seven more okay why don't we uh let's go from the bottom up yeah so amidor I think I think they're good I think let's I would be okay with seeing them in there I would I would let's highlight them really quick and like uh move from them but I I'd like to see them I think they could make a good a good a good uh addition.

SPEAKER_02

This might be recency bias but yeah I had recently been to their um mother load location uh up toward toward pioneer area and uh we did a flight and they were all really phenomenal beers their alt beer is a beer that um I believe is a style that doesn't get enough love and they do it very well.

SPEAKER_01

Um Mindscape I really like Mindscape I like that they have a good uh variety going for them they do um they do kombuchas they do seltzers they do they have they had a st uh dry stout on on tap um that was really good they always have a hazy on a west coast they'll have a random like pilsner some kind of random lager so they do a good variety and I think that the stuff they do is just clean and and tasty not to mention it's it's owned by like three women who uh came together to open this brewery um fermentation creation um which is which is pretty cool as well so I like their story so I would vote them to be in the bracket but what I would I would argue that their other fermented offerings are better than their beer okay I think they do a great job with a lot of their fermented stuff but for me um having visited the beer wasn't very memorable compared to like you know the hot saucer other things we got there.

SPEAKER_02

So for me I personally like the beer bot Okay let's leave them on Yeah I mean the you can put the contention there but if we get the correct candidate.

SPEAKER_01

It's already here in contention um overtime brewing I think they're decent I don't know if they need to make the bracket I think they're very close as I would agree with Anderson Valley I think Anderson Valley they just they just they aren't quite there.

SPEAKER_02

I think they're they're a stalwart they're a longtime brewery but again it's I feel like they're one that uh really benefits from being at the brewery. Outside of that though they're very easy to forget.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah um I will always return to the Brother David's tropel just from time to time um Morgan territory I I can't speak enough to them so uh so that's I've I've had some of their beer but nothing that stands out personally. Mike Mike has the same thing that can't really tell you much about their cans are cool?

SPEAKER_02

Okay. They have the the full peel top the the their top yeah they're the top of their cans has a full yeah full peel but um again the gimmick is more memorable than the beers I've had. Armistice so there's slice and shred and um there's some some history between the two of them but both still do phenomenal beer. I don't think we had shred on here but if we do put slice I would also put shred.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah I'll add it into the bottom here.

SPEAKER_02

But again those can also be kind of listed as um you know follow-ups to Cellarmaker. They they're very haze crazed based breweries which is you know Cellarmaker was the OG at that and still produces so did we have Cellarmaker as we did. So Cellarmaker's on the bracket um these Shred and sites are both I'd say follow up to that um could be bracket worthy. So yeah I'm down to keep them in contention there. Monk Cellar Um that's a definite yes for me. Um I I'd say they do one of the better as uh as a annual beer, one of the better wheat beers in California. Um their beer to guard.

SPEAKER_01

Uh knee deep brewing.

SPEAKER_02

I would go yes personally. I think they do a good plethora of beers. Um they are an IP heavy brewery, but having been there on different occasions, they do cater to a bunch of different styles. Um I think they do belong in the conversation still.

SPEAKER_01

Okay. Catherine's Beer Garden Brewery. Um the brewery. I think that's a good place to go, but I don't know if that's gonna make it and and that's the th that's the thing too. No shade to any of these breweries, but they are the bracket contention for us already. Crooked Lane, I'm thinking if we're if we're talking about it, I think it goes.

SPEAKER_02

Yes, agreed. Crooked Lane does a phenomenal variety of beers.

SPEAKER_01

And now we have six. We needed seven.

SPEAKER_02

Okay, one, two, three, four.

SPEAKER_01

So I think what we need to do is is okay, we got Woods Bar.

SPEAKER_02

I'd I I don't think it I like Woods, I will say. They're the only brewery I've ever seen put matcha in a beer. Um, but again.

SPEAKER_01

There's also been um that one brewery that um Jackrabbit Cans that has done it. Oh, interesting.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Um yeah, I mean, I don't necessarily think they're gonna crack the bracket, but uh I will we'll shout out their San Francisco location.

SPEAKER_01

Local was good, but I don't know if it makes it. Bear bottle, I don't know if it makes it.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, bear.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

I guess we guess bear bottle. Yeah. Okay. Um never had a bad bear beer. Also, I love bearer bottle for um their cans. They put the recipe for homebrew on each of their cans. Which I think is just a phenomenal. Yeah, I love that.

SPEAKER_01

I think Red Red Bus technically does that too, but yeah. Um I love, I really like Seismic. I just had one of their beers the other day. Um I like them. But I don't know if they crack making it in. What I really do appreciate about them, I don't know if they still do it, but they would release a a cask uh beer every um uh what's it called? Like a just like a experimental beer every single um Friday. And have like a very small batch. Maybe other every Friday. And one of them I had was just phenomenal. It was a uh it was a smoked brown, and the way they did it is they smoked the malt before brewing.

SPEAKER_02

Okay, like a rouge beer.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, it was and it was so. But combined with a brown, interesting. It um it kind of tasted in the best way, like uh Lay's barbecue potato chips mixed in a beer. Um I don't I really want to highlight them.

SPEAKER_02

I mean, put them in the highlight. We can we can always knock off if we go above seven.

SPEAKER_01

Cooper I d I don't know enough to add them in. True. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

They do a good pilsner. Yeah. Oh, they also uh do another it's a black can, it's always at Whole Foods, but it's a great little go-to lager. But um, yeah, kinda kind of a two-logger, one logger trick pony. Um originally. They do something really well. Uh definitely bracket for me. I mean, you can't you can't go into a NorCal beer bar without seeing one of their cans. Um they are definitely a volume score in in basketball terms, right?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, they they just the number of shots they throw up is a lot. Throwing them up. Um Woods I don't know enough. Altmont.

SPEAKER_02

Um for me is a yes. I mean, you you talk about branding beer styles, uh one of the best triple IPAs on the market in scarcity. Um, yeah. Uh phenomenal phenomenal beer. Uh Barris is cool. It's more like a I'd say like an Anderson Valley. It's a great place to go into the great vibes, good beer. Seeing it too. Um don't know if it cracks the bracket. Oh man, we're we're moving into some heavy hitters here. So for me, burning brows, yes.

SPEAKER_01

Um What about okay, so you froze for me. What did you say about Dunlo?

SPEAKER_02

Oh, um, I didn't say Dunlo, I skipped that one. Uh I do like Dunlo. Um I will say I don't know if they belong on the bracket compared to to the one above it. Or the one below it for that matter. Um I'm okay leaving them off, although they are one you'd see in the the tournament leading up to March Madness.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, let's let's keep them off. I think we keep Burning Barrel off unless you're strongly well.

SPEAKER_02

I gotta we gotta go with Burning Barrel here. Okay. I mean, their their tiki parties, their anniversary parties, their beer releases again. If we're we're talking volume scoring with original pattern, I mean I think Burning Barry.

SPEAKER_01

That might be why we keep Flatland out of it, because I feel like they don't have the volume. They have really good beers. They do.

SPEAKER_02

But uh I feel like in recent years, you know, the the scoring hasn't been quite as high.

SPEAKER_01

And then Delta porn, love 'em, but I don't know if they make it this far. Um New Hell Visha, which uh, you know, maybe I don't know if we want to touch on it now. Looks like they might be closing down soon from from all we're hearing. I I hope not, but from the outside, but they've lost a lot of people there, and they're saying they're closing soon. Um that I don't think they make the bracket though.

SPEAKER_02

And then uh King Kong, I mean movement. Ooh, that's a strong contender, but I think it doesn't make it. Yeah. I think not not at the present. They they definitely could be in tournament contention in any given year though.

SPEAKER_01

So we've selected eleven. We need to take out.

SPEAKER_02

Alright, if we're taking out.

SPEAKER_01

Should we take out shred and uh slice?

SPEAKER_02

I'm okay dropping them. They do great hazy's and they have some other stuff, I'm sure, but to me they're kind of that, you know, one trick pony. Not one trick pony. That sounds negative. They're they're they're a specialist. And I think with being in the bracket, you gotta be more than a specialist sometimes.

SPEAKER_01

I think Monk Sellers borderline the specialists. How much do they have for them?

SPEAKER_02

Their um their barrel aging program is I'd say one of the better ones in the region. They do phenomenal Saisons, Fodor Age stuff, um they do a lot of age. Yeah, they they do they play a different different style of ball, you could say.

SPEAKER_01

We gotta take out one more, right? Because we have to take out one more.

SPEAKER_02

So we we had for our Auburn area, Knee Deep and Crooked Lane. Ooh, that's a tough one. Knee Deep's got the longevity, crooked lane's got, I'd say, more variety. And if we're talking that better beer. Yeah, I I think Knee Deep might have might get an upset here.

SPEAKER_01

So do we take on Knee Deep or Seismic?

SPEAKER_02

For me, um, I don't have uh a dog in the race in seismic. I'd say we could probably knock them out personally. Um I don't have a single beer outside of like a a baseball tap handle that I could name. I think the strike is the only one I know from seismic personally.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I think we gotta take seismic out. I love them. I also want a free shirt from them randomly once.

SPEAKER_02

See, that's the one of the reasons I love uh uh three weavers, is because I got this hat at this beer fest once.

SPEAKER_01

I remember that. Yeah, and I didn't get one yet. Um We need to take one more. Okay, there's still one more left.

SPEAKER_02

Alright, alright, we got Burning, Altamont, original pattern, bear bottle, cricket lane, knee deep, monk cellar, and amador.

SPEAKER_01

I think it's knee deep. I think we gotta take our knee deep.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, you know, I think I think they're the the big upset of the of the bracket here.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. They're out. Alright. We've got it down. We've got the final 32, and we can um let's double check our math here.

SPEAKER_02

Alright, so we have through 33, yep. Alright, so for our listeners at home, I have a fun little Excel sheet that has a randomizer. We are not personally going to rank them one through 32 to avoid just personal biases. Um we're gonna put them into a bracket of 32, which we will be posting on our Instagram for you to comment uh outrage against, you know, we like like any college ball. There is a ranking system, there are biases. Uh we want to hear how you feel about our 32 for our NorCal region and who belonged in the tourney. We wanna we wanna hear your voices on that. But we are going to randomize them and then put them into a bracket for our NorCal side, and our NorCal side will be set via random number generator.

SPEAKER_01

And then you're you're also gonna tell us what SoCal brew is we're gonna have to throw in their next task when we get that figured out.

SPEAKER_02

We do the big SoCal ranking. That's gonna be next next cast.

SPEAKER_01

Um, but so that's done. Um I guess I'll you know I'll let me run through though the 32. We've got no particular order. Kind of kind of alphabetical order. For NorCal, we have Addi's brewing, fieldwork brewing, Geist House Brewing, New Glory Brewing, Oak Park. I'm just gonna start stop saying brewing because you know. Urban Roots, Claim Stake, Burning Barrel, Bike Dog, Sudwork, Jackrabbit, Faction, Drake's, Altamont, Original Pattern, Ghost Town, Cellar Maker, Fieldwork, Russian River, Lagonitas, Hen House, Barabottle, Black Hammer, uh, Crooked Lane, Moxa, Monk Cellar, Moonraker, uh Del Chello, uh Sierra Nevada, Humble Sea, North Coast, Amador. I think that's a pretty damn good list of breweries. That's yeah. That's pretty good.

SPEAKER_02

So uh Jax and I just pasted our randomly generated list into our bracket. Are there any matchups here that you foresee being very close calls?

SPEAKER_01

Let me take a look. The bracket's kind of weird, isn't it?

SPEAKER_02

Um, we could I could probably do some formatting just to make it a little clearer. But um from top. So a little smushed together.

SPEAKER_01

Okay, so the way it's matching up right now.

SPEAKER_02

Ooh, first one's a good one.

SPEAKER_01

That's gonna be fun. Amador versus Laganitas. Very interesting. Umriginal pattern versus bear bottle. Fieldwork versus claim stake.

SPEAKER_02

Ooh, that's gonna be fun.

SPEAKER_01

That's yeah. Uh bike dog versus oak park. That's that's a that's a really local battle, yeah. Um is that Atties versus faction?

SPEAKER_02

Um yes, Addies versus faction.

SPEAKER_01

Okay, alright. Um Black Hammer versus Humble Sea.

SPEAKER_02

Humble Sea as a 29 seed is a little disrespectful, and I I think I foreseen upset happening.

SPEAKER_01

Uh Del Chello versus Burning Barrel.

SPEAKER_02

Ooh. Alright.

SPEAKER_01

Rabbit versus Sierra Nevada. Uh I think that's that's that's a hard one there.

SPEAKER_02

I think it's funny though how the randomizer ended. Um we're showing Sierra Nevada as a 30 seed, which uh might be a rakings miscalculation.

SPEAKER_01

Sudwork versus Moonraker. That's that's that's good. Penhouse versus Moxa. Okay. That's interesting. Uh Drake versus Cellarmaker. I think that's I think that's pretty simple. Monks versus Altamont, Fieldwork versus Geist House, New Glory versus Russian River, and then North Coast versus Ghost Town.

SPEAKER_02

We got some new school versus old school, we've got some local battles. I'm I'm excited to I like the randomness.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, that that's great. I like how that turned out.

SPEAKER_02

That's that was fun. We will be posting this on the on the Instagram for your your viewing pleasure. Um there's there's some arguments to be had here. For sure. We'll we'll have to delve into that next uh next cast.

SPEAKER_01

But we need to start talking about beer styles. We gotta start talking about loggers, dark styles, hoppy eles, and fruited other Alright.

SPEAKER_02

So we have four sections here. So logger, uh, dark, hoppy, and fruited and other that each have sixteen specifications. You know, there might be some overlap, there's some arguments to be made, especially in the hoppy side, that there's some overlap, but what we are going to do is work to delve in to the individual matchups and come to consensus style winner.

SPEAKER_00

Yep, yep, yep, yep.

SPEAKER_01

Um and we did rank these. If you didn't listen to the last episode, we did uh through twelve um on uh you know just how we how we decided they'd line up. So these are gonna be matched up like Cinderella stories versus the number one seeds and everything. This isn't going to be a random thing. Let's kick it off. Let's start with loggers. And we've got the German Pilsner versus the California Common. German Pilsner coming in at the one seed, the California Common at the 16 seed California Common. Um hard to find these days. Um uh the Inker Brewing um kind of like flagship beer type style.

SPEAKER_02

Steam beer, right?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Is that synonymous?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, with California Common, yeah. Yeah, and then uh German Pilsner, which it's it's that crisp hoppy pilsner, you know, it's what I mean.

SPEAKER_02

I think I think uh the California Common gets blitzkrieged here.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, that's it's it's German Pilsner's moving on. Um Rice Lager versus Dunkel. Ah, that's a little more tough. And not just because I'm drinking one right now. But I generally I usually don't like rice lagers.

SPEAKER_02

From a world standpoint, rice lager is synonymous with, you know, Asian cuisine. You have your your Sapporos, your Kirins, your what's the what's the one with the tiger on it? Why am I blanketing? I don't know. But uh, I mean, you know, you go to Thai, you go to Japanese, you you want a rice lager.

SPEAKER_01

And I had a good one that Addis made recently, and I've had a good one, but like if I'm gonna pick between the two, I'm gonna lean Dunkel.

SPEAKER_02

I will say that Dunkel has more more flavor and complexity working for it. I think it edges rice lager slightly.

SPEAKER_01

I think it's a better beer. Yeah. It's moving on. Mexican lager versus amber.

SPEAKER_02

I'm gotta go with the Mexican lager here. I mean ambers are solid, but I mean you just sometimes you just want that crisp beer on a beach, as all the advertising will will sell you on.

SPEAKER_01

So, you have lime in the in that piece? Yep. Uh Chuck Pilsner versus Roche beer.

SPEAKER_02

I gotta give it to the pills. Roche beer is a interesting style, but unless you want to lick a barbecue, usually you're gonna want a pilsner. I I'm sure there are much better done Roche beers than I've had, but sometimes Yeah. When done well, they can be great in in practice. I'm picking the check pills.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_01

Martin versus American Macro, it's amazing.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Sorry. Give me, give me, give me Oktoberfest versus versus NASCAR.

SPEAKER_01

Um I was at uh a uh sandwich shop the other day um winning for my sandwiches, and I was looking at all the beers in the the cabinet that they have, because it's like a um it's a place called Roxy's, it's a deli, and they have like it's like a liquor store mix of the deli. I was waiting for the sandwiches. I was looking at all the beers, and just kind of staring. This guy walks up, this uh older uh guy, and uh he kind of like saddles up. He's like, uh excuse me. I'm like, oh sir. He's like, oh, you're looking at all the all the selections, huh? I'm like, yeah, there's almost too many. He's like, no, there's not. And he grabs three huge tall boy Budweisers. And he's like obviously a local, and the guys are like, Hey, blah, blah, blah, how you doing? He's like, you know, my ankles messed up. It was just the most like American type like interaction. Like, just like well, it was just funny. He's like, Oh, there's only one, there's only one good choice here. Like, oh my god.

SPEAKER_02

You know, some people have their preferences. I mean, I we have a long time family friend Bubba, and uh he's he's a coer's light guy, you know?

SPEAKER_01

But at the end of the day, what he wants is a cooers like not yucking someone's yum, but it was just it was funny how the guy was just like It is.

SPEAKER_02

There's one choice. It's a glad's tail.

SPEAKER_01

And it was like he didn't get Bud Light, he got Bud Weiser, the big ass.

SPEAKER_02

Honestly, that's a better choice. Um I do, I will say, I love an original Coors, that nice yellow cream colored can.

SPEAKER_01

I haven't had one in so long. I can I can't consider See what what I want to do, I think we need to do uh another bracket, but it's all macro beers. The lights and the regulars, and then just pin them up against each other.

SPEAKER_02

That sounds like a college experiment if I've ever heard one.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Alright. Vienna versus Munich Hellas.

SPEAKER_02

I love Hellas as a style, but Vienna for me easily wins. It's uh it's a phenomenal, slightly darker malt. It's inspired uh beers through generations. I mean, you talk about German settlers in Mexico, you look at Negro Modello.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

I was on the fence. I was on the fence, but um Italian Pilsner versus Schwarzbier.

SPEAKER_02

You know, it you I'm thinking we are Pilsner, we're Pilsner people here, but for me the Italian Pilsner I and this hurts uh probably my ancestors to say, lesser Pilsner.

SPEAKER_01

Um goes up and says I want a peroni.

SPEAKER_02

Alright?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

It's like I'm I'm sorry, ancestors, but beer is not not the Italian specialty, unfortunately. It's uh it's more wine and food. Bob yeah, swords beer.

SPEAKER_00

I know what I'm making.

SPEAKER_02

Do we make the argument that Bach encompasses Doppelbach? It's the only way I can I can swing it, because I love me some Doppelbach. Strong.

SPEAKER_01

I think the Doppelbach takes a strong center. I think I think it has it's just a little bit darker, a little bit sweeter, just it's a little bit more Bach than you're talking about rebounding, you're talking about size on the wings, you're talking just big, delicious beer. It has to win, it has to go forward.

SPEAKER_02

It does. And that is our lager style. You want to give us a recap?

SPEAKER_01

We can do that. So uh we've got from the lager side German Pilsner taking out the California Common, the Dunkel slightly upsetting the rice lager, Mexican lager smashing the amber, Czech Pilsner taking out Roche beer, Martson taking out the American Macro because of course Vienna taking out Munich Hellis, which was probably the closest in uh this this this bracket. Um Italian Pilsner lost out to Schwarzbier, Schwarzbier just a better beer, and that's what we're doing here. And then Doppelbach upsetting the Bach, which that was that was actually the closest. And um I think I'm happy I'm happy with our our choices here.

SPEAKER_02

I am as well. And you know, you know, funny enough, um, as as the beer I chose to drink for this section is a Bavarian style puzzler.

SPEAKER_01

Interesting.

SPEAKER_02

What brewery? Um Wayfinder out of Oregon.

SPEAKER_01

Love me some Wayfinder.

SPEAKER_02

This is the Party time with the two dots. Potty? I don't I don't what's the two dots in uh in in in Belgian or German? I don't know the pronunciation. Someone can tell us in the chat or tell us on the uh comment section. But yeah, P A with the two dots Artie time. I think it's potty time. All right, give that German accent.

SPEAKER_01

Imperial Stout versus Smoked Porter.

SPEAKER_02

Imperial Stout's just too too strong, uh too strong a franchise. Literally.

SPEAKER_01

Literally too strong. Um versus oatmeal stout.

SPEAKER_02

That is just a tough That's hard. They're so similar, is the thing, but like they are, but one's got you know that it it's like what do you what are you eating for breakfast? They're both so you have an milk and cereal, or you have an oatmeal and a bowl.

SPEAKER_01

I They're both smooth, slightly creamy.

SPEAKER_02

Lighter A B V typically. Oatmeals can be stronger.

SPEAKER_01

I think I I would lean milk. I really like oatmeal stouts, but I think I've had better milk stouts.

SPEAKER_02

You know, you got you got the the bike dog, you got who's uh is it Oscar Blues that has a milk stout that I'm thinking of? I'm trying to think. I'm not remembering.

SPEAKER_01

But yeah, I mean that milk dogs.

SPEAKER_02

That's a tough one. I mean they these are there's a reason they're eight and nine seed. They're so close. I'm thinking milk wins it.

SPEAKER_01

Um Stout versus Baltic Porter.

SPEAKER_02

Honestly, I for me with five seed for Stout seems a bit of a high seed. I I see an upset here with Baltic Porter personally.

SPEAKER_01

You'd grab a Baltic, I mean Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Look at um what's the Icelander?

SPEAKER_01

Baltic Porter. How does the Baltic porter differ from, say, a regular porter, which we have coming up, or from a uh oyster stout, you know, like w what is what what characterizes Baltic that is why you would take that flavor with the ball?

SPEAKER_02

In my opinion, a much smoother, darker brown. And for me, a Baltic porter really enunciates that clean dark malt without being overly roasty or overly you know brown ale in flavor. Um I think Baltic Porters are a really nice balance of dark malt, personally. You look at um Einzlager, what's is it Einzlaugger? What's the what's the Icelandic? They have a phenomenal Baltic Porter. Einstock. Phenomenal Baltic Porter, very drinkable beer. Um and now that I'm thinking about it, I want to uh go and buy a six pack of that because I want to revisit that.

SPEAKER_01

I always almost get Einstock when I see it in the store. It's hard not it's hard to pass up, but I usually see it after I've already made my selection. I'm like, uh uh sometime we'll do it. And every once in a while I'll do, but it's yeah, that might be my next pickup.

SPEAKER_02

I do think Baltic Porters might be one of my favorite porters. Okay.

SPEAKER_01

Um, but next we have barley and wine versus standard porter.

SPEAKER_02

Barley wine's every day of the week. Barley wine is so heavy. You you talk about dark styles, you want that nice, heavy beer. Just that nice, comforting beer.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, Scottish Ale versus Quad. Oh. I I think I lean Scottish Ale, but it's hard because they're both so they're they're just fun intense styles, is the way I see it.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, again Especially Quad. We we've we've leaned right, we've leaned Imperial style, we've leaned barley wine, we we love high ABV dark beers, but Scottish Ale is just so drinkable, whereas quads are this dark complex. I think Scottish Ale does edge here. That's that's a tough one though. I think it is also more true to being a malt forward style versus quad, which is a little more yeast and Belgian sugar driven.

SPEAKER_01

Barrel uh barrel aged stout versus oyster stout. I know that I would say barrel aged stout. I definitely drink more barrel aged stouts than oyster stouts, but I mean oyster stouts are good.

SPEAKER_02

Twenty First Amendment R.I.P. had a great oyster stout, um hog island something or other. It was it was a really good beer. But yeah, barrel stouts, I mean phenomenal. You get the character of the barrel, it could be pork barrels, whiskey barrels, rum barrels, whatever you whatever kind of barrel you fancy they do.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, it can be just oak, yeah. No, I I think that barrel aged just the way to go. Which brings us to Dubell versus Barrel Aged Porter. I mean Dubell seemed to me barrel aged porter porters.

SPEAKER_02

I've had them, but Dubel is just such a good classic strong logger street.

SPEAKER_01

I wanted to give barrel aged porter its possible time, but yeah. And then we have a coffee stout versus brown. I I am 100% coffee stout, I won't hear anything of it. I love coffee stouts.

SPEAKER_02

I was gonna make an argument for Brown being the the working class dark beer, but yeah, the working class needs coffee.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, that's doing a lot of that's that's doing a lot of leg work. Um alright. So for Darkstyles we've done, we finished it out. Imperial Stout takes down some work porter, milk narrowly, narrowly takes out oatmeal. Stout uh is taken down by Baltic Porter, barley wine takes down the regular porter. Uh we have the Scottish ale over the quad, barrel age stout over the oyster stout, Dubel over barrel each porter, coffee stout over brown. We're moving to hoppy. We're hopping it up, jumping in. Hazy IPA versus milkshake IPA. Uh hazy IPA wins. Do we need it? I don't think we need to talk about it. Uh black IPA versus Rye IPA.

SPEAKER_02

Fuck the 8-9 the 8-9 matchups are phenomenal in this bracket, by the way. Phenomenal matchups, so freaking close.

SPEAKER_01

The one's also gonna be close. Um I am a black IPA guy, yeah, but damn, is a rye IPA gun. You know what I really like? A black rye IPA.

unknown

True, true, true, true, true, true, true.

SPEAKER_01

I mean black hat, but that's the black.

SPEAKER_02

We're talking hobby ales, and unfortunately, I think black IPA relies a little too much on the malt. I think Rye allows hops over black. I think rye allows hops to shine a little better if we're talking hoppy ales category.

SPEAKER_01

I'm thinking it this is within the hopy ale category, but a black IPA done well molds together styles and maybe a way that I don't think we need I don't think we need to go by is are these in the bracket, are these in the right position anymore? I think now it's like what are you grabbing? A black IPA or a rye APA? I would grab a black IPA far more often than a rye IPA. And I've had better black IPAs than rye IPAs.

SPEAKER_02

I mean you look at you look at Sierra Nevada with their ruthless, their river ride, I mean, just just phenomenal beers. I I think this might be one we need to flip a coin for overtime because I'm team rye here.

SPEAKER_00

Do we have like a uh uh do you have a coin? I don't have a do I have a coin?

SPEAKER_02

Wait, wait, I have a poker chip. Oh, nope, it says Mark's bachelor on both sides.

SPEAKER_01

I just found mine the other day, your your bachelor party.

SPEAKER_02

Uh um that's gonna be let me see. Do you have a Google coin flip?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, we can do a coin flip on here. Alright. Okay, so um let's let's let's do um I'm gonna say that um call it black IPA. I'm going for black IPA, so I'm gonna call it. Um I'm clicking and it'll you know when I click it, there's some time. So I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna say tails. Flipping. It's tails.

SPEAKER_02

Nah nah, that's fair. You know, you want one coin flip for overtime.

SPEAKER_00

Okay. Black IPA is a close one.

SPEAKER_02

I'll keep the coin flip. We took it to overtime, but the black IPA took it.

SPEAKER_01

Um and just uh yeah, okay, cool. Um single IPA versus dry hoped sour.

SPEAKER_02

I want to argue dry hop sour, but the single IPA is still just like.

SPEAKER_01

I I love a good dry hop sour. And I would probably pick it to drink a dry hop sour over a single IPA, but if you're asking me which is the better style, it's like okay, like any given day. Um if it's my one beer of the day, I'm not gonna take a dry hop sour. Probably take a single IPA. Um double IPA versus English IPA.

SPEAKER_02

Uh you know, I'm sorry, the English had their chance. Um there's a reason craft beer blew up in America.

SPEAKER_01

Session IPA versus red ale.

SPEAKER_02

I mean, I'm reaching for the session IPA eighty percent of the time.

SPEAKER_01

Is that just because it's sessionable or because you prefer the flavor?

SPEAKER_02

Uh it's it's light, it's hoppy. When I think red ale, I don't quite think hoppy. I think more just like a multi beer I wanna savor a little more. I I just think it's a better hoppy ale.

SPEAKER_01

Pale ale versus American strong pale.

SPEAKER_02

Uh I'm gonna go pale just because I don't feel like American Strong Pale has enough to distinguish it from the pack there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Triple F IPA versus cold IPA. I'm going triple IPA.

SPEAKER_02

Triple. I mean, phenomenal style. I mean, honestly, what's gonna be a fight when it comes to the IPA heads up here? Because, you know, in Hoppy Ales, IPAs do reign supreme. Uh what do we have as a recap?

SPEAKER_01

West Coast versus Brute West Coast. Um, so that's the last one. Yeah, I'm gonna go. Tariku pop hoppy, hazy took down milkshake, black, smashed rye, not even close. Single IPA beat dry up sour, double IPA beat English IPA, session IPA took out red ale, pale ale took out American Strong, Pale uh triple IPA over cold IPA, West Coast over Brute, no upsets in this category. Hoppy was by the book.

SPEAKER_02

We almost had that eight-nine seed. Almost. Almost.

SPEAKER_01

Okay, half of Isen versus Milkshake Sour. The half. I mean, Colt Shake Sour is all flash. Kolsch versus pastry stout.

SPEAKER_02

Oh what the fuck, dude? Um I think pastry stout has more range. Kolsch is kind of a bastard of the lager, and that's why it got sent to this conference.

SPEAKER_01

Beautiful. It's such a good yeah, Kolsch, man. The Kolsch is such a fun style. It was developed in such a sort of stuff.

SPEAKER_02

Have you ever had Umberana spires in a stout with vanilla?

SPEAKER_01

I I love Kolsch because I love how it in has influenced, like, you know, other styles and stuff, but yeah. Uh kettle sour versus cool ship.

SPEAKER_02

You know, I as much as I love a cool ship ale, I think the kettle sour edges it out. It's a lot more versatile. It can be fruited, it can be cool. It is cool.

SPEAKER_01

But uh kettle sour is it's the lame way out of making a sour beer, bro.

SPEAKER_02

It is, but it's versatile. Yeah, I'm with you on that. I mean, uh what's the prickly pear? I think um even uh God Shinerbach Shiner. I think they have like a prickly pear kettle sour, which is just again a very nice beer. Shout out some of the classics.

SPEAKER_01

Um farmhouse versus Brett.

SPEAKER_02

You know, I love a farmhouse, but Brett specifically is my favorite funky flavor.

SPEAKER_01

I have to agree with you.

SPEAKER_02

I think the Br I think Britannom I see's it's it's it's a strong strong wild uh wild yeast. And you know, maybe not so wild now, but dude, that that was an upset.

SPEAKER_01

It we're gonna have bread versus kettle sour. Ooh, that's fun. That could be bread again, dude. Like that that can be similar story.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Bread is a 13 seed, might might make a run.

SPEAKER_01

Ghost versus smoothie sour. I vote ghost without hesitation.

SPEAKER_02

You know, I am surprised a little bit at uh at these results where we have both kettle sour and ghost going into the uh goes to 32 here.

SPEAKER_01

Saison and Fruit Lambic, Saison. It's versatile, it's delicious. Talked about being by their by their uh their yeast. So cool. Um Berlin Revice versus Barrel Age Sour. I'm saying barrel aged sour. Berlin vice are so good and they're such they're so different. Berlinervice are so light, low ABV, crisp, you got barrel-aged sour's tart, complex, so many possibilities for what you're getting yourself into.

SPEAKER_02

That's the complexity we're talking about. I mean, we're talking just just phenomenally drawing.

SPEAKER_01

Not that complexity means better because a simple, good, tasty beer is phenomenal. Yeah. But I think barrel aged sour. I think it's not.

SPEAKER_02

There's just so much that that barrel aged sour can do. You talk about a team that's well coached, right? Like just drawn up so many plays here.

SPEAKER_01

Cream L versus American Wild. I'm on Team Cream L. I love Cream Elsie.

SPEAKER_02

Hashtag Team Cream.

SPEAKER_01

Creamy boys, cream and milk. Um we've got in the fruit of category to summarize Heff of Ice and took out milkshake sour, pastry sour upset kolsch, kettle sour took down cold ship ales, Britanna Myces beer, Brett beer took over farmhouse upset. Goza took out smoothie sour, Saisons over Fruit Lambix, Barrel Age Sour, tad of an upset over the Berlinerweise, Cream Ale took out American Wild Ale. We have entered into the round of uh this is the round of 32. We have 32 styles. I think we I think we move on. We start back in Lagerland. Uh in the trying to see what we got going. So German Pilsner versus Dunkel.

SPEAKER_02

So we got the one seed versus the nine seed here.

SPEAKER_01

And that's that's a tough one. I don't like this anymore. Um I I think Two phenomenal logics. And that's not just because I had one just now, but like I think I think I think Dunkle.

SPEAKER_02

They've just got more more uh more depth to their game.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

I I I think the Dunkel upsets the one seed here. Wow. Okay. I mean we're talking Clemson level upset almost here.

SPEAKER_01

But it has to be done. Mexican Mexican lager versus Czech Pilsner.

SPEAKER_02

You know, both both are very refreshing. Um I would argue that the Czech Pilsner edges out the Mexican lager for four over the five. I think I think so. I think it edges it out.

SPEAKER_01

I mean they're both good, but yeah, I think I think a Czech Pilsner on on a on any day is better than a Mexican lager on any day. Agreed. Martzin versus Vienna Log. I'm I I hate this, but I think Mar I think Martzin takes it. I I prefer a Marzin. And maybe it's I don't I just think a Mar I th they're both great. I think I think Martin.

SPEAKER_02

I mean it's it's nothing more than personal preference, honestly. I think Marzin is is more ubiquitous, it's more widely known, it's but as far as you know, slightly darker, very drinkable lagers go, they are very similar. I think the Vienna malt, in my opinion, is a a superior malt. I think it's got a little bit better depth, a little bit better flavor. But I think Marzin is popular for a reason. I mean, you you go to any Oktoberfest, you see a Mars. You don't see a Vienna.

SPEAKER_01

I think Marzen. Yeah. Yeah, unfortunately. Schwarzbier and Doppelbach. I think Doppelbach. I'm I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, the the fifth the fifteen seeds just got a great strong core here, unfortunately.

SPEAKER_01

Schwarzbeer took took down uh Italian Pilsner to get here, so you know, big ups to them. But we're now to our final uh we have our final four in the logger category, a round of sixteen.

SPEAKER_02

You know, and check Czech Pilsner holding it down for the light loggers.

SPEAKER_01

We got Dunkel, Czech Pilsner, Martin, and Doppelbach. So let's see what dark what dark beers do. Um Imperial Stout versus Milk Stout.

SPEAKER_02

I think Imperial still steamrolling. I mean they're they're a power conference for a reason, right?

SPEAKER_01

Barley wine versus Baltic Porter. Ah, yeah, that's much as I love Baltic Porter. It's same barley wine. Scottish L versus uh barrel aged stout. I think barrel aged stout. Do you want to defend anything? You want to say reason why Scottish L should should be here? You know, I I I feel like I think barrel barrel aged stout is just they're different animals.

SPEAKER_02

Scottish Ale you're right. They are they're very hard to compare one to one, but this is one where I see the Scottish Ale being scrappy enough to uh earn earn an overtime coin flip here.

SPEAKER_01

Okay.

SPEAKER_02

Alright, so we gotta have some drama.

SPEAKER_01

I'm gonna I'm gonna click for it. I'm gonna refresh the page too. Um just so it's like a resetting it somehow. I don't know. Um you're gonna flip for Scottish, right? Yeah. So, okay, hazard tails ready, go.

SPEAKER_02

Tails.

SPEAKER_01

It team it team tails again. So we got the Scottish ale take out the the the barrel aged stout.

SPEAKER_02

It's a it's it's you know, it it was a that's a tough one, but I feel like Scottish Ale is just such barrel-aged stout with the with the different adjuncts you can do, with the different like bourbon barrel-aged vanilla stout, man. Like uh, you know, pastry stout's holding it down in the other uh conference still, right? So I mean you pastry your barrel again. We're talking adjuncts versus just the clean clean fundamental beer.

SPEAKER_01

Um coffee stout versus Dubelle. I vote coffee stout. Oh, Dubell's great, but a good coffee stout? Do Cafe Belgique? Still talk about it. It's true. It's fair. Yeah. Alright, so Darkstyles, Imperial Stout, Barley Wine, Scottish Ale Coffee Stout. It's getting down to it. Hoppy L's. Hazy IPA versus black IPA. I want to be the guy that says black IPA because I would I do pick black IPAs over hazy's myself. But I I don't I feel weird to to knock out hazy IPAs.

SPEAKER_02

I mean hazy IPAs are like Duke, right? They're always in the game, so they're not going away.

SPEAKER_01

Do they have to move forward? Mm-hmm. Okay.

unknown

Damn.

SPEAKER_01

Okay. Single IPA versus double IPA. This is goofy. This is a goofy one. Single IPA.

SPEAKER_02

There's not enough difference between. I think double IPA is the lesser of the single double trio.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Um is the the middle child. The middle child is getting getting kicked here.

SPEAKER_01

Session IPA versus pale ale. I think I think pale ale, man.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, it's it's pale. I mean, I I reach for a certain amount of pale ale over a session.

SPEAKER_01

Here we get real tough. Triple IPA versus West Coast IPA.

SPEAKER_02

I mean triple IPA just packs so much more into their game. I think we got West Coast. Yeah, West Coast is a is a common common, you know.

SPEAKER_01

But that's the thing, West Coast, like bec same, same okay. Well, I'm gonna go back to Black versus Hazy because if we're picking triple over West Coast, we're not feeling held to the constraints of what's expected of the beer styles of like West Coast having to be up there, just like Hazy having to be there. Let's think about this again. Black IPA versus hazy. Are you are you saying you prefer hazy's to black IPAs?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, uh it's just again the same argument as triple. It's it's more versatile. They can pack more flavor, they can pack different flavors. It's just they got a lot to their game.

SPEAKER_01

Alright, I'll take it. Alright. So, Hoppy L's Hazy goes on, single IPA goes on, pale L and triple IPA. We're now down to the fruited other category for the next round to get us to the final sixteen total. Hef of Isen versus Pastry Stout. I don't like Hefavisens. I would vote pastry stout. Hefeweizen's I don't like the I don't like the yeast character personally.

SPEAKER_02

I mean, but the thing about Hefweisens is you can have different yeast characters.

SPEAKER_01

I mean you can have I just don't like the banana bubblegum.

SPEAKER_02

Well you could have you ever had one that's bubblegum?

SPEAKER_01

I don't like bubblegum either. I don't like that.

SPEAKER_02

I mean uh fair. I I think Hefweizen is a very utilitarian beer.

SPEAKER_01

It's it's but pastry stouts can be so many different types of pastry stouts.

SPEAKER_02

That's also versatile. I mean I won't force the coin flip on this one, but I think Hefeweizen deserves to be there.

SPEAKER_01

Kettle Sour versus Brett Beer.

SPEAKER_02

Alright, we're running with the Cinderella story. Let's go Brett Beer. Brett Beer to the Moon.

SPEAKER_01

Because you could argue Kettle has more variety possibilities than go brethren.

SPEAKER_02

Breat beer can change to weak. It means better. Brett beer, you don't know what you're gonna get. There was literally a beer called Stone's Enjoy After. And if you're familiar with Stone, they have a lot of IPAs that say enjoy before, because you want to enjoy an IPA fresh. But they specifically had a Brett beer that was Enjoy After, because they wanted to let Live Culture do its thing. And you're not drinking the same beer twice. You know, you don't know where you're getting week to week. It will confuse the defense.

SPEAKER_01

It's like a box of chocolates. Yep. Ghosa versus Saison. I am team Saison. Yeah. There can be variety decided by the yeast, decided by additives. Just such a good variable, warm, tasty beer. Barrel aged sour versus cream ale.

SPEAKER_02

I mean, I'm rich for barrel aged sour every day of the week. Personally.

SPEAKER_01

Cream ales are fucking amazing, but yeah, barrel aged sour. Fritted other category, pastry stout, brett, beer, cease, and barrel aged sour make it. So do we want to go down and whittle this down to the final eight? We're at our final sixteen. Um, do you want to do that? Go through the get our final get our final our final eight here?

SPEAKER_02

I don't know. I think we uh let's see what we got really.

SPEAKER_01

We have Dunkel vs. Trek Pilsner, Martin vs. Doppelbach, Imperial Stout vs. Barley Wine, Scottish L vs. Coffee Stout, Hazy IPA versus single IPA, Pale L vs. triple IPA, pastry stout versus bread beer, Saison versus barely sour. There's gonna be some conversations to be had for many of these matchups.

SPEAKER_02

I think that um we need to take some time and I want to write up notes for these matchups. I want I want to bring something to the table. Yeah, I want us to uh to to reconvene. I want uh our our listeners to give us their feedback on who they think deserves to move on to the eight. And uh I wanna I wanna I wanna hash out some matchups here. Because we're we're about to run up Pacry Set against Brett, who's had a phenomenal run. We're about to run up Hazy's versus singles. We're about to run up palees versus triple IPAs.

SPEAKER_01

That's insane. Because like you've got your you've got your Incan and Youngers versus your quintessential Syra Nevada Palo.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, and you're talking Imperial Stout versus Barley Wine.

SPEAKER_01

Dunkle versus Czech Pilsner? I mean d like what are we even doing here?

SPEAKER_02

You're you're talking Imperial Stout versus Barley.

SPEAKER_01

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_02

I mean we're we're talking some heavy hitters.

SPEAKER_01

Some old restin versus some, you know, just just not pick coffee stout over Scottish Ale. I think that for me is is a going is is one that I I will fight pretty hard on, but when it comes to a lot of these other ones, I'm I'm split on a lot of them.

SPEAKER_02

I think we need to to reconvene. We want notes, and I think we need to bring two of each style to the table.

SPEAKER_01

Okay. So like really like pick out Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Our our our favorite two of each style to argue.

SPEAKER_00

Wow.

unknown

Okay.

SPEAKER_02

And we want we want we want our uh our listeners, our our commenters to pick their favorite two for each of these styles.

SPEAKER_01

So that means in case you don't follow one on social medias, Dunkel, Czech Pilsner, Martson, Doppelbach, Imperial Stout, Barley Wine, Scottish Ale, Coffee Stout, Hazy IPA, Single IPA, Pale Ale, Triple IPA, Pastry Stout, Brett Beer, Saison, Bear Laged, Sour. Um What are your two favorites? What is your favorite beer style of the lot? There's gonna be some weirdos out there that say Scottish Ale is their number one beer style. Um and we love it. We were here for it. Um but this has been another episode of the Beer Me Cast. This has been our cementing of the NorCal Breweries for March Beerness. This has been us getting to the final sixteen of the beer styles. Follow along with us next time we reconvene to discuss. You can follow us on Instagram at BeerMeCast. You can email us at beermecast at gmail.com and uh you can listen to us wherever you get podcasts except for Amazon, because they suck apparently. Uh but thanks for listening along. We really look forward to uh I I I think this is the coolest thing we've done on the podcast is I love the beer style argument here. This is there there is a winner to be crowned, and it will be and it's so arbitrary, like it's just oh man. Alright. Well, anyway, thank you guys for listening. Have a great whatever long period of time. We have next uh go drink a beer. Cheers. Cheers.