Craft Beer Collaborations and Festivals

This week the lads take on the challenge of discussing the truth behind collaborations within the craft beer industry before talking about craft beer festivals at sporting events!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:03

I'll let you lead. I was gonna let you lead it off. I was gonna say it seemed like you had something you were gonna say.

SPEAKER_02 0:09

So I mean I I really like that uh when I go to Costco, I can get good craft beer. Uh that's that's a hint for my beer of cast. It's not my normal Costco grab, but it isn't very popular brewery.

SPEAKER_00 0:22

That's fun. Okay. Um yeah, I I I um uh I do appreciate Costco. Um it's it's a little wild when you see so much craft beer. Like Sacramento craft breweries with such large crates of it. It's just kind of wild. And I still think it's a little odd to go to a Costco and see something that's like local.

SPEAKER_02 0:49

But also by the same token, I also don't see them at every Costco. I feel like there's somebody at the Arden Costco who's just got his finger on the pulse a little bit of, you know, getting beer at that markdown where it's profitable still, even at like$12 a four-pack. Like they're basically buying wholesale and selling wholesale, it feels like, when you're looking at these$13 four packs of, you know, relatively popular breweries.

SPEAKER_00 1:17

I need to like I g I guess mine doesn't have four packs much as they're always like a mix pack or needies, your serumatta. Like a 12-pack of gummy worms or a or expo? No, I go I go to uh um what's it called? Soft of Arena.

SPEAKER_02 1:36

Arena Oh, Natonas?

SPEAKER_00 1:39

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02 1:39

I forget there's one out there now.

SPEAKER_00 1:42

It's really nice. The parking is fantastic every time.

SPEAKER_02 1:45

Specifically, I've been to several different Costco's throughout the greater Northern California area, be it going to the cabin, you know, going up toward like Yuba or like Rancho, which is mom's house. And Expo just has is the is the one that I've m pretty much no doubt there is a good four pack.

SPEAKER_00 2:05

And uh just parking there is so annoying.

SPEAKER_02 2:08

Yeah. It can be. Although I found today when I parked on the side of the building coming from you know the downtown 160 kind of route, there were like three or four open parking spots. Uh apparently right after work around 345 is when you when you want to slip in between the the after five o'clock crowd and the middle of the day crowd. So that's an interesting thing.

SPEAKER_00 2:30

I think because I think because we talked about slipping it in with the 3 p.m. crowd, um it is time to get into the beer me cat. It should be great. That is why I thought welcome to everyone with that. Yeah, uh my name is Jack, and I'm here to talk to you about beer with my co-host Mark. Mark. Other than slipping it in between three o'clock or is today at Costco, how how are you doing?

SPEAKER_02 3:05

Doing doing good. Always nice to drive down Richards Boulevard and and see how uh how much better the lanes and how much more traffic there is and how many less uh uh still say mana strip clubs, but I don't know if it's open still. Uh but yeah, driving down Richards Boulevard is.

SPEAKER_00 3:22

The Richardsy Richards can get, right? It's been less Richardsy.

SPEAKER_02 3:25

To be fair, yeah. I mean, like it's still there's still the McDonald's Chevron motel combo right at the freeway entrance.

SPEAKER_00 3:33

There's there's still until they can only do so much over there.

SPEAKER_02 3:39

Yeah, well, back working a little history on uh your your host here. Uh back when I worked at the domes at Arden Fair, there was a lovely Motel 6 behind it. This is the the how about Arden Plaza, not as you know it today. Uh how it was in the past, with large dome theaters and very uh very sketchy uh boob people. Yeah. I have a picture of me on top of that boob. The biggest boob of ever surmaster.

SPEAKER_00 4:08

Splanding between the three o'clock is on top of the biggest boob.

SPEAKER_02 4:12

But uh anyway, what led to the uh overall demise of the old How about Arden Plaza is uh a cop got shot by the Motel 6 there and they ended up uh demoing the whole thing and cleaning it up. So I hope that doesn't have to be the catalyst for uh Richard's Boulevard.

SPEAKER_00 4:31

I was wondering, where is this going?

SPEAKER_02 4:33

I'm just like as far as areas getting cleaned up in a pretty rapid shooting to happen. Yeah, let's not.

SPEAKER_00 4:39

I'm sure shootings happen over there all the time, though, is the thing.

SPEAKER_02 4:42

Yeah, it just it reaches a point. Also, I think uh the Cinema Corporation was like, hey, we can't let the boobs reach historical status, because then we can't get rid of the boobs that easily, and you don't want to have to pay for that boob job. Um just overall. It was it would be expensive. That thing was a boob job.

SPEAKER_00 5:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:02

Anyway, so yeah, that whole the whole plaza got torn apart. It's now one of the weirdest parking lots in Sacramento.

SPEAKER_00 5:08

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 5:10

But um, yeah. Anyway, uh watching watching your town change is is an interesting thing. Um but yeah, driving at Richards it has changed very much. Um all the old Section 8 housing is now new condos. Um you still have CHP down there between kind of where the new rail yard stadium is and where it hits the 160, it's it's I feel like gonna slowly take over the old as it expands and it's gonna meet in the middle.

SPEAKER_00 5:41

Hopefully. Yeah, we'll see. We'll see. Um, but we are gonna talk about beer today. We're gonna talk about the broadcasts, and we're gonna talk about beer collaborations, then beer fests at sporting arenas and sporting events. So uh Mark, you've got a beer that you're drinking. I've got a beer that I'm drinking. Uh I think last week, I think you went first, is that right? Probably. Talking about or was it me? No, it was me with with the uh epoch. So, yeah, what what are you drinking from Costco?

SPEAKER_02 6:13

Uh I am drinking a green collar pale ale by Altamont Brewing. It is uh uh decked out in the colors of the Athletics, um, the the team that is currently renting space in our city. And the team that I'm gonna see next week because uh I didn't pay for the tickets.

SPEAKER_00 6:34

So me too.

SPEAKER_02 6:36

Let's do it. Um but yeah, so uh ultimately it's a paleo from Ultimate Beerworks. Not super bitter, but a little bit of bitter on the front end there. Um a little bit of I want to say caramel or crystal malt kind of coming through. And uh nice hop profile. I mean, I'd say seven six, seven, seven. It's a it's a very drinkable pale ale, uh nothing crazy. But uh yeah, it's it's a good ultimate offering. Uh definitely worth a four-pack for thirteen bucks at your local Costco.

SPEAKER_00 7:11

Yeah, what is your your rating? Oh, your rating was six seven. No, seven six. Okay. Front facing camera. It's a pale ale. It's a pale ale, it's ultimate, okay.

SPEAKER_02 7:22

Yeah, uh but also just yeah, I mean they had today. They had Urban Roots, Ultimates, um, yeah, Need Deep, which is common. Just just good, solid shelf beer for for a Costco trip.

SPEAKER_00 7:37

Well, I've got Hello Trouble here by uh Fieldwork? Fieldwork.

SPEAKER_02 7:44

Yep, I can talk about the can. Very minimalist white can, I like it.

SPEAKER_00 7:49

Triple dry hop hazy IPA, 7% brewed with Dulcita, T90, Cryo, Lupicor, and Quantum Hops.

SPEAKER_02 7:59

See, I love when my IPA has hops that I've never heard of because that means they're just trying shit. And I like it. That or they just got given some weird shit and they're like, yeah, let's fucking make this into a beer.

SPEAKER_00 8:11

And they have stamped on the can when it was canned, which was uh uh March 30th. Nice. So it's still pretty fresh. Um and I think it's a it's a situation of some of these hops maybe shouldn't have gone together, in my opinion. Um I I can't I don't know which two are playing which two are playing off each other in a in a bad way, but on the nose it gives like a like a kind of like diesel, like a kind of gasoline type like.

SPEAKER_02 8:54

I know what you're saying. I've had that kind of diesely uh ester phenol before. It's uh it's it's an intense one.

SPEAKER_00 9:04

And it then kind of goes into the hop, like the so that's the that's the smell, that's the aroma. And then there's not a lot of bitterness, but there is a lot of like back-end aroma, and the way that that diesel type smell aroma plays off of then what other hops then come out when you're actually drinking it, that are exposed by the by the drinking molds together in like a funky type of like overly ripe citrus type taste to where like you know, like you if if you've ever bought or picked too many oranges and you come in after a day's work and then you are reminded that you had a lot of oranges from like a few weeks ago because they've started turning green and get real funky and nasty. Um that is tight as the kind of like back aroma I'm getting the type of like end note and it's not overwhelming with that, but it's like that is the taste I would explain it. It tastes like rotten citrus on the back end, and because there's no um bitterness, um it's just this kind of funky I mean at 7% it's not it's not thick, it's it is a a beer that they tried something with, and it seemed like they had spent a lot of money on the hops. This is my this is me guessing, I have no idea. My guess is they spent a lot of money on these hops. They threw them together thinking, oh, we can't go wrong triple dry hopping the heck out of this thing. We got the cans already. This this isn't a sticker, you know, it's like we've got this all ready to go, and I just think it's uh it's a bit oh man, my my burp tastes like like even more gasoline. Like I prefer that to like the rotten fruit.

SPEAKER_02 11:15

So you have a hop name that sounds like a Terminator character's name, and then you got diesel flavor.

SPEAKER_00 11:21

T90? And I mean cryo is kind of like futuristic. Like, wasn't wasn't someone frozen? Or anyway, uh Lupicor sounds kind of like that.

SPEAKER_02 11:33

Sounds like the company that uh made the Terminator. And then Quantum.

SPEAKER_00 11:38

Um But Dulcita. So I think I think Dulcita must be what is in the boil, and then the ones in the because then the T90 cryo, Lupicore, or Quantum are in like uh in brackets. Mm-hmm. My guess is they dry hopped with that. Interesting.

SPEAKER_02 11:55

Yeah, I'd be curious to know uh the the tasting selection that went up to that. And it is tough sometimes. I mean, especially with like cryo. Cryo can be very strong, and if you're not playing with that super strong flavor, you could end up overwhelming or muddling. But uh definitely worth trying. I like I like experimental hops, but I think for me I would love to see more berries do single hops just to kind of get to that okay, we're drilling down as to this is the flavor you're having. I mean, I'll never forget the time I had like a centennial dry hop single hop, and I was like, oh wow, you know, centennial is usually something I see in conjunction with other things, but by itself, I really like the profile that it has, and it kind of gives you that knowledge to take things one at a time. Whereas I think if you're, you know, say smelling hops, then putting them together, you're not gonna have the same.

SPEAKER_00 12:50

You're not gonna know exactly how it plays off because the hop changes so much during the process. And even when it's even when it's just thrown in for dry hopping, yeah, it it it there's so many chemical changes that happen. I I don't know I don't know if it's fair to to give it a rating. Um well no, I mean might as well. Let's let's give it a rating. I give it a uh you know, okay. A four point two. Give it a four point two. I'm not giving it any lower because I can drink it, I will drink it. Um I think anything below three and a half, I will just decide I'm not drinking it. Uh I think uh life's too short to drink beer you don't want to drink. Um, but this is just above that cusp, and I I will I will drink it. Um it's that's that's almost like me saying it's a bad beer. I'm sure someone out there thinks like this is their jam.

SPEAKER_02 13:54

Um everyone's taste buds are different. It just uh Yeah, and Fieldwork makes so many great beers that when they have one that doesn't kind of fit that billing, it's more noticeable, I feel.

SPEAKER_00 14:06

True. Yeah. Um though I'm not even I'm not even taking other beers into into uh account with with the rating or this beer. I just think that it's it's left me wanting. But hey, you know, that's what we try a beer, that's what we drink them, and they all can't be bangers. Um but we've got a pack show. And uh unless I unless you had other final thoughts on this. No, no, I um less than good beer.

SPEAKER_02 14:38

I I recognize the can, but I know they have a similar can art for theirs. I'm curious if I'd had that specific one from them. And I don't know if I had that specific one. I think I had a similar can art.

SPEAKER_00 14:51

They did have one that was black. Black and gold, and then they had one that was green. Interesting.

SPEAKER_02 14:58

Yeah, it's been a few weeks, so I'm sure that's probably a different one, because they tend to rotate decently quick. But uh yeah, I mean overall I'd say field work um usually usually not a miss, but uh a rare miss for you, it sounds like that's unfortunate.

SPEAKER_00 15:13

Yeah, but it's that is how it goes.

SPEAKER_02 15:15

And now now you can see those hops and say, hey, I had that hop once. And it wasn't for me. And you could either decide, hey, I'm feeling like a second chance, or hey, I'm feeling like I'm gonna go in a different hop direction. So I do appreciate when they're from it. I do appreciate breweries that put the hops on the can. Because I mean looking at my my paleo, they have the hops listed, which is cool. It's Citro Mosaic Lemon Drop. Ooh, that's probably why I I I enjoyed the flavor. I do enjoy a lemon drop hop. Uh two, and they even give the malts two row pilsner eunuch.

SPEAKER_00 15:50

The burps are just so gasoline-like, it's really weird. Like it's almost it's stronger. That is so weird. Um, but gasoline. We're gonna talk about collaborations. That when you when you mix two things together, do you get something fantastic? Or are they actually two things being mixed together? What is what is going on with collaborations? What do we think of them? What uh are they? And I I a lot of it's gonna be speculation, but we'll also talk about what I've heard from the some industry insiders and stuff. I heard I I mean I I talked to not just like the the owner of Addi's and stuff, but I've talked to other people around the the beer world about it. So let's uh I guess when you want to dive right on in.

SPEAKER_02 16:46

Um Yeah, I mean I'll kind of go at it from having having been in the homebrew scene and having an uncle who d does professional homebrewing as well as owns a homebrew shop, uh, home brewers mercantile, go check out their website. Um I know that breweries do a lot of collaboration in local capacities, uh be it with, you know, a homebrewer via a contest or be it with other brewers in the area where it's easy enough to logistically, you know, send the brewer over to the brewery, talk hops, talk recipe. Whereas I think when you kind of branch away from that local focus between collaborations and you get these larger kind of chain collaborations, I feel that's where it's more, you know, in name. Like, hey, I emailed a recipe, we said cool, we talked, hey, who's gonna send what hops, who's gonna pay for what, blah, blah, blah. Talk, it's more business transaction, right? Whereas I feel like if you had something like our SAC Beer Week, where you saw these, you know, local collaborations going to local tap rooms, I feel like collaborations are a great way for local breweries to interact with both homebrewers as well as each other and kind of raise local awareness, more grassroots. Uh, that's where I like the collaboration aspect of craft brewing. But you've been in the industry and you've kind of seen the other side of it. What's the what do you think the negatives of collaborations are? Is it more marketing for these larger collaborations?

SPEAKER_00 18:15

For the larger ones, I I think it is completely marketing. Um not to say that's not the truth for smaller ones too, but they're um and the thing is a big thing about collaborations is what made me initially super enthused about the whole craft beer uh industry. Um but at a certain level, at a certain time, it's not just about the the craft anymore, the art of making beer. Uh it comes down to how does this better off a brewery? And maybe it's not even both. Like it there will be times where Moxa has done collaborations with smaller breweries that have just opened to help them get their name out. Uh I remember talking to uh I think it was a TAF room manager at Moxa years ago about that and how they're like, ah, we're doing collaboration like once a week this like this this this next coming couple months because we our friends here are just opening a brewery, and this is up that they are open a brewery. Just this kind of you know, rolling out. And what they'll do is they'll go to the brewery, like the brewer will take a picture with the the brewer of that brewery, they'll brew a beer there and buy brewer beer like the the visiting brewer might throw in like uh uh some of the hopster in the boil or something.

SPEAKER_02 19:40

Or pageantry.

SPEAKER_00 19:41

Yeah, and also uh depending on the size of the brewery, they're not really doing they're not doing the mash out and stuff, you know. They're they're not stirring the mash either, probably. They're just there to kind of like be you know, take nice pictures. And that when you get two big breweries together, I think is more a marketing, not ploy, but more like a just a like a handshake between two bigger companies saying, hey, let's do this. Like uh Enagram just did a takeover, uh quote unquote takeover at um Urban Roots, where they brought in a bunch of their their beers. They were there was like five of them on tap, and they had done a collaboration with Urban Roots. Now, both these breweries they don't need that collaboration to like have one pick up the other so much, but it's more like they both look good by doing that kind of thing. Um so you got your collaborations of a big brewery helping a small brewery out. The big brewery isn't getting much out of it, but they don't have to do much, they just have to lend their their name and then they'll get a couple kegs to to sell at their brewery. The small brewery gets the opportunity to say we collab with the big dog. Um two big breweries come together, they collab. Um it's like a just like a oh, yeah, we're we're cool. Like we're we're in the industry, and maybe the the two owners are really good friends, or maybe they've you know whatever it benefits.

SPEAKER_02 21:06

Go to conferences together. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:09

Yeah, and then you've got like two small breweries potentially come together for collaborations where if you see a collaboration on tap, like even if you're not a crafter enthusiast, you might be prone to buying it. So it is about how can we sell more beer. Um, but it usually comes down to like two breweries coming together, they might want to they might say, Hey, let's uh let's do a collaboration, let's call it something funny, and like, okay, cool. Uh let's talk about the recipe. Oh, I have the recipe. What do you think? Yeah, sure. It's it's not really uh effort put in by the two companies, and it becomes a photo day, and uh that's and so I've and I've talked to so yeah, someone at Mox, I've I've talked to the owner of Addies, I've talked to the owner of Deltaborne, and they, whenever they've been discussing Collaborations, like they they think they're beneficial, except for I'll I'll put owner of at ease. He's like, Yeah, I don't really want to do it. But he's Mike is a funny guy. He's just like, uh this is just pageantry. I don't care to do this stuff. Like, this doesn't make sense to me. That's not that's not the beer though. Specifically, that isn't the beer. And he really likes the republic, so he's like, Yeah, we'll put your logo on our glass. He's like, I don't care, like, I'm not controlling that. But when it comes to like beer, he's like, I this this is me. Like, I'm not gonna I'm not gonna like it.

SPEAKER_02 22:38

Some artists like to work alone. Like, I I want my beer to be the thing that I'm creating.

SPEAKER_00 22:44

Because even if it is a collab with like another brewery and he does all the work, it you know, not to say he doesn't want another brewery to get recognition or something, it's just any type of collaborative effort on it, he he just doesn't seem the the use in. I don't know if that's changed, it could have, but they haven't done a collaboration with the brewery to date, so we'll see. Um But at the same time, I I I'm talking almost negative stuff about collaborations, but I think that they still have a cool place for the the craft beer enthusiast. I think that maybe they're not that epitome of like your two favorite breweries, master breweries, coming together and spending a late night drinking each other's brewery's beers, going like right writing on a board, going, okay, well we if we do this, this malt and this percentage of it, and then we throw in oh, let's do no no, but what if we do this hop instead during that you know, like a real collaborative, like getting into the nitty-gritty and just being like like broing it out or whatever, like and then the product comes out and it's just like the best of both breweries, you know, like it's it's like Sierra Nevada and Moxa come together to make a uh an Imperial Stout.

SPEAKER_02 24:06

I was gonna say, didn't they do a collaboration?

SPEAKER_00 24:08

Yep, I have it in my fridge. And they come together and both of the owners are just like really getting into it, and the master brewers are just like coming together over it when in actuality it's like one brewery did all of the work and the other breweries like signed off on it and said, We'll come take pictures with you, and then we'll both pour it at our our breweries. It's only brewed at one brewery. Um I still think it gives a fun reason to talk about that other brewery, and maybe it will open someone up to trying another brewery they've never tried, and uh I think there are positives to it in that in that that respect. It just fosters a collaborative aura and more kinship within the scene.

SPEAKER_02 24:53

I also think that because this is something that tends to sell better when you double brand something, I feel like the they give a better cost base. I mean, some of the best beers I had during Beer Week were collaboration beers. There was um god, it was Shred, and someone else had in a great collaboration and uh knee deep and original pattern, yeah. Or not goddamn it, not knee deep and original pattern. King Kong Original Pattern had one of my favorite beers of Beer Week. And Original Pattern, I would say, is a larger distributing brewery, and King Kong is one of the smaller craft breweries here in Sacramento, and you know, I when I tasted it, I've had a lot of original pattern beers and it felt more like King Kong, but elevated. And I feel like that was a situation where maybe they did a little bit more due to the influence. Maybe it was you know something kind of outside their wheelhouse based on, you know, even a small collaboration of recipes.

SPEAKER_00 25:49

And you really want to make sure that beer is brewed right when you're collaborating with like a bigger guy, right? So King Kong brewed it.

SPEAKER_02 25:55

So you're you're bringing your A-game.

SPEAKER_00 25:57

But we got an original pattern, like we gotta make sure that we don't slander their name.

SPEAKER_02 26:01

Um wants to have a bad collab beer because that's just a blight on two breweries at the same time, right?

SPEAKER_00 26:07

Yeah, and I also wonder if like you've got your brewer like original pattern, they're they're they're they're producing a lot. If King Kong can be like, hey, let's do a collaboration, and original pattern's like, yeah, we'll do it for your Sacramento Beer Week, and King Kong's like, hey, you guys got the line on some like real good hops? Do you want to like bring those on over? That isn't crazy. You know, that I I I don't see that as being out of the the ordinary for for a possible collab. So it's not the norm, unfortunately, but if that happened, cool. And like the the possibility of that's so so fun. Um yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:47

I I think it's just fun to say, hey, these are two breweries that I've tried, I've liked, what do they taste like together? And and it was. It was kind of a unique experience for me, both in the sense that it didn't taste like an original pattern beer. It didn't taste like a King Kong beer, it tasted like something something all all new. Yeah. And and I it especially with breweries that have, you know, uh a tell or a style I've been told before by friends that like, oh, I'm not a big fan of Nuglory because uh their beers have a certain taste to me. That might be the yeast they use normally, it might be a grain they use normally, or a hop they use normally, right? Uh I know uh fieldwork has uh a certain I'm not gonna use the the Genesei qua, but they have a certain uh a certain flavor, I think, that comes from yeast they use in house. And you know, I can usually tell when it's a fieldwork beer. Um not you know out of a blind lineup or anything, but like I have it and I'm like, oh yeah, that's that's fieldwork. Um I think that doing that collaboration steps out of your normal. Yeah, really?

SPEAKER_00 27:53

I think that for knee deep, I think that for there's some breweries where you're like, oh, I feel like this is it, for better or worse. Like I can tell that this is for sure, like this is.

SPEAKER_02 28:03

I think collabs let you get out of that normal wheelhouse because you're not planning for large batches, you're not kind of bulk ordering, you're not worried about necessarily the efficiency, you're you're you know, maybe you're sharing ingredients, maybe you're bought something for this bill specifically, maybe it's the other brewery brewing it. I mean that that kind of side of it, I think, allows a little bit more flexibility than your day-to-day cost analysis, your day-to-day, you know, this is what we work with, this is kind of our our lineup. It's a little bit more of a hey, this is something special.

SPEAKER_00 28:34

Almost wonder if that flavor that you like you can tell this is a a knee deep beer or or a fieldwork beer. I wonder if that might come from the fact that like some of these bigger breweries, when I say bigger, bigger than King Kong, like Knee Deeps, New Glories, Fieldworks, at their brewery facilities they have massive silos of their base grains. The ones that they use a lot, so like a two-row silo, and they're sourcing the two-row from a specific place, and their two row might taste different than a two-row from another place, and maybe that's that's where that comes from, too. And then if they do recycle yeast, and if they do go to a different multiple generation of yeast, um I can see that. Uh which I mean you you can only reuse yeast so many times, but if they are known for doing that, it'll impart a certain flavor, I guess.

SPEAKER_02 29:36

So great way to save costs. I mean, to use something, you know, three times, you're you're not buying it three times. I think a lot of the larger breweries do do a recycling of some sort. Due to, you know, every brewery's different, but maybe a certain number of number not to. Yeah, uh a certain number of generations where you feel you don't lose out on quality.

SPEAKER_00 29:56

I think it's three and you're good. But some pushes.

SPEAKER_02 30:01

I've heard different. I mean, i I think it just kind of depends on the strain depends on your your practice. Um whether you know you're over pitching or you're underpitching, making sure you have yourself counts what level of science are you applying versus kind of just feel, depending on, you know, the size of the brewery or the scientific knowledge of said head brewer. I mean, like my uncle, he he tracks his homebrew uh temperatures, and I forget what the system is, but he has uh basically live interval temperature monitoring for his homebrews because he likes to see where has this, you know, what has been the mean temperature, has it had spikes? Like there's so much science you can apply to brewing. You can get a little nerdy with them. Yeah. You can get you real, I mean, you know, amounts of calcium, pH, you know, etc. etcetera.

SPEAKER_00 31:01

There's a lot of pH itself, like that is just that can change so much. 100%. And it's it's something that is monitored by the the you know your craft breweries, but like when you're homebrewing, you don't have much power over it. You can try, yeah, but short of then adding if you have it on hand acids or if you don't uh you know, or baking soda, depending on which way you're trying to move the pH. Like not much you can really do.

SPEAKER_02 31:31

Um there's different things uh throughout history that have been used for you know for pH, yeah. Yeah, for for uh you talk about you know what is it um eyes and glass, yeah. You even an idea like that is gonna have some impact. There's so many things that can affect a brew, which is why I think collaborations are also fascinating, because you know, who's whose equipment are you using, whose recipe, what's what's going into this, you know, and like you said, I it doesn't seem like it's probably the level of you know Dexter's laboratory or you know, mad scientist that's you know in the lab collaborating on this person.

SPEAKER_00 32:07

They're not both like just like super nerding out on it. Not to say it doesn't happen, not to say it doesn't happen, but like generally speaking, I don't think that happens so much. Um but I mean you get some cool can art sometimes, you get the ability to uh to just think like how are these two breweries doing this? I would hope that if it's a smaller brewery that has a bigger brewery collaborating, that when they're in the process, if something comes up, like hey, like what do you suggest? Like when do you guys dry hop? Like, do you wait for uh the fermentation to completely end? Do you guys do it at this point? Do you guys you know when do you add in your last like when do you do you do you make sure to add whirlpool pool hops of a certain amount? Like kind of like gaining some of the that knowledge that you can only get from in the moment questions. Um I would hope that happens. So agree. Maybe if a brewery just like runs the gauntlet and collaborates with everyone, at the end of it, they're like, we've got the secrets of Sierra Nevada, of you know, fieldwork, Firestone Walker, you know, we we really run around. Um Altamont, Alvarado. But co-labs, they're not so many, that's not not so many co-labs, more so more so marketing. But uh what's that picture? You sent me a picture of Jackrabbit collaborating with someone, who was that?

SPEAKER_02 33:44

Uh with uh King Kong. King Kong's been doing a lot of collaboration uh in the weeks leading up to and post beer week. So happy to see, you know, a brewery that might not have had a lot of attention kind of look to get their footprint back out there and do so in a way that is, you know, with the help of other local businesses. I mean, the thing that made craft beer great, the thing you said that you loved about the clouds the first time you had heard about them was this kind of brothership, brotherhood of, you know, beer. These are things we're passionate about, we want each other to succeed. It's uh it's a very uh kind of at odds marketing strategy to a lot of things we see in different industries. But yeah, I uh happy to see King Kong doing some some interesting stuff. Uh look forward to trying more of their beers.

SPEAKER_00 34:34

Yeah, and um at Jackrabbit, Matt, he's uh an assistant brewer. I don't know where he is on the Tonal Pool, was uh I think he might still be a very prominent regular at E's before he got the job. I know before he was there, like daily. Not to not uh the to the to throw shea, that's uh he he he's a really good dude. And I saw him in that video of the collab announcement with uh Jack Rip and King Kong. Him up there on the freaking platform. So he's he went from knowing nothing about craft beer, I know, because he he he he like you know a couple years ago too, he's up there. So love seeing that. Love seeing people f being able to follow their passion with the the craft beer industry and and get into uh into a role like that. It's uh some cool stuff. Yeah, shout out Matt.

SPEAKER_02 35:25

We can get his uh experience on the uh experience on the collaboration process.

SPEAKER_00 35:30

Absolutely absolutely, and before we move on to uh beer events or craft beer festivals at sporting events, um there was a very disappointing uh Instagram post that I saw today, um, which I wanted to bring up. Um so if you're in the Sacramento area and if you've ever listened to the Beer Me Cast podcast, you've heard us talk about Deltaborne at least once or twice. I talked about them earlier today, I referenced the owners. Um the brewery is closed this week because both of their dogs had been poisoned by a crazy neighbor. Oh lord. Not it's not looking like either of them are gonna pull through. And they are two people. Like it's a it's a husband and wife who run this brewery by themselves. They're the only people that work there, they're the only people that do the work. They live in, I think, Galt. So it's a bit of a drive from North Islands to Gault to make that uh clear. That's that's like an hour commute if you if you're lucky without too much traffic each way. And they're really great people, um, very passionate about what they do, and that's just such a shitty thing to see that their business is being impacted by some asshole that went out and just killed their dogs. Um I don't know, we like don't know the details. Not gonna ask about the details, but um, and while they're gonna be closed this week, I I want to plan to like go out, get a get a couple beers there, get a couple packs. Um they're such a small operation, they're working out of old Togos.

SPEAKER_02 37:19

Which yeah, shout out shout out Togos. I remember the first time I went in, I could still see the old warming the old warming stations and I had pastrami flashbacks.

SPEAKER_00 37:29

Um so if if you can, if you have it in your ability to, I recommend going out and give them a try. They're support again, a very small outfit. They are compared to Ad E's, which is not big, it's pretty small. They're a fourth of that unless they've definitely built in the last year or two since I've been. Um But yeah, Sam over there, he's the owner and and Master Brewer. Super nice guy. I I'm spacing out his wife's name right now. I feel terrible about it, but go give them just follow them on Instagram if if nothing else. Um Delta Born B-O-U-R-N-E. Um hope they're doing good over there, hope they're gonna recover from this and uh you know uh hard enough that they're going through what they have to go through outside of the industry, you know, with their own personal lives, but for that to impact their work and their brewery at a very crucial, difficult time in this industry, it's it's gotta be it's gotta be tough. So just want to bring them up before we move into the next go go support one of the first North Highland craft breweries.

SPEAKER_02 38:35

The only North Highland brewery.

SPEAKER_00 38:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 38:38

And it's also uh a good little good little in-between for those of uh those antelope commuters who uh come to the Sacramento area or or your Roseville commuters who uh have to deal with Wad Avenue. Um take a break after your your return trip from work.

SPEAKER_00 38:53

Stop right across right across the street from uh from the airport there, um McClellan.

SPEAKER_02 38:58

Yep. Or uh as I know it, my summer poli sci class.

SPEAKER_00 39:03

Yeah, as Mark knows it is poly sci class. If you're in his class, you know what he's talking about.

SPEAKER_02 39:08

They had an adjunct uh American River College uh facility there. It was it was one of the otter college courses I took over a summer.

SPEAKER_00 39:17

I mean, they got a shit ton of buildings in there.

SPEAKER_02 39:19

I think half of them are in randomly space.

SPEAKER_00 39:23

There's an enterprise like um car holding site in there. Um but we're talking now about beer events at no beer fests at sporting events. And this is coming to the forefront of our mind because we'll be going to one next June, or this June, the 20th.

SPEAKER_02 39:46

Sporting Republic, our local soccer club.

SPEAKER_00 39:49

Sacramento Republic FC.

SPEAKER_02 39:52

Um I always want to see FC Republic, but maybe it's just because I'm dyslexic.

SPEAKER_00 39:56

Football club Republic is Republic Football Club. Um still getting beer for the soccer thing. It's been a while. And so, and you know a little bit more about this, I think. So is it a beer fest during the game? Is there a beer fest before? Like how is this working at this one?

SPEAKER_02 40:14

There are beer fest tickets which allow you access to the stadium at six o'clock where there will be pours happening, you know, the beer fest, followed by the game eight. So it's beer fest then game. I don't know if you'll have access to the beer festival festivities after kickoff. I believe it's more of a pre-game than a football game. Pre-game flex and then game. Glickered up and watch some soccer.

SPEAKER_00 40:47

I mean Who are they playing right there?

SPEAKER_02 40:50

Uh New Mexico.

SPEAKER_00 40:52

Interesting, okay.

SPEAKER_02 40:54

So uh having having very little knowledge of the workings of the uh of soccer, um I'm just gonna go enjoy some soccer.

SPEAKER_00 41:04

I haven't played USL, so I think it's USL, right? It's not UCL, USL. I would assume.

SPEAKER_02 41:12

Yeah, I would assume SL. But um, I mean last time I watched a Sacramento, a Sacramento soccer team was when I was a ballboy. Uh a ball boy in middle school for the Knights, which I still have a shirt with a bunch of signatures from.

SPEAKER_00 41:24

Um I bet my coach's names on there. It's possible.

SPEAKER_02 41:27

I mean, yeah, so I was I was a ball boy for the uh Sacramento Knights back in Jesus Christ, was it the 1900s? No, no, it was it was early 2000s.

SPEAKER_00 41:38

I mean they were could have been either, but I was middle school, so a ball boy for a couple couple games. Um one of them I played a little little game at halftime. Um the halftime show, and then I also played once the game before the Sacramento Knights. Um I remember we were all hyped up for the halftime game, thinking like, wow, that's gonna be a long halftime, and they're like, You got 10 minutes. We're like, what are we doing? This is stupid. And then it wasn't even a full field, it was like a little pop-up game. We're like, wow, this is we and we weren't like super small kids either. We're we're teens. I'm like, this is dumb. So when we had the game before the game, people showing up for like you know, a little bit early were able to see our game and stuff, and that was that was cool. But being a ball boy, those games was it was electric.

SPEAKER_02 42:31

I mean, I I am excited to watch uh the the team that has basically been the catalyst for Sacramento getting a soccer stadium, uh a soccer stadium that recently announced that it's increasing its capacity to around 20,000.

SPEAKER_00 42:45

20,000, and then with shows of the ability for like 27,000 seats.

SPEAKER_02 42:49

That's that's insane. I mean also please, please put all of the motocross and you know take it out of Golden One Center. Golden One Center is by far too small to have Supercross or Monster Trucks.

SPEAKER_00 43:06

I don't think they're not doing that at Cal Expo anymore. They used to have it all done at Cal Expo. I hope they don't do it there just because the poor field. They need that field. If if it is devoted completely to the Republic, which I think it is, I don't think they'll do those there because the field is like capacity. They are like, don't touch the grass. They've got a it's it's like the there's the opening like uh scenes of Ted Lasso and when he like walks onto the pitch and he's like looking at it, and then Nathan, the the ball boy at the time is like running across, like, get off the field, like what are you doing? Like they are they are crazy about their fields.

SPEAKER_02 43:47

Um I don't blame him. I mean, look at what happens with the New York uh Giants and Jets every year in MetLife. Uh fields are important for athletes. Don't fuck up the field. I remember playing middle school, and you like going to one of these janky fields with Potholes and you twist an ankle and you're just like, what the f like what is wrong with this? But I mean that's middle school.

SPEAKER_00 44:08

Game three against the Cloud Bears, I know with Krakens, the pitch was all messed up from the dome's failure to get the uh moisture out. You know, it c it caused a really difficult game for them there. Um change everything.

SPEAKER_02 44:25

Um but to to round it back out Yeah, it's it's a fun one. Um but but to round it back out, I mean when we think beer fests, I mean we've all done I mean if you're a craft beer person, we've all done a beer fest. We've gone to a three plus hour event, maybe you did VIP, you drank way too many beers, you got in the wrong light row confidently, and uh ended up lifting eventually anyway. Or you uh, like my friend, decided to bike from Davis to Sacramento, and then biked back to Davis.

SPEAKER_00 44:59

Or you're like who who took the lift home, got dropped off at work early morning, 4 a.m. the next day, realized far too late that you were still drunk, but went through the shift anyway, sobering off by the time you uh were able to drive home. Um yeah, craft craft beer fests, we've all done them, we've all lived them at a sporting event though. Uh having it it is a uh there there is, I mean, there's a so it starts at six, right? Six to kick off.

SPEAKER_02 45:33

Two hours. Traditional beer fests, you know, three to four. This one in particular is going to be two hours before, and maybe they'll have beer during the game that I'm not 100% on. Um but I would imagine that once the game starts, they're gonna move to paid beer because you've lubricated the people, and uh now you're gonna want them to spend money.

SPEAKER_00 45:53

We have to not say that. There's gotta be a different way to say it. There is tell you what, I'm a hundred percent sure you you can say something different than lubricate the people. Um I without a doubt, without a shadow of a doubt, there's a better way. Uh even if there's not a better quote-unquote way, there's a different way. And I just I'm I vote. I vote with the way with that.

SPEAKER_02 46:20

I cannot wait to get lubricated.

SPEAKER_00 46:23

You prime the people, you know, you put prime them for I mean I feel like we're gonna reach copyright infringement with that one, but there's no way that Prime is gonna be listening to our podcast. Um and at that rate, let's um we can't instead of Prime, they we they liquid death then? I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 46:41

Um I hope not, because that's a liability problem. Um but anyway, beer fest. I think a beer fest at a sports event is less about the craft brewery and more about getting people in the door. And I think there's some pros and cons to that. You're you're not gonna get as as shit-faced as you would at a regular beer festival where it's a fluffy, unlimited.

SPEAKER_00 47:09

Sounds like a sounds like a challenge.

SPEAKER_02 47:12

Yeah. Well, I mean, we got two hours. Get get in early. Granted, if it's the lines uh that you deal with at a beer fest for two hours, then then no one's no one's getting drunk because I've been told the bubble is burst, no one's gonna be there, no one cares about craft beer anymore. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 100%. We're gonna be the only ones there. I will say, we went to an Elk Grove beer fest once, and there was one tent that had like no one, and they were great beers. Uh I want to say it was Sudwork.

SPEAKER_00 47:39

Might have been. That sounds like I I saw the picture. That was uh 2017. Ancient history. Yeah, and those that was a weird location for a couple of things. It was a weird location. It was far too close to the train tracks. Far too close. God, the first thing I thought was were we doing like moving whenever a train comes, like just jumping out the way. Like it it it was Oh yeah, Elk Grove Brewfest was an interesting one.

SPEAKER_02 48:05

Um but I having been to a Rivercats brew fest, that one was less brew fest and more there were beer vendors at the game where you're you're still spending a premium, but oh look at the choices we have. Whereas there really is a mix of beer fests than game. You're you're doing the unlimited poor thing, you're doing the early entry.

SPEAKER_00 48:32

So not just that, but you're talking about two different types of the venues because at the Republic game, this is the they play at Cal Expo, and that's that's a fair ground mixed with where they have the stadium. Big area. There's so much space to be able to fence off where the craft beer pores are being done versus where the game is being done. I think that that versus the Rivercat Stadium, it's a concourse. There's not really unless you're doing it across the stadium.

SPEAKER_02 49:08

There's a beer garden.

SPEAKER_00 49:09

Yeah, but the beer garden is it's tiny.

SPEAKER_02 49:11

It's it is tiny. And that was my experience was long lines, but you're still paying a premium for, you know, bike dog or your your Sacramento beer.

SPEAKER_00 49:20

I just went to the A's game uh couple well no week ago. Has it been has it hasn't even been a week yet? No, this week, wasn't it? This past weekend? Yeah. Um and very nice. At the at the beer fest, beer fest, wow, the the beer garden. Garden. They had like six different Russian river beers. And uh a Firestone Walker, the the Calicraft uh not Calicraft, the uh the Kelly Squeeze. And uh I don't even know if there's one Sacramento brewery that was represented there. Well maybe they're a Sacramento team. Yeah, there's one, huh?

SPEAKER_02 50:00

I said the A's aren't a Sacramento team. Well, even though they're now now reneging on that uh lack of commitment due to the backlash.

SPEAKER_00 50:09

Yeah, they they handed out basketball jerseys that said Sacramento on them to the game.

SPEAKER_02 50:12

They're like, oh no, we we we like you guys. Uh please please please attend our games and don't make us look like an embarrassment, even though our owner's a cheapskate.

SPEAKER_00 50:21

But even though they had Pliny Belder on tap, it still was like, where is where are the Sacramento beers? Where where is the diversity of breweries? So you don't get that in a normal game. If you even if you do have good craft beer, you usually don't get the diversity. So maybe at a concourse you'll still get diversity, but I think this event will be different because of the opportunity to have a whole different space for them to be.

SPEAKER_02 50:45

Yeah, I think there will be tents and kegs. I think I mean w just to pull up the listing real quick for our viewers, we're going to have Dustbowl, Amador Brewing, Addi's Brewing, Urban Roots Brewing, Farmers Brewing Co., uh, Nitty Cider, um, there's Centiva Winery, uh Modello, Touchstone Brewing, Sincere Cider, a couple cideries, which is interesting. Uh Fog Belt Brewing Company, Full Circle Brewing Company, New Glory Brewing Company, and then some other cold brews, coffee and whiskey? That sounds that sounds like an industry. Anyway, so you have five to eight local-ish breweries, and then plus Modello, which, you know, I'll go down to a Modello tent and get me a mega modello. I mean, I'm down for that. But yeah, I mean, this is gonna be a a small festival pregame essentially to a sporting event, which I think is a great format that encompasses the enjoyment of going to a brew fest, with the end goal being to watch some hopefully winning, you know, football.

unknown 51:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 51:56

And I mean it it is a uh I think this is the best possible way to have a craft beer fest done at a sporting event. Uh I think at a baseball game, again, it's it's if it's done before and then it all shuts down and it's limited space because of the concourse and stuff. Or if you if even if it's not a beer fest traditional in a traditional term, and it's just a bunch of vendors that you can then buy expensive beer from, that's not as fun.

SPEAKER_02 52:26

Yeah. This kind of nails it and uh Yeah, and this they bake it into the ticket so it doesn't feel like you're paying for a beer fest and a soccer game, which is a smart way to do it. They you know, it's it was uh basically a seventy dollar ticket for both, you know, two hours of hopefully unlimited pours. We'll see what the reality kind of feels like capacity-wise. And then, you know, a a a game, a professional sporting event. Like this is for 70 bucks.

SPEAKER_00 52:59

Do you think that this is driving the sale of just that game? Do you think that they are thinking that this is a a thing done to get more people to go to more games, is to get more people to go to this game? Like, what do you think is the the selling point, the reason for doing this in general? Like, is it because Sacramento is a crafty centric city and they'd be crazy not to to make a game that that does this or something?

SPEAKER_02 53:32

I think it is tapping into I think it's tapping into a niche. I mean, when you look at how Golden One Center opened, with I think it was uh somewhere around like a hundred dedicated taps to local fifty mile radius breweries. I mean, you go to a King's game and get some of the best California cra or the best Sacramento craft beer available when the Kings started, and even to this day they still have a good amount of, you know, local being led by obviously Sierra Nevada in their torpedo lounge. They have this this local craft brewery partnership, and I think when you looked at that business model, you looked at that collaboration, FC Republic's like, hey, how are we gonna tap into that market of people uh who want to drink really good beer and then watch sports? I mean, if you take someone like me, I have never been to a Sacra Public game, but you know, we're like, oh, okay, come drink beer for two hours, then watch some soccer. I'm like, you know, let's do that. That sounds very fun. I think you're you're just tapping into uh not a super niche market, but you know, obviously people that just love to drink beer and watch soccer are gonna come to this as well, but you're also saying, hey, to all these people that, you know, you support your local tap room, you know, we support your local tap room too. Why don't you come give us a shot and then just enjoy Sacramento sports? Um, I think that's where the A's failed epically in coming to Sacramento is they didn't embrace the city, they didn't embrace local business. It's it's not hard. It's it's marketing 101 to just be like, hey, how do we craving that attention of a franchise?

SPEAKER_00 55:19

Like it's it's it's wild.

SPEAKER_02 55:21

And I think that FC Republic has leadership that is smart enough to recognize, hey, this is something we might get we might have to do once a year that's gonna lead to return customers. I think it's a good thing.

SPEAKER_00 55:33

Which I'm pretty sure they've done this before. Like this isn't the first year. They've done it a few years at least.

SPEAKER_02 55:39

I feel like they probably have, which I'm hoping if they have, that means it'll be a relatively smooth experience. Again, we'll we'll we'll do a we'll do a recap episode on our pros and cons of the of the festival, but I'm looking forward to it. I I like soccer, not so much that I follow it closely, but enough that if there's a game on I will enjoy it, and this might draw me more into soccer.

SPEAKER_00 56:01

Because I got a team for you, buddy. I got a team for you, and actually the problem is if you if you if you don't if you wait to follow, you're gonna miss some of the best best football because Arsenal, according to the championship Champions League final, May 30th against uh PSG Paris St. German. And also, if they St.

SPEAKER_02 56:24

German or Saint Germain.

SPEAKER_00 56:26

St. Germain. And out of the last three games of the Premier League season, if they win to and tie one at minimum, no matter what any other team does, they win the league. Um Man City is behind by like six points, so it's it's it's a big they they are the the overall favorites. If you are you gotta be an Arsenal fan. You gotta pick them up and follow. Um they're just a good gritty team, good defense. Uh but they've got to be a good thing.

SPEAKER_02 56:56

I could like good defense. Former defender here.

SPEAKER_00 57:02

Um but uh yeah, no, I I I'm excited for it and we'll we'll obviously follow up. We'll also follow up next week with how the uh the A's game goes, with what beer selection maybe they've improved it in the the week since I've been there. Maybe stuff's mapped out and they got new stuff. Who knows?

SPEAKER_02 57:18

Having been there, I know there will be free conas, so I will be drinking free konas. Alright. And probably Modellas.

SPEAKER_00 57:26

Um Do you have anything to wrap up on for beer events? Beer Yeah, beer events at s at sporting events.

SPEAKER_02 57:37

I think if you are going to participate in said event, bring your a game, bring your customer service person, have the extra keg ready, because the worst thing you can do at a beer festival is run out uh i to the to the team who's hosting said event. You know, m monitor your ticket limits, know your know your kind of projection, and make sure you're catering space and flow to that. No one wants to wait in a line for an hour out of their two-hour beer event. Um I'm just hoping for a well a well-oiled event. Um I want to be able to drink a few beers before the game is.

SPEAKER_00 58:16

Lubin' up people, oiling up people, you want it well oiled, you want it lubricated.

SPEAKER_02 58:21

Well-oiled is a normal localism.

SPEAKER_00 58:24

Buddy.

SPEAKER_02 58:25

Whatever happens.

SPEAKER_00 58:30

Well we're already an hour into the body.

SPEAKER_02 58:36

In Dungeon Crawler high voice.

SPEAKER_01 58:40

Step on them. Achievement.

SPEAKER_00 58:49

Your toes crush the game.

SPEAKER_02 58:52

Um but yeah, overall, I think if you're a sporting event, this is the way to do it. I'm looking forward to it. And uh, I mean,$70 for a two-hour beer tasting followed by some hopefully awesome football. Um, let's do it. And if it's not awesome, you gave me a bunch of beer first. So I'm just gonna yell at the rest of the stuff.

SPEAKER_00 59:13

How bad can it truly be after drinking a lot of beer?

SPEAKER_02 59:15

Right. Yeah. So yeah, give give me give me some beers and let me scream goal drunkenly. Alright, that's all I want.

SPEAKER_00 59:22

Yep, and oleol. Um, but I think we've covered I think we did it. We did the thing. Yeah. I think we covered and we we did an episode that's uh about an hour long, which is the first in a while. A digestible a bit.

SPEAKER_02 59:38

Um but that's tell us your favorite beer festival sporting events in the uh in the comments and uh tell us beer at sporting events, even if it wasn't a beer fest. Fair.

SPEAKER_00 59:51

Yeah, your go-to of of what's available, or if you were surprised that you had something available at a sporting event. But thank you for listening to the Beer Me Cast. You can follow us at Instagram on Instagram at BeerMeCast. You can email us at beermecast at gmail.com. And um you can come out to the Republic Craft Beer Fust, and if you want to say hi, uh we will be there. And uh that is that. Thank you again for listening. Go out there and try beer. Cheers. Cheers.