Home Brew Rock Stars Podcast

If you're fave NBA or NHL team is still in the finals, then we've got the best beer pairings for you. Just about any beer would probably be good during a pro basketball or hockey playoff game (especially home brew), but these should be readily available for the homers and fun to seek out for this special occasion.

We also review some beer pairings for NBA & NHL teams from Victoria Pratt of Porchdrinking.com, Lee Breslouer of Thrillist, a Milwaukee Bucks drinking game from Matt Mueller of onmilwaukee.com, a NHL Drinking Game from Walter Gawron of drinkinggamezone.com and some chicken wing marinades from Marshall Ottina sportsbarmarketing.com.

All while drinking and reviewing our own NBA BEER PAIRINGS:

• Schlitz - pairs with Milwaukee Bucks
• Firestone Walker Union Jack IPS - Golden State Warriors
• LaBott’s Blue Canadian Pilsner - Toronto Raptors
• Pig Minds Always the Hardway (“Penny Hardaway”)
  
  And our NHL BEER PAIRINGS:
• Sam Adams Summer Ale - Boston Bruins
• Schlafly Northeast IPA - St. Louis Blues
  
• Anchor Steam - San Jose Sharks
• Pig Minds Sweep the Leg

Plus, we review some beer industry employment statistics recently released from a Brewbound study: reporting that the US Beer Industry Supports +2 Million Jobs, and U.S. beer companies and wholesalers employ more than 200,000 American workers. Each of those jobs creates 31 additional full-time equivalent jobs in adjacent industries.

Finally, we added a few short but sweet sound clips from a hot rockband called Silvertide - good music for your summer brewing efforts, for sure.

Follow HomeBrewRockStars on Facebook and Instagram, retweet us @homebrewbuzzer and as always ... #drinkitup

Collaborations with breweries are a home brewers dream event. It's a day that home brew clubs get to learn from the big boys, and in this case, learn what different yeasts (listed below) can do to a common wort. The feeling can be , and should be mutual for the brewery, as well. That's what the Forest City Brewers did with G5 Brewing in Beloit, WI. The outcomes were enlightening as this podcast will surely reveal.

First and foremost, a special thanks needs to be sent our to G5 Brewing and head brewer Tim Goers. Although they were sitting and waiting for "shutdown" permits to be distributed so they coud go public, they didn't hesitate to do this collaboration. In fact, Tim was incredibly generous with his time and provided an great day for all the home brewers that attended (and went home with the most affordable beer they've ever fermented).

Brew day was super fun, and the Home Brew rock Stars team was able to talk to many of the home brewers, as well as head brewer Tim Goers, for a long interview about his brewing past, and future! His story is great, as was the excitement of the home brewers.

Part two of this adventure featured nine beers from the collaboration that were all fermented with different yeasts. The results were impressive, as much as they were quite different. We cover this tasting at Beers on First Festival (Loves Park, IL)where the baseball themed  nine beers were available to to festival goers (not relation to Tim :-)).

The rest is history, all documented on this podcast. There is a Yeast list below. Happy brewing! #drinkitup

1. London Ale III (Wyeast 1318)
2. Thames Valley (Wyeast 1275)
3. Kolsch (Wyeast 2565)
4. French Saison Ale (WLP590)
5. Voss Kveik (OLY-061)
6. West Coast Ale (OYL-004)
7. DIPA Ale (Conan) (OYL-052)
8. Belgian Wit Ale (WLP400)
9. California V Ale (WLP051)

 

 

Podcast: The 420 Small Batch episode covering the history of 420, Sweetwater 420 beer tastings, an epic 420 ad fail and a music from Weed.

Another small batch podcast from Home Brew Rock Stars takes a hard hit on the history of 420, with a great 70's story about a group of high school stoners called the Waldos, who frequent an after school adventure into the local Point Reyes Forest in a never-ending search for a secret weed field. They never find their wild bud orchard, but their code word "420", which was the time they would meet after school to get high before this celebrated daily cannabis treasure trip, would become infamous, partially because their 420 slang organically saturated into the culture of the Grateful Dead, as well as High Times Magazine. We've pasted the somewhat redacted Huffington Post story below for your perusal...HAPPY 420!

We sample two delicious craft beers from SweetWater Brewing Co. from their 420 Strain G13. First, the 420 IPA offering a great body, good head and nice amount of haze at a pleasurable 6% ABV with dank hops of Columbus and Simcoe, plus two dry hop additions. Then the 420 Mango Kush, a second sticky hit from 420 Strain that is an American Wheat packed with herbal, juicy mango notes and a distinctive dank nose. #danknevertastedsogood We also sample a wild peche ale from a secret brewery in Lisle, IL that will come to me when that Grape Crusher fades back down. HA!

Finally, we sample some rock n roll from WEED, a German/British project/band which was created by Virus krautrock band + Ken Hensley (from Uriah Heep). They recorded one self-titled album in 1971 with music very similar to Uriah Heep (lots of roaring Hensley's organ and guitar pyrotechnics).

A hearty SQUEAL to Pig Minds Brewing Co. and Artale & Co. for their awesome support and sponsorship! #drinkitup

 

True Story Of How April 20 Became ‘Weed Day’ [Huffington Post]

The origin of the term 420, celebrated around the world by pot smokers every April 20, has long been obscured by the clouded memories of the folks who made it a phenomenon. Depending on who you ask, or their state of inebriation, there are as many varieties of answers as strains of medical bud in California. It’s the number of active chemicals in marijuana. It’s teatime in Holland. It has something to do with Hitler’s birthday. It’s those numbers in that Bob Dylan song multiplied.

The Huffington Post chased the term back to its roots and was able to find it in a lost patch of cannabis in a Point Reyes, California forest. Just as interesting as its origin, it turns out, is how it spread. It starts with the Grateful Dead.

It was Christmas week in Oakland, 1990. Steven Bloom was wandering through The Lot - that timeless gathering of hippies that springs up in the parking lot before every Grateful Dead concert - when a Deadhead handed him a yellow flyer.

“We are going to meet at 4:20 on 4/20 for 420-ing in Marin County at the Bolinas Ridge sunset spot on Mt. Tamalpais,” reads the message, which Bloom dug up and forwarded to the Huffington Post. Bloom, then a reporter for High Times magazine and now the publisher of CelebStoner.com and co-author of Pot Culture, had never heard of “420-ing” before.

The flyer came complete with a 420 back story: “420 started somewhere in San Rafael, California in the late ‘70s. It started as the police code for Marijuana Smoking in Progress. After local heads heard of the police call, they started using the expression 420 when referring to herb - Let’s Go 420, dude!”

Bloom reported his find in the May 1991 issue of High Times, which the magazine found in its archives and provided to the Huffington Post. The story, though, was only partially right. It had nothing to do with a police code — ironically, the San Rafael part was dead on. Indeed, a group of five San Rafael High School friends known as the Waldos - by virtue of their chosen hang-out spot, a wall outside the school - coined the term in 1971. The Huffington Post spoke with Waldo Steve, Waldo Dave and Dave’s older brother, Patrick, and confirmed their full names and identities, which they asked to keep secret for professional reasons. (Pot is still, after all, illegal at this time)

The Waldos never envisioned that pot smokers the world over would celebrate each April 20th as a result of their foray into the Point Reyes forest. The day has managed to become something of a national holiday in the face of official condemnation. The code often creeps into popular culture and mainstream settings. Nearly all of the clocks in the pawn shop scene in “Pulp Fiction,” for instance, are set to 4:20. In 2003, when the California legislature codified the medical marijuana law voters had approved, the bill was named SB420.

The code pops up in Craig’s List postings when fellow smokers search for “420 friendly” roommates. “It’s just a vaguer way of saying it and it kind of makes it kind of cool,” says Bloom. “Like, you know you’re in the know, but that does show you how it’s in the mainstream.”

The Waldos do have proof, however, that they used the term in the early ‘70s in the form of an old 420 flag and numerous letters with 420 references and early ‘70s post marks. They also have a story. It goes like this: One day in the Fall of 1971 - harvest time - the Waldos got word of a Coast Guard service member who could no longer tend his plot of marijuana plants near the Point Reyes Peninsula Coast Guard station. A treasure map in hand, the Waldos decided to pluck some of this free bud.

The Waldos were all athletes and agreed to meet at the statue of Louis Pasteur outside the school at 4:20, after practice, to begin the hunt. Waldo Steve tells it, “We would remind each other in the hallways we were supposed to meet up at 4:20. It originally started out 4:20-Louis and we eventually dropped the Louis,”

The first forays out were unsuccessful, but the group kept looking for the hidden crop. “We’d meet at 4:20 and get in my old ‘66 Chevy Impala and, of course, we’d smoke instantly and smoke all the way out to Pt. Reyes and smoke the entire time we were out there. We did it week after week,” says Steve. “We never actually found the patch.”

But they did find a useful codeword. “I could say to one of my friends, I’d go, 420, and it was telepathic. He would know if I was saying, ‘Hey, do you wanna go smoke some?’ Or, ‘Do you have any?’ Or, ‘Are you stoned right now?’ It was kind of telepathic just from the way you said it,” Steve says. “Our teachers didn’t know what we were talking about. Our parents didn’t know what we were talking about.”

It’s one thing to identify the origin of the term. Indeed, Wikipedia and Urban Dictionary already include references to the Waldos. The bigger question: How did 420 spread from a circle of California stoners across the globe? BEER BREAK>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

As fortune would have it, the collapse of San Francisco’s hippie utopia in the late ‘60s set the stage. As speed freaks, thugs and con artists took over The Haight, the Grateful Dead picked up and moved to the Marin County hills - just blocks from San Rafael High School. “Marin Country was kind of ground zero for the counter culture,” says Steve.

The Waldos had more than just a geographic connection to the Dead. Mark Waldo’s father took care of real estate for the Dead. And Waldo Dave’s older brother, Patrick, managed a Dead sideband and was good friends with bassist Phil Lesh. Patrick smoked with Lesh on numerous occasions. He couldn’t recall if he used the term 420 around him, but guessed that he must have.

The Dead, recalls Waldo Dave Reddix, “had this rehearsal hall on Front Street, San Rafael, California, and they used to practice there. So we used to go hang out and listen to them play music and get high while they’re practicing for gigs. But I think it’s possible my brother Patrick might have spread it through Phil Lesh. And me, too, because I was hanging out with Lesh and his band [as a roadie] when they were doing a summer tour my brother was managing.”

The Waldos also had open access to Dead parties and rehearsals. “We’d go with [Mark’s] dad, who was a hip dad from the ‘60s,” says Steve. “There was a place called Winterland and we’d always be backstage running around or onstage and, of course, we’re using those phrases. When somebody passes a joint or something, ‘Hey, 420.’ So it started spreading through that community.”

As the Grateful Dead toured the globe through the ‘70s and ‘80s, playing hundreds of shows a year - the term spread though the Dead underground. Once High Times got hip to it, the magazine helped take it global. Sometime in the early ‘90s, High Times wisely purchased the web domain 420.com.

The Waldos say that within a few years the term had spread throughout San Rafael and was cropping up elsewhere in the state. By the early ‘90s, it had penetrated deep enough that Dave and Steve started hearing people use it in unexpected places - Ohio, Florida, Canada - and spotted it painted on signs and etched into park benches.

In 1997, the Waldos decided to set the record straight and got in touch with High Times. “They said, ‘The fact is, there is no 420 [police] code in California. You guys ever look it up?’” Blooms recalls. He had to admit that no, he had never looked it up. Hager flew out to San Rafael, met the Waldos, examined their evidence, spoke with others in town, and concluded they were telling the truth.

Hager still believes them. “No one’s ever been able to come up with any use of 420 that predates the 1971 usage, which they had established. So unless somebody can come up with something that predates them, then I don’t think anybody’s going to get credit for it other than them,” he says.

“We never made a dime on the thing,” says Waldo Dave, but he does take pride in his role, though. “I still have a lot of friends who tell their friends that they know one of the guys that started the 420 thing. So it’s kind of like a cult celebrity thing. Two years ago I went to the Cannabis Cup in Amsterdam. High Times magazine flew me out,” says Dave.

Podcast: We drink 10 beers in 30 minutes and match each style with the proper glassware!

Beer list is below: On tap this episode is a whirlwind of beer tasting as the crew bucks it's normal format to tackle drinking 10 beers in 30 minutes. After each beer, we make a case for the proper glassware for that particular style, although the line-up is so good, almost any vessel would suffice. Maybe for our upcoming 4/20 episode, we'll utilize this same format again...why not!

• Victory at Sea - Ballast Point (San Diego, CA): A 10.0% Imperial Porter is a bold, smooth brew with just the right amount of sweetness, infused with vanilla and San Diego’s own Caffe Calabria coffee beans.
• Hazyish IPA - Avery Brewing (Boulder, CO): A 7.0% juicy, hazyIndia Pale Ale brewed for a with low bitterness, an expressive aroma of four hops; Simcoe, Amarillo, Azacca and Mosaic.
• Arabicadabra - Bells (Kalamazoo, MI): A 5.5% Coffee Milk Stout brewed with a cold coffee extract made at the brewery using a combination of fair trade, organic Nicaraguan coffee beans and Sumatra coffee beans...plus lactose.
• Pilsner - Wernesgruner (Germany): A 4.9% brilliant straw color, with floral and hop aromas. The flavor is incredibly smooth, crisp and refreshing. Available at ALDI's.
• Rugged Coalminer - Scorched Earth (Algonquin, IL): A 5.9% rich, chocolatey, Robust Porter. It pours like the perfect shot of espresso, dark and rich, with a creamy head. The smooth caramel body softly balances the chocolate coffee-like notes. 
• Pazuzu’s Pedals - Illuminated Brew Works (Chicago, IL): A 6.3% Farmhouse Porter w/Black Cardamom features flavors of bitter chocolate, coffee, dark fruit, smoke and herb.
• Fuel Cafe - Lakefront Brewery (Milwaukee, WI): A 6.4% coffee stout combines roasted malts and Milwaukee’s renowned organic Fuel Café coffee. 
• Four Chord Wonder - PollyAnna (Petaluma, CA): A 5.5% single hopped American Pale Ale is brewed with Vienna Malt, Amarillo Hops and American Yeast. 
• Southy Bitch Slap - Pig Minds (Machesney Park, IL): A 5.2% abv, Our flagship brew, a malty delicious Irish/American Red ale.
• Cream Ale - Genesee (Rochester, NY): A 5.2% traditional cream ale. Smooth like a lager. Crisp like an ale, and readily purchased for less than $0.50/12 ounce can.

POST-Eagles: We finish up with just released music samples from Don Felder, featuring a who's who of celebrity rockers on his new solo album titled American Rock-n-Roll, out April 5. Don is best known for his work as a lead guitarist of the Eagles from 1974 until his departure in 2001.

A hearty SQUEAL to Pig Minds Brewing Co. and Artele & Co. for their awesome support and sponsorship! #drinkitup

PODCAST: The crew explores wine beer hybrids, harvesting 130 year-old shipwrecked yeast, beer "only" lent and Marcus King Band.

Wine beers ... they're not new, but the interest to create them from American craft brewers is growing. The idea of combining grapes and malt is not that far fetched. We have seen a few ales in the past that have been aged in a wine barrel, with the results being a pleasant surprise. The newest trend called Brut ales are an example, although they do not use grapes but rather an enzyme to achieve the champagne like results. For home brewers, until the BJCP releases its next update of style categories these vinocervisia type of brews (much like Brut IPA) it will fall under Category 19, Experimental Beer.

Of course, we do some beer tastings, including Sparkling Swan Ale - Lagunitas, a 6.5% sparkling beer-wine hybrid brewed with a moderate hops, a light malt backbone and wine grapes that's super bubbly like champagne. We also sip on Always the Hard Way from Pig Minds, an 8.7% American Imperial IPA with a traditional piney-citrus hop front and boozy backend...yum yum in a can! We also taste Brent's NEIPA style home brew from 2018, which has surprisingly help it's nice hop character.

BEER NEWS:
An Ohio man is consuming only beer for Lent That's right, just like the monks used to do it back in the 1600s, Del Hall, director of sales at Fifty West Brewing Company, plans to spend Lent fasting, using beer as his only calorie intake. Del started his first meal replacement with Spare Parts, a chocolate maple and tasted almond stout is 8.1 percent ABV and a week into Lent and he'd lost 15.2 pounds.

Yeast from bottles in 1886 shipwreck makes new brew
[AP] The most distinguishing feature of Jamie Adams’ new ale, brewed at Saint James Brewery in Long Island, isn’t its hoppy bite but its compelling backstory — brewed from yeast in bottles of beer that went down on a doomed steamship and languished on the ocean floor for 131 years. Adams says his beer grew out of his love of scuba diving. It was brewed with yeast extracted from bottles he and fellow divers salvaged from the SS Oregon, a luxury liner from Liverpool to New York that sank off Fire Island in 1886.

ROCK OUT! We finish up listening to sound samples from the Marcus King Band, featuring a whirlwind of Warren Haynes inspired blues rock with a jazz fusion twist. Check out their masterpiece 20 minute set at Paste Studio ... simply amazing music from a 22 year-old guitar phenom ... expect more gold from these cats in the years to come.

A hearty SQUEAL to Pig Minds Brewing Co. and Artele & Co. for their awesome support and sponsorship! #drinkitup

 

 

Podcast: Small Batch episode about cannabis beverages are the feature topic, with beer tastings from DarkHorse and Pig Minds, plus music of Rival Sons

Another small batch podcast from Home Brew Rock Stars delves into the fast growing industry of cannabis beverages. With cannabis laws becoming more relaxed and more states (Illinois sounds like the next state) passing legislation for recreational cannabis, the time has come. Infusing cannabis in beverages is only the tip of the iceberg regarding possibilities that marijuana can play in our daily lives. In beverages, portions are regulated for safe intake, and standardized for repeat production. The day when beverages such as these become widely distributed around the globe, gives us cause to raise our glasses in celebration. The team reviews 8 THC-infused beverages breaking ground right now.

The crew also talks beer news regarding Boston Brewing Company recently announcing that revenues nearly eclipsed $1 billion in 2018. The nation’s second largest craft beer company — which makes Samuel Adams, Angry Orchard, Twisted Tea, and Truly Hard Seltzer, as well as other products, posted double-digit growth in depletions, shipments and sales last year. Could cannabis beverages be on their near future menu? Weed love to know!

We sample some delicious craft beer from popular vegan brewry Pig Minds - Sweep the Leg IPA, now in the cans, and a unique pale ale from Dark Horse - Scary Jesus Rockstar, acollaboration beer made with Chef Cleetus Friedman of Chicago's Fountainhead featuring aromas of chamomile and earthy fresh apricots that hit your palate and rock your tastebuds finishing dry and hoppy...and let's not to forget Kent's very impressive Brown Ale makes another appearance.

Finally, we sample some rock n roll from Rival Sons.

A hearty SQUEAL to Pig Minds Brewing Co. and Artele & Co. for their awesome support and sponsorship! #drinkitup

PODCAST: Salute to Charlie Papazian, the godfather of homebrewing, with craft beer tastings and news

It's another small batch podcast from Home Brew Rock Stars where we dive in short form and discuss the Papazian influence on home brewing and celebrate Charlie's retirement! It wasn’t just Papazian’s expertise that he had honed since that first homebrewing experience in in 1970, that resonated with readers. It was also his light and humorous tone, making learning about homebrewing fun, peppered by those words became a kind of catchphrase for Papazian, “Relax. Don’t worry. Have a homebrew”.

The crew also talks beer news regarding MillerCoors bailing out on the Beer Alliance after Bud Light’s Corn Syrup Ads during the Super Bowl. Hey, either you put corn syrup in your beer, or you put rice in it...who cares. The gist is the beer alliance was supposed to be a big effort to compete with the 11 billion servings the big beer companies lost to wine and spirits last year. OUCH!...that might take some healing. (just rub corn syrup on it)

We sample some craft beer from Pig Minds' Southy Bitch Slap, now in the cans, and a delish double IPA w/Sorachi Ace Hops from Pipeworks called Just Drink Dummy, and not to forget Kent's very impressive Brown Ale as he finally gets the brew set up back up and running from a recent move.

Finally, we sample some rock stars from the music world called Trapper Schoeppand the Shades

A hearty SQUEAL to Pig Minds Brewing Co. and Artele & Co. for their awesome support and sponsorship! #drinkitup

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PODCAST: 2019 A.H.A. Craft Beer Clone Recipes List and Tips for Better Bottle Carbonation for Home Brewers

Looking for some good clone beer recipes? Greetings and welcome to another "small batch" podcast episode where we talk about some the 2019 AHA Craft Beer Clone Recipes (each year the American Homebrews Association picks one craft beer from each state for their list) that includes a Brut IPA, New England IPA, Grisette, Histotical Beer, Sour Farmhouse and pretty much everything you could possibly brew. We also run down . short list of upcoming AHA contest events throughout the US in February.

The home brew topic topic this show is Better Bottle Carbonation, as Mike reads through some of the important steps home brewers should take to achieve the ultimate carbonation in a number of different (see full details pasted below).

Of course we imbibe in some beer tastings from the likes of Generations Wintergreen IPA (brewed with spruce tips), Founders Blushing Monk and Southern Tier Cinnamon Roll. All representing a nice winter variety of beer for the many moods we experience living through a polar vortex! Kent also previews music from a veteran singer songwriter from Connecticut named Brian Dolzani, so get your Neil Young on and ride that horse to the promised land!

All very tasty treats for you listeners! Share this podcast with your friends (below) and send us your feedback for what you’d like us to talk about on the Home Brew Rock Stars Facebook page. You can now buy our Home Brew Rock Stars stuff on Threadless. Plus…tune in next episodes for a preview of 2 new breweries in the stateline area and more small batch quick hits in February and March! #drinkitup

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tips To Avoid Inconsistent Bottle Carbonation

That bottle you opened a couple of nights ago was perfectly carbonated, the one you just opened was flat, and the next one may gush all over the floor like Ol’ Faithful. Sound familiar? Then it’s time to take a closer look at your priming technique.

Bottle carbonation occurs when yeast consumes the added sugar and releases carbon dioxide, which, since the bottle is sealed, dissolves into the beer. The following factors and how you control them contribute to that perfectly carbonated beer.

Amount of beer to be carbonated - Priming Sugar - Carbonation temp - CO2 volume

Amount of beer - It is important to have an accurate amount of finished beer. It doesn’t matter if you have 1 gallon or 10 gallons, just have an accurate amount.

It is vital to make sure your beer has completed fermentation (finished beer), using a hydrometer will insure fermentation is complete.

Types of Priming Sugar

Corn Sugar (Dextrose) & Table Sugar (Sucrose) – most common

Also used is - Maple Syrup, Honey or Molasses

If you prefer not to use sugar?

Dry Malt Extract (DME) or A bit more complex method Krausening – the use of fresh wort to carbonate the beer.

Whichever type of sugar you use it is important to thoroughly mix the priming sugar into the finished beer. BE GENTLE as excessive stirring can introduce unwanted oxygen to your beer.

Also available is Carbonation Tablets –Typically sized for 12 oz bottles. Although very easy to use, it is difficult to customize carbonation level.

Carbonation temperature - The temperature of the bottles during carbonation period is vital. Too cold it will be under carbonated too warm it will be over carbonated.

CO2 volume - The style of beer will determine how carbonated your beer should be. The combination of priming sugar to beer ratio and temperature create different levels of carbonation.

The most accurate way to calculate for proper carbonation volume is to use a carbonation calculator.

Ok so now you have a perfect carbonated beer, how do you keep it that way?

Firstly, be sure you do not have too much head space in your bottles. The more head space the better chance of oxidation as the beer ages.

Keep it dark. Light will diminish beer quality quickly, even in a dark brown bottle.

Consistent temperature during storage. The warmer the beer is stored the faster chemical reactions occur. A beer store at cellar temps (approx. 54°F) will stay fresher 2 times longer than at room temp. If the beer is stored at refrigeration level (approx. 36-38°F) it will stay fresh for 4 – 5 months.

 

 

 

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PODCAST: The Government Shutdown chokes small breweries, and how to name your home brew beers.

Welcome to our new "Small Batch" format (approx. 30 minutes) that features a shorter show where we talk about craft beer and home brewing news, beer related events, home brewing tips, new music and we taste some new beers, of course!

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PODCAST: The End of Year Recap of 19 Home Brewing Episodes and a Sneak Peek at 2019

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! This episode takes a look back at our interviews with the home brewers, brew masters, rock stars and brewing topics we covered throughout the 2018 podcast season. After 19 episodes, more than 20 guests, 40 interviews and 100 beer tastings, it's time to reminisce the highlights of an awesome year.

We also imbibe in a slurry of incredible beer tastings that include a new home brew from Brent, his session hazy IPA featuring Cashmere hops, the traditional scotch ale of Bell's Christmas Ale, and three big boy beers all over 10 AVB with Ridgeway's Insanely Bad Santa, New Holland's Dragon's Milk S'mores and Flying Monkey's Arcadian Groove Imperial Maple Porter.

Episodes recap of 2018 home brewing topics includes:

• E16 Beer Fitness, Health, Resolutions - Two Brothers, Surly, Founders
  Home Brewer Eric Johnson, music from Go Go Torpedo
• E17 Taxes, Casks, Beer News - Revolution, Hopslam, Home Brew
  Home Brewer Matt Berthiaume, music from Purple Hell
• E18 Brewery Startups & Hiccups - Brian Endl of Pig Minds
  Pig Minds founder Brian Endl, music from Minneapolis guitar virtuoso Jon James
• E19 St. Patrick's Day Beers and Prairie Street Brewing Co
  Master Brewer Steve Lenox with Shawn Steiner, music from Havana Honey
  
• E20 March Madness Beer: Cinderella, DMS, Holy City
  Charleston Brewer Chris Brown of Holy City, music from guitarist Bill Dolan/Das Boton
• E21 Carson Souza - A Midwest Craft Brewing Soundtrack
  Remote show at Pig Minds w/master brewer Carson sSouza, Shane Johnson, +FCB home brewers
• E22 If It Ferments?! with Homebrewer Mike Coisman
  Mike Coisman talks fermenting anything, music from Minneapolis brood rock band The Phones
  
• E23 Big Brew 2018 with Forest City Brewers
  Remote show at the ballpark, Cincinnati Irish Red was Ron Derry, Mike Bohn with his Belgian Dark Strong Ale, Jerry Machula and his Hefeweizen, Mike Coisman beer with Centennial hops.
• E24 Wanna Quickie? Home Brew Fast Lagers
  A lesson in brewing lagers in half the time, music from Tin Tin Can
• E25 Best Day Drinking Beers and Brews
  Darin Kolls, music from Maggie’s Dream
• E26 Great Taste of the Midwest Pre-Fest Podcast 2018
  Guest Corey Kuczynski, music by Brain Kingdom
• E27 Adjunct Brewing and Ryan Brewing One-Barrel Startup
  Ryan Brewing master brewer, Todd Ryan, music from Crash Kings
• E28 Pre: Screw City Beer Fest 2018
  Guest Aaron Sleger, mucic from by Stuart Davis
• E29 Screw City Beer Fest 2018: Mustache Bash
  Interviews with event founds Aaron Sleger and Chris Wachowiak, plus a slew of home brewers from Forest City Brewers talk about their festival beer prep
• E30 Beards & Beers in the Urban Forest
  Urban Forest founders Alex Cando And Heath Meyers, music by Darwin’s Waiting Room, Five Bolt Main, Alston and Silence is Broken
• E31 Couples Brewing - Takes Two To Tango
  Hayley Dickinson and David Setiawan, music by Shawm Smith
• E32 Off Kilter Brewing - Palate Fatigue
  Off Kilter Brewing Founder Jim Goecks, music by Elgin Park
• E34 Rock-n-Roll Beers on the Tundras
  Brian Mastrangeli and Cory Wicklund of Tundras share beer drinking philosophy and their music

Tune in for the 2019 kick off in January with NEW short episodes and guest from all over this blessed nation!

Please share this podcast with your friends (below) and send us your feedback for what you’d like us to talk about on the Home Brew Rock Stars Facebook page. Plus, you can now buy our Home Brew Rock Stars T-shirts on Threadless. See ya next episode! #drinkitup

 

PODCAST: Tundras talk Rock-n-Roll Beers and why craft beer melds well with music.

This episode goes untraditional for the Home Brew Rock Stars crew while perhaps getting to the root of the podcast's namesake, as we feature Brian Mastrangeli and Cory Wicklund from TUNDRAS, a progressive Midwest band with a passion for well-made craft beer. Tundras talk about their musical beginnings, influences and tales of keeping a band relevant. They also share some musings regarding their introduction to the craft beer world, pointing to a well-timed situation where legal drinking age aligns with an American beer invasion. Add to this a love for the British invasion of rock-n-roll and now you've gotten the gist of this episode.

The show kicks off with a segment reviewing a list of beers that were released by rock bands, which could be appropriately named "the good, the bad and the undrinkable". These would include (ratings from Beer Advocate): Badass American Lager from Kid Rock (19/200), Bastards Lager from Motorhead (49/200), Destroyer from KISS (50/200), Australian Hardrock from AC/DC (19/200), *Razor Hoof from High on Fire (91/200), Trooper Ale from Iron Maiden (94/200), *Toxic Revolution from Municipal Waste (196/200) and *Permanent Funeral from Pig Destroyer (199/200). *collaborations with Three Floyds

BEER TASTING! Of course, it's not a brewing podcast without beer. Thanks to five great beer samples form craft breweries that include: Iron Maiden's Trooper Lager, Pig Minds's Royal Bitch Slap, Rogue's Rolling Thunder, Brent's Peruvian Coffee Porter (home-brew) and Goose Island's Bourbon County Stout.

TUNES: We play a quick round of Beer Tag recalling the best and worst and best band names that were featured in Paste and Ranker magazine (who doesn't like Dick Tator and the Tots, or Gringo Star!?). And of course, we have samples of Tundras music sprinkled throughout the show, including samples from their most recent album called Only Bones Inside, available at Tundras Bandcamp (https://tundrasil.bandcamp.com/) and on Spotify.

Please share this podcast with your friends (below) and send us your feedback for what you’d like us to talk about on the Home Brew Rock Stars Facebook page. Plus, you can now buy our Home Brew Rock Stars T-shirts on Threadless. See ya next episode! #drinkitup

 

 

PODCAST: The Curious Phenom of Palate Fatigue with Off Kilter Brewing Founder Jim Goecks

This episode features a focus on palate fatigue with no better way to approach the subject than a fun interview with Off Kilter Brewing founder/brewer Jim Goecks. This up-and-coming brewery was born out of a passion for home brewing at Jim's home in South Beloit, IL. Jim shares his knowledge and purposed techniques for brewing malt forward craft beer without the harsh bitterness that has dominated the craft beer revolution. This goal to fill the gap between those traditional American pilsners and hoppier beers that crowd store coolers is no accident, hence the name Off Kilter...it's refreshing!

We also dive into a conversation regarding beer palate fatigue as we imbibe some of Jim's awesome craft beer and relate to the thoughtful character given to his brewing style. "Fatigue is a dangerous thing for a beer lover. It plays with your mind, causing you to question what you know to be true and second guess your old favorites. The symptoms of this weariness are familiar and difficult to avoid, even for the most optimistic craft beer enthusiast" (Beer Advocate-Issue 58).

BEER TASTING! Of course, it's not a brewing podcast without beer. Thanks to four outstanding beer samples from the Off Kilter line-up, all featured at the Off-Kilter Brewing Taproom at Artisan Pub in South Beloit, and two other stellar beers from 3 Sheeps and Toppling Goliath, we can all assure any palate fatigue is a non-issue.

• Osmosis - An English/American/Off-Kilter fusion made with authentic English malts and a blend of English and American hops aged in charred oak, that's hoppy yet sports a deep golden color.
• O Doo Ya - A spring/summer seasonal, but not your traditional Belgian-Style Wit, brewed with imagination for those long summer evenings on the back deck.
• One-Eyed Jack - This porch pounder is a straw colored ale with a rich white head and a complex malt forward flavor that starts with nice barley richness and a hint of white wheat.
• Bella Brown - Named after Jim's faithful Great Dane, this winter seasonal a complex Brown Ale with a tightly beaded foam head and hints of citrus, clove and coffee.
  PLUS!!!
• Black Kilt Stout - 3 Sheeps - An extremely rare Bourbon Barrel-aged Imperial Stout. This collaboration beer was brewed exclusively for BrewFest Partners at 11% ABV.
• King Sue - Toppling Goliath - At 7.8% ABV and 100+ IBU this hazy double IPA blasts hints of mango, orange, and pineapple from a lot of Citra hops.

EXTRAS: We play a quick round of Beer Tag called "You be the judge", and in ode to Jim's home brew beer contest experience, put the test Jim and Mike's judging knowledge. Can you beat them? Our music features groovy samples of San Diego inspired pop rock from ELGIN PARK (aka Micheal Andrews), guitar player for acid jazz legends, Greyboy Allstars (Karl Denson/Robert Walter) but is best known for a cover version of the Tears for Fears song "Mad World", which he recorded with Gary Jules for the Donnie Darko soundtrack.

Share this podcast with your friends (below) and send us your feedback for what you’d like us to talk about on the Home Brew Rock Stars Facebook page. You can now buy our Home Brew Rock Stars stuff on Threadless. Plus…tune in next episode! #drinkitup

Podcast: A rare look at couples brewing from a husband and wife new to all-grain home-brewing.

This episode features fellow home brewers Hayley Dickinson and David Setiawan, a happily married dynamic duo that brews together, as well as many other fun activities. As Hayley filled us in, she takes the assistant brewer role voluntarily and let's David do the heavy lifting, but they both contribute to the process creating an atmosphere of  collaboration and passion that anyone would hope for when couples brewing. Our guests also talk about their own podcast, After We Take Out the Garbage, which is a fun spirited improve on random topics with random guests where just about everything is fair game.

Taste Great! Of course, we all imbibe, first with two home brews from our guests which include a interesting Honey Wheat with some unexpected floral citrus notes and a delightful Rhubarb Pumpkin Ale featuring home grown additives. Both were clean and crisp, leaving a pleasant front-end bouquet and with a subtle after taste. Well done kids! Add beer tastings of a delicious traditional Oktoberfest from Central Waters and Pig Minds Briee Kraut, a non-traditional Oktoberfest that's malty, hoppy na d brings a little zing. Plus a rare sampling of Wisconsin Brewing Co's Bourbonified Depth Charge, a barrel-aged Scotch Ale caramelized with hot curling stones during a super-unique annual summer festival in Verona, WI that the Home Brew Rock Stars team has never missed.

We also do some role reversal with our Beer Tag game and let our guests quiz the hosts. David and Haley did a great job to educate us on the origins of their questions, so right or wrong, we all gained some beer knowledge! As well, musical sound clips were featured from Shawn Smith, a Seattle-based songwriter and performer with several solo albums and tours to his credit, along with at least 3 bands (Brad, Satchel and Pigeonhead) of which all sport other Seattle legends, including Pearl Jam's Stone Gossard. Shawn is regarded as Seattle's best kept secret musician and more recently has hit some hard times so we encourage you all to support his beautiful mind and music HERE.

Share this podcast with your friends (below) and send us your feedback for what you’d like us to talk about on the Home Brew Rock Stars Facebook page. You can now buy our Home Brew Rock Stars stuff on Threadless. Plus…tune in next episode as we share interviews with the founder of Tilted Kilt Brewing! #drinkitup

 

Podcast: Bearded brewers from the new Urban Forest Craft Brewing are featured, plus craft beer tastings from the taproom!

This episode features Alex Cando And Heath Meyers from Urban Forest Craft Brewing as the swing by the bat-cave for an hour of education, fun and full bearded revelry. These brewers are o the cusp of starting the next phase of their careers in making commercially available craft beer, and if the beer list below isn't enough, the excitement from an already exuberant fan base is showing promise before their doors even open.

YOU SAY IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY! Of course, we should mention it was Mr. Mike Sears' B-day, which should go without saying that we drank a little beer to celebrate. Actually we drank a lot! Here's the list from our extensive beer tastings throughout this show, all furnished by Alex and Heath from their soon to be beer menu:

• Kindred Kolsch 4.9% Clean and delicate and made with traditional German hops.
• British Golden Ale 5.3% A distinct hop bite with bready maltiness.
• Whitney 4.3% VanillaCream Ale...listen and learn :)
• DDH Sugar Skull 5% Hoppy American Wheat Ale brewed with Chinook ad Citra hops.
• Squish Mitten 7.3% New England IPA with El Dorado, Ekuanot and Eureka hops.
• O'Chaahky 7% Irish Chocolate Stout Chaahk base beer fermented with Irish yeast strain.
• Bike Fix 2.5% Grapefruit Radler, kettle soured wheat beer blended with with house Ruby-Red Grapefruit Soda.

We also have some fun with a little Beards & Beer history in a friendly game of Beer Tag in which Heath flirts with a perfect score. Add that Alex (and Heath) are rockstars in their own right and we feature a few sound clips from Alex's storied Nu-Metal career playing bass guitar and touring the world in bands called Darwin's Waiting Room, Five Bolt Main, Alston and Rockford local band Silence is Broken.

Share this podcast with your friends (below) and send us your feedback for what you’d like us to talk about on the Home Brew Rock Stars Facebook page. You can now buy our Home Brew Rock Stars stuff on Threadless. Plus…tune in next episode as we share interviews with the founder of Tilted Kilt Brewing! #drinkitup

Podcast: Interviews and Mustaches collide at this year's Screw City Beer Fest 2018

It was perhaps the best Screw City Beer Fest yet with a new location on the rock River in rockford, IL with an excellent performance by founders Aaron Sleger and Chris Wachowiak. The festival featured 15 new breweries (more than 50 total), delish local food, 2 hop companies (sharing hoppiness), one home brew club (that served more than 100 gallons of beer brewed by locals), a beer podcast (complete with free mustaches), a crew of awesome volunteers, drones, lawn games, line dancing, lounging, live music for the more than 2,500 thirsty, festive drinkers. This podcast episode features the Home Brew Rock Stars interviewing festival host Aaron Sleger and the majority of the Forest City Brewers club members (15 total) that brewed and served their special beers. We also interview some craft breweries that include Destihl and Polyanna, as well as the guys from Forest City Hops and Live Wire Hops. And finally, below we have some fun passing out hundreds of free mustaches and take a few pics of festival goers sporting their mustache, or "cupstache" below...#drinkitup  

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Podcast: Aaron Sleger pours on about the upcoming Screw City Beer Fest 2018

In this podcast episode the boys bring back Aaron Sleger for an annual preview of Screw City Beer Fest 2018. with a Top 10 list of "Festiquettes" and  Aaron shares all the important ingredients for this 8th annual beer tasting event, including details about the new location and 15 screw city rookie brewery attendees (at the time of this recording their were 54 total breweries and one home-brew club that will be serving 20 different beers...wonder which club in the "Forest City" that will be?). For our beer tastings, Aaron shares 3 craft beers from the shelves of Artale & C0 that represent 3 of the breweries serving at Screw City this year....beginning with 2nd Shift Brewing's Technical Ecstasy, a Czech-style pils that was lagered for 3 months! Then we get our milkshake on with Astronaut Eye Scream, 8% double IPA from Illuminated Brew Works of Chicago. Finally, we sip away on Barrel-Aged Coffee Break Abduction, an imperial stout from Pipe Works that was aged 20 months in Elijah Craig bbls at 13% ABV...Fuh-can-eh. Kent and Brent lead a another segment of BEER TAG, where they quiz Mike and Aaron on beer slang. Have you ever had a glass sandwich or perhaps you've bitch slapped for Britney Speers? Do you think you can slang? Finally, our music samples come from Stuart Davis, an inventively talented human being that's not only a renowned musician, but also an accomplished artist, writer, actor and podcaster. The samples comes from his 2001 self-titled breakthrough album featuring songs called Rock Stars and Models, Doppelganger Body Donor, Immanence, Dresden and 9 more. His music contributions to the world are an audio wet dream, not to be missed. Share this podcast with your friends (below) and send us your feedback for what you'd like us to talk about on the Home Brew Rock Stars Facebook page. You can now buy our Home Brew Rock Stars stuff on Threadless. Plus...tune in next episode as we share interviews of the brewers and hosts from Screw City Beer Fest 2018! #drinkitup  

Podcast: Adjuncts are on review with guest Todd Ryan from Ryan Brewing

In this podcast episode we delve into adjunct brewing with Ryan Brewing master brewer, Todd Ryan. The crew discusses the craft beer craze of adjunct brewing in detail. We'll talk about Todd's new start-up one-barrel craft beer system and visit his brewing past from explorations in Europe to Wyoming home-brew roots to the now 2-month opened for public consumption, Ryan Brewing in Roscoe, IL. And of course, we do some beer tastings....this time featuring M-43 NEIPA from Old Nation Brewing Co. in Williamston, Michigan, the first release in Othe “New Orthodox” IPA series utilizing a complex combination of Calypso, Simcoe, Citra and Amarillo hops. Not to outdone, Todd brough 4 fabulous beers from Ryan's Brewing, including his signature Schlopgarten German Hefeweizen, Back in Blackberry PA, a Cherry Apricot Sour and a delicious Kolsch with some steamy influence. Speaking of one barrel systems, we wondered in the real life, does size really matter?...Kent and Brent lead a another segment of BEER TAG, where they offer fact or fiction of different sizes of breweries, beer production, etc. and Mike and Todd have to guess whether the size given for each topic is indeed real or fake. Surprisingly, they both did quite well ... are you a beer know-it-all? If so, how did you do on this episodes beer tag? Finally, much like adjunct brewing, we shared clips from Opal, an American rock band in the 1980s from LA. They were part of the Paisley Underground musical style and come across as a fuzz-drenched infuse of Mazzy Star meets T-Rex. The band's name is derived from Opel, a song by Syd Barrett of early Pink Floyd fame. As is the case with many of our music clip features, Opal is extremely rare and difficult to find so we hope you enjoy the sneak preview of these fuzzy rock classics from our youth. Share this podcast with your friends (below) and send us your feedback for what you'd like us to talk about on the Homebrew Rockstars Facebook page. You can now buy our merch on Threadless (Use this code for free shipping: FREESHIP7180f00a4 ). Plus...tune in next episode as we preview Screw City Brew Fest 2018! #drinkitup  

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Podcast: A preview of 2018 Great Taste of the Midwest Beer Festival with guest Corey Kuczynski

It's August, it's hot, and time for prime beer festival season. On this podcast the boys review the history, do a retrospective and make predictions for this year's Great Taste of the Midwest. We've invited one of our brew buds and GTMW veteran, Corey Kuczynski, to break it all down as we prepare for this year's extravaganza of trending, traditional and tasty craft beer available for consumption (for those that have a ticket) on Saturday, August 11 in Madison, WI. As with every show, we also do some beer tastings....this time from breweries that are regular fixtures at Great Taste. A festival that hosts more than 190 breweries and 1400 beers (not to mention meads, ciders and over 100 cask ales) should provide plenty of choices. Of those we sipped our sponsors double IPA called Always the Hard Way from Pig Minds, and also sampled Founders Backwoods Bastard, New Glarus Coffee Stout and a revisit with Urban Chestnut Stammtisch Pilsner (one of the finest pilsner's on the planet). Speaking of Great Taste beers...Kent and Brent lead a new segment called BEER TAG, where they offer a fun beer name from last year's Great Taste and Mike and Corey have to guess between two breweries to choose the one that brewed it. They didn't do so good, but who really cares...the segment was educating and super fun! Finally, we shared clips of an underground band called Brain Kingdom with clips from their 2005 Nashville studio project called Tacos & Swimming Pools. The album was recorded in just 3 days in a small Sony satellite just of music row, featuring original songs written by Don Peterson with Brent Shelton on bass/guitars and Mike Tarrolly on drums, plus a host of fine local musicians who hung out and joined in when called upon. Share this podcast with your friends (below) and send us your feedback for what you'd like us to talk about on the Homebrew Rockstars Facebook page. You can now buy our merch on Threadless (Use this code for free shipping: FREESHIP7180f00a4 ). Plus...tune in next episode as we preview Screw City Brew Fest 2018! #drinkitup    

Podcast: Best Day Drinking Beers and tips for home brewing them are reviewed

It's summer, it's hot, and you don't wanna get too filled up in the heat. This podcast reviews the best day drinking beers, tips for drinking light during the day and some ideas for home brewing your own lawn-mower beers! Pucker up as we re-taste Pig Minds Farmango kettle-soured farmhouse ale with and sip on Genesee Cream Ale (New York's oldest brewery). Then we pucker more with Brent's home brew called Pound of Columbus, plus the crew indulges in other day drinker beer tastings from Bell's Larry's Latest Sour, Left Hand Travelin Light Kolsh, and Metal Monkey Bikini Bottom Pineapple Gose, a true monkey pucker if we ever had one:) Talk about a mind puck...Kent and Brent lead a Real or Fake "Day Drinking Beer Trivia" segment and we fool around a bit more with the show theme to explore some best "practices" for starting your drinking before noon...like what to wear...like...that ever matters?! We also feature sound clips from a band called Maggie's Dream and their impossible-to-find unreleased album called Elysium.This funky rock, pop, soul group was short lived and led by Menudo vocalist Draco Rosa who filled the vox spot when Lenny Kravitz decided to go solo before the band released their first and highly coveted self-titled album in 1990. Some claim Mr. Kravitz stole a bit on this style while others close to the early daze claim they played of of each other...regardless, it's classic music! Share this podcast with your friends (below) and send us your feedback for what you'd like us to talk about on the Homebrew Rockstars Facebook page. You can now buy our merch on Threadless (Use this code for free shipping: FREESHIP7180f00a4 ). Plus...tune in next episode as we seek out more home brewers and tasty beers! #drinkitup