Four Brewers: Craft Beer and Homebrew

Season 3, Episode 52 – This week we drink our favorite and not-so-favorite holiday beers. It's been a rough year and we've got gluttony knocking on our door (it's Christmas Eve and the first day of Hanukkah) so we're gonna keep this post short… The 2016 Holiday Beers 1. Don't buy those pre-made holiday beer gift packs. They're usually all old beers that didn't sell and were repackaged in a holiday-style gift box. This doesn't mean those beers are inherently bad, but they're probably past their prime and you won't enjoy them as much if they were fresh. 2. Buy local craft "seasonal" beers. You'll be much happier and you'll #LiveLocal. 3. Don't stop thinking about tomorrow and how you can help to make our world a better place. This, by far, is of utmost importance. Cheers, from Four Brewers! BREW THE SHIT OUT OF IT. Beers from this week's episode: Brasserie de Blaugies – La Moneuse Brasserie Dupont – Avec Les Bons Voeux Brouwerij Corsendonk – Corsendonk Christmas Ale Brasserie de la Senne – Stouterik Microbrouwerij Achilles – Serafijn Grand Cru Brouwerij De Ranke – Père Noël Brasserie Des Géants – Noël des Géants Brouwerij Kerkom – Winterkoninkske Brouwerij Huyghe – Delirium Noël / Christmas Brouwerij St. Bernardus – Christmas Ale Prairie Artisan Ales – Christmas Bomb! Direct audio: MP3 Subscribe: iTunes: Audio / Video RSS: Audio / Video Google Play Music Stitcher YouTube (Videos) Support the show: Patreon PayPal 4B Social Media: Facebook Twitter Instagram tumblr Flickr Snapchat Email 4B: [email protected] 4B Theme Song: The Sleeping Sea King

Season 3, Episode 51 – This week, we find out who will rein supreme in the battle between the Light side of the sea, and the Dark side. Does anyone else smell fish? What is that? Oh, pshht…I know what it is. It's a Sculpin from Ballast Point Brewing, and an Invasive Species from Beachwood Brewing! We invited both of these underwater dwellers to battle it out on the show this week, with hopes of figuring out which one of these is the bigger fish to fry. The Beachwood/Ballast Point Showdow A little back story: once upon a time, Ballast Point Brewing out of San Diego, California, was one the most respected craft brewers in the San Diego beer scene, until the company was sold to Constellation Brands, Inc. for a cool one billion clams (snicker). Since then, many beer geeks have written the brewery off as a "sell out" and stopped buying their products, and some have decided to overlook the buyout and just focus on the beer. But, just because a brewery sells to a larger macro brewery or company doesn't necessarily mean the quality of their product will suffer, although sometimes recipes and practices tend to change over time to drive down cost and increase profit. In the case of Ballast Point, the beers are still pretty great for the most part. Enter Beachwood Brewing. Beachwood has been very vocal about their brewing independence and dedication to true craft beer. In a very tongue-in-cheek move, they decided to brew a series of beers that were inspired by Ballast Point's Sculpin IPA and variants thereof, that positioned Beachwood to both comment on and snub Ballast Point and their wildly popular fruited beers. While they didn't come out and blatantly say "fuck you," to Ballast Point (for whatever reason, outside of the obvious craft vs. macro battle cry), the line of beers they brewed and subsequently named "Invasive Species" (with a depiction of a dead fish on the beer bottle's label) sure did imply it. Fight! So, here we are. We purchased the freshest Sculpin IPA and variants of Sculpin IPA (and Even Keel) that we could find and put them up against the two-week-old bottles of Beachwood's Invasive Species IPA and variants. Who will prevail? You can probably guess who we're rooting for… BREW THE SHIT OUT OF IT. Beers from this week's episode: Beachwood Brewing – Invasive Species Ballast Point Brewing & Spirits – Sculpin IPA Beachwood Brewing – Mango Invasive Species Ballast Point Brewing & Spirits – Mango Even Keel Beachwood Brewing – Grapefruit Invasive Species Ballast Point Brewing & Spirits – Grapefruit Sculpin Beachwood Brewing – Habanero Invasive Species Ballast Point Brewing & Spirits – Habanero Sculpin Direct audio: MP3 Subscribe: iTunes: Audio / Video RSS: Audio / Video Google Play Music Stitcher YouTube (Videos) Support the show: Patreon PayPal 4B Social Media: Facebook Twitter Instagram tumblr Flickr Snapchat Email 4B: [email protected] 4B Theme Song: The Sleeping Sea King

Season 3, Episode 50 – This week, 4B fans sent us a bunch of beers from the Midwestern United States of America. It's a mailbag melee! If you're wondering what that is, exactly, it means that all of the beers on the show this week are from the Midwest and from 4B listeners. We are always desperately in need of beers from other parts of the country (and world, for that matter) that aren't accessible to us otherwise, and we're always down to showcase them on the show. Midwest Beers The beers submitted this week are from two supporters of Four Brewers on Patreon, Sandro Chiavaro, and Nick Puddy. Not only did these awesome dudes give us beer for the podcast, but they both gave us beers to be featured on Matt and Jason's YouTube show, Cheap Beer Corner. Not only that, but Nick went above and beyond and even sent us his rauchbier homebrew. That's how you do it, folks—the trifecta. Many thanks to Sandro and Nick for the beers. If you'd like us to feature your favorite unknown brewery or breweries, drop us a line at [email protected], or hit up the contact page. BREW THE SHIT OUT OF IT. Beers from this week's episode: Rhinegeist Brewery – Crash Rhinegeist Brewery – Truth Rhinegeist Brewery – Dad Platform Beer Company – Bunny Pajamas Platform Beer Company – Jocote Project With Rangpur Lime Jackie O's Pub & Brewery – Java the Stout New Glarus Brewing Company – Spotted Cow Grand Cru (Thumbprint) One Barrel Brewing Company – Groundskeeper Willie 3 Sheeps Brewing Company – Paid Time Off! Direct audio: MP3 Subscribe: iTunes: Audio / Video RSS: Audio / Video Google Play Music Stitcher YouTube (Videos) Support the show: Patreon PayPal 4B Social Media: Facebook Twitter Instagram tumblr Flickr Snapchat Email 4B: [email protected] 4B Theme Song: The Sleeping Sea King

Season 3, Episode 49 – This week, metal bands collaborate with craft breweries, and we drink the beers. Metal music and beer. The two were practically made for one another. This week, we're drinking three beers from craft breweries that collaborated with metal/rock bands to make some of the heaviest beers out there, baby. Metal Band Collaboration Beers Bands teaming up with breweries to make a co-branded collaboration beer is nothing new, and for the most part, bands collaborate with craft breweries over macro breweries (eh, Metallica and Budweiser? No thanks…). You're probably are unaware of how many such beers are actually out there and have been made, and we cover this on the show–it's quite a few. We narrowed the selection to three bands and three breweries: Iron Maiden and Robinson Brewery, Deftones and Belching Beaver Brewery, and finally, Megadeth and Unibroue. While some bands tend to play it safe and go with more traditional styles, some think outside the box and actually try to find a brewery capable of delivering a truly unique brew. The beers on the show this week represent this spectrum. We end the show with another round of Going In Blind with beers that John selected. He went out of his way to go for a theme and at the same time, tried to throw a monkey wrench in the gears. BREW THE SHIT OUT OF IT. Beers from this week's episode: Robinsons Brewery – Trooper Robinsons Brewery – Trooper Red 'N' Black Porter Unibroue – À Tout Le Monde Belching Beaver Brewery – Phantom Bride IPA Direct audio: MP3 Subscribe: iTunes: Audio / Video RSS: Audio / Video Google Play Music Stitcher YouTube (Videos) Support the show: Patreon PayPal 4B Social Media: Facebook Twitter Instagram tumblr Flickr Snapchat Email 4B: [email protected] 4B Theme Song: The Sleeping Sea King

Season 3, Episode 48 – This week, we're drinking beer with our friend, Oskar. Oskar Blues Brewery is one of the earliest modern craft breweries to exclusively use cans for packaging their beer. Everything from lager to imperial stout goes into cans short, tall, and wide. Oskar Blues even invented the "Crowler", a 32 ounce growler made out of an aluminum can. Not only are they ahead of their time with their packaging, they also make some killer beer. Oskar Blues Beers The seven beers on the show this week are but a small representation of what Oskar Blues brews. They recently debuted barrel-aged Ten Fidy in tall cans (which Jason coincidentally drank all to himself the night before the recording of this episode), as well as their new 19.2 ounce (holy moly!) "Stove Pipe" cans. Dale's Pale Ale is by far the most ubiquitous of Oskar Blues' offerings, followed by the deliciously contrasting imperial stout, Ten Fidy. Oskar Blues is a beer geek's brewery–they can do it all, and they do it all quite well. It's safe to assume that if you've never tried anything from them, you'll probably be pretty happy with at least one beer they make when you do try something. (…also, you can use their cans to smoke weed when you're done drinking the beer!) BREW THE SHIT OUT OF IT. Beers from this week's episode: Oskar Blues Brewery – Beerito Oskar Blues Brewery – Dale's Pale Ale Oskar Blues Brewery – IPA Oskar Blues Brewery – Death By Coconut Oskar Blues Brewery – Hotbox Coffee Porter Oskar Blues Brewery – Old Chub Oskar Blues Brewery – Ten FIDY Direct audio: MP3 Subscribe: iTunes: Audio / Video RSS: Audio / Video Google Play Music Stitcher YouTube (Videos) Support the show: Patreon PayPal 4B Social Media: Facebook Twitter Instagram tumblr Flickr Snapchat Email 4B: [email protected] 4B Theme Song: The Sleeping Sea King

Season 3, Episode 47 – This week, we hand over the keys to the show… We decided to do something special this week. Having women on the show is nothing new to Four Brewers, but we wanted to take it to the next level and hand over the entire show to some local beer geeks who also happen to be women. Full transparency, John decided to throw this show together at the last minute. That's important to know because Natalie DeNicholas (of Maltose Falcons and Sanctum Brewing Co.) literally had two days to put this show together. Of course, she went above and beyond and picked up over ten super-fresh beers from five different breweries that sent her on a journey across the greater Los Angeles basin. Natalie, Daniella, and Stacey Natalie is joined by fellow Sanctum beer server Daniella Lopez, and owner of Craft Beer Babes clothing company, Stacey Moffett. Technically, John is also on the show, and is mostly referred to as "The Ghost", since he's not actually supposed to be on the show. The beers on the show this week are all brewed by women, and/or are owned in part or wholly by women. The selection of beers are wide ranging and complex (and at times challenging), while still maintaining their appeal to Natalie, Daniella, and Stacey's individual palates. Natalie DeNicholas Loves Beer We can't thank these ladies enough for taking over the show and providing a fresh perspective on craft beer and the community. Cheers! BREW THE SHIT OUT OF IT. Beers from this week's episode: Ladyface Alehouse and Brasserie – Coquette Ladyface Alehouse and Brasserie – Vallis Aurea Eagle Rock Brewery – Nandobrau Gold Eagle Rock Brewery – Brown Porter Arts District Brewing – Heinrich Arts District Brewing – Cowboy Curtis Three Weavers Brewing Company – Le Petit Fox Three Weavers Brewing Company – Southbounder Coffee Stout Dragon's Tale – Heff YEAH! Dragon's Tale – Sousan's Saison Direct audio: MP3 Subscribe: iTunes: Audio / Video RSS: Audio / Video Google Play Music Stitcher YouTube (Videos) Support the show: Patreon PayPal 4B Social Media: Facebook Twitter Instagram tumblr Flickr Snapchat Email 4B: [email protected] 4B Theme Song: The Sleeping Sea King

Season 3, Episode 45 – This week, 4B fan Ken Sorenson, sent us some brews from Bend, Oregon's Worthy Brewing. Are they worthy? Are WE worthy?! The Pacific Northwest is considered by many to be beer Mecca. We would agree if we didn't live in beer Mecca, here in SoCal (we kid)! Anywho… Worthy Brewing Beers The beers on the show this week are from a brewery that's new to the 4B crew, Worthy Brewing. These beers, along with a gift package that included four Worthy branded shirts, four Worthy branded sunglasses, and an almost empty bottle of Aspirin (not Worthy branded), were sent to us by Ken Sorenson. Ken used to work at the world famous Toronado craft beer bar out of Seattle, Washington, working as manager under none other than the mighty Matt Bonney. Ken is now the Washington Sales Manager for Worthy Brewing. Thanks for the beers, Ken! Worthy is making some solid brew and totally worth a visit if you're in Bend, Oregon and a solid buy if you see them on the shelf of your local liquee store. BEND THE SHIT OUT OF IT. Beers from this week's episode: Worthy Brewing – Easy Day Kolsch Worthy Brewing – Farm Out Saison Worthy Brewing – Worthy IPA Worthy Brewing – Lights Out Stout Direct audio: MP3 Subscribe: iTunes: Audio / Video RSS: Audio / Video Google Play Music Stitcher YouTube (Videos) Support the show: Patreon PayPal 4B Social Media: Facebook Twitter Instagram tumblr Flickr Snapchat Email 4B: [email protected] 4B Theme Song: The Sleeping Sea King

Season 3, Episode 45 – This week on the show, Temecula's Beer Ambassador, aka John Ryti, joins us with some new stuff from Ironfire Brewing and Relentless Brewing, and we also try a little beer named Space Trace from Bottle Logic Brewing. This week, we are happy to welcome back our good friend and beer geek, John Ryti. He brought us some new beers from Relentless Brewing Company (first time on the show, by the way) and a hop-bomb from Ironfire Brewing Company that was tapped right off of the bright tank, so you know it's fresh. Growler Tags from Relentless Brewing Company Temecula is quite the hot spot in the Inland Empire brewing scene, and if you have yet to visit and check out the breweries around the area, you're totally missing out. Ironfire has been a mainstay for us locals over the past few years, while Relentless is the new kid on the block who's already proving to be a must-visit brewery. Bottle Logic Brewing – Space Trace (photo: Jessica Rice McNew) We wrap up the show with Bottle Logic Brewing's newest barrel-aged-beer-geek-bomb called Space Trace. This beer is their barrel-aged German Chocolate Cake Stout (which we also drink on the show this week) and DUDE, it is amazing. Much thanks to Matt Robertson at Bottle Logic for hitting us up and giving us a bottle. (It's so fuggin' good…) BREW THE SHIT OUT OF IT. Beers from this week's episode: Relentless Brewing Company – Smokey's World of Pain Relentless Brewing Company – Raspberry Tart Saison Relentless Brewing Company – Journey To the Sol Ironfire Brewing Company – Mr. Hopagiorgio Bottle Logic Brewing – German Chocolate Cake Stout Bottle Logic Brewing – Space Trace (2016) Direct audio: MP3 Subscribe: iTunes: Audio / Video RSS: Audio / Video Google Play Music Stitcher YouTube (Videos) Support the show: Patreon PayPal 4B Social Media: Facebook Twitter Instagram tumblr Flickr Snapchat Email 4B: [email protected] 4B Theme Song: The Sleeping Sea King

Season 3, Episode 44 – Tyler King and Brian White join us in the studio to talk about their new brewery, Brewery Rex. So. Brewery Rex. Ever heard of them? Chances are maybe you have, but probably not. Brewery Rex is Tyler King (formerly, the Director of Brewing Operations at The Bruery) and Brian White's (Monkish Brewing, Chapman Crafted) newest venture. They have been in the process of opening the brewery for a couple of years now, but the public really knew nothing about the place. Tyler and Brian decided it was finally time to come to the 4B studio and share some of the details and collective vision about the brewery. This Week's Beers We cover quite a bit of territory on the show this week, from what Tyler and Brian want the brewery to be, to craft beer burnout and what to do to avoid it. Yeah, we go deep this week. Tyler and Brian have some fresh and interesting ideas about opening their own space. We're pretty excited to be able to hopefully try some of their brews within the next year or so and you should be, too. Oh, and this week's show also marks the first time we put a lime in a bottle of beer and drink it. Thanks, Tyler. Thanks, Brian… BREW THE SHIT OUT OF IT. Beers from this week's episode: Grupo Modelo S.A. de C.V. – Pacifico Clara Gueuzerie Tilquin – Oude Gueuze Tilquin à L'Ancienne Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen – Oude Geuze Direct audio: MP3 Subscribe: iTunes: Audio / Video RSS: Audio / Video Google Play Music Stitcher YouTube (Videos) Support the show: Patreon PayPal 4B Social Media: Facebook Twitter Instagram tumblr Flickr Snapchat Email 4B: [email protected] 4B Theme Song: The Sleeping Sea King

Season 3, Episode 43 – This week, we're going back to Sacramento and drinking some beers from Track 7 Brewing Company. Recently, at the Inland Empire Brewers Guild Summer Send Off Festival, we ran into Amanda Barnes, sales representative for Track 7 Brewing Company, and tried a couple of beers that they brought to the fest. After a bit of conversation and an exchange of business cards, a box of beer from Track 7 magically appeared on our doorstep a couple of weeks later. NICE. Track 7 Brewing Company Beers Track 7 Brewing Company is fairly new and they are already showing signs of being a great brewery. Their beers are already fairly widely available all over southern California and are being well received, as far as we can tell. The beers on the show this week range from a honey blonde ale to a peanut butter porter. There were also some hoppy beers in the mix which we all thought were really, really good, especially their Panic IPA. They're sticking to the classic west coast-style IPA and double IPA formula, which is nice, considering how so many breweries are starting to experiment with the "juicy" New England-style IPA. Track 7 is definitely on track (oh, puns) to becoming a great California brewery. Give their beers a try if you see them out in the wild. Thanks to Track 7 Brewing Company for the beers! BREW THE SHIT OUT OF IT. Beers from this week's episode: Track 7 Brewing Company – Bee Line Blonde Track 7 Brewing Company – Panic IPA Track 7 Brewing Company – Blood Transfusion Track 7 Brewing Company – Left Eye, Right Eye DIPA Track 7 Brewing Company – Nukin' Futz Direct audio: MP3 Subscribe: iTunes: Audio / Video RSS: Audio / Video Google Play Music Stitcher YouTube (Videos) Support the show: Patreon PayPal 4B Social Media: Facebook Twitter Instagram tumblr Flickr Snapchat Email 4B: [email protected] 4B Theme Song: The Sleeping Sea King

Season 3, Episode 42 – This week on the show, beers from Sudwerk Brewing Co. out of Davis, California. This week we're featuring a brewery that all of us on the podcast seem to have unintentionally overlooked over the years, Sudwerk Brewing Co.. Turns out, Sudwerk make some really great beer that most definitely should not be overlooked or taken for granted. Sudwerk Brewing Co. Beers The beers on this week's episode were provided to us by Sudwerk. We met up with them during the California Craft Beer Summit last month. They had previously expressed online how stoked they were about ranking second in our blind Pilsner Showdown, and when we ran into KB Brandl (Sudwerk's Events and Marketing Coordinator) she insisted that we try more of their beer on the show. Sounded good to us! Sudwerk sent us five beers for the show this week, three of which are part of their "Brewers Cut Reserve Series". Turns out, Sudwerk have been brewing beer since 1989 and make some pretty incredible stuff. Sudwerk make clean, traditional styles, but also know how to brew really complex stuff like sours and bourbon barrel-aged doppelbock. We were really impressed by the quality of the beers on the show. It goes without saying that if you see Sudwerk brews on the shelf, give them a try! Thanks to Sudwerk Brewing Co. for the brews! BREW THE SHIT OUT OF IT. Beers from this week's episode: Sudwerk Brewing Co. – Northern Pilsner Sudwerk Brewing Co. – Rye of the Lager Sudwerk Brewing Co. – Plum On Eileen Sudwerk Brewing Co. – Raspberry Diddly Sudwerk Brewing Co. – Oso Furioso Direct audio: MP3 Subscribe: iTunes: Audio / Video RSS: Audio / Video Google Play Music Stitcher YouTube (Videos) Support the show: Patreon PayPal 4B Social Media: Facebook Twitter Instagram tumblr Flickr Snapchat Email 4B: [email protected] 4B Theme Song: The Sleeping Sea King

Season 3, Episode 41 – This week, we're drinking Great American Beer Festival 2016 medal-winning brews! Fresh off the The 4B Flight and fresh off the plane from the Great American Beer Festival (just Matt, that is) we're back with another full-length episode of Four Brewers and we're drinking as many GABF medal-winning beers as we could get our hands on. GABF 2016 Winners! We've gushed about the Great American Beer Festival in previous episodes (2014, 2015), so we won't get into the event itself too much in this post, but suffice it to say, it's definitely one of the biggest and best beer festivals in the world. Thousands of eager beer drinkers descend upon The Mile High City of Denver, Colorado for three days of craft beer tasting and celebration. If ever a beer event were to appear on a beer drinker's bucket list of events, GABF would be at the top of that list. Matt Becker Wearing His Bronze Medal from GABF There is one thing that made this year's Great American Beer Festival stand out from previous years for the Four Brewers. Our very own Matt Becker, brewer at Packinghouse Brewing Company in Riverside, California brought home his very first medal from GABF—a bronze for his Irish-style Rad Ale (see what I did there?), Riley's Irish Red. It was a proud moment for us, watching Matt walk onto the stage to accept his medal from Mr. Charlie Papazian. We're super-proud of him! Congratulations, Matt and Packinghouse! Riverside REPRESENT! BREW THE SHIT OUT OF IT. Beers from this week's episode: 21st Amendment Brewery – El Sully Firestone Walker Brewing Company – DBA (Double Barrel Ale) Karl Strauss Brewing Company – Mosaic Session IPA Packinghouse Brewing Co. – Riley's Irish Red The Bruery – Mischief Nebraska Brewing Company – Mélange a Trois High Water Brewing – Campfire Stout AleSmith Brewing Company – Old Numbskull Direct audio: MP3 Subscribe: iTunes: Audio / Video RSS: Audio / Video Google Play Music Stitcher YouTube (Videos) Support the show: Patreon PayPal 4B Social Media: Facebook Twitter Instagram tumblr Flickr Snapchat Email 4B: [email protected] 4B Theme Song: The Sleeping Sea King

The 4B Flight 2.0, Episode 6 – On the final episode of The 4B Flight 2.0, we're going big with Feral One (Batch 3) from Firestone Walker Brewing Company. YUM. The 4B Flight is a biannual series in which we do one standard episode of Four Brewers, followed by six mini episodes for an entire week! The 4B Flight is served up in April and October. Enjoy! Welcome to the Autumn edition of The 4B Flight! Due to the flight's immense popularity back in April, we decided to serve up another round of episodes! Feral One (Batch 3) Today, on the final day of The 4B Flight, 2.0, we're going out with a sour bang with Firestone Walker's Feral One, Batch 3. On the show, we talk about Firestone Walker's titratable acidity rating scale, the people behind the scenes at breweries that make all of this incredible craft beer we enjoy possible, and how Firestone Walker seems to never put out a bad beer. Catch The 4B Flight 3.0 in April of 2017! BREW THE SHIT OUT OF IT. Beer from today's episode: Firestone Walker Brewing Company – Feral One (Batch 3) Direct audio: MP3 Subscribe: iTunes: Audio / Video RSS: Audio / Video Google Play Music Stitcher YouTube (Videos) Support the show: Patreon PayPal 4B Social Media: Facebook Twitter Instagram tumblr Flickr Snapchat Email 4B: [email protected] 4B Theme Song: The Sleeping Sea King

The 4B Flight 2.0, Episode 5 – Today on the 4B Flight, a fantastic saison from Logsdon Farmhouse Ales. The 4B Flight is a biannual series in which we do one standard episode of Four Brewers, followed by six mini episodes for an entire week! The 4B Flight is served up in April and October. Enjoy! Welcome to the Autumn edition of The 4B Flight! Due to the flight's immense popularity back in April, we decided to serve up another round of episodes! Logsdon Farmhouse Ales – Seizoen I think it's safe to say that all four of us, The Four Brewers, equally love saison. Okay, well, maybe Matt loves it just a little bit more than us, but overall, we're super-fans of the style. Today on The Flight, we're drinking one of the best American examples to date, Seizoen from Logsdon Farmhouse Ales. If you want to hear us gush even more about saison, check out our Saison Showdown from Season 2! Tune in tomorrow for the next beer in The 4B Flight! BREW THE SHIT OUT OF IT. Beer from today's episode: Logsdon Farmhouse Ales – Seizoen Direct audio: MP3 Subscribe: iTunes: Audio / Video RSS: Audio / Video Google Play Music Stitcher YouTube (Videos) Support the show: Patreon PayPal 4B Social Media: Facebook Twitter Instagram tumblr Flickr Snapchat Email 4B: [email protected] 4B Theme Song: The Sleeping Sea King

The 4B Flight 2.0, Episode 4 – Today on The 4B Flight, a gueuze that's actually a blend of two different styles of beer that maybe shouldn't have been blended together. The 4B Flight is a biannual series in which we do one standard episode of Four Brewers, followed by six mini episodes for an entire week! The 4B Flight is served up in April and October. Enjoy! Welcome to the Autumn edition of The 4B Flight! Due to the flight's immense popularity back in April, we decided to serve up another round of episodes! Vicaris Tripel-Gueuze The beer on today's episode was…different, and a bit odd. Rather than try to describe it here, just read what the brewery says about it on Untappd: "Vicaris Tripel and Girardin Gueuze create a new style.. a melding of Tripel sweetness and Lambic sour. Innovative Dilewyns pairs up with one of Belgium's most prized lambic producers. Really a taste sensation. Here's the future of Belgian brewing in a glass. Made by a talented home brewer whose beers were extremely well received in Belgium. Brouwerij Dilewyns opened in 2011 and is Belgium's newest brewery. Led by 24 year old dynamo, Anne- Catherine Dilewyns." There you have it. Tune in tomorrow for the next beer in The 4B Flight! BREW THE SHIT OUT OF IT. Beer from today's episode: Brouwerij Dilewyns – Vicaris Tripel-Gueuze Direct audio: MP3 Subscribe: iTunes: Audio / Video RSS: Audio / Video Google Play Music Stitcher YouTube (Videos) Support the show: Patreon PayPal 4B Social Media: Facebook Twitter Instagram tumblr Flickr Snapchat Email 4B: [email protected] 4B Theme Song: The Sleeping Sea King

The 4B Flight 2.0, Episode 3 – Today on The 4B Flight, Beachwood Blendery's Fortune Favors the Funk, and boy, do we favor this beer. The 4B Flight is a biannual series in which we do one standard episode of Four Brewers, followed by six mini episodes for an entire week! The 4B Flight is served up in April and October. Enjoy! Welcome to the Autumn edition of The 4B Flight! Due to the flight's immense popularity back in April, we decided to serve up another round of episodes! Beachwood Blendery – Fortune Favors the Funk Beachwood BBQ & Brewing's funky shoot-off, Beachwood Blendery, has finally reached peak propagation and is finally releasing their interpretation of Belgian-style funky ales. Some might call these beers their interpretations of Belgian lambic, but we're not going to say that here (they would prefer the term lambic not be used). What we will say is that this beer is spectacular. Beachwood destroys. What can't they do at this point?! (Make bad beer, that's what.) Tune in tomorrow for the next beer in The 4B Flight! BREW THE SHIT OUT OF IT. Beer from today's episode: Beachwood Blendery – Fortune Favors the Funk Direct audio: MP3 Subscribe: iTunes: Audio / Video RSS: Audio / Video Google Play Music Stitcher YouTube (Videos) Support the show: Patreon PayPal 4B Social Media: Facebook Twitter Instagram tumblr Flickr Snapchat Email 4B: [email protected] 4B Theme Song: The Sleeping Sea King

The 4B Flight 2.0, Episode 2 – Today on The 4B Flight, an IPA from one of Anaheim, California's newest breweries, Unsung Brewing Co. The 4B Flight is a biannual series in which we do one standard episode of Four Brewers, followed by six mini episodes for an entire week! The 4B Flight is served up in April and October. Enjoy! Welcome to the Autumn edition of The 4B Flight! Due to the flight's immense popularity back in April, we decided to serve up another round of episodes! Unsung Brewing Co. – Anthia IPA Unsung Brewing Co. is one of Anaheim's newest breweries, recently opening to much fanfare and busting through the gate with some excellent brews and awesome comic book-style branding. Today's beer, Anthia, is a lemony melon bomb that's heavily late hopped with notes of weeds and grass. A truly unique beer from a great Orange County brewery that, at this point, shows a lot of promise. Tune in tomorrow for the next beer in The 4B Flight! BREW THE SHIT OUT OF IT. Beer from today's episode: Unsung Brewing Co. – Anthia Direct audio: MP3 Subscribe: iTunes: Audio / Video RSS: Audio / Video Google Play Music Stitcher YouTube (Videos) Support the show: Patreon PayPal 4B Social Media: Facebook Twitter Instagram tumblr Flickr Snapchat Email 4B: [email protected] 4B Theme Song: The Sleeping Sea King

The 4B Flight 2.0, Episode 1 – Today on The 4B Flight, we're going back in time with Stone Brewing's Encore Series 02.02.02 Vertical Epic Ale. The 4B Flight is a biannual series in which we do one standard episode of Four Brewers, followed by six mini episodes for an entire week! The 4B Flight is served up in April and October. Enjoy! Welcome to the Autumn edition of The 4B Flight! Due to the flight's immense popularity back in April, we decided to serve up another round of episodes! Encore Series: 02.02.02 Vertical Epic Ale Today, we're going back in time to 2002 with Stone Brewing Co.'s Encore series of their Vertical Epic Ale 02.02.02. This beer was widely considered to be a whale up until about 2013, with prices for a single bottle reaching $1500+. Since many of the newer beer geeks of late never got to try the now 14 year old original brew when it was fresh, Stone decided to brew it again. What a great idea! Thanks, Stone! You're the best! Tune in tomorrow for the next beer in The 4B Flight! BREW THE SHIT OUT OF IT. Beer from today's episode: Stone Brewing Co. – 20th Anniversary Encore Series: 02.02.02 Vertical Epic Ale Direct audio: MP3 Subscribe: iTunes: Audio / Video RSS: Audio / Video Google Play Music Stitcher YouTube (Videos) Support the show: Patreon PayPal 4B Social Media: Facebook Twitter Instagram tumblr Flickr Snapchat Email 4B: [email protected] 4B Theme Song: The Sleeping Sea King

Season 3, Episode 40 – This week, we're blind ranking 13 different gueuze-style beers. The gueuze showdown was inevitable, really. I mean, IPA, stout, and pilsner showdowns are all good and well, but a gueuze showdown is really hard to pull off. Since "sour beers" have been all the rage for the last ten years or so (at least from our limited perspective), it seemed natural to put on our big-boy pants and get to the real deal: gueuze-style beer and lambic. The Gueuze Showdown As always, this showdown is by no means a definitive list or ranking. Many beers were left out of this showdown simply because we couldn't get them. Gueuze is a tough style to nail for many breweries and blenderies, as is evident in this showdown. Making a great gueuze is tough, and they're equally hard to acquire. We tried to get as many quality gueuze-style beers as we could find, so don't get butt-hurt because we didn't include your favorite. It should also be noted that John was the proctor for this showdown. He served up the beers and participated in the ranking, but the final scores on this showdown do not take his scores into account, since he knew what the beers were upon evaluation. Here are the beers that we sampled in the showdown, listed in the order they were served: Beer #1 – Brouwerij Lindemans – Oude Gueuze Cuvée René Beer #2 – Brouwerij Boon – Oude Geuze Boon Black Label Beer #3 – Gueuzerie Tilquin – Oude Gueuze Tilquin à L'Ancienne Beer #4 – Brewery John Martin & Brewery Timmermans – Timmermans Oude Gueuze Beer #5 – Brasserie Cantillon – Gueuze 100% Lambic Bio Beer #6 – Hanssens Artisanaal – Oude Gueuze Beer #7 – The Bruery – Rueuze Beer #8 – Brouwerij Boon – Oude Geuze Beer #9 – Mikkeller – Hues Beer #10 – Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen – Oude Geuze Beer #11 – Brouwerij Girardin – Gueuze 1882 (Black Label) Beer #12 – Brouwerij Van Honsebrouck – St. Louis Gueuze Fond Tradition Beer #13 – The Lost Abbey – Duck Duck Gooze (2016) Results and rankings: #13 Brouwerij Van Honsebrouck – St. Louis Gueuze Fond Tradition Average Score: 31.67 Brouwerij Van Honsebrouck – St. Louis Gueuze Fond Tradition This is a gueuze that seems to be readily available in most mid to high-end bottle shops. For myself (John), it's one of the first of the style that I got my hands on. Unfortunately, we thought this beer was the worst of the group, with very prominent notes of acetone. #12 Mikkeller – Hues Average Score: 40.67 Mikkeller – Hues This beer was weird. It was the darkest of the group. It came off with really big caramel notes, similar to something like an amber ale or stout, but it was also sour. While sour stouts and amber ales are totally a thing, this beer just came off, well, gross. Overall, it was an awkward experience for all but Greg, who gave it a 70 for some reason… #11 Brasserie Cantillon – Gueuze 100% Lambic Bio Average Score: 41.67 Brasserie Cantillon – Gueuze 100% Lambic Bio It goes without saying that it's both surprising and disappointing that Cantillon ranked so low. The acetone notes were really distracting and the beer came off as very one-note. It also displayed acetic characteristics on the nose that John picked up. We truly think that this was either a bad bottle or bad batch because Cantillon usually never fails to deliver quality gueuze. #10 Hanssens Artisanaal – Oude Gueuze Average Score: 61.00 Hanssens Artisanaal – Oude Gueuze This is one of the more recognizable brands of gueuze that one can find. While Hanssens hit the target with this beer's acidic notes, the solvent-like nose and lack of a funky backbone drove this beer to the bottom half of the list. #9 Brewery John Martin & Brewery Timmermans – Timmermans Oude Gueuze Average Score: 64.33 Brewery John Martin & Brewery Timmermans – Timmermans Oude Gueuze This beer was super-tart, and was described by Nagel as a "funky, Sour Warhead [candy]". Notes of honey and soil were prominent, and while everyone else gave this beer lower scores, John really seemed to like it and gave it a 78. #8 Gueuzerie Tilquin – Oude Gueuze Tilquin à L'Ancienne Average Score: 70.67 Gueuzerie Tilquin – Oude Gueuze Tilquin à L'Ancienne For us, Tilquin Gueuze is one of the harder to find beers of the group. While the beer was fairly complex, displaying notes of hay, grass, funk, and oak, it was also a bit aggressive in those areas. Matt noted that it smelled like acetone, and Jason though it smelled like an old log. It brought the sour and funk, but the other aspects of the beer were too distracting. #7 Brouwerij Boon – Oude Geuze Boon Black Label Average Score: 73.00 Brouwerij Boon – Oude Geuze Boon Black Label Middle of the road. That's what this beer is. While it was a bit watery and underwhelming, it wasn't a total let down. Jason didn't want to take points away for its subtleness, but in the end it just didn't hit all the right notes. #6 The Bruery – Rueuze Average Score: 75.67 The Bruery – Rueuze This beer was immediately pointed out as an American interpretation of gueuze. Notes of vanilla

Season 3, Episode 39 – We're back in the studio this week, and we're drinking some excellent beers from Chicagoland breweries! Fresh off of our epic road trip to Sacramento for the California Craft Beer Summit, Jason was greeted with a box o' brew from Four Brewers listener and Patreon Supporter, Max Peltier. Max originally wanted to send us some brew for Cheap Beer Corner, which he did (thanks!), but decided to balance things out with what turned out to be some really, really tasty craft beers. Beers from Chicago! The beers on the show this week range from farmhouse ales to double IPA. The mix of styles made for a refreshing tasting session, and since it was the first episode of session 42, it was welcomed. We can't thank Max enough for the brews and the support on Patreon! BREW THE SHIT OUT OF IT. Beers from this week's episode: Central State Brewery – House Beer Transient Artisan Ales – Ardent Illuminated Brew Works – ED's Legs Off Color Brewing – Whiskers Pipeworks Brewing Company – Mandarin Dragonet Perrin Brewing Co. – No Rules Vietnamese Porter (2016) Direct audio: MP3 Subscribe: iTunes: Audio / Video RSS: Audio / Video Google Play Music Stitcher YouTube (Videos) Support the show: Patreon PayPal 4B Social Media: Facebook Twitter Instagram tumblr Flickr Snapchat Email 4B: [email protected] 4B Theme Song: The Sleeping Sea King

Season 3, Episode 38 – This week, we're on the floor of the expo at the California Craft Beer Summit in Sacramento, California, talking to some rad beer industry peeps. This week's post was written in collaboration with the lovely Yvonne England. Hey y'all! Guess that we did?! We went to Sacramento! (Have you watched our road trip video yet?) Make Beer Clear Again… This week, we went to the California Craft Beer Summit and had the opportunity to talk to a bunch of amazing beer people on the floor of the event. There were so many great breweries and beer peeps in attendance. We couldn't talk to them all, but we know you'll love the folks we did get! First on the list was Miss Franny FullPint, of The Full Pint. She's also the Executive Director of the Los Angeles County Brewers Guild (Get. It. Girl!). She's badass. Just know that. Then we dropped acid…knowledge with Jeffers Richardson, of Firestone Walker Barrelworks, and learned what the hell Titratable Acidity is. Yeah, that's a thing, and Jeffers explains it. We then interviewed Brandon Hernández, Chief Marketing Officer at Societe Brewing Company and Editor at Large of West Coaster Magazine, not to be confused with West Coasters Magazine, the best roller coaster review you'll ever read! Patrick Rue of The Bruery and Henry Nguyen of Monkish Brewing Company Next you hear us with Patrick Rue, from The Bruery. Our SoCal duders will know this fine gentleman from his tiny little start-up in the OC. Just kidding! It's one of the fastest growing breweries around…AND our own Matt Becker used to brew there! Natalie Cilurzo, President of Russian River Brewing Company, also graced us with an interview. It was so dope! She was dope! Get ready for dopeness! (b-t dubs, the Russian River sour pilsner that was on tap at the festival was DOPE. SO. MUCH. DOPENESS.) Finally, we interviewed the wonderfully brilliant and knowledgable Julia Herz, of the Brewers Association. Julia knows her shit when it comes to the brewing industry, and also knows a thing or two about pairing beer with food. She even wrote a book about it! Beer Geeks! We had a blast at the California Craft Beer Summit. Like, for real. The expo was great and the fest on Saturday was well run with many spectacular California breweries pouring their brews. It was also really cool being literally down the street from the California State Capitol, drinking California craft brews! It was a fun road trip, followed by fun times with awesome beer people. We hope you enjoy these interviews as much as we did. We lived. We learned. We talked beer. We drank beer! BREW THE SHIT OUT OF IT, CALIFORNIA. Direct audio: MP3 Subscribe: iTunes: Audio / Video RSS: Audio / Video Google Play Music Stitcher YouTube (Videos) Support the show: Patreon PayPal 4B Social Media: Facebook Twitter Instagram tumblr Flickr Snapchat Email 4B: [email protected] 4B Theme Song: The Sleeping Sea King

Season 3, Episode 37 – This week, we're heading up to the California Craft Beer Summit and making a few stops along the way. The 2016 California Craft Beer Summit is upon us! But, before get into the nitty gritty of the event, we're driving up to Sacramento and making some stops along the way to pick up some beers from California breweries that we normally wouldn't have access to. Erin Peters from The Beer Goddess also joins us in our makeshift hotel room studio in beautiful downtown Sacramento, California. Beers from California California is the largest state in the United States of America, and is home to approximately 600 breweries. According to the Brewers Association, approximately 95% of beer brewed in California in 2015 was sold in California. That's a lot of beer, and the Brewers Association says there's still room for more breweries. That's pretty exciting. The beers on the show this week cover a pretty large swath of California. We made stops in Bakersfield at Lengthwise Brewing Company, Fresno at Tioga-Sequoia Craft Brewery, and Turlock at Dust Bowl Brewery. While these breweries are all geographically in California, the beers they brew are unique to their respective markets, making for a deliciously diverse group of beers for this week's show. It should be noted that we kicked off the show this week with Union Craft Brewing's Old Pro gose, which was sent to us by Four Brewers listener Jason Evans. We meant to include it on our gose show, but it got lost in the mix. Sorry about that, Jason! The beer was great! Also, be on the lookout on our YouTube channel for the the vlog we made documenting the trip up! BREW THE SHIT OUT OF IT, CALIFORNIA. Beers from this week's episode: Union Craft Brewing – Old Pro Lengthwise Brewing Company – Citra Simcoe Centennial Tioga-Sequoia Brewing Co. – DDH (Double Dry Hopped) Gen. Sherman IPA Tioga-Sequoia Brewing Co. – Catacomb Brew (Apricot Saison) Dust Bowl Brewing Company – Simcoe Lager Dust Bowl Brewing Company – Hops of Wrath IPA Tioga-Sequoia Brewing Co. – Sierra Dark SKY "Barrel Aged Quad" Direct audio: MP3 Subscribe: iTunes: Audio / Video RSS: Audio / Video Google Play Music Stitcher YouTube (Videos) Support the show: Patreon PayPal 4B Social Media: Facebook Twitter Instagram tumblr Flickr Snapchat Email 4B: [email protected] 4B Theme Song: The Sleeping Sea King

Season 3, Episode 36 – This week, beers from Side Project, 2nd Shift, New Glarus, and more! This week on the show, we're drinking beers from Four Brewers listener Andy Richter. Andy originally asked us for a bottle of The Bruery's Imperial Cabinet to trade for something local to him. John, being the awesome and giving individual that he is, told Andy that he'd send him a bottle for "free" (no trade required) just because that's how John is (Did I mentionwe, mention that John is the shiz?!). In return, Andy sent a plethora of awesome midwest beers. Now, we're drinking 'em! Season 3, Episode 36 Beers Big thanks to Andy for the beers! They were all pretty big gets for us, and while Side Projectand 2nd Shift Brewing were clearly on top, a standard like Spotted Cow from New Glarusalso got us pretty amped up. BREW THE SHIT OUT OF IT. Beers from this week's episode: New Glarus Brewing Company – Spotted Cow Urban Chestnut Brewing Company – Zwickel 4 Hands Brewing Co. – Constellation: Falconers Flight 4 Hands Brewing Co. – Incarnation IPA 2nd Shift Brewing – Katy 2nd Shift Brewing – Mullineaux Side Project Brewing – Saison du Fermier (Batch 3) Direct audio: MP3 Subscribe: iTunes: Audio / Video RSS: Audio / Video Google Play Music Stitcher YouTube (Videos) Support the show: Patreon PayPal 4B Social Media: Facebook Twitter Instagram tumblr Flickr Snapchat Email 4B: [email protected] 4B Theme Song: The Sleeping Sea King

Season 3, Episode 35 – Jason's got Mirkwood. Another week, another awesome homebrew from Jason. We could get used to this! He's on a bit of a roll actually, honing his skills on newly upgraded brewing setup and making his versions of New England IPA. His latest brew turned out to be a session IPA. Damn mash efficiency! But, before we get to the homebrew, we've got some cans fresh off the line from Almanac Beer Company, and four questions in the 4B Mailbag. Beers from Almanac and Modern Times Yeast is THE most important component of beer. Well, fermentables for the yeast to consume are also important, but, yeast is priority one. Poor yeast health and viability can completely ruin an otherwise great beer. Three of the four questions in the mailbag pertain to yeast, two of which are specific to lager yeast. The topic of yeast leads right into Jason's latest beer, his New England session (accidental) IPA called, Mirkwood. The brewday for this beer went relatively well, outside of Jason's poor wort efficiency. We get into why that may have been, how to fix it, and how important mineral additions are to the finished brew. Jason's mash pH was also a bit on the low side, around 4.7, (normally, most homebrewers experience pH readings that are too high, which is easy to fix in most cases) and we discuss how to raise it using said mineral additions. We finish up with the latest "juicy" release from Modern Times Beer, Attack Frequency. Opinions about this beer are mixed among the group, but all agree that Jason's brew definitely killed in comparison to this beer. Jason-1, Modem Tones-0. That's our boy! Link from the 4B Mailbag: Brülosophy – LAGER METHOD BREW THE SHIT OUT OF IT. Beers from this week's episode: Almanac Beer Company – Almanac IPA Almanac Beer Company – Saison Dolores Wrath Brewing (homebrew) – Mirkwood Modern Times Beer – Attack Frequency Direct audio: MP3 Subscribe: iTunes: Audio / Video RSS: Audio / Video Google Play Music Stitcher YouTube (Videos) Support the show: Patreon PayPal 4B Social Media: Facebook Twitter Instagram tumblr Flickr Snapchat Email 4B: [email protected] 4B Theme Song: The Sleeping Sea King

Season 3, Episode 34 – This week, we head to Canada via Aaron Champion of Cask Ale LA and drink four excellent craft beers from The Great White North. This week on the show, we're joined by our good friend and fellow beer blogger, Aaron Champion, and he brought us some really interesting and delicious craft beer from his recent trip to Canada. Up until around five or so years ago, Canadian craft beer wasn't really anything anyone would bat an eye at. A lot of breweries were brewing what was widely thought of as "safe" beers, meaning that they stuck to brewing traditional mainstays in beer. This was obviously not the case with every brewery in Canada, but it was tough to think of more than a few Canadian breweries that were making anything really exciting, different, or even experimental. The beers on the show this week exemplify how the Canadian beer scene is evolving and creating some really awesome beers that Canadians local to these breweries can more easily find. Canadian Craft Beers The breweries featured on the show this week are Bellwoods Brewery, Nickel Brook Brewery, Folly Brewpub, and Halo Brewery. Halo Brewery, from Toronto, Ontario, is taking a unique approach to their business model by, in a way, open-sourcing their beer recipes. As homebrewers, this is very exciting and cool, especially if you're a fan of Halo's beers and want to brew them yourself. Doing something like this is great for a newly emerging scene. It encourages homebrewers to take more risk and do different things with their homebrew, while at the same time encouraging other breweries to take some cues on recipe design and brewing process. It's a win for everyone! Big thanks to Aaron for coming down to our neck of the woods to share these beers. His blog, Cask Ale LA, not only focuses on when and where one can find cask ale in Los Angeles, but also the craft beer scene as a whole. He's only been in The States since 2013, but he's already a respected member of the beer scene in Los Angeles and Southern California. BREW THE SHIT OUT OF IT, EH. Beers from this week's episode: Halo Brewery – Day Star Folly Brewpub – Imposter Syndrome Bellwoods Brewery – Motley Cru (2016) Nickel Brook Brewing Co. – Kentucky Bastard Imperial Stout Direct audio: MP3 Subscribe: iTunes: Audio / Video RSS: Audio / Video Google Play Music Stitcher YouTube (Videos) Support the show: Patreon PayPal 4B Social Media: Facebook Twitter Instagram tumblr Flickr Snapchat Email 4B: [email protected] 4B Theme Song: The Sleeping Sea King

Season 3, Episode 33 – This week, we take a ride on the goser coaster and sample nine gose style beers. Last week's show was pretty epic. We decided the best way to recover from the incredibly awesome 24 beer pilsner showdown was to relax with some easy-drinking gose style beers from breweries around the world. Gose is a style of beer that's usually low alcohol, a bit on the tart side, and made with salt to give it a dry, brackish feel (get into the finer details of the style here). While on paper this sounds like a disaster of a beer, it's actually pretty damn refreshing. There's a surprising variety of gose available to us in the southern California market, so we decided to go for it. Gose Beer The thing with gose is that some breweries want to "amp up" the style and add fruit to the beer to give it an even more refreshing and easy-drinking twist. This works sometimes, but adding more stuff to an otherwise shitty base beer makes for an even shittier beer. Kettle souring has become quite popular as of late and while it's efficient and cuts down on risking brewhouse infection, some breweries don't put in the proper care during the process to insure a well made kettle sour. Other breweries go the more traditional route and add bacteria to sour the wort after it has been brewed, or after primary fermentation. The beers on this week's episode pretty much cover the gamut. We also answer a few questions from The Mailbag and reflect on life with some user-submitted 4B haikus. BREW THE SHIT OUT OF IT. Beers from this week's episode: Almanac Beer Company – Golden Gate Gose Saint Archer Brewing Company – Blackberry Gose Freigeist Bierkultur Collaboration with Stillwater Artisanal Ales – Atlantis Gose Anderson Valley Brewing Company – Briney Melon Gose Uinta Brewing Company – Ready Set Gose Boulevard Brewing Co. – Hibiscus Gose To ØL – Gose To Hollywood Bayerischer Bahnhof Gasthaus & Gosebrauerei – Leipziger Gose Freigeist Bierkultur – Geisterzug Gose Rhubarb Direct audio: MP3 Subscribe: iTunes: Audio / Video RSS: Audio / Video Google Play Music Stitcher YouTube (Videos) Support the show: Patreon PayPal 4B Social Media: Facebook Twitter Instagram tumblr Flickr Snapchat Email 4B: [email protected] 4B Theme Song: The Sleeping Sea King

Season 3, Episode 32 – This week, we're drinking a brewer's dozen of pilsner and ranking them, like you do. Another 4B Showdown coming at you, this time it's the Pilsner Showdown 2.0. You might be asking yourself – what happened to the pilsner showdown 1.0? Well we might be asking you to mind your own god damned business. We might also be overcompensating for the fact that we recorded an entire 16 beer showdown that we got so mixed up on which beer number we were on that it ended up incomprehensible. So we did it again. We did it bigger. We did it better. We did it stronger. 16 beers? Not for our fans. We did 24 god damned beers. In a row. And we ranked them. Not in a row. Appropriately for their deliciousness. Or, skunkiness. The Pilsner Showdown On that note, we need to preface this by saying that some of the beers in our showdown obviously suffered from age and packaging woes. While we wish this wasn't the case, it's also the realistic experience of buying these beers on the shelf. So get your shit together, breweries with green bottles. Especially if you don't put dates on your bottles. #24 Warsteiner – Warsteiner Premium Verum / German Pilsener Average Score: 36.00 Warsteiner – Warsteiner Premium Verum / German Pilsener Of all the German beers in the mix, Warsteiner fared the worst. In fact, it fared the worst of the whole showdown. The nose immediately put everyone off. Gym sock, fusel….none of the aroma notes have won anyone over. Drinking it, we were equally nonplussed. Flavor notes included such illustrious comments as "potting soil". Being the off flavor patient zero for a funk we'd never experienced before led to incredibly low marks, putting Warsteiner Pils in last place. #23 Plzeňský Prazdroj – Pilsner Urquell Average Score: 48.00 Plzeňský Prazdroj – Pilsner Urquell A reference pilsner entered the showdown, and thankfully wasn't in a green bottle. We thought it looked great, like a bar of GOLD!! Smelling it, we caught diacytel. While that's to style when it's "restrained" we thought it was not restrained at all and it really put us off the beer. Matt successfully nailed it and called the beer, but the off flavors put the whole group off enough to rank it one of the lowest in the showdown. #22 Trumer – Trumer Pils Average Score: 54.50 Trumer – Trumer Pils Trumer Pils is a heavy hitter in CA, but failed to impress us with a chill haze and a lack of head retention. At the aroma section of the review, Jason was taken aback by the skunky aroma. As a group we've had this beer and enjoyed it before (including in Pilsner show 1.0) but ultimately the skunky conditions did it in. This beer was probably a victim of being in a green bottle. #21 North Coast Brewing Company – Scrimshaw Pilsner Average Score: 60.00 North Coast Brewing Company – Scrimshaw Pilsner An old school stalwart of the California craft beer scene enters the fray. This one had great clarity, but not great head retention. The color was dark – we thought it might be one of the Czech beers because it was so dark. The nose let out notes of dog, and leather – not what we wanted out of a pilsner. Tasting it, we got ATHP, mousiness, and John thought it wasn't even a pilsner at all. While we thought the beer was OK, the off flavors and lack of pilsner characteristics led us to call it a non-buy and put it near the bottom of the field. #20 Speakeasy Ales & Lagers – Pop Gun Pilsner Average Score: 61.75 Speakeasy Ales & Lagers – Pop Gun Pilsner A newcomer to the pils scene, Speakeasy out of San Francisco has recently started canning their Pop Gun Pils. The beer had a nice head, but the appearance was best described as "dishwater". The nose divided the group – Jason got soap, Greg got diacytel, and John thought it smelled pretty good! But drinking it we all caught on off flavor we didn't like. The mouthfeel was off, the bitterness was muted, the malt character was too high and overall we didn't find it to be a great pils. #19 Pivovary Staropramen – Staropramen Premium / Ležák Average Score: 62.00 Pivovary Staropramen – Staropramen Premium In a showdown of similar beers, Staropramen makes itself known. It's noticably darker and maltier than the rest, bordering on a Vienna Lager or a Marzen. While we mostly liked the beer, it's breaking from the pilsner style combined with being sort of ho hum and not hitting the main pilsner notes, led us to give it lower marks than some of the competition in this style showdown. #18 Budějovický Budvar – Budweiser Budvar B:ORIGINAL / Czechvar B:ORIGINAL Average Score: 63.25 Budějovický Budvar – Budweiser Budvar B:ORIGINAL / Czechvar B:ORIGINAL The famous Czechvar, which is the "real" Budweiser that you can only get in the Czech Republic! This one impressed with clarity, but had a thin head that didn't linger. The nose could only described as "That sweet skunky stuff" which cost the beer points. Drinking it, it had remnants of a good beer but faltered under massive levels of skunk. Another victim of the green bottle c

Season 3, Episode 31 – This week, we're hanging out with Nichole Richardson, aka Tasting Nitch, all the way from France! This week on the show, we're going to Paris, France (via Google Hangouts, of course) to drink some beer with fellow YouTuber and blogger, Nichole Richardson, or as she's more widely known, Tasting Nitch. Nichole Richardson, aka Tasting Nitch Today's episode really isn't about the beer more than about Nichole and the beer scene in Europe and France, as well as beer trends in the United States. We also talk about beer reviewers on YouTube, beer blogs, and podcasts. This Week's Beers Nichole has been on YouTube for quite a while. She makes videos about beer news, beer reviews, drinking morning beer and commentary on beer trends and such. We highly recommend checking her YouTube channel out. You can also check out the video of the unedited Hangout with Nitch, if that's something you would like to watch. Big thanks to Nichole for hanging out with us. Definitely keep a look out for her on future episodes of Four Brewers. BREW THE SHIT OUT OF IT. Beers from this week's episode: Brasseries Kronenbourg – 1664 Brasseries Kronenbourg – 1664 Blanc Brasserie Saint Sylvestre – Gavroche Bayerische Staatsbrauerei Weihenstephan – Weihenstephaner 1516 Direct audio: MP3 Subscribe: iTunes: Audio / Video RSS: Audio / Video Google Play Music Stitcher YouTube (Videos) Support the show: Patreon PayPal 4B Social Media: Facebook Twitter Instagram tumblr Flickr Snapchat Email 4B: [email protected] 4B Theme Song: The Sleeping Sea King

Season 3, Episode 30 – This week, we're discussing hoppy brew, Saison, and brewery collaborations with Tomme Arthur of The Lost Abbey / Port Brewing. The Lost Abbey is probably one of the best Belgian-style breweries in the world, creating some of the best saison, wild ale, and barrel-aged beer that money can buy. Today on the show, we're joined by The Lost Abbey's (also, Port Brewing Company and The Hop Concept) Head of Brewery Operations, Tomme Arthur. The beers on the show this week represent some of the best qualities of the craft beer movement, from the two collaboration beers that The Lost Abbey brewed with Wicked Weed Brewing and Brasserie Dupont, to the experimental fresh and hoppy Mosaic & Eureka IPA from The Hop Concept. This Week's Beers The Lost Abbey, Port Brewing Company, and The Hop Concept beers all come from the brewhouse within The Lost Abbey. It can be a bit confusing when referring to three different breweries that are technically located under the same roof, but there's a reason why it's done this way, which Tomme gets into during the show. The beers that come from these three brands allow the brewery to experiment in different ways without confusing or overloading the consumer. Wouldn't it be weird if The Lost Abbey made a dank-bomb IPA? Yes, it would be. You can't really find a bad beer from any of these three brands. Their diversity exemplifies the knowledge and creativity of everyone involved with producing their beer. Four Brewers with Tomme Arthur Recording an episode at Port / Lost Abbey / THC was one of the raddest things we've ever been able to do as a show. Much thanks to Tomme and the team for putting this show together! More photos from our visit to Port Brewing / The Lost Abbey can be seen here. BREW THE SHIT OUT OF IT. Beers from this week's episode: The Hop Concept – Mosaic & Eureka The Lost Abbey – Brett Devo The Lost Abbey / Wicked Weed Brewing – Ad Idem The Lost Abbey – Carnivale The Lost Abbey / Brasserie Dupont – Deux Amis Direct audio: MP3 Subscribe: iTunes: Audio / Video RSS: Audio / Video Google Play Music Stitcher YouTube (Videos) Support the show: Patreon PayPal 4B Social Media: Facebook Twitter Instagram tumblr Flickr Snapchat Email 4B: [email protected] 4B Theme Song: The Sleeping Sea King

Season 3, Episode 29 – This week on the show, we're hanging out at Mikkeller Brewing Company in San Diego, California with Head Brewer Bill Batten and Barrel whisperer Daniel Cady. World renowned gypsy brewer, Mikkel Borg Bjergsø, recently opened a new brewery right here in the United States. Mikkeller is probably one of the best-known gypsy breweries out there, brewing stellar barrel-aged stouts, wild ales, IPA, and more. Opening a permanent brewery in SoCal is pretty huge, not only for Mikeller Brewing Company, but also for beer geeks in the United States. Mikkeller Brewing Company, San Diego Opening a brewery in California is no easy task, which is why Mikkel decided to join forces with San Diego's AleSmith Brewing Company. In fact, Mikkeller Brewing Company is actually in AleSmith's former brewery, and they even retained AleSmith's former Head Brewer, Bill Batten. (AleSmith recently opened a brand new brewery minutes from Mikkeller Brewing, so you should check that out, too). Greg, Jason and Matt with Bill Batten and Daniel Cady (l to r). Bill and Daniel sat down with us to talk about the origins of Mikkeller Brewing San Diego and shared some of the freshest Mikkeller beer we've every had, brewed right here in California. Needless to say, but expect exciting things from Mikkeller Brewing in San Diego. The beers we had on the show were quite delicious, and the brewery has been open for only three months as of the recording of this podcast. We're pretty excited for Mikkeller Brewing Company San Diego, and you should be, too. More photos from our visit to Mikkeller Brewing Company, San Diego can be seen here. BREW THE SHIT OUT OF IT. Beers from this week's episode: Mikkeller Brewing San Diego – Beer Geek Breakfast Mikkeller Brewing San Diego – California Dream Mikkeller Brewing San Diego – Berliner Weisse Mikkeller Brewing San Diego – Beer Geek Brunch With Single Coffee Mikkeller Brewing San Diego – Amøbe Direct audio: MP3 Subscribe: iTunes: Audio / Video RSS: Audio / Video Google Play Music Stitcher YouTube (Videos) Support the show: Patreon PayPal 4B Social Media: Facebook Twitter Instagram tumblr Flickr Snapchat Email 4B: [email protected] 4B Theme Song: The Sleeping Sea King

Season 3, Episode 28 – This week, beers from Bruery Terreux. This week on the show, we're drinking eight beers from Bruery Terreux in celebration of The Bruery opening a second tasting room in Anaheim, California on July 8, 2016! Beer from Bruery Terreux For those not in the know, Bruery Terreux is what The Bruery is branding their sour, funky, and wild line of beers. The beers are all brewed at The Bruery's brewery, but the wort that is destined to become a Terreux beer is shipped over to the Terreux facility where it's fermented, inoculated, barreled, etc. This keeps bacteria and bugs away from The Bruery's "clean" (non-wild, Saccharomyces fermented) beers. Greg wrote an article about the opening of Terreux: Check it out! The beers on the show this week represent a fairly wide range of what Bruery Terreux is doing. While they're not all hits, they represent what The Bruery and Bruery Terreux is all about: pushing the boundaries and running wild (pun intended) with creativity. BREW THE SHIT OUT OF IT. Beers from this week's episode: Bruery Terreux – Prairie Rue Bruery Terreux – Confession (2015) Bruery Terreux – Tonnellerie Rue Bruery Terreux – Humulus Terreux Bruery Terreux – Souren Bruery Terreux – Oude Tart (2015) The Bruery – Oude Tart (2012) Bruery Terreux – Cinnamonk Direct audio: MP3 Subscribe: iTunes: Audio / Video RSS: Audio / Video Google Play Music Stitcher YouTube (Videos) Support the show: Patreon PayPal 4B Social Media: Facebook Twitter Instagram tumblr Flickr Snapchat Email 4B: [email protected] 4B Theme Song: The Sleeping Sea King

Season 3, Episode 27 – This week, beers from AleSmith Brewing Company and Bottle Logic Brewing. Happy Independence Day! This week, we're keeping the blog post short and sweet. There are vegan hamburgers to be grilled and beers to be drank. This week, we're drinking some pretty hefty beers from Founders, AleSmith, and Bottle Logic. Before we get too deep into it, we're gonna start with a trip inside the 4B Mailbag with some Founders Backwoods Bastard. Speaking of which, we're asking for your beer haikus. Feeling creative? Send us yours at [email protected]. Founders, AleSmith, and Bottle Logic Brewing Next up are three beers that really showcase what's going on in the SoCal beer scene. AleSmith Brewing Company's Private Stock Ale and Mexican Speedway Stout are first up. Private Stock Ale is an Old Ale that was made for aging. AleSmith even encourages you to do this. Why? Because, man, IS IT HOT! So much booze on this beer, it's crazy! But, that's by design. AleSmith knows what they're doing and when they tell you to age this beer, you should. Buy a few bottles and open them over the course of five or six years. The booziness should mellow out over time, allowing the beer to really shine. Drink a bottle fresh as a baseline for comparison and then another in a year or two. Hell, buy a case and really geek out with cellaring… AleSmith makes killer stout—probably the best in the world, according to certain folks. Speedway Stout is a classic coffee stout that lends itself well to barrel aging. This version, Mexican Speedway Stout, is a blend of fresh Speedway Stout and tequila barrel-aged Speedway Stout with cinnamon, Mexican coffee and Mexican Chocolate. The balanced of these particular ingredients in beer is critical, and AleSmith nails it—this beer is fantastic. Bottle Logic Brewing – Fundamental Observation We end the show with a beer that needs no introduction, Bottle Logic Brewing's Fundamental Observation. This beer is the whale-iest of SoCal whales. It's a fantastic blend of barrel aged stout that literally smells like alcohol infused brownies. While drinking this beer, we talk about beer geeks and beer culture in general and how the scene has changed over that last five years or so. Spoiler: John goes on a rant… BREW THE SHIT OUT OF IT. Beers from this week's episode: Founders Brewing Company – Backwoods Bastard AleSmith Brewing Company – Private Stock Ale AleSmith Brewing Company – Mexican Speedway Stout Bottle Logic Brewing – Fundamental Observation (2016) Direct audio: MP3 Subscribe: iTunes: Audio / Video RSS: Audio / Video Google Play Music Stitcher YouTube (Videos) Support the show: Patreon PayPal 4B Social Media: Facebook Twitter Instagram tumblr Flickr Snapchat Email 4B: [email protected] 4B Theme Song: The Sleeping Sea King

Season 3, Episode 26 – This week, the Fat Tire & Friends "collabeeration riff pack" and Going In Blind with Nagel. As you may remember, a few weeks ago we sampled the Sierra Nevada collaboration Beer Camp 12-pack. We were marginally dissatisfied with most of the beers. It's not that the beers outright sucked (there were a couple wins), but they just weren't noteworthy. This week, we decided to try another collaboration mixer. New Belgium's take on their collaboration "riff pack" differed from Sierra Nevada's Beer Camp in that every beer is a take (riff, if you will) on New Belgium's classic Fat Tire Amber Ale. This should be interesting… New Belgium Collabeeration Riff Pack Fat Tire is a well known beer. Its classic label, depicting red "retro" bicycle, can be spotted from a mile away (well, maybe not a mile…10 feet?). It's safe to assume that even the most experienced beer geek among us has tasted Fat Tire at least once. Fat Tire is ubiquitous, but it also tends to get overlooked by beer geeks in search of something more, whatever that may be. To celebrate their 25th anniversary, New Belgium called upon their closest beer industry buds to take the classic Fat Tire recipe and mix it up. Maybe change the yeast, add MOAR HOPS, or throw in some apple juice? Rhinegeist, Firestone Walker, Allagash, Avery, and Hopworks all participated in the collaboration. Each beer in the Riff Pack is a unique take on Fat Tire. Did the beers exceed our expectations? Did New Belgium play it safe or did they really try to brew outside the box and make an interesting group of beers? Listen and find out! BREW THE SHIT OUT OF IT. Beers from this week's episode: New Belgium Brewing Company – Fat Tire New Belgium w/ Rhinegeist Brewery – Fat Pale Ale New Belgium w/ Firestone Walker Brewing Company – Fat Hoppy Ale New Belgium w/ Allagash Brewing Company – Fat Funk Ale New Belgium w/ Avery Brewing Co. – Fat Wild Ale New Belgium w/ Hopworks Urban Brewery – Fat Sour Apple Ale Direct audio: MP3 Subscribe: iTunes: Audio / Video RSS: Audio / Video Google Play Music Stitcher YouTube (Videos) Support the show: Patreon PayPal 4B Social Media: Facebook Twitter Instagram tumblr Flickr Snapchat Email 4B: [email protected] Leave us a voicemail: (213) 316-8699

Season 3, Episode 25 – It's L.A. Beer Week! Let's drink some beer from Los Angeles breweries. L.A. Beer Week is upon us! This yearly celebration of Los Angeles beer, bars, breweries, homebrewers, restaurants, eateries, food trucks, and beer drinkers has evolved into one of the best celebrations of beer culture in southern California. From Long Beach to Pomona to Gorman, the expansive and densely populated county of Los Angeles has become a destination for beer geeks far and wide. Today, we celebrate L.A. beer by drinking eight beers from L.A. breweries. The Crowd at the 2016 LA Beer Week Kickoff – #LABW8 The 2016 #LABW8 Kickoff Festival was Saturday, June 18, and it was pretty amazing. Not only were Los Angeles breweries pouring, but breweries from Orange County, the Inland Empire, San Diego County, and even the Bay area and beyond were participating in the action. There were so many awesome breweries, and they brought their A-game. Fundamental Observation from Bottle Logic Brewing was "secretly" being poured, Beachwood Blendery brought bottles from their Propagation series of wild and farmhouse inspired ales, while newer breweries like Mumford Brewing impressed folks with their hoppy and juicy IPA. The entertainment was spot on, the lines were short for the most part, and the event overall was very well organized. Props to the Los Angeles County Brewers Guild for organizing such an awesome event! Los Angeles Breweries L.A. Beer Week is this week! So many events are happening all over southern California that you'd be hard pressed to not find something that's happening in your neck of the woods. A full listing of everything that's going down this week can be found at the L.A. Beer Week website, or by downloading the DoStuff app [iOS | Android] and searching for "LA Beer Week". We'll see you around and cheers to Los Angeles beer! BREW THE SHIT OUT OF IT, LOS ANGELES. Beers from this week's episode: King Harbor Brewing Company – The Swirly Phantom Carriage Brewery – Muis Beachwood Blendery – Propagation No. 128 Highland Park Brewery – Help Yourself Monkish Brewing Company – Days of Underoos Three Weav3rs Brewing Company – Unity 2016 El Segundo Brewing Company – Hop Plunge Smog City Brewing Company – Infinite Wishes (2016) Direct audio: MP3 Subscribe: iTunes: Audio / Video RSS: Audio / Video Google Play Music Stitcher YouTube (Videos) Support the show: Patreon PayPal 4B Social Media: Facebook Twitter Instagram tumblr Flickr Snapchat Email 4B: [email protected] Leave us a voicemail: (213) 316-8699

Season 3, Episode 24 – This week, Jason brewed a Heady Topper clone, and The McNew's brought us beer from Texas. This week, we are joined by homies Jessica and Sean McNew who recently returned from a trip to Texas and brought back some brew for us to try. But first… Can you believe it? Jason finally got back to homebrewing and came out swinging with a Heady Topper clone! We kick off the show with this juicy wonder, and Jason sure did deliver. He paid particular attention to his yeast health and fermentation temperatures, and it really paid off—his beer was great! Lakewood Brewing Next up are three beers from Lakewood Brewing Co. out of Garland, Texas. The Temptressis a really unique Imperial Milk Stout that comes in at around 9% ABV. It's a great beer, so great that Lakewood also brewed a couple variations of it, Sin Mint Temptress and Raspberry Temptress. Again, like The Temptress, these beers are both interesting and delicious. Jester King Brewery We end the show with two beers from one of our favorite Texas breweries, Jester King Brewery. Thanks to Sean and Jessica for the brews, cookies, hanging out…yeah. They rule. BREW THE SHIT OUT OF IT. Beers from this week's episode: Lakewood Brewing Company – The Temptress Lakewood Brewing Company – Sin Mint Temptress Lakewood Brewing Company – Raspberry Temptress Jester King Brewery – Ol' Oi! Jester King Brewery – Funk Metal Direct audio: MP3 Subscribe: iTunes: Audio / Video RSS: Audio / Video Google Play Music Stitcher YouTube (Videos) Support the show: Patreon PayPal 4B Social Media: Facebook Twitter Instagram tumblr Flickr Snapchat Email 4B: [email protected] Leave us a voicemail: (213) 316-8699

Season 3, Episode 23 – This week, we follow suit with all of the other beer podcasts and try the six beers from the Sierra Nevada Beer Camp 12 (six?) pack. This week, we're going to beer camp! Not really, but we're gonna imagine we are by drinking the six beers from this year's Sierra Nevada Brewing Company Beer Camp collaboration variety pack. Sierra Nevada Beer Camp 2016 Our very own Greg Nagel went to Sierra Nevada's Beer Camp. For a while, it was an actual event that select homebrewers from all over the country participated in at Sierra Nevada's brewery in Chico, California. Each team would concoct a recipe and brew it as a pilot batch. Following that and some recipe tweaks, the final recipes would then be brewed at scale by Sierra Nevada for the variety pack. This year, the Beer Camp variety pack is comprised of 12 beers, two bottles from six different regional brewery collaborations. The breweries involved are well known within their local markets, as well as with hardcore beer geeks. Expectations are always high when it comes to big brewery collaborations, and rightly so. Does the Beer Camp variety pack meet expectations? Listen and find out! BREW THE SHIT OUT OF IT. Beers from this week's episode: Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. – Sweet Sunny South Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. – Pat-Rye-Ot Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. – Moxee-Moron Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. – West Latitude Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. – Stout of the Union Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. – Family Values Direct audio: MP3 Subscribe: iTunes: Audio / Video RSS: Audio / Video Google Play Music Stitcher YouTube (Videos) Support the show: Patreon PayPal 4B Social Media: Facebook Twitter Instagram tumblr Flickr Snapchat Email 4B: [email protected] Leave us a voicemail: (213) 316-8699

Season 3, Episode 22 – New Zealand's Garage Project recently became available in our local California bottle shops, so this week we're seeing what the hype is all about…and the hype is real! Before we start the show this week, it should be noted that Matt wasn't able to make it to Session 35 of Four Brewers due to personal affairs, and thus will not be on this episode or the next one. See you at Session 36, Matt! The first time we heard about Garage Project was at the Firestone Walker Invitation Beer Festival. A hyped brewery that came all the way from New Zealand, making insta-whalez that seemingly nobody in the States could get their hands on. Time has passed and the brewery has grown, and we're happy to say that Garage Project is finally distributed in the United States. While awesome, there's a price to pay for these imported brews. Garage Project doesn't skimp on quality, so expect to fork out a little more cash than you normally would for an American craft brewery of the same caliber. Garage Project Beers One thing that should be noted about this week's beers is the freshness of the hoppier brews. Experience with imported IPA and DIPA tells the seasoned craft beer buyer to generally avoid them. Usually, it's a very real case of #HopsSoFaded because the beer doesn't hit shelves at its peak freshness. Garage Project's importer, Craft Imports, seems to be on top of their game, delivering fresh IPA to our local bottle shops in such a timely manner that it tastes like they were bottled last week. This also speaks to the quality of Garage Project brews—they know how to maximize the hoppy freshness we all demand. #ThumbsUp Garage Project/Kyodo Shoji COEDO Brewery/Stone Brewing Collaboration The beers on the show this week range from hoppy, as mentioned above, to strange, but delicious. This week's episode is a strong juxtaposition to last week's in that Garage Project's core is experimenting with unusual ingredients and making creative beers. Garage Project is making interesting beer, and we're stoked to finally have them available in California. BREW THE SHIT OUT OF IT. Beers from this week's episode: Garage Project – Hops On Pointe Garage Project – Venusian Pale Ale Garage Project – Pernicious Weed Garage Project – Tsuyu Saison Garage Project – Umami Monster Direct audio: MP3 Subscribe: iTunes: Audio / Video RSS: Audio / Video Google Play Music Stitcher YouTube (Videos) Support the show: Patreon PayPal 4B Social Media: Facebook Twitter Instagram tumblr Flickr Snapchat Email 4B: [email protected] Leave us a voicemail: (213) 316-8699

Season 3, Episode 21 – This week on the show, 4B listener and super-fan, Mike Kirshner, is at it once again and sent us some really tasty brew from Woodstock, Georgia. Before we start the show this week, it should be noted that Matt wasn't able to make it to Session 35 of Four Brewers due to personal affairs, and thus will not be on this episode or the next two. See you at Session 36, Matt! We begin by reading our (long overdue) thank you list of Four Brewers' supporters and podcast reviewers on iTunes. We haven't read thank-yous since November of 2015, so if you've left a review or supported the show since then, you'll hear your name on this episode! Reformation Brewery Beers Today, we're drinking beers from Woodstock, Georgia's Reformation Brewery. Trends in the craft beer scene over the last decade or so have been what could mildly be described as "experimental" by many, many breweries. On one hand, that's what craft beer is—innovation and experimentation. On the other hand, things can get out of control when it comes to adding ingredients to beer. Reformation's stance is to make quality, classic beer styles, while at the same time throwing their own spin on it. It's certainly a noble approach to beer. (Tap's Fish House, anyone? They're winning medals left and right…) Mike sent us four Reformation beers: Union, Cadence, Atlas, and Stark. These beers basically cover the spectrum of classic craft beer, from Belgian witbier to Porter. These beers were pretty fantastic, overall. Big thanks to Mike for once again hooking us up with some great east coast brew! BREW THE SHIT OUT OF IT. Beers from this week's episode: Reformation Brewery – Union Reformation Brewery – Cadence Reformation Brewery – Atlas Reformation Brewery – Stark Direct audio: MP3 Subscribe: iTunes: Audio / Video RSS: Audio / Video Google Play Music Stitcher YouTube (Videos) Support the show: Patreon PayPal 4B Social Media: Facebook Twitter Instagram tumblr Flickr Snapchat Email 4B: [email protected] Leave us a voicemail: (213) 316-8699

Season 3, Episode 20 – Sour IPA. It's a thing apparently. But is it a good thing? We're gonna find out this week on the show. Sour IPA. I don't know about this. I mean, IPA isn't supposed to be sour. Sure, there are massively over-hopped sour beers out there that are deliciously awesome, but what exactly is a sour IPA? Is it a standard IPA recipe fermented with brettanomyces, or bacteria? It's not that simple, right? WHAT'S HAPPENING?! Not all of the beers on the show this week are sour IPAs. But, we're gonna easy into this. A little bit of foreplay, if you will… Monkish Brewing Co. – Soul Foudre First up is a beer from a brewery that is always a safe bet in terms of quality and execution, Monkish Brewing Company's Soul Foudre. While this beer has no place in a sour IPA show, it's our way of telling our palates, "hey…this is what a good beer tastes like." Not that we think the sour IPA will be bad, but it's called SOUR IPA. Anyway, Soul Foudre is great. Monkish will have some fruit variants of Soul Foudre up for sale this week, so check that out. Monkish is 4B approved! *ding* Epic Brewing Co. and Odd 13 Brewing Alright, now to the nitty gritty. The first sour IPA on deck is Epic Brewing Co.'s Tart N' Juicy Sour IPA (marketing, anyone?). This is an unusual beer, to say the least. Without giving too much away, it's tart…and juicy. Yep. It is definitely those things. Next up is Odd 13 Brewing's Vincent Van Couch. They call this a "session sour" and it's made with Citra and Mosaic hops. So while technically not an IPA, it kinda is? This is so confusing… The Rare Barrel and Prairie Artisan Ales We wrap up the show with two more beers that take us back to the funky side, Prairie Artisan Ales' Funky Gold Simcoe, and first-timer to the 4B podcast, The Rare Barrel's Forces Unseen. Sour IPA has arrived, beer geeks, for good or bad. Godspeed. BREW THE SHIT OUT OF IT. Beers from this week's episode: Monkish Brewing Co. – Soul Foudre Epic Brewing Co. – Tart N' Juicy Sour IPA Odd 13 Brewing – Vincent Van Couch (Session Sour) Prairie Artisan Ales – Funky Gold Simcoe The Rare Barrel – Forces Unseen Direct audio: MP3 Subscribe: iTunes: Audio / Video RSS: Audio / Video Google Play Music Stitcher YouTube (Videos) Support the show: Patreon PayPal 4B Social Media: Facebook Twitter Instagram tumblr Flickr Snapchat Email 4B: [email protected] Leave us a voicemail: (213) 316-8699

Season 3, Episode 19 – This week we're drinking some brews form New York and New Jersey and a new Grapefruit IPA from our friends at Refuge Brewery in Temecula, California. Natalie DeNicholas and John Ryti are also back with us. Four Brewers has the best listeners. It's true. Just putting that out there. I say that because four of the five beers we're drinking on the show this week were graciously provided by Four Brewers listener Robert Perry. Getting east coast beers is tough for us, but fans like Robert have been stepping up lately and sending us some killer stuff. Carton, Newburgh, and Plan Bee Beers The first two beers are from New Jersey's Carton Brewing Company. Unbeknown to us, Carton is actually a great get for us here on the west coast, and the two IPAs we got from Robery were fresh AF. That's how you do it folks: ship 'em fast and fresh! Plan Bee and Newburgh Wax-Stamped Bottle Caps Next up are two beers, both from two breweries that we had no idea even existed, Plan Bee Farm Brewery and Newburgh Brewing Co. The two beers are what they call a "100% NY Sour Ale" and are made with locally sourced ingredients from around the state of New York. Both beers are the exact same recipe, but each was fermented with two different yeast strains–one from Plan Bee and one from Newburgh. These beers were really great. Folks in NY/NJ are lucky to be able to get this magical juice… Refuge Brewery – Grapefruit IPA We wrap up the show with a new beer from a local favorite of ours, Refuge Brewery out of Temecula, CA. Temecula's beer scene has really been blowing up lately, and Refuge was there at the beginning of the boom. Their Blood Orange Wit is well known in these parts, and since they nailed the fruited witbier category, they decided to try their hand at an IPA with grapefruit. Much thanks again to Robert Perry for the beers…Hail Satan. 😉 BREW THE SHIT OUT OF IT. Beers from this week's episode: Carton Brewing Company – IDIPA Carton Brewing Company – 0077XX Plan Bee Farm Brewery / Newburgh Brewing Co. – Cross Pollination #1 Refuge Brewery – Grapefruit IPA Direct audio: MP3 Subscribe: iTunes: Audio / Video RSS: Audio / Video Google Play Music Stitcher YouTube (Videos) Support the show: Patreon PayPal 4B Social Media: Facebook Twitter Instagram tumblr Flickr Snapchat Email 4B: [email protected] Leave us a voicemail: (213) 316-8699

Season 3, Episode 18 – This week: ALL HOMEBREW. Natalie DeNicholas and John Ryti are also joining us! It's been a slow year for the 4B gang in regards to homebrewing, but today we're going to make up for the last five months in one episode! Today we're drinking five homebrews from four brewers (get it?). Maltose Falcons – Saison du Mai First up is John's triumphant return to brewing, Oat Boner. This beer was inspired by his wildly popular oatmeal IPA, Oats n' Hoes, but is stripped down and simplified. There are three ingredients in this brew: 2-row malt, oats, and mosaic hops (a LOT of Mosaic hops…). While the beer is a hit with everyone at the table, John thinks it could use a few tweaks. Next up is a beer from one of our special guests, Natalie DeNicholas. We got a lot of positive feedback when she was on the show previously, and now she's back! This time she brought a super-crushable lager made with Thai rice. It's really good! Also, shout out to Sanctum Brewing Co. (that's where Natalie works) and the legendary Maltose Falcons (where Natalie is the Burger-Meister). Next up are two beers from Greg. One is a variant of a beer that Greg brought a few episodes back while the other is a new beer that he's looking for some advice on. SPOILER ALERT. Don't try to ferment a beer with expired yeast. That is NO BUENO! Next up is a Red IPA from long time friend of the show, John Ryti. This is beer was made with a new type of malt called Red X that apparently will give your beer a red hue without imparting a whole lot of that red-caramel flavor that is usually associated with traditional "red" malt. It's quite tasty, to say the least. We wrap up the show with a canned homebrew (how rad is that?!) that Natalie brought over from her homebrew club, Maltose Falcons. Saison du Mai is a saison (obvi), which is right up Matt's alley, made with a bunch of fun, tropical ingredients. BREW THE SHIT OUT OF IT. Beers from this week's episode: Natalie's Thai Rice Lager – Thai Pride John's New Oatmeal IPA – Oat Boner Maltose Falcons – Saison Du Mai Direct audio: MP3 Subscribe: iTunes: Audio / Video RSS: Audio / Video Google Play Music Stitcher YouTube (Videos) Support the show: Patreon PayPal 4B Social Media: Facebook Twitter Instagram tumblr Flickr Snapchat Email 4B: [email protected] Leave us a voicemail: (213) 316-8699

Season 3, Episode 17 – Today, the 2016 California IPA Showdown. It's been a while since our last showdown, and we've wrestled with how we are going to handle IPA for a long time now. Initially, we thought about trying to get the best of the best IPA from around the country and compare them all blind. The challenge there is it's nearly impossible to get beer from all over the place, at an acceptable level of freshness, in one place at one time. Plus, as fun as it is to read about a magical elixir from a brewery thousands of miles away that drinks of pure unobtainium, what about something a bit easier to come by? Enter the CA Shelf IPA Showdown! 2016 IPA Showdown Beers These beers are all from California. They're all IPAs and all widely and readily available. Hell, they're probably sitting in your local grocer dying a slow painful death. So we set out to determine the king of the hill. The Method While we knew which beers were in the pool, we had our good friend Dr Zack administer the tasting for us totally blind. We didn't know what we were drinking when we rated it, and we revealed at the end. We each rated the beer 1-100 using our completely arbitrary personal preference scales, and averaged those ratings to get a total. All of these beers were well within acceptable freshness range (The oldest bottle had a bottling date of 2/9/2016 which was less than 2 months before recording) and were purchased at our old standby Gerrard's Market in Redlands, CA. All of the beer at this store is kept in a walk in cooler, so conditions were about as ideal as we're going to get. But all of this beer was purchased, by us, off the shelf, and not provided by the brewery. The Rankings #9 Lagunitas Brewing Company – IPA Average Score: 56.75 Distribution: 48 states Lagunitas Brewing Company – IPA Lagunitas IPA may hail from California, but you can probably get it at your local gas station. This beer is available in 48 states in the US, and likely the only IPA on at the janky bar down the way from you that got one of these IPAs that people keep talking about. In this field of CA standbys, Lagunitas disappointed. We were impressed with the clarity, but minimal hop presence combined with a maltier than average backbone and astringent flavors led this beer to rank a full 10 points below the next lowest ranking beer. #8 Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. – Torpedo Extra IPA Average Score: 65.75 Distribution: Everywhere Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. – Torpedo Extra IPA Probably the only beer more ubiquitous than Lagunitas IPA is Sierra Nevada's venerable Torpedo. This beer is available in all 50 states and Washington DC! It's also doing pretty poorly against it's CA born peers. We thought the beer was appropriately old school. Aroma notes included citrus, pine and crackery sweet malt character, but the flavor fell flat with our field. Too much sweet caramel malt, limited hop presence and an overall flat, bitter character dropped this standby near the bottom of the field. #7 Stone Brewing Co. – Stone IPA Average Score: 71.75 Distribution: 43 states Stone Brewing Co. – Stone IPA Stone IPA is a standby in California and beyond, acting as an aggressive example of the West Coast IPA style. We found it aggressive indeed – flavor descriptors include words like bracing, challenging, boozy and unrefined. While overall we enjoyed the beer, we found the rough around the edges approach to IPA to be limiting and knocked it down in the field. #6 AleSmith Brewing Company – IPA Average Score: 73.25 Distribution: 15 States AleSmith Brewing Company – IPA AleSmith IPA has been discussed on 4B before in a Going in Blind segment. It continues to vex the show, convincing Greg that he was drinking Stone IPA until the reveal showed him to be dead wrong. This beer scored high marks from John and Jason for being a classicly bitter "San Diego style" West Coast IPA, but didn't do as hot with Matt and Greg. #5 Bear Republic Brewing Co. – Racer 5 IPA Average Score: 79.375 Distribution: 28 states Bear Republic Brewing Co. – Racer 5 IPA Racer 5 from Bear Republic has been the low key stand by west coast IPA for several years now. We were able to pick out a lot of different aroma notes, and kept finding different aroma descriptors the more we tried it. While it registered high notes with most of our crew, Jason was a dissenter and was so put off by the odd sweet aftertaste and diesel aroma notes that he knocked it down to his 3rd lowest beer of the day. Jason's 66 score knocked it down from an 83.83 (and second place) into 5th. From a beer that has roots tracing back into the 1990s, Racer 5 made a very strong showing. #4 Alpine Beer Company – Duet Average Score: 79.5 Distribution: 6 states Alpine Beer Company – Duet We went in depth comparing Alpine Duet vs. Green Flash Duet way back in season 2, episode 32, and we had high praises for both versions then. Some might think that having the smallest distribution footprint (even after the Green Flash acquisition) would give this bee

Season 3, Episode 16 – We’re back on the east side with some of New England’s best IPA. I’ve got to say that this is one hell of a show, this week. Listener Chris R. heard a recent episode of the 4B where we weren’t really all that impressed with some of the New England-ish (Pennsylvania, to be exact) beers we had on the show. So what did Chris do? He mailed the fuck out of it and sent us some true New England IPA freshies the day after the show was released. This week, we’ve got beers from Tree House Brewing Company, Foolproof Brewing Company, and Grey Sail Brewing of RI. Shit yeah! New England Strikes Back You might notice that our beloved co-host, Greg Nagel, isn’t with us this week. That’s because he tweaked his back and had some kind of viral thingy going on. Huge. Bummer. Instead, we brought the foremost expert (AFAWK) on whale farming, Dr. Zack, which works out well because he happens to know quite a bit about some of the breweries on the show this week. Big thanks to Mr. Chris R. for the beers. While we’re on the subject, if you’ve got beers from your area that you think we’d like, send ’em our way! Getting a broad range of beers on the show is somewhat difficult for us, so any help we can get is welcomed and much appreciated. BREW THE SHIT OUT OF IT. Beers from this week’s episode:Foolproof Brewing Company – Queen of the Yahd RaspberryTree House Brewing Company – JuliusTree House Brewing Company – Haze Grey Sail Brewing of RI – Captain’s Daughter Direct audio: MP3 Subscribe:iTunes: Audio / VideoRSS: Audio / VideoStitcherYouTube (Videos) Support the show:PatreonPayPal 4B Social Media:FacebookTwitterInstagramtumblrFlickrSnapchat Email 4B: [email protected] Leave us a voicemail: (213) 316-8699

Season 3, Episode 15 – Greg was inspired by a recent trip to Total Wine & More to try beers made by Japanese breweries, and he brought them over to share. This week, we travel to the other side of the globe (actually, Greg just went to the local Total Wine) and try some Japanese beers that are easy to find (presumably) all over the country. Japanese Beers The coolest part of import beer is the ability to travel the world’s flavors with a quick trip to the big-box beer store. Since delicious ramen, sushi or okonomiyaki cannot be shipped with relative tentacle porn manga freshness, beer is the next best thing. Two Japanese craft breweries make their way out west, Kiuchi Brewery, brewers of the Hitachino Nest branded beers and YO-HO Brewing, and their takes on world beer styles are interesting, if found fresh. The issue with import beer is this: oxidation rears its ugly head on the first sip. Faded hops if not gone all together, the lustre gone, and any magic the brewers intended to put in the package died in a warehouse months ago. The price? Also incredibly expensive compared to ultra-fresh local beer. If you make it out to Japan, give these beers a try…and listen in to the show as we attempt look around the age and marvel at what was supposed to be. We wrap up the show with a round of Going In Blind, hosted by Mr. Nagel. BREW THE SHIT OUT OF IT. Beers from this week’s episode:Kiuchi Brewery – Hitachino Nest Ancient NipponiaKiuchi Brewery – Hitachino Nest Red Rice AleYo-Ho Brewing Company – Suiyoubi no NekoYo-Ho Brewing Company – Yona Yona AleKiuchi Brewery – Hitachino Nest WeizenYo-Ho Brewing Company – Tokyo Black PorterKiuchi Brewery – Hitachino Nest Lacto Sweet Stout Direct audio: MP3 Subscribe:iTunes: Audio / VideoRSS: Audio / VideoStitcherYouTube (Videos) Support the show:PatreonPayPal 4B Social Media:FacebookTwitterInstagramtumblrFlickrSnapchat Email 4B: [email protected] Leave us a voicemail: (213) 316-8699

The 4B Flight, Episode 6 – Today on the sixth and final day of The 4B Flight, Second Fiddle from Fiddlehead Brewing Company. We are back with the final episode of this week’s mini-episode-extravaganza that we call The 4B Flight. In case you missed what’s going on here, we’re releasing a new mini-episode of Four Brewers everyday for a week. Why? Because we like you. Fiddlehead Brewing Company – Second Fiddle The final beer of the the flight is a great double IPA from a brewery new to us, Vermont’s Fiddlehead Brewing Company. The brewery describes this beer as “big and juicy” (of course!) and we concur that it is, in fact, juicy. That wraps up The 4B Flight! Thanks for listening, and look forward to another flight in a few months. Cheers! BREW THE SHIT OUT OF IT. Beers from this week’s episode:Fiddlehead Brewing Company – Second Fiddle Direct audio: MP3 Subscribe:iTunes: Audio / VideoRSS: Audio / VideoStitcherYouTube (Videos) Support the show:PatreonPayPal 4B Social Media:FacebookTwitterInstagramtumblrFlickrSnapchat Email 4B: [email protected] Leave us a voicemail: (213) 316-8699

The 4B Flight, Episode 5 – Today on The 4B Flight, ultra-fresh Hop Tanker from El Segundo Brewing Company. We are back with the fifth of six episodes for this week’s mini-episode-extravaganza that we call The 4B Flight. In case you missed what’s going on here, we’re releasing a new mini-episode of Four Brewers everyday for a week. Why? Because we like you. Hop Tanker DIPA If you listen to the show regularly, you know that all four of us are big fans of El Segundo Brewing Co. Today’s beer was bottled less than 48 hours before we opened it, in true “Day One Dankness” form. Hop Tanker is ESBC’s double IPA made with Nelson and Citra hops. It’s clean, hoppy AF, and all around delicious. Tune in tomorrow for the next beer in The 4B Flight! BREW THE SHIT OUT OF IT. Beers from this week’s episode:El Segundo Brewing Company – Hop Tanker (2016) Direct audio: MP3 Subscribe:iTunes: Audio / VideoRSS: Audio / VideoStitcherYouTube (Videos) Support the show:PatreonPayPal 4B Social Media:FacebookTwitterInstagramtumblrFlickrSnapchat Email 4B: [email protected] Leave us a voicemail: (213) 316-8699

The 4B Flight, Episode 4 – Today on The 4B Flight, John’s opening his 2010 Bourbon County Brand Stout, RARE. We are back with the fourth of six episodes for this week’s mini-episode-extravaganza that we call The 4B Flight. In case you missed what’s going on here, we’re releasing a new mini-episode of Four Brewers everyday for a week. Why? Because we like you. 2010 Rare Bourbon County Brand Stout If you’re familiar with the very much frowned upon “craft beer black market”, then you know how much moolah this bottle can fetch. It’s a ridiculous amount. This is a beer Johnhas held on to for the last six years, and rather than succumb to greed and unethical activity, he decided to open his ultra-whale, a 2010 Bourbon County Brand Stout Rare. Things got a little weird on this episode. Feathers were ruffled (just a little bit, though) on both sides of the 4B studio table, but in the end, we all agree that it’s a great beer, but certainly NOT worth selling a kidney for. Tune in tomorrow for the next beer in The 4B Flight! BREW THE SHIT OUT OF IT. Beers from this week’s episode:Goose Island Beer Co. – Rare Bourbon County Brand Stout (2010) Direct audio: MP3 Subscribe:iTunes: Audio / VideoRSS: Audio / VideoStitcherYouTube (Videos) Support the show:PatreonPayPal 4B Social Media:FacebookTwitterInstagramtumblrFlickrSnapchat Email 4B: [email protected] Leave us a voicemail: (213) 316-8699

The 4B Flight, Episode 3 – Today on The 4B Flight, a collaboration beer from Prairie Ales and Trve Brewing. We are back with the third of six episodes for this week’s mini-episode-extravaganza that we call The 4B Flight. In case you missed what’s going on here, we’re releasing a new mini-episode of Four Brewers everyday for a week. Why? Because we like you. Prairie and Trve Collaboration Beer Today’s beer is a special treat from Prairie Artisan Ales, made with their brothers and sisters in beer and metal (?), Trve Brewing out of Colorado. Coming in at 6.66% ABV (of course), this sour is a red ale made with black salt, peaches, brettanomyces and all kinds of other fun stuff. It’s quite interesting, and we all have differing opinions of the beer, and interesting beer makes for a hopefully interesting show. Tune in tomorrow for the next beer in The 4B Flight! BREW THE SHIT OUT OF IT. Beers from this week’s episode:Prairie Artisan Ales, in collaboration with Trve Brewing Company – Prairie & Friends Trve Edition (Prairie Vs Trve) Direct audio: MP3 Subscribe:iTunes: Audio / VideoRSS: Audio / VideoStitcherYouTube (Videos) Support the show:PatreonPayPal 4B Social Media:FacebookTwitterInstagramtumblrFlickrSnapchat Email 4B: [email protected] Leave us a voicemail: (213) 316-8699

The 4B Flight, Episode 2 – Today on The 4B Flight, we go full Gooseberry with this sour from Mammoth Brewing Company. We are back with the second of six episodes for this week’s mini-episode-extravaganza that we call The 4B Flight. In case you missed what’s going on here, we’re releasing a new mini-episode of Four Brewers everyday for a week. Why? Because we like you. Mammoth Brewing Company – Gooseberry Sour Today’s beer is a favorite of Matt’s and is certainly right up his alley, Mammoth Brewing Company’s Gooseberry Sour. Matt has a cherished relationship with Gooseberries, going all the way back to his days at The Bruery where he was a brewer. Spoiler alert: Gooseberries and sour beer go together quite well… Mammoth Brewing Company is best known for its annual Bluesapalooza beer festival that’s held in Mammoth Lakes, CA. This year, the fest is August 4-7. Tune in tomorrow for the next beer in The 4B Flight! BREW THE SHIT OUT OF IT. Beers from this week’s episode:Mammoth Brewing Company – Gooseberry Sour Direct audio: MP3 Subscribe:iTunes: Audio / VideoRSS: Audio / VideoStitcherYouTube (Videos) Support the show:PatreonPayPal 4B Social Media:FacebookTwitterInstagramtumblrFlickrSnapchat Email 4B: [email protected] Leave us a voicemail: (213) 316-8699

The 4B Flight, Episode 1 – Today we begin The 4B Flight, a solid week of new Four Brewers episodes! We’re kicking it off with Monkish Brewing Co.’s collaboration IPA with Other Half Brewing, First Things First. Over the last couple of years, we heard from fans of the show that they wished we could release an episode everyday. While that’s flattering and awesome that these super-fans want to hear us on a daily basis, it’s simply impossible for us to release a full episode everyday. But, we had a really cool idea. (It’s an experiment, too.) We want to give the fans exactly what they want, but on our terms. So, we are going to release one full-length regular episode on Monday, and 6 mini-episodes everyday for one week. Pretty cool, right? Well, we’re excited about it! First Things First The first beer in The 4B Flight is a special one from our friends at Monkish Brewing Co.. Known for their spectacular Belgian-style beers, Monkish vowed early on to never make IPA (well, maybe it wasn’t that dramatic). But, times change and hops were piling up in the brewery. Henry and Co. decided that they shouldn’t be bound by these artificial rules imposed upon themselves (again, with the drama) and decided to bring their version of an IPA into this world, with some help from Brooklyn’s Other Half Brewing. The beer went on sale this past weekend and was an instant sell out. Monkish was kind enough to give us the homie hookup with some cans of their new IPA, First Things First. We felt it was appropriate to feature this awesome IPA on the first episode of The 4B Flight. Tune in tomorrow for the next beer in The 4B Flight! (…and thanks to Bob Vreeland for naming this series!) BREW THE SHIT OUT OF IT. Beers from this week’s episode:Monkish Brewing Co., in collaboration with Other Half Brewing – First Things First Direct audio: MP3 Subscribe:iTunes: Audio / VideoRSS: Audio / VideoStitcherYouTube (Videos) Support the show:PatreonPayPal 4B Social Media:FacebookTwitterInstagramtumblrFlickrSnapchat Email 4B: [email protected] Leave us a voicemail: (213) 316-8699