Everything sucks, but at least we still have beerThe Brewers Association released their 2024 brewing industry stats recently. As expected, it wasn't great, but it could be worse. There are still passionate people opening breweries and us consumers still have more options for great beer than we ever have before. Praise be.\ChatGPT and Beer (and other things)Do you use AI in your job? For Brian and I it's become a daily tool. It's advancing amazingly fast. There are fun beery things you can do with it, too. Get beer recommendations, have it create labels and action figures from your description, or research info on beer and breweries. One caveat - it gets things wrong, a lot, and it states them rather confidently. Question everything it tells you and verify the info. If something doesn't look right then call it out and the AI will take another look to verify its info... but it may tell you something else wrong again.It's hard not to be political these daysY'all, we have been doing this show for going on 10 years and we've always avoided politics. That's becoming difficult to do but we will (in most cases) try to present things as facts and information. But, it's getting crazy out there. The tariffs are hitting the industry already with one smaller local brewery saying the tariffs have already cost them an extra $60,000. Constellation Brands reports that the immigration policies are impacting their sales. I hope our countries can get their acts together, cause it's not looking good.In other news...More brewery closures announced of brands owned my Tilray and Monster, and Miller releases a beer-infused record of dive bar sounds. Seriously.Thanks for listening to Beer Guys Radio! Your hosts are Tim Dennis and Brian Hewitt with producer Nate "Mo' Mic Nate" Ellingson and occasional appearances from Becky Smalls.Subscribe to Beer Guys Radio on your favorite app: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | RSSFollow Beer Guys Radio: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube If you enjoy the show we'd appreciate your support on Patreon. Patrons get cool perks like early, commercial-free episodes, swag, access to our exclusive Discord server, and more!
Record setting vintage beer can soldI enjoy breweriana but I always struggle with saying it. Serious collectors will pay big money to add to their collections. Last week, a vintage beer can in excellent condition sold for over $100,000. Now that's a serious brewerianaian.From the "We'll take any good news we can get" files, people are still preferring to go out for beers vs. grabbing them to drink at home. A surprising percentage of the population said they'd still go to a bar or restaurant even if they were tight on money. Hey, we all have to get out every now and then.Utah's alcohol laws have always been a bit... unique. In a big move for Utahans, they'll soon be able to get beer delivered to their car. Sounds odd but it's really just allowing them to get the beer brought out to them when they do a curbside grocery order. Small victories are still victories.In other news, we get an update on what's going to happen with Dry Dock Brewing, talk about the states with the most expensive cases of macro beers, and chat about contract brewing. Good times.Thanks for listening to Beer Guys Radio! Your hosts are Tim Dennis and Brian Hewitt with producer Nate "Mo' Mic Nate" Ellingson and occasional appearances from Becky Smalls.Subscribe to Beer Guys Radio on your favorite app: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | RSSFollow Beer Guys Radio: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube If you enjoy the show we'd appreciate your support on Patreon. Patrons get cool perks like early, commercial-free episodes, swag, access to our exclusive Discord server, and more!
Spring has sprung and everything is covered in pollenWe attended Little Beer Fest in Duluth, GA last weekend and the Atlanta area set a record for pollen count. The sky was a bit yellow-green hazy. Madness. The sneezes and itchy eyes didn't keep us from enjoying a lot of great beers, though.You ever think about the various "eras" of craft beer? The IBU wars, the race to be the most sour, Haze Craze. We ponder what the various eras have been and what may be next.The tariffs we've been talking about have finally rolled out, so we share the latest on those. It's going to hit everything. Buckle up.Some big news on the buyout front this week with Anderson Valley and Great Divide being acquired. Locally, our beloved Terrapin Brewpub at Truist Park is now a Blue Moon brewpub. Since Terrapin was sold and Miller-Coors has rights to beer at the stadium it was kind of expected this might happen.In other news a thirsty gentleman has invented a self-cooling beer can and we find out what each generation's favorite beers are.Thanks for listening to Beer Guys Radio! Your hosts are Tim Dennis and Brian Hewitt with producer Nate "Mo' Mic Nate" Ellingson and occasional appearances from Becky Smalls.Subscribe to Beer Guys Radio on your favorite app: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | RSSFollow Beer Guys Radio: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube If you enjoy the show we'd appreciate your support on Patreon. Patrons get cool perks like early, commercial-free episodes, swag, access to our exclusive Discord server, and more!
Craft beer is having some tiny victories.Most of the news about craft beer these days, is not good. Breweries closing, being bought, layoffs. Blech. But there are some tiny rays of hope out there that shows this ol' drink still has life. In some locations craft beer is up. That's right. Up. And in others it's taking market share from wine and spirits. We'll take all the good news we can, now matter how small.We also was poetic about being able to sell beer from your house, which is totally cool in some countries. I'm sure if we'd had this option when we were heavy into brewing we would have sold a few bottles. Imagine the utopia if every neigborhood had 4-5 pubs. <sheds tear>No new tarrif news, how about some tax news?As far as we know there's nothing new to report on the tariffs this week. I'm sure there will be soon. But taxes, we got news on taxes. In the UK there's a proposed tax increase on their beloved, threatening to push the average price of a pint over £5, and the Brits aren't happy about it. In Oregon there's a proposed sales tax on beer which is double crazy since Oregon doesn't have sales tax at all right now. It's been proposed before and didn't go anywhere. Let's hope that trend continues.In other news we reminisce on the old days when your beer didn't even have to be good for you to be a successful brewery, share some great news if you're over 90, and talk about the growing popularity of cans.Thanks for listening to Beer Guys Radio! Your hosts are Tim Dennis and Brian Hewitt with producer Nate "Mo' Mic Nate" Ellingson and occasional appearances from Becky Smalls.Subscribe to Beer Guys Radio on your favorite app: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | RSSFollow Beer Guys Radio: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube If you enjoy the show we'd appreciate your support on Patreon. Patrons get cool perks like early, commercial-free episodes, swag, access to our exclusive Discord server, and more!
Four more beers!We just can't get away from talking about tariffs. The ever changing topic that politicians are using to swing their johnsons around at each other. Well, it's really just one politician, but it's impacting everyone. And, it could impact your beer in a big way. On a lighter note we learn about the highest brewery in the world, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. Did you know the records thing was started by Guinness the brewery? Sir Hugh Beaver (seriously) got into a debate about the fastest game bird and commission a book for records and facts that eventually became the Guiness Book of World Records. They're no longer officiially connected, but they do have common heritage.Science! The scientists say hanxiety is a real thing. That anxiety you feel a day (or two) after having one too many. We've got the details on why.Canada is really taking a lot of heat in this political circus. Moosehead has a cure, at least a treatment, they created a Presidential Pack of 1,461 cans - one for each day of Trump's presidency. If you want to grab one you're out of luck, they sold out fast.Cheers!Thanks for listening to Beer Guys Radio! Your hosts are Tim Dennis and Brian Hewitt with producer Nate "Mo' Mic Nate" Ellingson and occasional appearances from Becky Smalls.Subscribe to Beer Guys Radio on your favorite app: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | RSSFollow Beer Guys Radio: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube If you enjoy the show we'd appreciate your support on Patreon. Patrons get cool perks like early, commercial-free episodes, swag, access to our exclusive Discord server, and more!
Grab a pint of Guinness and let's go!!!As you all know, Brian and I are also cologne nerds. In the cologne world (fragcom) you have niche (craft) and designers (macro/Big Beer) but there are a few designers that get a pass by the "niche snobs" as being acceptable. Kind of like Guinness. It's really big beer, but most craft crazies don't mind and will still enjoy a Guinness. St. Patrick's Day is the perfect day for it.You don't have to drink Guinness, there are several other great Irish stouts available. And many local breweries offer up a great Dry Irish Stout for the holiday. We share some suggestions for you to check out. Brian is also a fanboy of the "Half and Half," with the old Black and Tan being the most well known. There are a lot of other options there, too.Outside of the beer we dive into who St. Patrick was, or might have been. Some info on the lore and legends of St. Patrick's Day, and some consumer predictions for this year's celebrations.However you do it, have a Happy St. Patrick's Day! Thanks for listening to Beer Guys Radio! Your hosts are Tim Dennis and Brian Hewitt with producer Nate "Mo' Mic Nate" Ellingson and occasional appearances from Becky Smalls.Subscribe to Beer Guys Radio on your favorite app: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | RSSFollow Beer Guys Radio: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube If you enjoy the show we'd appreciate your support on Patreon. Patrons get cool perks like early, commercial-free episodes, swag, access to our exclusive Discord server, and more!
On again, off again tariffs will impact beer pricesI don't know what to say about these tariffs. We record a show and talk about them going into effect, then they're paused again. We can't keep up. However, a lot of folks aren't buying the delays and making big changes to the way they do business. In the end, if they do go into effect, it's going to impact the price of your beer, and mostly likely everything else.Monster Beverage took a huge loss on their beer business. Good. They gobbled up some great breweries and did terrible things with them. Most of the people we cared about at these places have moved on. I don't wish ill will for any that remain, but Monster can go pound sand.We've always said, "It's OK, if it's an a 3-way." It's kind of our motto. Monks took note and there's a 3-way Trappist collaboration brew coming out. Hopefully we can get our hands on it.In other news... pairing beer and chocolate, Teamsters go after Boston Beer Co., and Isaac Newton's beer mug is on display in all its glory. Cheers!Thanks for listening to Beer Guys Radio! Your hosts are Tim Dennis and Brian Hewitt with producer Nate "Mo' Mic Nate" Ellingson and occasional appearances from Becky Smalls.Subscribe to Beer Guys Radio on your favorite app: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | RSSFollow Beer Guys Radio: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube If you enjoy the show we'd appreciate your support on Patreon. Patrons get cool perks like early, commercial-free episodes, swag, access to our exclusive Discord server, and more!
The American Craft Beer Hall of Fame announces their first inducteesRecently the American Craft Beer Hall of Fame held a ceremony to announce their innaguaral group of inductees. Lots of familiar, and deserving men and women made the cut. I'm sure it wasn't easy to choose.NA beer continues to have lovers and haters. Despite the haters, the popularity continues to grow and the NA beer category continues to break its previous sales records, most recently in January.If you've went to a bar and had a beer that you know you love and it just wasn't hitting, it's likely the bar wasn't taken care of things properly. Storage temps, clean draft lines and glassware, and even the way a beer is poured can have a huge impact on how that beer drinks. The Colorado Brewers Guild aims to combat that by certifying bars that do everything right. We're totally behind the idea and hope it expands.In other news... Brian shares info on the most expensive airport beers, we anxiously await the release of Beer Can Chicken Pringles, and a shift in sales to on premise? Madness.Thanks for listening to Beer Guys Radio! Your hosts are Tim Dennis and Brian Hewitt with producer Nate "Mo' Mic Nate" Ellingson and occasional appearances from Becky Smalls.Subscribe to Beer Guys Radio on your favorite app: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | RSSFollow Beer Guys Radio: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube If you enjoy the show we'd appreciate your support on Patreon. Patrons get cool perks like early, commercial-free episodes, swag, access to our exclusive Discord server, and more!
As craft beer struggles, brewers fight for better beer lawsThe battle for better beer laws is a long one. I've personally been involved in the grassroots efforts for a decade now and many of Georgia's breweries have been at it 3x that long.Beer laws don't get changed easily. The three-tier system is lonstanding and, with one tier have the majority of power (hint: it's not the brewers) they aren't keen on change. This year Georgia's brewers and the Georgia Craft Brewers Guild have put forward Senate Bill 122 to fight for more change. The key elements are allowing limited self distribution, allowing breweries to donate to charities, and raising the to-go sales cap for breweries which is currently at 288 oz, or 1 case of 10 oz cans.Schoolhouse Brewing's Thomas Monti joined us to talk about the bill, and beer laws in general. Thomas knows very well the tough times breweries are going through as he recently closed one location of his brewery. Fortunately, Schoolhouse's original location remains open. Although this bill is for Georgia this issues aren't unique to our state.It's not likely breweries will get all they're going for with this bill, verbiage to reform franchise law has already been cut. But, hopefully some change will happen. And the people will continue to fight next year.Thanks for listening to Beer Guys Radio! Your hosts are Tim Dennis and Brian Hewitt with producer Nate "Mo' Mic Nate" Ellingson and occasional appearances from Becky Smalls.Subscribe to Beer Guys Radio on your favorite app: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | RSSFollow Beer Guys Radio: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube If you enjoy the show we'd appreciate your support on Patreon. Patrons get cool perks like early, commercial-free episodes, swag, access to our exclusive Discord server, and more!
Big Beer doesn't love you like craft beer does.We're back and we're ready to party. We missed a Super Bowl show but we're recapping the game and, more importantly, the beer commercials this week. On that note, Atlanta's Monday Night Brewing isn't happy about Coors' "Case of the Mondays" campaign. Monday Night has been selling a mix pack with the name for many years now. A cease and desist sent to Molson was replied with, essentially, "too bad, it's done now." In Presidential news... tariffs. So hot right now. They're on, they're off, they're back on. We can't keep up. If they are on, they could hit your beer prices. Proposed aluminum tariffs will impact packaging costs for most producers. And if all these other tariffs go into place it could hit malt, hops, and who knows what else.Some sorta good news as one beer purchasing index shows sales aren't down as much as they have been. It's a bummer when things been down less is good news. With all the breweries closing their doors (this week, Alamo) we'll take any ray of sunshine we can get.Looking ahead, the folks at Total Wine shared some of their predictions for trends this year. What do you think will be the hot item???Thanks for listening to Beer Guys Radio! Your hosts are Tim Dennis and Brian Hewitt with producer Nate "Mo' Mic Nate" Ellingson and occasional appearances from Becky Smalls.Subscribe to Beer Guys Radio on your favorite app: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | RSSFollow Beer Guys Radio: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube If you enjoy the show we'd appreciate your support on Patreon. Patrons get cool perks like early, commercial-free episodes, swag, access to our exclusive Discord server, and more!