Flex vs Corporate Beer Lady

Today we've got World Beer Cup winners. Huge news in the brewery buyout world, even huger news in the brewery buyout world and top 75 beers for losing weight fast. Let's go. Welcome in everybody. Apologies to your ears and thanks for joining us here on the Craft Beer Republic. I am Greg and I am being joined by Mr. A beer over in the Midwest. What's up fella? It's me. I'm in the Midwest, the Fresh Coast.

I'm just in a wily mood tonight. Oh, Wile E coyote. Yeah. Kind of. Are you excited that the movie's coming out finally? You know, I was gonna bring that up, but I know it was. It's not a Wile E coyote show. That's true. But, yeah, I mean, I'll go see it. I'm sure the kids would want to see it. I'm sure they would. And joining us from the Not Fresh Coast, but from the middle of California. Oh, our good friend. In the salty sailor Erica. What's happening? Hi, friends. Yeah, it's been a minute. It's great to see you. You haven't aged a day since I last saw you, and, um,

it's great to be here. I probably look about 120 days older than the last time you were on here. No, you look you look great. Not over 100 even. Removed from your head. You look great. I think it was removed the last time she was on here. What? That was in, like, September? Yeah. I'm just messing around. Yeah. Everyone listening is like, what are you talking about? I did have a bump removed from my head. In fact, the day I had it removed, I think Eric who was on the show, oh. Maybe I was. That's right. And I wasn't supposed to drink and I did anyway.

So that's why you've been so smooth ever since. My my memory is awful. Yeah, well, everyone is disgusting now. Thanks for, uh, jumping in. Everybody follow us on the socials at @CraftBeerRepublic @CraftBeerRepublic. Com, @necknosh dot com. Go get some pretzels and, uh, treats for your next getting drunk fest and all that good stuff, I guess. Uh, top listing city shout out to this is a weird one. Mesquite, Texas. Okay. Hey, Mesquite. Barbecue capital. Of the world question mark. Yeah.

I was gonna say, do they actually do barbecue or is it just a fun name? I don't know. It's fun. Yeah. We'll, we'll, we'll at least in our imagination think that they do barbecue there. I had some amazing Texas barbecue when I went to Austin, uh, a few weeks back. And that definitely lived up to the name. Yeah. You went to the barbecue place I sent you to, right? Um. At meanwhile brewing the food truck. No, I didn't go to that one. Meanwhile, was really rad, though. Good. Good recommendations. What a cool spot. Um, but we went to, you know, there's a Franklin's barbecue,

which is like everybody stands in line all day, blah, blah, blah. But then just this other, I couldn't even think of the name of it right now, but that our tour guide recommended. And he's like, this is actually where the locals like and it's so good. I had some, um, what's that called? The giant rib on a cow. Oh, just beef rib. The dino. They call them dino ribs. Dino ribs. Oh yeah. So good. Anyways, when I saw mesquite, I was thinking of dino ribs. Yeah, I had a lot of beef on that trip, let me tell you. Lots o beef. Oh, good for you. It's what's for dinner. It is. What's for dinner anyways?

Not a beef show. No. Not yet. Not. Give it five minutes. Uh, let's see what Flex he's drinking over there. In a world where craft beer is king, a world where muscles are bigger than growlers. Only one tongue can guide us. One man, one tongue, one Tongue-jobber. In this world, we must find out what is Flex drinking?

Hello ladies and gentlemen. Today Flex is drinking alphabetical order from Component Brewing Company. It is there down in Milwaukee. Um, just a little bit before you hit downtown and, uh, started in a warehouse still in the same warehouse, but in a bigger portion of it. And they make pretty solid beer. Uh, this one here is a pink guava goza. I don't know if I said that already. I have terrible memory. 5.5% ABV.

And this was done for their seventh anniversary. I can't remember when their seventh anniversary was. I do think it's summer. No, it can't be summertime. It's got to be relatively new. So forget I said that. Okay. The can reads Made in Milwaukee, uh, collaboration, a collaboration between two startup brewer friends, a staple beer for one of those friends breweries. A tradition carried on after that brewery is gone. We've taken what Milwaukee loved about alphabetical order and added flaked wheat to it for

additional body and mouthfeel. Tart, intensely fruity and undeniably tasty. We hope you enjoy this refreshed version of a local sour favorite. Super tiny words on the can that was very difficult to read. Untapped here says, uh. It's brewed with £500 of pink guava and sea salt. Wow. So. Wow, I haven't taken a sip of this. I'm super excited for it. I'm really ready to hate the people that collectively rated it a 362.

So we'll dig, uh, the old nose buds in there. That's a nice looking beer. It's got nice color to it. It looks glorious. Like what you would think, guava. I've never seen guava juice, but I think that's what it would look like. Can't believe Mr. Produce Man has not seen guava juice. But yeah. I've seen guava, you know, because that's produce but not the juice itself. Uh, of course, what you would expect on the nose buds heaping wads of guava wads. Uh, damn. My Midwest coming out, huh?

Well, without further ado, we'll warm up the old Tongue-jobber here. Oh. This is why Erica came back. It was a very weak warm up. I have beef. See? Now it's a beef show. Back to the beef. That's how I feel about this beer. This is delicious. It's like sinking your palate into a, like, fresh, ripe guava. Mhm. Yeah. I wish it was a little bit more tart.

It is super dry on the end. The flaked wheat definitely upped the mouthfeel. And you really get that sea salt on the back end of it. Mhm. Uh, this is super enjoyable and refreshing. Nice. My. Yeah, my only take on it would be. I wish it was just a little more tart. It's fair. But all in all, the guava on it is amazing. It's outrageous. It's just kind of tastes like guava juice. That's usually my number one complaint that it's not hard enough.

Not hard enough. Yeah. So that's what my complaint is here. 362. You know, I'd probably say 375. You know. So I guess I can't hate this rating too much. Sure. Uh, very, very tasty. Very tasty. Uh, it would definitely be in that four range if the tartness was kicked up a notch. But you know, potato, potato. You take the high road. I'll take the low road, everyone. Well, very nice there. The crevasse. Yeah. With our mighty juice. Exactly. Something like that.

Tenacious D. Yeah. Uh, a couple of weeks ago, I mentioned, and I will hold my word to this, that if I see Apple Busch light Apple in the wild, I will buy it and have it on the show. And I think I also mentioned, uh, Chew was getting three of those cans. Non-Murderer John texted me today right before we started the show with a picture of Busch light Apple. God damn it. Is this the shit you guys were talking about? I saw it. I just saw it at target and ran. Uh, thank God I don't live near

Non-Murderer John. I was gonna say, don't tell me he's going to send you a camera. Right? Don't give him any ideas. We're not that far from each other, but far enough that I would not visit his target. So, um, we'll see how that goes. Yeah. Yeah. Apple in the wild. It's everywhere around here. Like grocery stores and whatnot. Just like huge. And Yuengling too. Now that Yuengling is in Wisconsin. Oh. That's right. Uh, there's just palette displays of it everywhere. End cap displays.

It's kind of annoying. I bet. Yeah, it's a lot. Yeah. Did I get to tell the story on here? I can't remember. Uh, about the lady I talked trash to about Yuengling at work? No, I don't think so. Oh. Get this. So I was closing work one night, And this nice little old lady came in. She wasn't old, but she was older. Okay. And, uh, I had to go up front to hit the liquor button because the cashier was, like, 16. And the lady had a 12 pack of Yuengling.

And I said, oh, yeah, a lot of people, you know. Just going nuts about this stuff. And she said, yeah, we don't, you know, I haven't seen it yet. My husband really wanted it. And I said, yeah, I said, it's just pretty okay beer. And I said, I've had that Yuengling flight stuff that's in our cooler that next to it, it's like again, the Michelob Ultra version of Yuengling, like two grams of carbs, 90 calories, etc., etc.. And I said, yeah, it was kind of trash.

And she's like, well, I've had it and I don't think it's trash. And I said, no, it's trash. She said, well, I work for MillerCoors. Oh. Oh my goodness. I said, well, I'm very sorry for maybe insulting your workplace, but I still think it is just pretty okay. Beer. Also, please don't cut off our, uh, distribution supply. Yeah. And I had to tell her too.

I said, what really broke my heart was back in 2021 when you guys discontinued, discontinued High Life Light. And she said, no, no, no, it came back and I said, yes, I know it came back and I bought some and it was lovely. And she said, Maybe I'll have to bring some in here. Oh, way to make amends. Flex. That is how our encounter ended. And I just thought it was hilarious that I was dissing the product to somebody who works at the company. Did you catch a name for this?

Not old, old lady. I did not, but she was sweet. She was kind. She bought the Yuengling because her husband wanted to try it. And I will still go out there and say it is just a pretty okay beer. Yeah, it's just fine. Yeah. It's it's fine. Like it's better than Budweiser and all the other stuff, but. Yeah, but it's, you know, it's. Not tons. No, not not by any means. Yeah. It's just fine. Have you had it Erica. No. I honestly still don't think I've had a Yuengling. Yeah. Like, it's one of those things that I wouldn't recommend chasing it, you know? Yeah. That's that's whatever.

Last time I was in Florida, which, you know, I talked not at all about on the show. Uh, I, you know, I had it because it was there and I was feeling like a lager and. Yeah, it's fine. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Middle of the road. It's a pretty okay beer. It's a pretty okay beer. Probably why I haven't tried it. There's probably always something better on tap when I've been on the East Coast. I mean, you gotta try it, though, just to figure out that it's pretty okay. Yeah. Yeah. Who knows? Maybe we're wrong. So, uh. All right, Brian,

your homie in Wisconsin. Madison. Brian. All right. Madison. Brian called in and left us a little voicemail. Let's check in. Hello? No one is available to take your call. Please leave a message after the tone. Hey. What's up? @CraftBeerRepublic Brian from Madison calling in. Uh, wanted to jump on the voicemail train here. Uh, last one was left by Chew. Uh, talking about being a little nicer and, uh, I agree, but not when it comes to flat beer. Um. Crisis averted. Great beer from working draft brewing

here in Madison. Uh, they're a good. Never had a bad beer from them. Opened up a kolsch recently, and first taste was great. Every taste after that was just really flat, flat, flat quick. I know CO2 is getting expensive. Hopefully people aren't, uh, aren't trying to save some money. And that was bad. I think, uh, you know, I'm in the same boat as you guys, right? You want to give everybody the benefit of the doubt. I've had great beers from them. This one just, you know, just missed the mark a little bit. Um, also, Flex, this is your annual reminder. Great taste of Midwest. August August 7th. Um.

Get your life in order. Get your shit together. No more excuses. I'll get us tickets, man. Let us know. Let me know when you want. When you want to get out, man. We'll, uh. We'll do it up, right. It's gonna be a good time. I'll get a ticket. Don't even worry about it. Just get off of work. The schedule with the wife. It's always a good weekend. You guys take care. Bye. Dude, if you're not, I want to go. That's the. Worst part. Are they really expensive? Uh, no. They're really expensive. Oh, they, like, sell out in, like, four minutes. Oh, man. Dude, have you still not been to

a beer festival yet? No, I've been to, like, you know. Little ones. Like local Beerfest. Yeah, like little ones. Nothing big. You need to go, and I'll send you with some pretzel necklaces, and you can reenact that first pretzel necklace photo that you took. All right. Years ago. Like Brian said, I just got to get my life in order. Yeah. That's right. Get your life in order. Get your life in order. Get it together, man. I know, and I really do want to get to one and you know, but it's just the wife and me taking a weekend to go drink.

It just makes me seem so selfish. And what I do it. I don't know, mom. You do it like once a decade. I know, I know. Come on, Brian, keep calling in and convincing him. Put my big. Boy britches call in. We need lots of calls. Don't everybody call in Fontana Jim. A pansy for not going to. What I need is another Fontana Jim call. Look here, pansy. Put on your big boy pants. Go drink some beer. Oh, you.

Didn't drink for 46 days. Well, now you need to drink 46 days worth at a beer fest. Oh, my gosh, I have a rant for Fontana Jim. I'm gonna, I'm gonna. Oh, yeah, I'm gonna, I'm gonna pull a Jim and F.J. on F.J.. So this guy, this guy, you know, he he rolls apparently into town every so often. And he's friends with the people at, uh, Geist House brewing, which, um, they're great folks. I think Chew is, too. I think everybody's friends with these people. So this is what this guy does is like, he'll send me a message on

social media, like 30 minutes before he rolls in. We're talking about. FJ yeah, okay. He's like, oh yeah, I'm rolling up to Geist House and I'm like, I'm a, a mother. I live an hour away. Or like, he'll tell me the day before. It's like, do you think I can just jump up and go meet your ass at guy's house last minute? Come on, man, I mean, who does that? Oh, I was trying to pull. I didn't do a very good job. I'm too nice, aren't I? Yeah, you really are. Because I was like, let's get into this a little bit more.

Yeah. I'm like, I'm done. I'm. I feel so bad. I'm sorry. I'm kidding. No, actually, it's just funny because he always he lets me know when he's coming into town because we both like Geist House and, um, it just, you know, doesn't work out because. Okay. Plan ahead, man. I gotta get a chaperone. Yeah, man. Yeah yeah yeah, yeah. What? He said. Yeah. So much anger. Sorry. This isn't gonna make things better, but, uh. Oh.

We've had this sort of ongoing segment for the last, I don't know, month or so. Okay. Gross origin beer stories. Ooh, I like these stories. So let's see where your line is at today. Okay. Would you guys drink a beer made with actual pig heads? Oh, yeah. Yeah, 100%. Every time it's a yes. Uh, yeah. I mean. Flex put ketchup on it. You're not gonna weird me out unless you're putting ketchup on tacos.

Oh, it feels like something you would do, though. You sent me that picture. I did. Fucking disgusting. Fucking Disgusting. Apparently there's a brewery in Michigan called Right Brain Brewery that made a beer called oh, God. Hold my Hand here, Mangalitsa pig porter. And they literally took smoked pig heads and bones, wrapped them in cheesecloth and steeped them in the beer like a tea bag during brewing. So that smoky flavor you're picking up, that's real smoky flavor. Okay. Yeah. You know.

It actually won best Experimental beer at the Great American Beer Festival. Did it? Really? I'm here for it. Pig brains are delicious. Well, that's the thing. Uh, they're a delicacy. Have you had them? Twice. Oh, wow. Okay. Yeah. Very delicious. It is ironic that it's right. Brain. Brewery. Brain. Yeah. The. For the first time, I had pig brains. I was hanging out with my, uh. I was invited to a get together for my Hmong buddy. They roasted a pig, and they had this big, full on spread of food and everything, and we got done eating.

He's like, hey, you gotta try this. I was like, what is it? He's like a pig brain. And I was like, ah, that's where I draw the line. He says, no, you have to try it. It's amazing. So sure enough, and it's like, it gets real, like creamy when you're like when it's on the spit for so long. So it's almost like a cream cheese kind of texture, like maybe a little thicker. And it was wonderful.

It was so good that when my sister in law's husband Take That, had his bachelor party and we did a pig roasters bachelor party. I was so jacked to have everybody try the pig brain that I ripped up the fucking head of the pig just to get to the brain for everybody. Yeah, it was delicious. So you eat it like dip. You dip like a cracker in it or something. Then just. Like, you know, like a finger scoop. Like scoop. And then. Have you ever had foie gras? Uh, I don't know. Stuffed.

Uh, was it goose liver or whatever? No, I've never had that. Okay. That's the the texture description reminds me of that. I had that one time and it was like on top of this piece of like toast thing. And it, it was like meat butter. Yeah. It was delicious. Yeah, it was pretty good. Okay. So there you go. There you have it. Yeah. Pig head beer. Bring it on. Okay. You two. Erica. Well, I mean, actually, until it was associated with brain, I was like, well, okay, like, but then it really was the brain part that threw me off that I probably

would try it. It was a winner. I'll try a winner twice. Yeah, I guess. Yeah yeah. Yeah. Uh, all right, before we get any further, both myself and Erica are looking quite thirsty. Ooh, yeah. Let's make a call. To the bullpen for beer? Yeah, buddy. I'll, uh. I'll do the hard stuff over here and read the uncapped, and I'll let you kick us off on the tasting. Thanks to Erica,

we are drinking Touchstone Brewing Company's bear hug. And when we were talking about what beer we were gonna drink because she was nice enough to send me some beers, I was like, let's, let's do bear hug because I love the can art that she was just showing. Yeah, it's super cute, old school and campy. And anyways. Oh yeah, I like that. Yeah. 6.7% 17 IBUs. It is a hazy has a 3.82 and untapped with only 136 ratings this uh, freshie. Let's see no date on the can. Very low rating count. Let's see, like your coziest camp slippers at the end of a long day at the crag, you'll love the smooth and

pillowy hazy IPA, mellow bittering, prominent aroma and a dry hop with Mosaic and Simcoe make this delicious choice for hop lovers of all kinds. Okay. Properly hazy. Yep, it is hazy. Good color. Yeah. Had a nice little foamy head on top. I definitely get the little piney and grapefruit bitterness kind of right to start. I think in the taproom, I felt like it was a little more gentle than in the can right now. It leans more toward the West Coast vibe of things. Um, I feel like in the Canada in

the taproom, maybe it was a little felt a little more hazy. Juicy, but it's still a good, uh, nice solid beer. I would drink a couple of these. Touchstone is such a unique brewery in Sacramento, so it's kind of set in this transition area of Sacramento where there's like a lot of unhoused and sort of things like that. And they have it set up just so inviting inside and they kind of have security around and that sort of thing. But they provide like showers to the unhoused in this like mobile shower cart, like once a week, they bring them out, bring it out.

And this, they have just a really unique model that's very, um, community supportive. And, um, they have no tipping, for example, they pay a livable wage. Oh, what a concept in America. Yeah, it, um, which can be a little controversial, I think, for some people, but for like, because it's like, um, does that change the service or it's like, no, it actually, it just makes everything feel a little more relaxed. And yes. They provide like good benefits to their employees and a good wage.

And this is what we discovered when we were in Portugal, like the entire time, everyone made a livable wage. Tipping in Lisbon, where it's super touristy, tipping has sort of creeped in. But outside of that, like tipping is weird. And in fact, if you pay with a credit card, there's no option to tip. You can only really cash. Yeah. And the service was fantastic. People were paid a livable wage. It's, it's their career. It's not just some rando job. Exactly. There they are. Yeah. They're like a family there. It seems like everybody's happy to be there and work there. And the service was good. Um, I actually met there for I was

invited to a mixer for like women in food business in Sacramento. Um, and so the manager there is part of this group of women. It's called the Doms. So that was kind of cool. I got to meet her. I was talking to her and we were talking about being in the beer community. She was like, hey, what do you do? Blah, blah. And I was like, oh yeah, do this and that. I'm on a podcast, which was so dumb. I just said that every once I'm like, every once in a while I'm on a podcast, you know, every six weeks, a couple months, whatever. And she's like, oh, and I said, I'll get some beer. I'll probably review you. And she's like, no, I got to give you the beer. And I was like, oh crap, no, let me buy the beer. Like.

And so she gave me, um, a little mix four pack and I thought, I better send you some. Yeah, it was super nice. It's super cool environment. They got picnic tables outside with like, you know, the draping lights and fire pits and kind of different ways you can be seated. And yeah, it was, it's just a cool vibe. So, and I think that whole area is kind of transitioning into a better kind of setup for the community. More stuff is coming in. The program I was a part of is building this huge outdoor like food truck thing. So yeah, it's going to be good for that and I

hope they stick around there. Cool. So Kristen, thank you for the beer. It's delicious and I'm happy to share it with a friend. Touchstone touching hearts. Oh, there you go. Now they have a logo or a slogan too. Yeah. Right. Yeah. I would say maybe. Kristen. I have to come up that way every now and then. Yeah. To see some in-laws maybe come on the show kind of thing. She's the manager. Um, but and then there's, yeah, like she's one. Of whoever the brewer is. Yeah. For sure. I'm sure they'd be willing and they use, they actually started as a climbing gym and indoor climbing gym.

They're the largest indoor climbing gym on the entire west coast. Like they still have that. They still have that. And then the no kidding. That sounds. Dangerous. Yeah, a. Couple of double IPAs in me. Let's go do some climbing. It's a different. Climb that. I couldn't two beers ago, but I sure can now. You don't think I could climb that? Hold my. Beer. You're calling me a weenie. Man, that's so great. That's like my dream of having, like, a gym. That's a brewery. And you just got, like, workout equipment. You can order beers. Oh, what a dream.

They got these little pulleys. You can, you know, get your. Pull your beer up while you're at the top of the. You can see a little thing. But yeah, it's a separate building of course. And then, um, all the waivers and all that, but then they added this. So it's kind of cool. It's got a neat, neat story to it. Yeah. Good. Well thank you for sending this. Yeah. Yeah. It's nice. I could see where maybe on tap this was, uh, it's just missing a little. I want to say a hint of carbonation for me. I got good, good tropical nose on it. Yeah. Nice flavors. It's fairly soft in the mouthfeel, but it kind of, uh, coats the tongue.

I feel like a little pinch more carbon. It might just dance a little nicer and good flavors. Nice mouthfeel to it. All that good stuff. Yeah. So thank you for sending this down. Very nice of you. Very nice. And Touchstone for hooking it up, too. Yep. Very nice of them. Uh, a little news before we get out of here. It's a big news 21st amendment, as we all know, closed back in, I believe, September. And they've been acquired. Philadelphia. Yeah. Philadelphia's Evil Genius beer company has acquired the 21st amendment brand,

reviving its offerings after the 25 year old San Francisco brewery shut down last year. Evil genius is bringing back their core brands to distribution in the northeast, Mid-Atlantic and Midwest, not the West Coast. Yeah. That's weird. Okay. Uh, we are taking a back to basics approach with with no rebrands, no recipe changes, and no corporate buzzwords, Evil Genius co-founder Luke Bowen said in an announcement. 21st amendment co-founder and brewmaster Sean O'Sullivan added, I'm excited to see 21st amendment

head into its next chapter with Evil Genius and to get beers like Hell or High Watermelon and Brew Free or Die. Blood orange IPA back out to the people who have been missing them. Notably, Pennsylvania was 21st Amendment's second largest market, trailing its former home state of California. How about you get him back here in California? So there you have it. Blood orange IPA. I'm not down for it, though. No, I just couldn't stand that. One for being honest. I'd rather drink the watermelon one. Yeah, yeah. That one was pretty good on tap too,

actually. Yeah. Like the watermelon one on a hot day. Not a horrible beer to have in your hand. Yeah, really? They did a good job making it light and refreshing enough to not make it like this sweet, kind of weird thing. Yeah, it is good. Yeah, exactly. Like fake watermelon flavor. Right? To be honest, I haven't had it in quite some time, but from what I remember, it was pretty light and just. It's easy to drink on a hot day, you know, like beer kind of thing. Sure, sure, sure. The biggest news to come out of the last couple weeks. This is big.

This is like groundbreaking. And strap in because this is a long one. Firestone purchases Stone brewing. It's ironic that it's long. Firestone, Walker and Duval USA have reached an agreement to acquire the Stone brewing brand from Sapporo, USA. Financial terms were not disclosed and the deal is expected to close in the second quarter of 26. Firestone Walker CEO Nick Firestone called Stone one of the most iconic brands in American craft beer, saying the company plans to honor its legacy

while continuing to grow the brand. Duvall, USA president oof sorry, Sarath De Smet. Added that the partnership brings together well-established craft breweries and aims to maintain and expand Stone's national presence. The deal reunites two California based breweries founded in 1996, and comes less than four years after Sapporo purchased Stone for $165 million. Firestone Walker is also in the process of acquiring Trumer pills,

and together, those additions are expected to significantly increase its share of the Southern California craft beer market. The combined volume from Stone and Trumer would add roughly 280,000 barrels to Duval USA's business, bringing total production close close to 900,000 barrels annually and making it the fourth largest craft brewery in the US by Brewers Association standards. Under the agreement, Firestone Walker will manage the stone brand in California, the western US and Texas, as well as national retail accounts. Duval USA will handle distribution

east of the Rocky Mountains. Production of stone beer will gradually shift to Firestone Walker's Paso Robles Brewery and Duval Boulevard brewing Facility in Kansas City, creating a coast to coast production network. Stone will continue focusing on its core brands including Stone IPA, delicious IPA, Mixed Packs, and Buena Vista. The companies say there are no immediate plans to change stone sales or distribution strategy. As part of the transition, Sapporo will continue brewing Stone products at its Richmond, Virginia, and Escondido, California facilities.

For now, the Richmond Brewery will eventually become Sapporo's main US production hub. The deal also includes four stone taprooms in California, including the Liberty Station location in San Diego, which will remain a flagship brewpub. Existing locations at San Diego International Airport and Petco Park will also transfer to the new ownership. Many stone employees in hospitality, sales and marketing are expected to be offered roles with Firestone, Walker and Duval, while production roles will be evaluated as operations shift. What I read is they're going to, um, that they're getting the Escondido

brewery as part of the deal, and they're going to sell it eventually and just produce strictly in Paso. Ocho. Or, and end at Boulevard. But, um. I do love how they said, uh, from Paso Robles to Kansas City, uh, would be coast to coast. I picked. Up on that. Too. Yeah. Coast to Mississippi, almost river halfway point. Did not. Did not specify a coast. True.

True. Oh, yeah. Huge fucking news. Uh, here in California. So it's it's exciting. I, I did the research. Duval is technically still craft by the Brewers Association definition, which means once this goes through, stone will once again be craft beer. Which is hilarious. Yeah. It really is. What a journey it it has been a journey. And I think it'd be funny if we did, uh, after everything's done and settled and signed away, we do like a little stone, uh,

retribution episode, I don't know. I think it would be kind of fun. Yeah. Yeah. Get some stone IPA and strip some enamel off our teeth. Yeah. There you go. Yeah. I really hope they bring back some of their. They weren't one offs because they came back multiple times. But like notorious POG. I was just gonna say that. It's probably my favorite beer that Stone. Ever put out. Delicious beer. So fucking good. Talk about refreshing lake beer. Notorious POG, was it? What do you mean? It wasn't that heavy, though. That was like a seven percenter. I don't think it was. Was it? No. Let's let's check the Google box.

I remember having it once and I thought, oh my God, this beer is so fucking good. So good. Let's see. Stone still has it on their website. Thank God. 4.77. Oh, wow. Look at that. Yeah, that was wrong. Yeah. No, it's a Berliner. It's a it's a classic Berliner with, uh, pineapple, uh, orange and or passion orange guava. So. Okay. Yeah, I loved it. So good. It it kind of, you know, I'm not gonna say it didn't help inspire the beer that I did with Monica over

at petals. So pretzels did too. I'm just. Saying. So did pretzel. Yeah. And Seinfeld and Seinfeld. There you go. Yeah. See what happens. Yeah. And sort of related 33 job cuts at Trumer Brewery. After their closing, after announcing US ownership of the Trumer brand would shift to Firestone Walker. Uh, Gambrinus and Trumer Brewery filed two worker adjustments and retraining notifications in California. Gambrinus filing affect six workers and Trumer brewery's filings affects 27. They'll both take place on May 29th.

I believe that's when Firestone takes over. I think at the beginning of June is when Firestone takes over production of Trumer Pils. So good and bad news all around. Um, World Beer Cup. You guys want me to list every single winner? Uh, there's probably like a thousand winners. Alphabetically, please. Yes. Yeah. Well, let me shuffle this around. I just, I was gonna pick up some that I thought were kind of cool to talk about. It seemed like Orange County is really sort of, uh, stepping up, which is interesting. You know, San Diego, I think,

has been the California hub of beer for so long. And, uh, Orange County winning some awards. Green cheek everywhere, brew beer, uh, rip everyone down there in Orange County is winning some, some hardware. Uh, San Diego, of course, still on the board. North Park Stone even won some stuff. Pizza por ale Smith up in my hood, transmission brewing. As well as. Institution. And I gotta say, I was surprised. This wagon wheel, um, I have not had their new ish wagon wheel. And, um. Isn't that.

The place that sounds familiar? Or wagon wheel had the most expensive wings I'd ever purchased. That's what it was. They were fine. There was nothing wrong with them, except it was like $17 for three weeks. Gourmet wings gourmet. Now, look, I haven't been there since then. It's probably been like 2 or 3 years. Maybe they've gotten better. I, I owe them another visit. Um, some hype breweries, got some wins. Russian River picked up some awards, lost Abbey. Um, good to see them back on the board. Firestone Walker get something for their propagator location.

Um, and hey, Milwaukee not and Wisconsin not to be left out. Vault 202. Heard of them? No. Okay. And vintage brewing. Heard of them? No. Okay. Well, they pulled in some hardware, too. Okay. Yeah. Let's see. Vault 202 is out of Appleton. Okay. I know where that is. My best friend lives there. Okay. And vintage brewing is. I'm gonna fuck this up. Sauk city's a u k. Sauk city. Yeah. Sauk city. Okay. So there you go.

I don't know if that's even near you at all, but. The appleton's about two hours and Sauk City. I still probably say at least an hour and a half. Okay. I don't know. I don't know where that is. The name like Sauk City, I bet really sucks. Well played sir. Uh, let's end it on this one. A Tesla rats out its own hammer driver. Whoa.

Kimberly Brown, 37, was found passed out behind the wheel of her electric car around 2 a.m. on Friday when the autopilot detected her eyes had been closed for too long. Stopping and leaving it in the middle lane of Interstate 75 in Sarasota, Florida. Hi, Vanessa. Hi, Vanessa. Hey, Vanessa. Glad it wasn't you, right? She was charged with a DUI, according to ABC four. This was extremely dangerous. Highway Patrol Trooper Ken Watson told the station. What a cool name. Ken Watson.

Yeah. Yeah, that's that's awesome. That's a man's name right there. Uh, she should not have been behind the wheel, he said. Unfortunately, she was intoxicated more than two times the legal limit and made the assumption that the Tesla would get her home safely. Well, what if she kept her eyes open? Does it just shut off if you close your eyes? Yeah. So if it detects your eyes are closed, it just kind of like slowly comes to a stop. Oh, I did not know that. Oh, dang. Because you have to hold on to the wheel. If you don't hold on to the wheel, or at least like, touch the wheel, I think it stops.

You have to have your eyes open. Like you have to be coherent enough to, fool the system. Okay. I think you could probably. There's no breathalyzer. You could probably be hammered, but you just got to keep your eyes open and your hand on the wheel asleep. All right? Yeah, exactly. So, um, missed it by that much. Man, I was really hoping this was going to be like a Knight Rider situation. Like she gets pulled over driving the Tesla and the officer's like, excuse me, miss, have you been drinking? Uh, no. Yes she has. Who said that? It was me.

Except instead of, like, Kitt's voice, it's an Elon Musk super annoying voice. I've never even actually heard him. I don't watch the news or. Oh, he's just, like, super dorky and awkward. Okay, so. Sounds like any other smart, rich guy. There you go. Pretty much. All right, I think that's it. Erica. Thanks for the beer. Thanks for hanging. Yeah, it's great seeing you guys. I was worried you all had been greying and. Too long. Shriveling up and I. Mean. Just look like true. Little peaches. Yeah. Millions of peaches.

Uh, gonna hit some music. Come hang out with us. I don't know, soon. Maybe next week or something. Okay. Will do. It's on the calendar. Perfect. Follow us. Craft beer Republic crappy republic.com. Go get yourself some pretzels. @Necknosh dot com. @Necknosh on the socials. Uh, 80553 A beer. Hey, uh, Fontana Jim Flex need some inspiration for going to the beer. Get mad at me. Yeah, let me know a little sooner next time. That was so rude. Yeah. How dare you.

Uh, I hope everyone is staying very well. I'm so sorry. And on that note. Good night everybody. I hope he comes in blast Erica. Oh, I'm supposed to work around yours? Yeah.