Let the Kids Pick the Beer

Welcome in everybody. Today we've got a new podcast review, an excuse to drink even more beer, a list for Flex and ten reasons to stop drinking beer. Let's go. Perfect. Every time. Welcome in everybody. It's the craft beer Republic. I am Greg, and being joined by the buffest guy in the Great Lakes region. And that is Flex. What's up, big fella? No, we staying pretty cold over here in the Fresh Coast, baby.

Oh, what is the temperature these days? Uh, it it was like a low of -13 today or something like that. Jesus. Not even not even with the wind chill. And then I think it got to three degrees is the high. Oh, my God. Last time we recorded, I had that big barrel aged stout because it was freezing here and, you know, boozing on a budget, all that good stuff. Today's high was 78 degrees. Yeah, that's a rough life, man. Yeah. Now it's been windy. Today's like the first. Nice. Not at all. Windy day, but still nice and warm. So it's gonna cool down this week.

It's gonna get down into the 60s. Look out. Look out now, everybody. My girl. Icicles on your beard. And he's nuts. Uh, anyways, thanks for drinking. Thanks for joining all that good shit. Follow us on the socials. @CraftBeerRepublic @CraftBeerRepublic dot com 80553. Beer. All of the good things. I can't wait to get into all the fun stuff. It's been a couple of weeks since we've hung out and had beers with each other, and, uh, we're both excited for our beers today. So you know what? Without further ado.

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. All right, everybody, uh, so I lucked out today. My kids head off to school as it is currently. Martin Luther King Junior day. That is today.

So they got to accompany me to the beer store. Nice. Oh, this makes me excited. And I am drinking a beer that they picked out. It is because it is pink. The label? It is very pink. It is pink. It almost couldn't get any pinker. Maybe if the can was pink. Yeah. Phase Three Brewing company, they were like my, I don't know, first. Real love and heartbreak in the craft beer world. And I like to dabble into them every now and then again. So this one's memory loop.

I didn't read what the beer variety was. I just saw West Coast on the can, and I assumed it was a West Coast IPA, but I'm really excited because it is a West Coast, West Coast style extra pale ale. Oh, you don't see those a lot? No. Not at all. I'd probably say like 1 in 200 beers you ever see. And that's probably accurate. Math weighs in at 4.8% ABV. I did have to buy a four pack of this, so if I do enjoy it, I'm not going to be upset.

And what I like about these cans to what they started doing with these new labels at Phase Three, is they'll show the hops on here. They also have the brewer's notes of like the fruits and whatnot that you're going to maybe smell or taste in said beer. And, and I always like to try and, you know, cross check that as I smell and drink my beer. So untapped has this set at a 3.76, uh, only 229 check ins. Again, my my stop always gets in

relatively real fresh beers. The ratings not necessarily justify what the beer is, and that one's kind of low. But also we talked about it off air. These extra pale ales. If it's not an IPA, how do people they kind of freak out and panic like they don't know how to raid it, right? What are we doing this? We just dump it out down the drain. How does this work? Do we clean the windows? It's not a hazy. Pour it out, man. Pour it out. Seriously, what it is. Uh, but the old untapped, uh,

details here. It says, uh, in Xpa lives in that space between pale ale and IPA bright and hop forward without the wait. Built on a light base to showcase the blend. Hopped with mosaic, Azacca Nelson Sauvin and Cryo Columbus, it brings bursts of mango, white grape and citrus peel over a clean, balanced frame. So right now that's already ironic and kind of contradictory because the brewer's notes have blueberry,

mango, and pine, and there is nothing about the mango in the, uh, weird in the description here. So yeah, it didn't even say blueberry. Oh, it said mango, but not the blueberry. That was my fault. Uh, so I guess, you know, without further And. There it is. We'll dig the old nose buds in here. So not as prevalent as when I poured it, but the blueberry note, which I was very excited about, uh, was super prominent on the fresh pour, uh, with all this big soapy bubbles.

And, uh, it was a really beautiful head. I wish you could have seen it, but it's still kind of, um, kind of lacy. And it says pine, but I wouldn't say so much pine as it is. Just if you've ever taken a fresh hop and you rubbed it in your hands and you get that fresh hop cone smell, it's more of that than just the the pine itself. So. Sure, uh, a little blueberry, a little fresh hop. So I guess it's it's about that time. There we go. Warm up the old, uh, ying yang Tongue-jobber. Here we go. Wildly light as a 4.8% extra pale ale

would be definite fresh blueberry. You get that pine in there? Mango at the way, way, way back end. And just the tiniest hint of low and bitterness. Uh, this is a an absolute crusher. I'm actually pretty psyched about this one. Kind of psyched. I got three more cans. Yeah. It's good you're not pissed that you have three more cans. No, that's the worst feeling, man. I don't know if it's just because it's January and, you know, people slow down with the drinking and whatever they're into.

Maybe that's why the single can section at my shop the last couple of weeks has been poor. I don't know. This one was this four pack was 12.99. So whether I would have hated it or if I loved it can't be mad. Uh, $13 for pack. Yeah. Not the worst. No. So I would have been upset. Wouldn't have been too upset. But I'm glad I don't have to be too upset about this one, so. Fantastic. Well, speaking of beer, I'm actually being texted by Non-Murderer John as as we speak.

He's telling me that Casa Agria, which is one of my favorites out near us. I think they make the best hazes in the 805 area code. Okay. They are so good. Anyways, he was sending me their menu. He says what's up with Costa? No IPA's on their menu, nothing on the online shop for beer. I'm really bummed about this. So we talked a little bit about it. They recently closed their second location. So we're now we're speculating back and forth. Are they a little cash poor. They're trying to sell off what they have on hand. Or are they just not updating

their online menu. You know, let's hope it's that. I hope they're doing okay. Yeah. I've had a couple their beers lucky enough to uh. Yeah. Brian, Brian sent me some in our World Cup bet. That's right. You got a couple of sours from him, right? Uh. I think it was, uh, this IPA he really liked from them. I don't think I got the sours. Because they're IPAs and pails are fantastic. Yeah, it was very good in case. In case he forgot, uh, Argentina beat France and He lost and I won. So that's all that matters.

Yeah. Casey? Yeah. You listening? Intern. Brian. Brian. Brian. I love you, Brian. Top listening city. Shout out to Ashburn, Virginia again. They're circling back around. Thanks for not being West Virginia. Yeah. As always. Appreciated. You know, I don't know what John Denver was thinking about. Man, he's full of shit. Yeah. And, uh, another podcast review, thanks to the one. This is their name on the thing here. The one and only BK. Okay. Is it, like, break heart, kid?

I don't know, I feel like if you're gonna go by an acronym like people should know, know you by it. It's like when you have a personalized license plate but you don't know what it means. People can't tell just by looking at it what it means. Yeah. I saw this one license plate today. It said died for you. Was he? Jesus. That's what I thought. Yeah. So I looked in, I pulled up to the red light and I looked in the window and it was not Jesus. Oh. So, uh. Yeah. That's disappointing. Fucking posers.

We we drove by one the other day. I shit you not. It was CRF br two. So I said, I said the wife. I was like, how do you read that? She goes, craft beer two. I was like, that's how I read it. Yeah, that's what else could that be? So if it's not, then you're a fucking loser. Uh, anyways, uh, the one and only BK says Great Beer podcast. Always funny and you can tell how much they love the craft beer industry. Look at that. He got beer podcast and craft beer. Right. Or they I say they I don't know who that is BK. Bk. Yeah.

So, uh, thank you for the podcast review. If you guys are out there, leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever else. Make sure you use beer, podcast and craft beer because it's my whole little nerd experiment that I'm working. Greg's a nerd feed into his nerdism. Such a fucking nerd. Have you gotten any breweries lately? Oh, man. I'm still. I'm still getting over the Lingus. You're still pretty Lingus. I figured that was the case. It's been six weeks. Ooh. Still got this. Six weeks since you drink a beer? Yeah. First.

First CD I ever got, actually. Um. Wow. Yeah, really, really solid. I'd suggest anybody listen to it, but, yeah, I've been sick for about six weeks now. And every day I wake up, I'm just, you know, like, maybe I'm gonna be better today, and then I just keep getting all this nasty drainage down my throat, and I gotta clear my throat like an asshole every three minutes. And, you know, this dry cough that won't go away. And losing my breath. It's like I'm 90 years old with emphysema. Yeah. Next thing you know, my kids are gonna have to start

changing my diapers, you know? Jesus. Like, two weeks away. Yeah. So if. Yeah, if I haven't been at work, man, I've been laying low. That's nuts. Uh, I have not done any going to breweries outside of, you know, like trivia, knotty pine, that sort of thing. Okay. Uh, but I did hit up Agora Beer and Wine, which is one of my favorite. It's like my second favorite bottle shop behind TJ's. Okay. And they also they have eight taps and they have some wine and that kind of stuff went out there with, uh, interim Brian and Deb, the aforementioned interim. Brian had a couple of beers.

They had some artifacts on tap, which I like me, some artifacts. They had a breakside brewing. That was really good. It was a super clean West Coast IPA. The artifacts was hazy. It was. You know what? I hadn't sat outside and had a tasty beer in some time and it was nice. It was some nice research with nice people. So we have a spot like that. It's a little bit out of my way, you know. It's a bottle shop. And their top floor, they have like a taproom with like. Multi-floor bottle shop. Well, so like first floor is where they sell everything.

And then you can go upstairs and then that's where they have, like their tasting room. And they usually have like 6 to 8 taps on at all times. And then, you know, breweries will come in and do tap takeovers. But it's just a little bit, you know, out of my way to go to. Sure. Sometimes the prices on, you know, for packs and cans and stuff are like a little bit up. You know, daddy refuses to pay higher than what he needs to. So yeah, I will say, yeah, they aren't the cheapest prices. These weren't bad. I got two beers and the two

singles I think before tax were, uh, eight bucks total. I think one was like 375. I was like. Oh, that's not bad. At all. It was bad. It was like eight by then with tax, it was like 950 for the two beers. So it wasn't bad at all. That's the two that I brought home. I don't know how much that's. That's pretty average for me. Yeah. It's not too bad. So um, and they're good. Like one of them I'll tell you about tonight. Yeah. It's just a great spot. The eight taps he has are always loaded with good shit and always has some good wine open. And his selection,

while not like physically large, it's a really good selection of shit. You probably haven't drank before. Like you got a couple of regulars. Quality over quantity. Yeah. You know, like you go to TJ's. And as much as I love TJ's, like they're gonna have, especially out here, God damn it, they're gonna have so much paper back brewing. I think they do that because their cans are awesome, but their beer is not. And they got, you know, like all the Sierra Nevada. That's all they get. Ya. Oh, my God, it's the only time I've ever drank paperback is because it's like these cans are bad ass. And every time I'm disappointed,

somebody prove me wrong. Please. It's like anytime I've had a beer, zombies, beer, I'm like, oh God, can is so fucking cool. But the beer is so average. Oh, let me. Tell you, from experience, it doesn't get any better on tap. Oh, jeez. Beer zombies. Oh, that was not a great experience anyways. Not a beer zombie show. Thankfully. Agora Beer and Wine. Great selection. Picked a few beers. I love hanging out there. The guy Ryan who runs the place. Cool dude. So that was our research. Brought some charcuterie dude. Nothing better than like

charcot's and afternoon drinking. It's good shit. I feel like I need a little bit more while I'm afternoon drinking than just charcot's. There's a lot of charcot's. Okay, okay, okay. You got me. There's plenty of salamis, pepperonis, all that stuff. Like four different cheeses. We brought some chips. It was good. Some nuts. Deez nuts. Ooh, I only like deez nuts. Yeah, I know it, buddy. I know it. Oh, and an aged parmesan, though. I'm sorry we did not. I like so we had this discussion at the place I like a really good

hard cheese. Like an aged parmesan. Like like a crystallized, like crusty. Yeah. Are you like, get. The little, like, salt saltiness from it. Oh yes. Please. Yeah. Like a Parmigiano-Reggiano or something like that. Like. Oh, give it to me. Nice and salty, daddy. If it's not crunching as I'm chewing it, it's not. It's not cheese. I'm getting as rocked as that parmesan right now, let me tell you. Oh, I wish we had some. We chose to not because we didn't have any knives with us.

Oh, I thought it's cause you didn't want to walk around with a boner. Oh, I do that all the time. I am a walking boner. I should have a shirt that just says rocked 24 over seven. I like it, yeah. Uh, don't call a doctor if this lasts more than four hours. Something like that. So. But yeah, I almost got the parmesan. I just I didn't have a real knife. I figured there's gonna be pain in the ass throwing it against the wall to break it up. Excuse me. Do you have a hammer we could borrow? Maybe a chisel. So, uh, we got a message from a

listener. Listener? Jay hit us up over the week and said, God bless you for keeping Mark and Brian's yule log tradition alive. I think last year, 2024, was the first time I heard you played on the podcast. I was walking through Costco when it started. I got goosebumps as I hadn't heard it in something like 20 years. Damn. I'm old. I started laughing out loud at the critical grunting point and attracted some concerned looks from my fellow shoppers. Keep up the good work in 2026. Thanks, Jay. It's my favorite thing to do. Every year during Christmas. Jay.

Yeah, it's not Christmas without the dropping of the yule log. Maybe he's a new listener. Jay's been around for a minute. Okay, yeah, I've gotten a few messages from Jay. He's, uh. He's good at telling me when he's like, good beer drops are in the air. I like that. Yeah. One time he was, uh, he's fairly local. He's like one town over. One time, he was at the Whole Foods that was in my town, and he messaged me. He was like, hey, uh, some fresh Russian river sours just dropped, and he sent me a picture of their, you know, it was like sanctification, supplication, all that stuff. And I was like, nice. Thank you.

So he's a good man. Networking. Um. Only for important stuff. You know, my brother in law tells me my real brother in law, not my sister in law's husband. He always says, your network is your net worth. Oh, I like that. Our net worth is Finland. Oh, yeah. Let's go. Let's go. So, uh, you guys want to hit us up? J hit us up on the DM's @CraftBeerRepublic. You can email us @CraftBeerRepublic. And 80553 beer. Leave us a voicemail.

We we love the listener messages. It's one less thing we have to think about to talk about during the show. Well, it's nice to know that people are listening. That too. Like, we got one. We got one. You know, we begged and pleaded and got three, uh, iTunes or Apple podcast reviews so far. So we have at least three listeners. Yeah, the one and only VH. K never forget. I guess it's stuck in my head. So BK is pretty, pretty solid.

Yeah, if only we knew what that meant. Write us back and tell us what BK stands for. Yeah. Are you a wrestling fan? Break heart kid. Typo. Wow, that'd be cool. Yeah. Uh, if you don't mind, I'm a little parched. Oh my gosh. Please, by all means. I want to make a call. Wet the whistle. He calls to the bullpen for beer. So I am drinking from the

aforementioned Agora. Beer and wine. Uh, Beachwood Brewing, in collaboration with green Chew Your Beer Co. Two great breweries, Lucky and Cheeky's Escape IPA. It's a cute little can. This is a fun can. With a little green cheek bird on there. Oh yeah. Little hop is hanging out with the bird. I like that at the bottom there. That is fun with all the palm trees. I like the tropical too. That's wonderful. Yeah, I like the negative space on there. I'm a design nerd. 7.1%. 70 IBUs. That's a lot for a modern West Coast.

That's the fact that they even put it on there. Yeah. It's surprising. Uh, 405 on untapped with only 143 ratings. Let's see. Must be fresh. Fresh. Is there a can on date? It's about two weeks old. Yeah, it's pretty fresh. It's nothing wrong with that. Says Lucky and Cheeky are back together, this time on a well-earned island escape soaking up sun and hops, bursting with tropical fruit, bright citrus and a touch of mischief crafted with our pals over at Green Cheek. And they even say malt. Canadian pilsner hops. Mosaic.

Mosaic. Christchurch, New Zealand. Cascade. Riwaka. Columbus, oh. Columbus, oh. I don't think I've seen New Zealand Cascade before. I thought Cascade was an American varietal. It looks wonderful, by the way. Yeah, nice and clean looking. Very see through. Not bready looking at all. A lot of lot of bubbles coming up. Almost pilsner like in appearance. Very attractive beer. Yeah. The schnoz. I'm getting those New Zealand hops. Like, I feel like there's even some white grape on the nose.

Mm. Definitely some citrus. Uh, light nose, though. All around. Very light. I'm gonna dig in here. Yeah. Please do. Mm. This is. Hold on. Further research required. Yeah, for strictly for research purposes. So when I first cracked this bad boy open before the show started, it was ice cold and I enjoyed it, but I was like, ah, it's not amazing. It's just good. What are you. I believe you said, um, that's not 405. It's exactly what I said. As this has warmed up a little bit, the hop profile is really shining through a little harder. I'm really picking up the citrus

notes. Not a ton of tropical, but a little bit I do. I feel like I get a little bit of that white grape, but citrus by far is the the big one there. Very dry finish with some sort of dank resiny notes to it, very light in the mouthfeel and um, 7.1%. It drinks like a fucking pale ale. This bad boy is dangerous. Um, I bought one. If I'm back anytime soon, I might be buying some more. There we go. That's a that's a four pack daddy right there.

That is a good show right there. Yeah, I might need some more of this one. This is making up for last week's boozing on a budget beer. Yeah, that was a rough one. That was not amazing. You actually everybody. Greg actually sent me the video after we recorded of his sink. And out of the left side of the screen was the bottle head and glug, glug, glug down the drain. Bye bye. Made me laugh very much. Good, good.

Did you see the picture I sent you from? Total Wine, by the way? Oh, sure. Maybe a. Week ago. Maybe even a little bit more. Anyways. Please hold. I ran. Into this. So the shitty beer. That garbage ass beer you had a few weeks ago. Oh, my God, I can't believe I forgot to. Oh, I was working, that's why. Yeah. Um, very busy day. This was the director thing that you had. What is it? Dribble and nibs or whatever. Uh, it was. Super. Shitty beer. Super shitty. Looked like throw. Up. Looked like puke. Yeah. How much did you pay?

Do you remember? It was like 22 for the four pack. Okay. This was 27. Yeah, I saw that price, and I was gonna message you back. But I was busy at work, and I couldn't believe that that's what they're selling it for there. Yeah. I was like, fuck no. And honestly, had they separated them, I would have bought one just to have on the show because it was so bad. You should've know as like, a gag, but I wasn't gonna spend $27 on a four pack of diarrhea in a can. No. It's terrible. It should be on the clearance

rack already. Yeah. So just what can you drink? That was rough. That one's not gonna sell. You know, I actually drank the remaining three I had. Oh, my God. It was brutal. Um, I bet. I poured it out every time, and I'd be like, all right. Like, maybe the the coconut's gonna settle down a little bit. And every time you poured it, it would just like these big nasty like you added too much Dawn dish soap to the bubble mix. You know, bubbles in the head.

And I would get like four sips in. I'd be like, all right, I think we just chug this and get it over with. And and that's what I did. It was pretty, pretty awful, man. What a fucking man you are. I just hey, that's my hard earned money I spent on that. I get it, I get it. I just like that fucking boozing on a budget. I, I got my dollar and 50 worth. I couldn't drink the other six. Yeah. That's so gross. Good for you for doing that. But just couldn't. Not worth the the calories. Not worth the inevitable hangover

that piece of shit was gonna give me. None of it. And the unfortunate part about it is, you know, Drecker is a very solid, very well known, you know, probably one of the top craft breweries around. Everybody knows them. Their beers are super hype. I would say they hit probably every, you know, seven out of ten beers and they they really got me with that one. Yeah, they really did. Really? Too bad. Shame. Shame on them. Shame on you, Drecker.

For even putting it out. I don't think anybody enjoyed that beer. Yeah. How could you know? What if anybody's had that shit? Fucking beer. Flex had let us know. Yeah, please. And if you liked it. I don't know. You're. You're not human. Yeah, we we think less of you immediately. I had a good time looking at the, uh, untappd comments on that beer. Mhm. Were they mostly in agreeance with you? Yeah. Somebody who's like, uh, like drinking a can of suntan lotion and.

Oh, I do remember that one. Yeah, it was pretty gross. Has a 3.7 I just looked it up. Has a 3.7 untapped 756 ratings. It must just be because it's drecker. People are fucking. It was it was that that raw beer or rare beer RA. Oh that's right. Yeah. Collaboration. Yeah. They do all those out of order beers that are super popular with the the slush puppie. Right, right. In different garbs and themes. So, uh, again, you know,

they promote the breweries well, and everything's always hyped and that RA does really good or really popular smoothie style sours and shit. So, uh, they they they fucking reeled me in, man. Hook, line and sinker. They got you. Yeah. I like this review. This person says, uh. Jennifer. Hi, Jennifer, I love your review. I love RA sours and I was so excited by the flavors and the collab with Drecker. I had to dump all caps. Dump it. Worst beer I have ever had.

It was bitter with a horrible aftertaste. I have no idea how it's getting high ratings. Maybe I just have a bad batch. Nope. Jennifer that was same batch everybody got. Yeah, unless you shop at the same bottle shop that Flexy. Same one. People get Hype Brewery blinded when? When they rate beers? Sometimes. Oh, it does say that Jennifer is from the Midwest. Interesting, interesting. Her latest check in is a phase three. Weird. Oh, shit.

Jennifer's your neighbor. There's more than two people in the Midwest. Greg. No. There's not. You fucking liar. That would be hilarious. All right. What did she have after the phase or before the phase three moth fire brewing. Have you heard of moth fire brewing? Mhm. Okay, maybe she's not your neighbor. Okay. She's one of three people in the Midwest. Sorry. Three families, not people. Have been really weird.

If she was like my across the street neighbor that I never talked to. Right. She's like, I love this beer at Eagle Park with the French fries. Best French fries in the world. Yeah. Best French fries ever. Yeah. A lot of moth fire brewing on her check ins, forward craft and coffee. Um, Delta beer lab. Have you heard of any of these? Delta beer lab? Yeah, that's, uh, Wisconsin brewery. Okay, Madison, I believe. Okay. Well, she might be your neighbor ish. She's definitely had some toppling Goliath moth fires. Uh, Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Oh, okay. I just looked them up. Somewhere in your Midwestern region. Beer looks solid, and they all have, uh, like, four ratings for all their IPAs. They have a red IPA. It's got a 3.93. Wow. A moth fire. Hey, Jennifer, if you're listening, uh, hit us up. Let's get some of that red IPA. Yeah, yeah. Every single one of these moth fire IPAs is either just under four or just over four. It's pretty good for a brew you've never heard of. Yeah. Impressive. Uh, all right, a little news

before we wrap things up here. Well, after. After stalking Jennifer. I know I could do this all night. I got I got a little out of control. Let's hone it in. I had to stop myself. Get some news going. Bring us back around. All right. Three. Two. One and go. All right. The government new dietary guidelines drop specific alcohol limits. I think in the past, it was like two drinks for a guy, one drink for a girl per day. Uh, the updated guidelines encourage Americans to just

drink less overall for health, but no longer set different daily limits for men and women. Which has been two drinks for two drinks for men, one drink for women in the previous version. The update was issued by the USDA and HHS and was welcomed by beer trade groups. The Brewers Association highlighted the role breweries and taprooms play as community gathering spaces, while the National Beer Wholesalers Association called the change a win for sound science. The Beer Institute encouraged adults who choose to drink to do so in moderation.

So just drink and don't drink a ton, I guess. And maybe don't, like, have whiskey for breakfast. Yeah, I'd say that's where a lot of people go wrong is when, you know, you have breakfast drinking for breakfast and. Yeah. Look, the occasional Sunday Irish coffee is acceptable. It's all right. But the Wednesday Irish coffee, minus the coffee. Probably not a great idea. Monday through Sunday. Irish coffee.

You know, again. It's the coffee. Let's bring it back. Let's hone it in, you know, control yourself. Yeah, yeah, let's. Let's really pull ourselves together. Yeah. Uh, Sycamore Brewing is going to rebrand. We've all talked about Sycamore Brewing. It's a better More Brewing. Uh, got him. Diseased more. Uh, Sycamore Brewing has filed to rebrand its LLC as Club West Brewing, the Charlotte Business Journal

first reported this week. The move is the latest attempt to separate the Charlotte, North Carolina, company from its co-founder, Justin Brigham, who, as we all know, was arrested last month on charges of statutory rape of a child by adult. Yeah. Super gross. He'll get his in jail. I'm very confident of it. And we did say that they should probably change the name. Yeah, because otherwise they did that. Yeah. It looks like they're in the process of it. The owner slash soon to be ex-wife, did post a note on their website a couple of weeks ago. It was like right at the beginning of the year, it was like, hey, just so you know, hey, it was like,

basically, fuck this guy. Right? I'm divorcing him and he's a horrible human being. We're so sorry this happened. And then be like, we're we're taking some time to close and do some changes and do some better for our employees and the community. And it's one of those things where it's like, I don't know how you handle this sort of situation. It's a fucked up situation beyond all belief. But I guess it seems like they're doing a pretty decent job of it. So. Well, yeah. And it seems like two they're not like, uh, like you said, they're taking time to close for a little bit. Yeah. So it's not like, uh. Hey, we're just gonna keep going about this and keep making money

like they're willing to, you know, put all profits aside for the sake of the situation, which I think is great. And I think going forward, you know, they could have some benefits or festivals where the money goes to charities affected or foundations, you know, with people recovering from unfortunate issues that said happen. Yeah, I think that's a great idea. And I imagine that'll something like that will happen. We shall see. Yeah. But the the Club West name I'm kind

of confused cause, you know, they're East coast. It's kind of weird. The west side of Charlotte. Are they? Maybe. So is is her maiden name West? So now it's like Club West? I don't know. That would be interesting. It'd be fun. It's got West side. West side. There's probably a West side brewing. Um. What else? Oskar Blues has closed their Colorado Springs location. Oskar Blues Colorado Springs location permanently closed last month after more than eight years. In a statement shared with the Gazette.

Can I tell you a funny Gazette story, please? As you know, I have a bunch of family in Colorado Springs. We go out to Colorado every couple years, and we always spend at least a few days in the Springs to see my cousins and all that stuff. And, uh, the last time we were out there, which was the summer, um, just this summer, we got our Airbnb and we got an Airbnb that we could host everybody and have a big barbecue with the whole family and everything. And every time I would send the address to a different cousin or aunt and uncle or whatever, they always responded with, oh, over by the Gazette in a very

not positive way. Apparently we stayed on the not so great side of town over by the Gazette. Uh. So when they all got there, I was like, look, it's a fairly nice name. There were some shady neighbors. But the Airbnb was sick. But the Airbnb. Itself. Was pretty dope and my car was a rental. So do whatever you want to it, motherfucker. But anyways, so that's my Gazette story. In a statement shared with the Gazette, Oskar Blues assistant GM Jen Nino cited numerous reasons for the closure, including continued impact from the Covid 19 pandemic,

large scale construction projects in downtown Colorado Springs and inflationary pressures and a cautious consumer base. She added Closing Oskar Blues is devastating. Our team has been the heart of this place for more than a quarter of our staff have been with us since day one, and we are leaving with heavy hearts. We are profoundly grateful to the Colorado Springs community for their support and memories that we've shared over the past eight years. Oskar Blues still operates two Taprooms in Longmont, Colorado and Brevard, North Carolina, which is, uh, they're owned by monster, as we know.

I think that's the real problem here is they're owned by monster, and monster ruins. Everything they touch. Uh, yeah. They're energy drinks aren't even good, right? Like, what they started is just trash, right? Also, it's been five years. Six years. Are we still blaming Covid for closing businesses? Uh. Is that still cool? Cause, like, I know that, you know, three, four, five, six years ago. Very valid reason. Six years out, you either survived the pandemic or you didn't.

You can cite other reasons like rising costs, tariffs. People aren't drinking as much beer as they used to. The the pandemic did shift people's habits, but to just flat out say like Covid 19 pandemic is why we're closing. It feels weird to me. Maybe they look at it as, I don't know, they had a down year like, say, 2020, 2021. Sure, I'm sure they did. And then maybe every year after that has just not been as successful as they were prior.

Haven't quite recovered. Or their sales have been significantly decreasing each year since then. Maybe, I guess you could say, hey, maybe it was the pandemic. I guess, but maybe you just didn't do enough to bring people back into your taproom. Maybe also that, yeah, I think that's a big thing. I feel for a lot of breweries that are closing. It's horrible. And I don't know how we turn the whole fun beer situation around. I knew I know New Belgium is talking about it daily, but uh, to say like six years out,

we're closing because of the pandemic just feels a little weird. Maybe they should have closed three years ago and they've just been fucking hanging on by a thread, at which point I'd say it's close. Three years ago. Save your. Money. I would say we've all had Oskar Blues beer. We sure. Have. You know. A couple decades ago. I would say, I wonder, you know, how they made it this far, but that's just me. Um, and maybe that's being rude, but that's how I feel about their beer. But also, I feel like I concur. There was a huge uproar and we've talked about this 2016 to like 2018.

Um. Huge uproar in craft breweries, humongous bunch of bunch of the local shop or breweries around here, all established 2016 I think now it's become the time of like the put up or shut up and like people are going to go where the beer is good, where the time is good, where and if. Hopefully they have food, where the food is good food 100%. And I think a lot of that is is really coming full effect now. And people aren't just going to

go anywhere because, you know, there's beer here. They're really again, this is the phrase of the week here. They're really honing in on quality. Um, you know times is tough. You know, like I said, I don't drain pour my beers because I spend my hard earned money on them. So when people are spending their hard earned money, they wouldn't spend it on something quality. I agree. And talking about Oskar Blues and our, um, lack of love for their beers, I just did a search into our archives. Okay. The only time we've ever.

And this is well before your days. The only time we've ever had Oskar Blues on the show was when we were doing a, um. We called it the Healthy Beer Tournament for the for March Madness. Okay. And just a low ABV. Oskar Blues. It's like low carb, low calorie, low ABV. And that was in March of 2020. So we only had it because the requirements were you had to be able to find it nationally or mostly nationally. Okay. Had to had to meet the ABV and the calorie and carb requirements.

And other than that, we've never had our Oskar Blues on the show. I think that speaks exactly to what you were talking about. The last one I had, I was at, uh, when my best friend lived in Indianapolis, and I went down to visit him, and he had, like, an Oskar Blues variety pack in his fridge for some reason. And I had a Oskar Blues pilsner. I couldn't even tell you what it I don't know. That's a. Pilsner. That's all I remember. Yeah, that's about right. Yeah. Good times. Uh, Port Charlotte man was accused of trying to enter the wrong house while drunk. We've all been there, right? That's terrifying.

That is terrifying. 23 year old man in Port Charlotte was arrested Monday evening after he was accused of attempting to break into a neighbor's home while intoxicated, mistakenly believing it was his own house. At around 7 p.m., Tom Dorothy heard banging at the empty house next door to him on Wynnewood Court. It was quite scary, though, because I walked out there in the dark, you know, thinking it was maybe an animal. I didn't think it would be a nearly naked man, he said. He described the man as. Wearing only loose shorts with

no shoes or shirt. Charlotte County deputies identified the man as Nolan Worrell, who was accused of being so drunk that he forgot where he lived. He did identify himself, he said. His name was Nolan, Dorothy said. An arrest affidavit from the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office said that girl claimed the house was his and that his mother in law and girlfriend were inside, but he was locked out. He attempted to remove the screen from a window and planned to break it, but his feet got cold, prompting him to retrieve a coat. Deputies reported that Worrell

removed two window screens and pulled on the door handle with such force that it bent neighbors in the Shadow Mask community called 911 after seeing Worrell wandering through several yards, unaware of his identity. When Dorothy learned that Worrell lived Jimmy. When Dorothy learned that Oral lived just a block and a half away on Rose Apple Circle, he expressed his hope that Worrell would remain on his own street next time he was arrested and taken to the Charlotte County Jail on a misdemeanor

charge of loitering and prowling. First of all, walking into somebody else's place just in loose shorts. This guy's hanging dong. Oh, yeah, 100%. Packing some heat. 100%. And, uh, second of all, have you ever done that in a parking lot? Like, looking for your own car and you're just kind of nonchalant in the parking lot, and you're, like, pulling on a handle and you're wondering why your car's not opening. You know what I did one time? This is in high school. I went up to, uh.

I thought it was my cousin's car, and the windows were up and they were tinted. It's the same exact car. And I went up and one window was cracked, and I just put my head up to the fucking so I could see with my eyes through the window, and I was. I thought it was my cousin. So I was like, hey. And so I walked up, put my fucking face on her, on what I thought was her window. I was like, hey. And then the person inside looked at me startled, was like, hi. I was like, hi, I gotta go. Oh, and just like ran off. In a Walmart parking. Lot. We had just loaded up the the van. I have a white Toyota minivan,

and we just loaded up the van, and I was taking the shopping cart back to the return and then walking back to the car, and there was a white Toyota van parked right next to us. And I started pulling on the car door. And then I look in the window and there's some lady terrified in the driver's seat, and I just felt so fucking terrible. Who is this buff man trying to break into my car? And I just like, mouthed, you know, I'm saying sorry on the outside of the car, but to her it's just me mouthing words and I'm like,

pointing to, like I'm on the other side. So now you look insane. So then I hope she actually saw me get into my own car. And then I sit in the front seat and I said to my wife, I said, oh my God, I just tried to get in that lady's car. Was she hot at least? I mean. No, it's a Walmart parking lot. Man, of course she wasn't hot. Oh, yeah. I've never gone to the wrong house. The worst I've done is like the wrong room. Uh. Like when? Like a hotel.

No, no, uh, like wrong room in the house. Oh. So, like, for a bachelor bachelorette party? We rented this giant house in San Diego, and on our. The guys, you know, did their thing. The girls went and did their thing, and the guys got back, and I was fucking armored from all the beer drinking that day, and, uh, went and laid down for a while. Woke up at God knows what time. I mean, it could have been 6 p.m.. It could have been four in the morning. Who fucking knows? But I was still remembered and I really had to pee.

And I'm trying to open the door, and I cannot. And I actually remember thinking, like, why can't I open this door? At which point my wife wakes up and goes, why are you trying to go outside Jesus Christ? Apparently I was trying to open the slider to the balcony in our room. That's hilarious. Who knows what I would have done if I got out there. Similar situation happened years prior. I was with a friend. Uh, we stayed at, like, her family friend's house over Christmas. One time and one night we went out and we got absolutely trashed and got back to the house. And the room we were staying at had a

closet, and we had only dropped off our shit and left like, I didn't know where the bathroom was in the house. Once again, she tried to go to the bathroom. I shit you not, I have, I have whipped out my junk. Okay, it's in hand and I am about to release. And as I do, I don't know what prompted this. I reached up and I grabbed the light. It's like on a chain. Yeah, like you're in a closet. Well, I was absolutely in a closet. Jesus. And you know how hard it is when you're hammered and you have to

pee and you're trying to pinch it so you don't pee on the floor of this person's closet. Oh. That's tough. Oh, it was so bad. And so then I'm having to pee. Barely keeping it inside. Roaming through this person's house, finding the actual bathroom. I would have just. Thought, oh, I, I was looking for anything with a drain at that point, and I did finally find it. Did not pee myself. I don't know how I thought I was gonna piss myself. I do have the closet. I do have a good buddy. Who, uh, his basement. When he lived in his parents house, his room was in the basement,

and he had a door that led into a bathroom of his own. And then he also had a big walk in closet next to it. So he got super drunk one night, and instead of walking into the bathroom, he walked into his own closet and took a piss all over his clothes. Um, so he was able to wake up and realize what he had done. And at least it was his own stuff, though. That's what that sort of happened to my sister.

Did you know she's married? I didn't even know you had a sister. Yeah. This is just a bombshell. Sorry. Turns out I have a sister. Don't know if it's blood related or not, but, uh, she had a friend over, and it was her friend's 21st birthday, so she took her out, got her drunk for the first time, at least. First time legally. All that stuff. They came back to the house. The friend went into her walk in closet, having to pee and sat on the clothes hamper. As. If it were the toilet and peed. Luckily it was empty. No clothes, but a. Hamper.

So their dirty clothes anyway, right? Sure, but there were no clothes in it. Okay. Peeing in the hamper. And then she had the shelf of, like, old dolls from when she was a kid. Reached over to the shelf and flushed it with, like, the doll arm. That's fucking hilarious. Yeah. And then back to bed like nothing happened. And my sister never told this person. Really? She was. She's like, I don't want to make her feel bad. I was like, fuck that. Yeah, that's a story to tell. Man, that's. What you get for being drunk. So we should call her Michelle

if you're listening. No, I don't remember her name, but it would be great if she found out this way. Oh, we reminisce about all the drunk stories. Good or bad. Yeah. Yeah, all my pukey stories. Oh, I'll reminisce about them all day. That's part of part of growing up. What can I say? Uh, we'll end it on this one. It's a list. Ooh, I like lists. I don't know if you'll get very mad at this one, but it is a list. Top ten oldest bars in America that are still serving alcohol. Okay, you can't really screw this up. Yeah, it's either factual or it's not. Uh, we'll start at number ten.

The old Ebbitt Grill in Washington, D.C., opened in 1856. The Genoa Bar in Genoa, Nevada, opened in 1853. It's Nevada's oldest thirst parlor. Still doing its thing. Ooh. The iron Door saloon in Groveland. Yeah, in Groveland, California. It's a Gold Rush era saloon still operating today. Opened in 1852. Do they actually have iron doors? They do. You know, I've seen this, I forget, I think I saw it on a travel show or something. Uh, I'm gonna look it up real quick

to see how far away it is from me. I think it's up north, somewhat close to Yosemite. For anybody who cares, it's between Yosemite and Modesto. Modesto, anyways. Yes. Iron doors. Uh, the red circle in in. Help me with this one, Natasha Nash. Oh. Nashotah, Wisconsin. Uh. Nash. Oh. I don't know. It's probably like Neshoba. Neshoba. Nash I don't know. Anyways, uh, opened in 1848. Oldest bar in the Badger State

and very early for the Midwest. The James Jameson Tavern in Freeport, Maine, opened in 1779. Whoa. Yeah. Helped plot Maine's statehood upstairs over drinks the tavern in Bardstown, Kentucky, also in 1779. It says it's a frontier tavern in Bourbon County with centuries of stories. The frontier land, huh? Yeah. The Griswold Inn taproom in Essex, Connecticut, 1776,

founded the same year as the US. The Middleton Tavern in Annapolis, Maryland, opened in 1750. A pre-revolution hangout where early American leaders drank and debated. That is wild. Yeah. Number two, the Jean Lafitte Blacksmith Shop in New Orleans, opened in 1772. Uh, colonial era bar with pirate lore and serious atmosphere. Also, that should be after the previous one. That's out of order. Stupid list. Now I'm mad at the list.

And number one is the White Horse Tavern in Newport, Rhode Island. Opened in 1673. Older than the country, still serving drinks. That's nuts. That is crazy. It'd be a fun little trip to, like, go around to all these old bars and. It's gotta make you wonder, like what has been, like, refurbished or remodeled? Yeah. Like if if any of it is actually. Which it's hard to believe if it's original, but. Well, I mean, 1673 I don't think we had indoor plumbing back then. No, no, no.

So obviously they, you know, added things to it. But yeah electricity all that stuff. Yeah. Refrigeration, light bulbs. Light bulbs. Yeah. Napkins. I mean who knows. Beer tap. There you go. So. Yeah. Uh. It's wild. That's pretty cool. I'd love to go. Some old, old bars. I went to, uh. Like, 350 years old. Is that. 16? What was it, 16 going back 1673. Okay. So 1973, 300 years old, right? Yeah. So it's like 350 years old.

Yeah. 350 yeah. Nuts. Yeah. That's crazy. Let's go to Rhode Island. Let's gas up the jet. Uh, I think Rhode island's like a super solid destination. Like something about, like, low crime rate and shit. Mm. I wouldn't be surprised if Deb and interim Brian have been there. Let me know, guys. Feels like a state you've been to. Let's go drinking. All right. That's all we got. Let's hit some music. Get on up out of here. Let's say hi to Vanessa. Vanessa. Follow us. Follow us on the socials.

@CraftBeerRepublic. @Flex_me_a_beer underscores 805538. Beer 2337 @CraftBeerRepublic male @CraftBeerRepublic. Com. Send us a message. All that good stuff. Uh, I think that's everything. Hope everyone out there is staying old timey hydrated. And on that note. Good night everybody.