Please Don’t Fertilize the Beer

Today we've got the comeback of a classic brewery. A new gross origin story. More proof that craft needs better marketing and 12 exercises to help your liver thrive. Let's go. Welcome in everybody. It's the craft beer Republic. Thanks for drinking. Thanks for joining. I am Greg over there from the swimming pool that is the Fresh coast that is flex. What's up, big fella? It's me, it's me.

I did not go swimming in the Fresh Coast, though. Oh, it's too cold. Yeah. You know, like water temperature. Super cold. Only been 80, like two days in a row. That's it. Oh, sweating over there. How do you guys handle the 80s? I'm sure it's a form. A lot of cocaine. Some, you know. Yeah. New wave music. Yeah. Kind of like everybody else did. Yeah. A new music video channel. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Makes sense. I heard video killed the radio star. That's just what they say. I have heard that. Yes. So. All right. Well, and then joining us from, I don't know, probably an even

colder state of Utah. I don't know. Maybe not. I bet Wisconsin's colder. Yeah probably. It was it was a solid 90 today so. Oh, shit. Dang dang. Dang. Yeah. It was beautiful here in Southern California. 73 degrees. Oh my gosh. Suck it bitches. Sorry. I think we got up to 83 today. Wow. Balmy. I had ball sweat. I had. Oh no, it was. Sweat. I'd back sweat. I was sweating everywhere. In fact. Crevices. Yeah. You name a place there was sweat.

Sweat. Yeah. Yeah. In fact, flex I would say today was fantastic ball weather. Oh yeah. You had good weather. Yeah. 73. 73. A light breeze took the dog for a walk. It was it was swinging. You could just feel it helpful. Breeze was helpful because it wasn't culottes. What are you just letting the shorts. Yeah. Stuff everywhere. Everywhere I travel I always make sure I test the dick, whether you know, because you're not always looking the greatest. Right. Down certain certain cities.

They got some real nice, real nice weather. Okay. I believe the top of your list is Orlando, right? I think Nashville is the top of my list. Oh, Nashville. Okay. Nashville. Stellar. Orlando pretty solid. Cincinnati a crazy number three. Okay. Yeah, not something you'd believe, but. Yeah. Crazy number three. Aren't these all fairly humid places? I am surprised yeah. Especially in Florida. Yeah. I would think that would be the worst. Yeah, I would think so too.

But well you usually go like in the winter right. You're not in Florida in the summer. It's like Orlando. Yeah. We usually. Winter. Spring usually between like October, April. Okay. That yeah. Time frame. You know, not as not as sticky. Right? Yeah. For the uninitiated, you know, the good dick weather. It's like, you know, not too sweaty, sticky, but not so cold that things run and hide. It's that perfect, you know? Yeah. No, no peek a boo situation. Yeah. Where you're very, like, on top of the world. Right. Exactly. Steph, I'm so sorry. This is how we started this episode.

I mean, I have male children and I have four brothers, so. Continue. I've heard worse. Got it. Where were we? Follow us on the socials. Craft beer Republic at flagship beer. Perfect weather. Yeah. Yeah. At. Tips. Out. Reflexes. New handle. Tips out. Oh my God. Just testing the weather wherever he goes. Oh, sorry. And one of these days. It sucks, but, you know. Not for a bit, but maybe.

Not for a while. Maybe. Maybe someday. Maybe someday. Get your. Own back. Your own feet. Socials back on. It. It's not just feet, but. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Just a a highlight of the account anyways. Also not a foot show. Flex, you're looking thirsty over there. I am very thirsty and we need to segue. Let's quickly, quickly segue out of this mess we've made. 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. Tongue. Jobber. Wow. In this world, we must find out. What is flex drinking? Well, well, well. We meet again today. Flex is drinking. I hate this one. RAR RAR RAR RAR RAR RAR RAR. I had an issue with this one

last time. Yeah, we're gonna call it RAR brewing. And this is a collaboration which I did not know. I just I bought it because of the can. I thought it was a really neat can. I recognize that little happy face. Yeah. Super duper colorful. You got the happy face, the smiley face. And it says everywhere. Everywhere on the can. I don't know, I thought that was just part of the fucking can. And. But I bought it because the name, it's called Big Time Cheesin and it's a West Coast IPA. And I didn't even read any of the hops or anything on it.

I, I actually bought it purely based off the name and the label. So going pretty classic flex on this one 7% ABV. If I would have seen this hop bill, I don't know if I would have bought it because it's kind of like a cesspool of hops. We got freestyle, cascade, freestyle, Riwaka, Citra, incognito, Nectarine Galaxy and Riwaka hop keel. Wow. So yeah, it's a plethora. Yeah.

You know, throwing out big words here. Plethora of hops. The old untapped brew here. a little tap, tap, tap room calls it a American IPA, 7% really recent beer, the can says for 2026. So that's pretty solid. And they only have 374 check ins and a collective 4.01. Wow. And they read. Teaming up with the West Coast Kings, we created a crisp and saturated West

Coast hoppy, built upon a lean grain belt and hop centric water profile. Hopped with everything I just told you and it says notes, a heady orange straws, passion fruit pouches, and smooth melon finish. So get the old nose buds going. All right. It's a subtle aromas little peachy little orangey orange straws, they call it.

I've never had an orange straw or a passion fruit pouch. Oh, it's passion fruit, not peach. So it's definitely the orange then. So now without further ado, warm up the old tongue. Jabby stuff's goddamn laugh. I'm sorry. Oh. It's cause you're so cute. Flex. I got new glasses. That's what it is. Oh, that's why you don't look like squints. Yeah. Yeah. And I got the beard going on, too. I don't think nine year old

squints had a beard. So the flavors on this one pretty subtle with the the aroma. You do get more of that passion fruit. A little bit of that orange, real low and bitterness for a west coast. And the color on this too. It's kind of like foggy ish, like almost like an unfiltered Westie. And I like it. I'm not getting any of that melon finish. Or maybe it's finish melon, I don't know. But can they grow melons in Finland?

I don't know. Apparently they listen to the show, so maybe somebody could tell us. That's no Finland. Yeah, this is a super delectable beer. I very much enjoy it. Only bought one can. It was for 50 a can. So it was a little steep. You know looking at almost a 24 pack here. You know it's a California collab. What can I say. Breaking my bank here. But I got one can I, I could have got a whole four pack. I would have been very happy with the four pack of this and a 4.01 untapped. I'm okay with a four flat on

this guy. You know, it's it's not crazy bitter. It doesn't linger. It's just, you know, enough that perfect amount to just keep you coming back like, hey, I need more, I need more, I need more. Yeah. So yeah, super awesome. And when I found out it was everywhere, which was about, I don't know, four minutes ago, right? I was like, hey, Greg loves everywhere. Yeah, I do look, I've never had a bad beer from everywhere. I think they do great work. I don't know how much involvement they had with this. Like, did they just send him some shit that they actually show up?

Who knows? But if they're involved, I can imagine great things are happening. I love everything they're putting out. So actually, speaking of collabs, one of the last times I was up at Eagle Park, I was talking to the owner there and yeah, they have this big joint fest that they do every year where they collab with a bunch of different breweries, put them all on tap. It's a great time. And so I was talking to them like kind of how that works. And if they actually work with said brewery on what's going on, or if it's just kind of like, hey,

we're just going to do this and this and this and put them on the, you know, put them on the label, like, say we collab with them. And he said, no, it's, it's pretty intricate, like waiting on emails to like, wait to get like the recipes down pat, how they're doing it. And so yeah, it's pretty, pretty much, you know, collab. I feel like two things. First of all, quick shout out to San Jose, California before I forget for being our top listening city of last week. Hi San Jose, I feel like Steph can speak to this because I don't know if

everybody knows this, but she sort of puts on an entire collab fest. In fact, I believe it's called Collab Fest. No it's not. It used to be, but we had to. There were legal reasons. Oh, it's no longer called collab. No, we call it the mashup. Okay. The festival formerly known as Collab Fest. Exactly. The not the not collab fest. You're right. So how does that does everyone get together and actually like, come up with shit like flex is talking about or. Here most of our brewers do. I know there's times when someone's done a collaboration with a brewery that's far away, so they,

they will just use kind of they'll work on a recipe together online, like through emails, and then they'll make it separately at their each place or at their own breweries. But here, if they're close enough, they actually like schedule a day. The brew team from one place will go to the other brewery and they team up. And it's so fun. They I got invited to a few of them and I got to take pictures and I had to help. I got to do a collaboration beer for our festival. So yeah, it's really fun and it is kind of a dance trying to get everyone on the same page and in

the same place, but it's, it's really cool. That's awesome. Yeah. Steph runs the Utah Brewers Guild. If anybody know I do. Yeah. She's fancy. I wouldn't say that. Okay. She does work things. I work I have a job, I have a job. She has a job. It's a fun job, but it's still a job. Yeah. Yeah. Well maybe maybe it is that soft J. All right. Very nice. I'm excited for you everywhere. I'm also excited to see what you

guys think of this question for you. Would you guys drink a beer made from barley grown with human urine fertilizer? Oh. This is our origin story. We've talked about. I have a thing with urine. Yeah. What is the thing with urine? Do tell. You're either in or you're out, you know? No, I just love the old dodge ball,

you know, drink my own pee. Sterile. But I like the taste. Well, yeah, pee grosses me out big time. Actually. I'm very much the same. There's some. I've heard you guys talk about many different gross origins for beer, and this is one I'd have to say no to. I don't even like hearing people pee. Like, I'm gonna put that out there. I don't even like urine averse. You don't you don't even want to

think about it. Clearly, I'm you're out, you know, like just. But anyways, a Danish brewery called Norrebro Bjerg just made of beer. I'm pretty sure you nailed it. Fucking dead. On. Right on the nose. Yeah, they made a beer called Pilsner. And yes, the name is absolutely intentional. Now, I would try it based off the name. Oh my God. They partnered with the huge

music festival. It gets so grosser where attendees use special urinals, and they collected over 500 zero liters of urine to fertilize barley fields. To be clear, the pee never actually goes into the beer, but it did help grow the ingredients for it. The whole thing was part of a sustainability project they called beer cycling, which honestly sounds more like a made up word from a drunk brainstorming session. But somehow this became a real beer that people actually bought. All right, well, on a serious note, yeah, I'd really like to know the science

behind this because pee is like the the waste from your body, right? It's all like the toxins and the crud that filters out through your body, right? So how are you fertilizing something? What is in the pee? Because usually isn't like compost. You don't want to put like, waste human waste in your compost. I mean, how are they making. I'm with flex. I don't get it. How does this. I wonder if it was a weird typo type thing. It should have been like they watered

it with the urine, not fertilized it. I'm not a scientist here, but it feels weird. But again, then the the plant is just sucking up the toxicity, right? Yeah. Which you think would kill the plant. But this is a head scratcher. I mean, like, I peed in some grass before and it doesn't die. So I mean, like. I mean, have you heard that repeatedly, though? Yeah. Cause if a dog. Pees. In the same spot, it really your dog will kill your, your yard. So I don't know. Now we need science on like, dog urine versus human urine.

Oh, man. You know. I'm just gonna say no to this beer and cut it out. Unfortunately, this is not a urine show. I think, Fortunately, it's not a urine show. I agree. Fortunately, especially for flex, since you're in a verse, you're right. He's you're. Out. Put myself in a box. I'm actually gonna pass on this one too, because I just don't. I don't get it. Why don't you like it? Because I don't understand. Yeah. That's fair. I'm passing because I don't want

to drink pee pee beer. But, you know, I mean, and I would have even. I heard you guys talking about the coffee. Beer made with, like. Squirrel poop gets pooped out. I would have tried that, but I'm no, I don't nope. No thank you. There's something different about it being pooped out of a cute animal instead of pissed out of some dude who got drunk at a beer festival. You are correct. I don't know why that should make a difference, but it does. It really shouldn't. But I'm with you. It totally does. So yeah, it's just weird. It's weird. It is weird. This is. Yeah. I mean, we talk about a lot of weird things. Yeah. That's weird. Yeah, exactly.

More so I just can't wrap my head around it. Yeah. Flex just does not get it. I don't, I don't get it. Not everything has to make sense for it to be enjoyable, but okay. Okay. I do like the name though. I really I did like the name prisoner. The prisoner. Yes. Yeah. That's classy. Give me your finest prisoner, please. There's only one, sir. And it's not that. Honestly, that just sounds like. Like it sounds like a purposeful name that you would give to, like, a a known bad beer. Like this. Beer sucks.

We're gonna call it a prisoner. Yeah. That is. That's. Yeah, I'm gonna use that from now on, actually. Yeah, that's a really good idea. Yeah. Tastes like piss. There's a British guy in the room suddenly. Where did he go from? He's got great glasses, though. Oh, he does have nice glasses, I like them. They're new. Hey, thanks. Yeah. You're welcome. Steph, I figured I'd bring this up when you were on the show. Since you deal with some beer marketing type things. Okay. Flex and I talk fairly frequently about how craft beer has sort of

lost its way in terms of being fun and doing a good job at like, drawing in new people. Yeah, I feel like they've got the the chubby white dude with the big beard. They've got that demo on lock, but bringing in the newer, the younger generation feels like marketing falls a little flat. We're always talking about like, how could they make beer fun? How could they? What sort of events could they do? That sort of thing? I saw an ad today for a brewery that will go unnamed because they're not the problem here. But it was May 11th through 17th

American Craft Beer Week. Celebrate independent craft beer all week long. Great. Nothing wrong with that except as we record, it is the 25th of May. This is the first I've heard of it. Like I haven't seen any other breweries posted about it. Really. I only saw this brewery post about it well after it already happened. I mean, they didn't post after it happened. I saw it, you. Saw it happened, it happened. But I feel like these events used to be a lot bigger of a deal. You'd have, like American Craft Beer Week and out here, we'd always do like LA Craft Beer Week and I just don't hear about it anymore. I mean, it is it is a national thing.

American Craft Beer Week. And that's exactly when it was. And I also feel like it used to be a bigger deal. It's things have kind of gone a little quieter on that front. And I think that there's kind of a reframing happening in craft beer. So we're just in a weird lull, but I think things are going to pick up again. I think there's a it's kind of like the fads of, well, everybody's drinking lagers. Well, now we're all gonna drink IPAs and now it's all about hazes.

And I feel like there's a, there's kind of a what's the word I'm looking for? Everybody's kind of going back to basics a little bit like lagers and pilsners are becoming more and more popular again, which I love because I'm a crispy boy kind of girl. But I do feel like things are. It's time for some reframing, but also kind of going back to basics because I mean, with Covid, everything went crazy. So like, everything was new and weird and everybody was advertising the strangest things you could

ever imagine. And it's almost. Like pizza in peaked. Right? We peaked at weirdness. And so now we're coming back to, well, what's, what's actually good, not just what's the weirdest thing you can. Make, but it's almost like you need to like clean the slate and just. That's a better way to put it. Thank you. Flex. I think that's what's happening. Do you think that some of this has to do with. I know that the Brewers Guild has their team has shrunk. The Brewers Association. Association. Yeah. Big time team has shrunk. They've brought in some new leadership that sort of like is

that causing some of this? I don't want to say confusion. It's not confusing. It's just lack of getting the shit out there, I think. So I think there's a lot of new teammates and yeah, they have shrunk in numbers. And I think they're just they're also in this phase of trying to figure out where they're coming from again and where they stand on everything. And I mean, they've moved great American Beer Fest to a music venue this year. Outdoors in Denver at the end of October. Yeah. One of two options. 108 degrees. Or snowing. Or 22.

Yeah, yeah. That's Denver in October. I do feel like they're kind of trying to find their their foothold again. So but I do think that they will I think we all will. I think it's going to still be okay. We're just in a weird. We're coming back out of a lull after we hit a peak during Covid. That's my personal. I feel like the industry is very roller coaster. Yeah, yeah. You know, like the, the ups and the downs and obviously like we talk about it a lot like 2016, huge year, right?

And then that kind of went into, I don't know, 23. It was almost like seven years of good craft beer. And then the last 2 or 3 years, it just kind of been on like this downward spiral almost. And I kind of felt like it all just went haywire because like I said, everybody was doing the craziest thing they could to get their names out there because no one was going to bars or taprooms because they couldn't. And so it was all about beer to go, and people were just doing the most insane. I mean, here in Utah, they were

making like spaghetti beers and taco beers and just things just loaded with lactose. And I mean, it was. Way too much lactose in Covid era. Yeah. And so it was almost like everybody peaked at this weirdness. And now we're just trying to figure out what the hell we're actually all about again. So yeah, I could be wrong. That's just my opinion. No, I like it. And we just need to make beer fun again. I agree. My very first beer boss used to say that he was like, if you're not having fun at this job, you're not doing it right because beer right. And I was like, thank you.

That's a great. Like, there's a lot of overthinking these days with beer. And obviously from a business standpoint, you want to overthink the numbers and that sort of thing. But like the beer itself used to just be like, fun, come have a beer. Now it's like, you know, it's almost gotten to I feel like we're a little guilty of this, but it's gotten too nerdy. It's like, hey, just just fucking have a beer and enjoy. Yeah. I don't want it to be so overwhelming that I can't think straight. I just want a good beer, and I want one that's perfect enough to have a second one if I feel like it and it won't knock me out. So exactly. Yeah, no more fucking 9% lineup kills me.

There's a there's a brewery that has has closed out here. They closed in like 22, but great beer. But I swear the lightest thing they had on tap was 7.5%. Oh my. God. Look, I want to go and have 2 or 3 and still drive home, right. And I'm not surprised they closed. A lot of people felt the same way. It's like, give me some lighter options to give me some crispy boys. I feel like there. Was a period of time though, where everybody was into that. I agree, I think things just went crazy. Like if if it wasn't 17.5, right,

I wasn't or 17.5, seven and a half. I was like, wow, big boy. If it wasn't seven and a half, I wasn't drinking it. No, I think you're right. I think things got overloaded and crazy. And, I mean, you had to squeeze your smoothie beer to get it out of the can. And that became the big thing. And cans were exploding. Why would I buy a regular IPA when I could get a double or a triple? Exactly. But I feel like things are trending, people. When I hang out with brewery owners and brewers themselves, they're really enjoying making

like four beers and 5% beers, which Utah has been the case that way for a long time. But yeah, well, we know that. Because they have. To, but they're great about making beer that is, to style and still manages to stay within the rules of Utah. So we're pretty. Good, I think. I think locally, to me, a great example of that is energreen all German styles, you know, so tons of pilsners and lagers and dark lagers and basically everything like fins. Mertens basically everything is like Mertens. It's all five and under.

It's all classic style and no one has stopped going there. So, You know, just do it and do it right. Right. Because it's back to being about socializing again for a lot of us, like. Yeah. We couldn't socialize with each other for a while, so why not get tanked off one beer? But now I can go meet my friends for a few hours at a taproom. I want to drink a 4% beer so I can hang out longer. Yeah, we're just hanging out on Zoom. Give me those big 17 percenters that flexes drinking 17. What are you. Where are you getting this beer from? Look, I've had a bad brain for, like, a week now.

He's just got a fridge full. Yeah, it's been a week. I don't know, I don't know what's going on. I've been saying I've been forgetting shit. And I've been pretty good at remembering things like really good. And this this past week. Man, I don't know if work just got busy and stressful at the holiday or what, but sheesh. Yeah, flex just has a fridge full of Dogfish Head 120 IPAs. 018 percenters. No, those I cannot, cannot do. Have you had that flex. One. Time I did yeah. Steph have you ever had it. I tried it once and it's been a

long time ago, but I just clearly remember thinking, I don't like. This nail polish remover. My brother in law had it. He was like, hey, you ever heard of this? And I was like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, wow. Oh, you, you got it. Like, wow. So we split it and it was like, ooh. I remember the first time I saw it out here, I grabbed it cause I was like, oh my God, there it is. I have to get it. It was a four pack and I was on a walk and I saw it at a grocery store, walked. I did like three miles in total

hot day. It was like 2015. I get back to the apartment. I was like, I'm gonna crack one of these bad boys open. Oh my God, I got so shattered off that one beer. It was great. Gross. Now, that doesn't sound fun. No. Yeah. It's it's it's tough to drink. It is not a quick drinker, that is for sure. All right. You need like, an eye dropper to just like. I'll have one milliliter or milliliters. What is it. Milliliter. Oh my God. Quick! I need 50 cc's of a stat.

All right, before we move any further, let's make a call to the pen and find out what Steph's drinking over there. He calls to the bullpen for beer. And then there's flex making that face. Oh, I missed it. Dang it, I looked down. Oh, shoot. Today. You know what's funny? Let me say this really quick flex is beer that he's drinking. There was a lot of similarities. Also, we're both drinking out of a clear beer glass with red print.

And I was like, flex and I are twins today. My wife stole this glass. Oh, I got this glass for free. Does that. Count? Oh, so did I. I am drinking a collaboration beer as well. It is called Rainforest Cafeteria. And look at how cute this is. Can you see. It? Oh, damn. Dude. Is there like, a thunder and lightning storm every 30 minutes? There's there's cliff divers. There's an aquarium. So this beer was made specifically for my little festival, actually. Our Not Collab collab fest.

And it was made by my good friends at Ogden Beer Company here in Utah. Their head brewer is one of my closest girlfriends, and she also won a gold medal this year at World Beer Cup. I'm so proud of her. She did this one in collaboration with Melvin Brewing out of Wyoming. And they have breweries in Wyoming. Melvin is a great brewery actually. Damn dog. Melvin thought they just said Yellowstone. No, they don't have a ton of breweries, but yeah, they they have some breweries up there and they're pretty good. This one is a West Coast pilsner.

It is tasty and it is fruity. And it was brewed with. Oh, you know what I actually I've been trying to look these up on untapped when I come hang out with you guys. But this one has only been checked in five times because it was just like a small batch beer. And two of the people who checked in. I know them personally. And I was like, well, this feels weird. So did you check it in twice? No, I don't have an untapped I don't check anything in. I can't, I can't get myself involved in things where you can like earn badges and crap because then my

life falls apart because I'm like, I need, I need all of these. Mama needs to level up. I didn't get the level 300 photogenic badge. Yeah, that's that's my how my brain works. So I just steer clear. It's a 6% beer. It was brewed with mosaic crushed and deep cut cascade hops. Crush it, crush. Flip and delicious 86. So yeah, it's it's fruity, but it's got that West Coast finish, which I love. But it's also Pilsner,

which I super love. So. Oh, it's super crispy, I love those. I do too. They're so enjoyable. Perfect. Perfect summer beer. I 100% agree. So so yeah, this one's not gonna. There's not too much of it floating around. And damn. I was lucky enough to get a four pack and it's tasty. I do like the can and how cartoony it is. I wish you can see this. Can I know I'll have to. I'll send you a picture of it. Correct. So that you can. And well, Greg can show flex because

flex is in a weird dimension where he can't talk to me, I think. But anyway, outside podcast, but they, they took the Rainforest Cafe logo and tweaked it a little. So Melvin brewing their logo is an elephant. So you've got the Melvin elephant on there. But then there's a blue mammoth for our Utah's hockey team. And there is a cougar because we have mountain lions all over here. So when the BYU Cougars, it's like. Well, they they're the Cougars because we have Cougars here a

lot and they're terrifying. Oh, I did not know that. I didn't know that was an actual thing. Yeah. It's a, it's a mountain lion. And they will just know. So know so I know what it is. Yeah. But we have them here. But like we're the Wisconsin Badgers, like here in Wisconsin, like that's the University of Wisconsin, right? No badgers in Wisconsin, really. We're the Badger State. No badgers. Do you know why we're the Badger State? Because you're. The old. The old miners would, like,

burrow into the ground, and they would, like sleep in the ground. Right. Like a badger. Oh, I didn't know that. And that's how they got the name the Badger State. And that's why we're the Wisconsin Badgers. Even though there are zero badgers native to Wisconsin. That's weird. No, we have native cougars here, and they will silently stalk you. Okay. For a while before they take you out. Sleep with you. Oh. Oh, no. That's a common joke here, though. Oh. Cougar joke. Yeah yeah yeah yeah.

Those cougars are here in Orange County. Yeah, I was. Thinking, I was actually thinking about Steph today. I was thinking about you because I knew you were coming on the show. Greg, don't make that weird face. Well, we went right from cougars to. I was thinking about Steph today. So I was like, okay, like, if you're from Wisconsin, you're a wisconsinite. And I knew this and I, I was so stupid because it took a while to hit me like, what the fuck is what are you from Utah?

You know, and I was running through all these names in my head. I'm like, this all sounds stupid. Did you figure it out? You're a ute, right? You're a ute? No. No, you're a utahn. Oh, I always said Utah in. C, and that's what was crossing my mind. And it sounded stupid. That's why I said it sounds stupid. Yeah, yeah. So what is a ute? Cause the University of Utah is a ute, right? That there it was a native tribe that Utah is named after. So. Oh, okay. Cause in my head, I'm like,

then why aren't they just the BYU Mormons? We don't know. Actually. We don't know if they're just I was like, if they're just putting it right out there, just where did they get Cougars from? And now I find out that there's actually cougars. And I'm like, this world doesn't make any sense. Because it makes so much sense because it's all just right. Utah is named after the Ute tribe, and the BYU Cougars are the Cougars because there are literal cougars wandering around. That is.

The more. That is fun to know. Reading is fundamental. Fundamental, fundamental. Tell me about it. Two things I want to bring up. One, I. Before flex told us why Wisconsin is the Badger State. I went to type it in into Google and I got to. Why is Wisconsin? And the first thing that popped up so drunk. Oh. The other thing is I looked up how many breweries are in Wyoming?

And according to Wikipedia, it's 40 active microbreweries are in Wyoming. That's more than North Dakota. That is true. Almost exactly the same as Utah. So 40. Yeah. I wonder what state has the fewest breweries. It is. Alabama. What's one of the Dakotas? I think Arkansas is really close. They have very few as well. But I, I did know it for a fact. Once we know North Dakota has like 21. Yeah. Okay. It might be it's one of Dakotas. I have your answer.

And Steph is wrong. Really. According to. Google. With 14 breweries, it's Mississippi. Really? Damn. I mean, that's like right by Arkansas. Does Mississippi 14, North Dakota 22 to 24. Hawaii has between 24 and 29. And then West Virginia has about 32. Whoo! Yeah! Those fuckers. Yeah. All right, well, I stand corrected, but. Yeah. That makes sense. I've never thought about. I don't think I've ever heard of a beer from Mississippi.

Now that you say that. There you have it. The more you know. We've learned so much today. This this really is an educational podcast. I should switch the category on Apple podcast. I like learning. I learn good. That's good. Little news before I talk about what I'm drinking over here. Our favorite state flex new Jersey. Hey there. Governor nominates a new a, b, c director. Oh, isn't that guy the worst? Oh, God. The new Jersey governor.

Idiot. Mike. Mikie. Mikie Sherrill has nominated Paul Revere as the director of the states Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control. He currently serves as the director of the Office of Compliance and Investigation for New Jersey's Cannabis Regulatory Commission. Prior to that, he was the ABC's deputy attorney general. Name? Yeah. Well get stupider from 2018, from 2018 to 2021. During that time, the ABC instituted the draconian restrictions on craft breweries

ability to operate taprooms, which were eased slightly in 2024. This appointment arrives at a time of a flurry of alcohol related events in connection with the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which will host eight matches at New Jersey's MetLife Stadium. Though none of them are selling very well. So the guy who was a part of the regime that put in all those dumb shit rules for breweries, is now the head of the ABC. Good luck, new Jersey. Yeah. Sorry, guys. You can move though. Good. You can just pack up.

I mean, they don't have to go very far to get out of new Jersey, so it should be fine. That's the best part about new Jersey. Easy to get away from. Yeah. Yeah. New Jersey breweries had some insane laws. It was a weird. Yeah, you could show like eight TV events a year. Yeah. Right. Like they included sports events, right? You couldn't watch sports. You couldn't. You basically just couldn't have a good time. Yeah. Having a jukebox, I think, counted as live music. So you can only have, like, you know, ten nights of music a year. Oh my God. Yep.

Just sit silently and drink that beer. Right. Somebody bring a banjo. In Ohio, wine drinkers rejoice. Hopefully this translates to beer as well. Good news for the classy Ohio wine crowd. The US Court. Of Appeals for a thing. I'm sorry. I've been to Ohio. Yeah, I've seen the fucking chili. Spaghetti? It's garbage. Have you had the chili spaghetti? No. What is that place called again? Everybody was telling me about it. I've never been. But my. My cousin's husband is from Cincinnati, and he's like, you gotta have the Cincinnati chili.

I was like, do I though? Cause I can tell you I've had chili plenty of times and I've never thought, you know what? This is a chain fast food restaurant out there. And I can't remember what it was called. And everybody was asking me if I was if I tried it. And I said, no. Why am I going to try fast food chili? It sounds terrible. Yeah. It was spaghetti in it, no less. Wait, so they like, do they put chili on top of spaghetti or is it mixed together like spaghetti O's? Like it's it's one, one thing. Yeah. Yeah.

I don't I've never been like, man, this needs more carbs. Oh, really? Missing out on some pasta here. All right. Ohio. Yeah. Yeah. It's it's a real thing. I'm not trying it because I don't get it. If you were curious, the old Google here says Cincinnati chili is a Mediterranean spiced meat sauce, thinner than traditional chili, served over spaghetti or hot dogs or hot dogs. And known for its unique spice blend,

including cinnamon, allspice and cloves. Often. Oh, big secret spice blend. Often with unsweetened chocolate. What are they doing there? Oh, fuck. Somebody's mom had a bunch of leftovers, and they just mixed it together. That's one of those kitchen sink dinners. Yep. Yeah, that might be the. Most. Slaps. Let's keep it Midwest thing I've ever heard, actually. Yeah. You guys are weird. The US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled that Ohio laws barring out-of-state retailers from shipping wine directly to Ohio consumers

and limiting order sizes are unconstitutional. Really? Yeah. Yeah. Start shipping in that wine. Ohioans. Unconstitutional. I'm gonna have to. I'm gonna have to look into this more because we can't have alcohol shipped here either. Oh, hi. Direct to consumer. Was. Time to get on the old Google box. What is that one? Ohioans. Ohio sounds terrible. I don't know. Yeah. Ohio. Skyline chili, by the way, is the chain. Oh that's right. That's the.

It's not a fast food though. It's like diners. Right? I don't know. I think I've seen it on like. What do they call that? Like, I assume it was like. There's something I can't remember. It's like in between a nice restaurant and fast food. So yeah, it sounds like the shits. That's what it sounds like. It sounds awful. Yeah, I've. Look, I've had it. My cousin love it. Her husband lovingly made it for me, and I don't need to have it ever again. He's a great. Guy. But yeah. Anyways, before I continue on, please allow me. I'm sorry. It sounds like a classy form of chili, though.

Like, imagine twirling your chili in a spoon with your fork. But it's not. It's so not classy. Oh, don't forget the unsweetened chocolate. I don't think there was chocolate in mine. Maybe that's why I didn't like. Maybe I need the chocolate. Like a nice unsweetened Hershey drizzle, right? He puts it on a plate for me. Comes over with the sirup. Hold on. Oh. Oh that's amazing. That's terrible. Anyway. Yeah. Why don't you tell us what you're drinking? Yeah.

Please let me let me sip on something over here. Oh, I need it. After talking about that garbage chili. And for the record, it is. Oh. I think that sounds stupid. It's very on brand. I am drinking straight out of down the street from me. Tarantula Hill Brewing company, liquid candy. Oh, yeah. It's a hazy IPA, 7.5% 40 IBUs has a 3.92 on untapped with almost

12,000 ratings. Wow. Yeah. This is our hopped up smooth and pillow hazy IPA stacked with Citra and excuse me, Motueka hops done our way with proper brewing techniques adhered to a bright orange, juicy looking hazy that's not muddy, murky, chunky or unfinished. Muddy. Using imperial juice, yeast, and plentiful amounts of rolled oats and flaked wheat, this brew has a very soft mouthfeel, gorgeous homogeneous haziness, and some killer artwork from risk on the cans. No corner cutting here like all

of our IPAs. This beer is never rushed and takes almost three weeks to complete. By the way, three weeks doesn't feel that long for IPA. Anyways, cool looking. Cannot. Somebody sent me this. I can't remember who it was. It might have been Erica. Oh. Could have been. Could have been me. Could have been. You too. I realized I'd never had this on the show, which is surprising. Tea Hill is right down the street. If we're being honest, most of their lineups just fine. But I really, really like liquid candy.

It's a great beer, and it's one of the few that they regularly can and have available. It's a great name too. It's a great name. It's a really good beer. And I saw this in Costco and I was like, oh my God, they're hitting the big time. It's in our local Costco. It was like 18 bucks for a six pack of Tallboys. Whoa! And I was like, if that's not the algorithm, I don't know what is. In California, that's wild. In California on the nose buds here. Yeah. I was gonna say, I feel like breweries gotta start saying if it's not muddy, murky, hazy, pissy, you know, they gotta throw pissy in there.

That's right. Very important. Nondescript or nose buds. Real juicy, real tropical notes there. I'm getting them, but not a lot of citrus coming through from the Citra, at least on the nose. There goes the tongue dropper. Daddy. You're right over. There. Yeah. Flexes. Just making weird faces. Yeah. That's flex for you. It's a daddy jobber. It's a daddy job. Jesus Christ. Real tropical.

Juicy, like almost mimosa esque. Ooh, yum. Just without all that carbonation. And real, real soft, pillowy mouthfeel. Easy to drink. My biggest complaint about this beer is that it's 7.5%, and I wish it was more like six. 6.5%. Because you don't feel it or you don't taste it. I should say you do feel it after a couple and sometimes rarely, we will go to Tea Hill to catch up on some trivia when we don't go to our normal nights and it's like, oh, I want a liquid candy, but I can only have 1 or 2 before the trivia answers stop flowing.

Yeah, yeah. That does it. Exactly. Anywho, bad news, Minneapolis based. Oof! Why do I do this to myself? Bauhaus Brew Labs announced it will close at the end of June after 12 years in business. Okay. In a statement posted online, the brewery cited rising supply chain costs 75%, changing consumer preferences away from craft beer, lingering effects from the pandemic, and increased federal immigration enforcement activity in Minneapolis as factors that

contribute to the closure. Are you raising your hand? Yes. What are you doing with the glasses? It's 2026. Are you still allowed to blame the pandemic for closing? Yeah, that one still gets me a little bit. It's been a few years now. Yeah, I think that I think we're past the statute of limitations on that one. Like we're closer to 2030 than we are 2020. You're not wrong. Closer to our next pandemic than our last pandemic. Yeah. Can you make that, like,

an excuse? Yeah. Like, now you have to blame the hantavirus or something. Or. Yeah. Ebola or Ebola. Yeah. Yeah. Round. Round 42.0. Yeah. Whatever it is, it's gonna get you. Yeah. The brewery said it spent years trying to adapt by expanding beer, expanding beyond beer into hard seltzers, THC beverages, and nonalcoholic beer, while also bringing in packaging clients and increasing taproom events and programing. I could get more into this, but maybe you spread yourself a little too thin. I don't know.

I never want a brewery to go out of business. I don't want people losing jobs. I'm not gonna accept the pandemic excuse, but it is an interesting thing. The whole increased activity from federal enforcement causing a huge downturn in the greater Minneapolis area. I mean, they did have a lot of, like protesting. That's yeah. that's basically. What. Yeah, there's a shit ton of that stuff. But you know, I'm sure. Yeah. I mean, that makes sense to me, but not the pandemic thing. It does. No, no, I. Wouldn't flex on that.

One. You got you. Gotta drop the pandemic one by now. I know it sucked and I know people hurt from it, but. Right. But I think by now we're past the point of you either survived it or you didn't. Right? We are definitely at that point. Yeah, I think so. I think I think that shark has been jumped. I will be up in Minneapolis for my birthday this year. Oh, you're. Having a birthday this year. You know, I figured this year it's gonna be the year I have one. So finally we take road trips every year or every summer, and we figured

we'd take the kids up to Minneapolis, see the Mall of America, catch a twins game. Like fun, shit like that. Lotus brewing. So yeah, I guess I won't be checking out house. Guess you won't be. Spell it. Will you spell it for me? Oh, yes it is. But I want a spelling bee. Best spell it for us. BAUHAUSOC. I called it Bauhaus. Bauhaus? Well, you probably are, right.

Probably not, but that's okay. I'm excited for this one. Anchor brewing may be making a comeback. Oh, yeah. I already said. Beer. Let's go. What am I talking like this? I don't know what happened. I don't know. Good job editing that one. Yeah. Go. Me! I'll just make that louder. Double barrel named entity Anchor Brewing Company and Potrero Hill

San Francisco Brewing LLC filed certificate of label approval applications for anchor Steam Beer and Old Foghorn. According to reports, the TTB approved the labels a kid collar for steam and bottle labels for Old Foghorn on April 30th. They should put Foghorn Leghorn on the bottle. They should say I sell better. Another hint towards anchors revival is that a worker photographed at the brewery wear a vest with the logo of Barnum Mechanical, a California company that builds food

and beverage production facilities and lists Chobani as a client. The yogurt company. The yogurt. But the new owner. New. It's been like two, three years. Owner of anchor is the founder of Chobani. Right. Oh, right. Okay. So maybe they're finally gonna reopen. Yeah. Cuz I heard, I remember hearing they're gonna reopen when the Chobani people guy bought it and the guy released them. So yeah, the owner guy released some really well-produced video when he bought it that was like, I can't wait to get it open. And this is a part of San Francisco

and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So I hope, I hope they get it open. I've never been to the brewery. I want to go to the brewery and I'm there all the time, so let's do it. That'd be cool. We'll end it on this one. Miami Beach drunk driver arrested after pulling a firearm on on valet Parkers over violation sticker. Miami. Miami. Hey, Vanessa. Hi, Vanessa. Hi, Vanessa. This might have been her husband. Oh, shucks. Oh, no. Mr. Goldman, Mr. Goldman parked his silver

Hyundai Sonata for over 40 minutes at the front of the valet area, blocking vehicles from passing, and he was angry over a parking violation sticker on his window. According to police, witnesses in the valet area and valet offices reported Goldman was screaming through the parking violation sticker, pushed an employee, got back in the Hyundai and grabbed a gun, according to police. Jesus Goldman lifted his gun and pointed at one of the victims while shouting an expletive several times before driving away in the Hyundai,

according to the report. Surfside police officers stopped Goldman at Collins Avenue 93rd Street. One of the officers reported that Goldman had bloodshot eyes, slurred speech, and a heavy odor odor of alcohol emitted from his breath when he told the police, they probably told you I pulled a fire on on someone. Yeah, he's he. Ain't he holding anything back? Nope. Just right out the gate. Yeah. Okay. Police officers also reported Goldman had two guns. He faces charges of burglary with

assault or battery and aggravated assault with a firearm. He also had a warrant case for driving under the influence. According to court records. Yeah. Who saw that coming? According to court records, Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge Mindy Glazer ordered Goldman to stay away from the two victims, the valet area as a whole and guns. And and. Guns. So we really recommend you never valet park, right. Or do guns. Or guns. Man. Florida's a wild place. Yeah, I.

Was gonna say it's the Wild West, but it's really. It's not. Wild. Wild East. Yeah. Yeah. Crazy fucking Florida, man. Wonder if he waved a grenade at him. If it would have been okay, though. That's true. And cause everybody's got one. That's what you get as you enter the state. Yeah. They hand you a grenade. And an alligator. And a gator. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Welcome to Florida. Here's your grater and your grenade. Yeah. What you do with them? That's up to you. God. Gators and grenades. Yeah. Yeah. Do with this what you will. Welcome in. Have a good time.

How can you not? Please bring our reputation down. Please leave. All class at the border. Ocean, sun and freaks. I think that's on the flag, right? Yeah. Yeah. It's like their state motto. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's under the picture of the gator with the grenade in his mouth. And then ocean, sun and freaks. Can the gator be winking? I feel like a winking gator would really do it for me. Yeah, with a monocle. Okay, Okay.

Because only two people have monocles extremely rich or extremely weird. Mr.. Okay. I thought you were gonna say Mr. Peanut. Oh. That too. Oh, and Mr. Monopoly. Mr. monopoly. All right, let's get out of here. Let's hit some music. I'll tell you all to follow us on the socials at Craft Beer Republic at Flex Media Beer and at. Mr. rare. But you can find her on Beer Nerd Radio every Friday. Friday, right? Yep. Every Friday. Every Friday.

Beer Nerd radio craft beer.com 8553. Beer 2337. If you got a voicemail for us, I do believe that be everything. I hope everyone is staying very well hydrated. And on that note. Good night everybody.