40 Beers and a Flamingo

Today we got big San Diego news, vacation beers, a drunk emo party, and 28 must try pumpkin ciders. Let's go. Welcome in everybody. It's the craft beer Republic. Thanks for drinking. Thanks for joining. I am Greg and fresh off the flight deck that is Flex. What's up, big fella? Three hours, fresh from the flight deck. Man, how long is that flight for

you from Florida? So it's not bad. It's like 2350, okay. 240 not the worst. But my travel day started at ten in the morning because my wife didn't want to be bored in the hotel room. She would have rather been bored at the airport. Oh no. Why? Yeah. So what made it even worse? And I know this is still the open, but I'm gonna talk about it anyway. So we made it from the hotel to the airport lickety split. Mhm. Record time on the, uh, lickety.

And, you know, you never know how, like, baggage check's gonna be or if there's a line security, etcetera, etcetera. I think we checked bags and made it through security in six minutes. Mhm. Good thing you got there early. Yeah. So I'm looking at my phone, and it's 1033, and our flight didn't leave till 225. Oh my God. Yeah. It was fucking brutal. That's rough. And then if you need a drink or even

just a snack, you're paying out the ass for airport prices. Yeah. Which again, I know this is right in the open. You know, we got a lot going on in the show, but, uh, it was it's Sunday as we record. Usually we don't, uh, it's a Monday thing. Right. So there was football to watch at. Oh, restaurant bar establishment there. So I did that for a couple hours, and I did get a beer and milked it because I wasn't going to buy multiple beers at airport prices.

Sure. Uh, which actually wasn't a bad it was like 1239 for his little thing. 20 ounce Hazel. Oh, okay. Not the worst. Yeah. So that's what I did to try to pass the time. Nice. That's hilarious. Well, not a travel show, but, uh, shout out to our top listening city, which is Vineland, new Jersey. Okay. Yeah. Hey, Vineland. I like. It. A lot of new Jersey listens. And as this drops. Happy birthday to Scott. Thank you Scott. Happy birthday Scott. Love you like a father. The father you never met.

Yeah, but I've seen him. That's true. Uh. All right, well, speaking of your vacation and your drinking and your ongoings and all that stuff, let's find out what's ongoing into your mouth. 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. Well, well, well, we got a little bit of Fort Myers action here. Oh. They don't have a lot of beer in the area. Like craft beer. Just in general. The two main breweries that I would see anywhere were Fort Myers Brewing Company. Okay. And then this Palm City. Mhm. And we went to, uh, the local Publix out there. I don't know if you've ever been to Publix in Florida. I've not.

So as somebody who's worked at a grocery store for 15 years of my life, it's something that's kind of like instilled in me now. Like I judge when I go to other states, other cities, and I go to their regional chains. Sure. I don't know if the fact that this was on like, such a little island or it's just very touristy. The most immaculate grocery store I've ever been to in my life. It made me wish that I would go back to working in a grocery store. Wow. It was that fucking nice. And nice. And I've heard stories about Publix

before and how they actually pay the employees like, well, to do. What a concept. Good job, you know? And I've never been in one, even though we've been to Florida, you know, umpteen times. Mhm. I just could not believe how great the store was. Like I jizzed over it metaphorically. But anyway, anyway, we were stopping to get some food for lunches for the trip. We were in Fort Myers Beach, and my father in law was like,

oh, I need some beer. He has like a beer or two every evening before dinner and good man. I'm like, yeah, I'll grab some beer too. And they had this little tiny craft wall, you know. And most of it was craft, you know, a lot of like craft. Yeah. And I had seen this was the only four pack on the shelf and it was calling my name because it was a hazy. Mhm. And it is called Hazy IPA by Palm City Brewing. Uh, a little lengthy backstory on the beer, but, uh,

it's got a 3.93 rating. All right. And just just out of curiosity, I checked it off and. Oh. Mind you, it has over 26,000 check ins on it as well. So three, nine, three, 26,500 ratings. And I'd seen a friend of mine had checked it in as a four and I'm like, okay, well, maybe I should really get this beer. It's like, first of all, the cannot two on the can the label just cool how they do a hazy I, the. I dig. It the blue and the, the yellow on the white background. Super awesome.

Price of this beer Greg something with $12.39 is like big in Florida. Okay. 1239 for the four pack. Not bad. 6.5% ABV. Okay. This thing pours like a bright, hazy straw yellow. Like you cannot see through this beer. And you get the nose buds in there. It just stinks of tropical ness. Right. Just like you go to Florida, you get the fresh fruit, the fresh tropical. Yeah. Just so fucking good.

And then as you drink this beer. Right. Get the old Tongue-jobber in there. It is. Just go through and through. No bitterness whatsoever. Soft mouthfeel. Just an absolutely obnoxious beer. The color on it is gorgeous. So we went out to multiple dinners, right? Yeah. Thursday night, Friday night. Saturday night. I got this beer at every restaurant we went to because it was either that or the Fort Myers Brewing Company, which they I had their high five IPA.

Mhm. Better off tap. Not as good in cans. Oh, sure. This beer ousted them both. And I was actually sad to leave because I wasn't able to drink this beer anymore. Wow. I wasn't going to have access to this beer. Big words. I was actually thinking, too, because it it says, uh, I didn't read the Untappd here, but I'm going to because it does say it's a flagship. And that's what really impresses me. It says Hazy IPA is the flagship brand at Palm City Brewing. This New England style IPA is purposefully hazy and bursting

with tropical hop. Notes of pineapple, mango and tangerine. Flaked oats render a smooth mouthfeel and pillowy finish to this everyday brew. So now I'm thinking flagship this beers a fucking flagship. I would give this like a four and a half GS. Like, I'm not even kidding you. Probably one of the best vacation beers. Maybe the best vacation beer I've ever had. Big words. It really did blow my mind again. I 1239 for the four pack. Like, sign me up on that all day

long. Yeah, that fits the algorithm. Ten out of ten algorithm. Really, really good time down there, man. Really good time. I was gonna say, how was the rest of the trip? Trip was great. Got down. So we took an afternoon flight, which we don't usually do. So we got down there kind of late Wednesday night, grabbed some dinner, and then Thursday, Friday and Saturday it was sunny and about 82 degrees every day with like, I don't know, what did they say? Like a six mile an hour wind coming off. Oh, like a nice little breeze.

Yeah. But constant, you know. Yeah. So it was like the heat never cool. Things got. Heated. Yeah. And basically the vacation was us going from the pool to the beach to the pool, to the beach and, uh. Yeah, couldn't ask for anything more than that. I like a good beach vacation, especially when there's beers involved, as we all know, because I complained excessively about a year and a half ago, I was in Florida and the food situation was no bueno. Was it really? Oh God, we kept eating these horrible

places and it. Oh, I was not a fan. It was. It was touristy as fuck. Did you guys have any better luck? So we did. And which is funny to me because Fort Myers Beach is a huge, huge tourist destination. And my wife is the big, like, uh, the researcher and the trip advisor, and she looks up all the restaurants and reviews and we had some of the best meals you've ever had down there. Really? Yes. Like the, the meal Knight two

was probably top three meals I've ever had. Wow. Wow. But Knight one, I've never had grouper before. Okay. And I, when we go to Florida, I do try to hit seafood, right? Because it's like, hey, we don't get that kind of shit by us, you know, like the catch of the days and the fresh fish and, you know, it's it's fresh ish, but, you know, it's like overnight, right? Freshly killed three days ago kind of thing. It's not cool. Yeah, but. I wouldn't know. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Bummer.

But yeah, so we had some I had some grouper down there, which was really good on the flakier side of like when it comes to fish. And then the night two restaurant was called Fresh Catch, and it was behind the Publix grocery store that we went to. Right. It was like same parking lot, but there was like a Marina behind it. And, uh, this restaurant was attached to the Marina and there was a, a bar underneath the restaurant so you could drink and hang out and play games and go upstairs and have dinner.

So they had a pretty small menu, but all of the fish and seafood that they had to offer, you could like build your own dinner, right? Oh, okay. So you could take the grouper, the snapper, uh, scallops and something else, and you could get it grilled, seared, blackened. Uh, a couple other ways of preparation. Yeah.

You got to choose what sauce you wanted with it, and then you got to choose your sides. So it's kind of neat that you could, like, do your own thing, but the pan seared snapper with the lemon butter sauce was maybe the best meal I've ever had. Wow. Like fresh, fresh snapper just blows me away. MM. And then we had these little potato croquettes to go along with it. Oh, I love a good croquette. And I've never had a croquette

before. Oh you have? Oh, God. This was new to me. Oh. So good. They're everywhere in Portugal. Like it's one of their things. Oh, no. Shit. Yeah. Yeah. So I had a side of mashed potatoes and croquettes because, well, I. Needed potatoes with potatoes. If you don't know me, that's me. Yeah. How much ketchup did you use? Zero, actually. Oh, I classed it up pretty hard. All right. I try and stay classy when we go to nice places. It's Florida. They've seen worse. You're right.

They see it every day. Yeah. So yeah. So that meal was fantastic. And then the next night. I've never had hogfish before, nor have I ever heard of Hogfish. I don't think I have either. It looks really fucking gnarly. It was on a couple of the walls at some of the restaurants. It kind of tasted like chicken. Oh, that is a weird looking fish. Yeah. It's goofy. I just looked it up. It's weird. If you didn't know about this fish, you would see it and you'd be like, yeah, I don't think you can eat that.

Right? That's not edible. No, it doesn't look like it would be like clean enough or maybe it would be poisonous or something. Yeah. Uh, yeah. Here's something I hate about seafood restaurants is like they feel almost obligated to put pictures of fish on the wall. I don't go to a steakhouse and look at cows on the wall. That's true. I don't need to see what I'm about to eat. Yeah, every seafood restaurant we went to, well, I don't think we. The classy one, but the two the Thursday night and the Saturday night, there was mounted fish. Yeah.

You know what? I don't need. That. I don't need pictures of fish. I don't need fake mounted fish. I don't need a fish tank in the middle. I don't. One of the places had a fish tank. Yeah. And it had like, it had like four fish in it. You ate one of them? There was five. Gross, I don't need. See it's weird. I don't that is weird. I don't I don't want to sit out at a barn and eat steaks while I stare at cows or or, you know, eat fucking lamb chops.

There's a bunch of little lambs running around. That's never crossed my mind before. It weirds me out. Part of my problem with seafood. Just count cattle on the wall of a. Big old fucking cow hanging from the ceiling. Oh, man. That's funny. It's weird, I'm telling you. That is weird. Well, nice. Sounds like you had a good trip. Yeah. All in all, absolutely fantastic trip. Ten out of ten would recommend. Noice. I would definitely go back to the resort. It was our second time at this resort. We went. Oh, okay. Ten and a half years ago.

Uh, so quite some time ago. But yes, absolutely fantastic. Would advise. Nice. Dig it. I went on a much smaller version of a trip. I, uh, we did our last lake trip of the year, so I went up there, did a little bit, you know, one last wakeboard sesh and of course, some wine tasting and all that good stuff. You're classy. That's right. I had to class things up. You get, you know, white trash on the lake and then pinkies up at the wineries afterwards. I couldn't picture you being that white trash on the lake. You know, it's like.

Not like you're lighting fireworks out of your asshole or anything. Like I wave an American flag. Yeah. America. Oh. It's funny. Like it seems like like like outdoor activities, like wakeboarding just attracts a very specific clientele. It seems like. And like the, you know, Nick and Nicole, they go dirt bike riding a lot of that same clientele out there. But it's an expensive hobby. I'm always surprised. So that does kind of blow my mind.

What do they call it? The stereotype. You know? Mhm. Like, yeah, some of that shit. It costs a lot of money. It costs. A lot. Of money. Yeah. You could be redneck dirt bike, right? You know, and do have your own motocross track and your fucking, you know, on your land. But, hey, that's a lot of money. Yeah. You know, like big Dick Nick, he's got his his motocross bike and, uh, Coley used to. She doesn't have one anymore. They sold it, but it's like it's not a cheap hobby. No, but the people you run into when you're doing that hobby,

a lot of times are white trash. Okay. Fair enough then. So I always just laugh. I'm like, I know how much money I just spent. You know, I spent over a hundred bucks on gas alone, right? Let alone what it cost to get the boat on the water and, you know, food and drinks and all that shit. Sure. Anyways, I did take another. I mean, I take a trip almost every week. Seems like up north for work. I was in San Francisco and in fact, I was across the bay. It was in Emeryville and I stay in Emeryville every now and then. If there's something going on

over there, or if like the city is crazy expensive that week. And so there's this place I like to go called the Public Market, where it's one of those like indoor food courts. Yeah, we got one here. Yeah. And they have a really good barbecue spot. And they also have a bar like two stalls over. So I'll go, I'll get barbecue. I'll take it over to the bar, park it there, have a couple beverages with my barbecue. Um, the night I happened to be there was game three. Dodgers. Brewers. Okay. And I'm sitting there at the corner of the bar. There's this older woman, like early 60s, sitting next to me,

you know, around the corner. And she's making a lot of noise for the game, but it's not super clear who she's going for. And mind you, I'm in the Bay area. They hate the Dodgers. So I had an idea and she said something to me. I was like, yeah, who are you going for? She goes, anybody but the Dodgers. And I went, oh yeah, I let her go. Sure. She just kept talking. And the Dodgers. And of course it's the same old song and dance like their salary this and they're buying their wins. And I'm like, yeah, keep playing your little sad violin. And I just like, oh yeah, yeah,

I know everybody needs a salary. Oh yeah. Let her go over an hour of this of just, I mean, not, not, you know, we watched game for a minute. Then she'd fuck the Dodgers this and whatever anytime the Dodgers anything good. It was the Dodgers. Anytime the Brewers do anything good it was like yeah, fuck the dog. You know, it's just no matter what it was the Dodgers. After a little over an hour, she finally goes. So you live around here? I don't I don't recognize you. And I was like, no, I'm up here on a work trip. And she goes, oh, where are you from? And I just went, you ready?

And she looks at me. She's like, what? And I was like, I'm from LA. No you're not. Are you a Dodgers fan? I was like, I'm not an angels fan. So yes. Did she apologize? Well, she goes, why did you let me go for so long? I was like, I think it's hilarious. And I said, if you're quite finished, I'd like to share my feelings on the Giants. And she goes, well, I guess I deserve it. I said, I guess you do fuck the Giants. First of all, you sit here talking all your shit. They've been on the golf course for a month. We're out here still working.

And it just went on from there. And I gave her about five minutes of giant bullshit. And she took it. Okay. Yeah. How could she not? I got an hour and a half of the Dodgers. That's true. Her five minutes was a was an easy, easy out. Then we bonded over both being, uh, Niners fans. Okay, well that's cool. The bartender was a Seahawks fan. So then we bonded over double teaming him, uh, on him because Seahawks and Niners don't get along. No. Which I'm like, how do you live in the Bay area? Still better than the Rams. Yeah. Fuck. Fuck em all.

Fuck the Rams. Fuck the Seahawks. Fuck the Packers. Sorry. Okay. It's you know what's funny to me? The big rivalry with the Niners is the Seahawks. But my wife remembers when we were kids when the Packers would just kill the Niners. So anytime the Packers are on she's like anybody but the Packers. Damn it. Shannon. Sorry. We found her floor. Everybody's got one. Yeah. Got it. So, anyways, uh, hi to Suzanne. It's a fun time talking shit. And we exchanged numbers,

and now we text whenever the game ends. And whatever. She was talking shit when the Dodgers got swept. And. Really? Yeah. That's real. You actually did that? For reals? Yeah. Oh, man. That's awesome. Yeah. I came home from that trip and I told the wife I was like, hey, uh, I feel like I should let you know something. She's like, what? I was like, I met another woman. She goes, she goes, was it a dog? I said, no, no, it was a real life human woman. He goes. She goes, all right, go on. I said, she's in her early 60s and she's a lesbian. I think you're safe.

It's a good way to open. Yeah. And I told her the whole thing, so that was fun. Yeah. Uh, and also over the weekend, uh, knotty pine. I think you would enjoy this. Knotty pine did their, uh, emo wean, which, first of all, horrible name. It sounds like a emo penis or something. It does. But, uh, she gets a couple emo bands to come in for Halloween, and they do a little concert and whatnot at Knotty Pine. And, uh, listener Michael was there and he was, he was pretty hydrated,

uh, multiple times came up to me and was telling me how I married up and I don't deserve Shannon and that. Kind of thing. Wow. When she says just about every time I run into him. But okay, so it's like a thing. Yeah. And he kept threatening to call the show, and I said, don't talk about it. Be about it. I was like, call us. Leave us a voicemail. Yeah. What are you waiting for? So, uh, later that night, he did. So here's our voicemail from. From Mike. Hello? No one is available to take your call. Please leave a message after the tone. Hey, Greg, it's Michael.

Uh, you knew this was coming, but I've literally got nothing. Uh, but I just wanted to let Flex know that the owner of, uh. What the fuck beer brewery do I drink at? Oh, yeah. Uh, knotty pine, the owner, her father in law played for the Milwaukee Brewers, so she was, like, glued to the TV tonight

and the rivers got a win. So I'm sure Flex must be happy. And if he's not. Happy. He's a dick. So there's my drunk call. Hope you enjoy it. Have an evening. So now have an evening. I think we did know this. I don't remember this at all. I think when we had Britt on once a real long time. Do we have Britt? No, we had Monica on Monica. Huh? Somehow we knew of this. Interesting.

Maybe got brought up I, I totally if that ever happened, I totally forgot. Yeah, someone. Was news to me. It sounds really familiar. Yeah, well, it made sense because she was walking around wearing a brouard. That's her last name, a brewer jersey. And Mike told me he's like, hey, did you know? I was like, no, I did not. So then I talked to her about it later because she had taken it off and I was like, is it true? And she goes, oh yeah, I took the jersey off because that's his actual jersey. And I didn't want people spilling beer on it and stuff. And I was like, oh no shit. Damn. That's rad. Yeah. So anyways, Mark Brouard,

he played in the 80s for the Brewers from 80 to 85, back when Flex was just a twinkle in his mama's eye. That wasn't even a thought. Exactly. My mom graduated high school in 84, so. Oh. Yeah. I wasn't there you go. Thought. Yeah. So there you go. Um, that was cool. For the record, I was very happy. Uh, I've never been this far, uh, in my lifetime. Yeah. You know, granted, as this releases. I'm hoping we already swept, uh, the rays, but fingers crossed.

Uh. Very nervous. Currently a two zero series lead and heart is beating out of my chest from first pitch to the last pitch. I know you are living and dying on every toss. It it it's brutal. I don't know how you guys do it when you're in it every two years. Uh, yeah, it's, uh, it's a lot for some people. I don't, I try not to get that attached to it if I can help it. It does. It's hard once you get to the World

Series, though, because it's like, oh, we're here now. Right. You think about I think about, you know, giving myself to something for six months, like my emotions, like entire devotion, like living, eating, sleeping, breathing, Milwaukee baseball. Right. And then to be this far, and I even said to my father in law on vacation as we were, uh, walking after dinner back to our rooms and we were getting ready to watch the game, he said, I don't think I can

handle a World Series loss. I don't think I can, I would probably have to seek help and. Right. Uh, check in somewhere if. 5150. Hold. Yes. Yes. Yeah. Don't do that. No, I'm hoping not to have to. Same. But yeah. Uh, but again, uh, not a sports show. Not a sports show. Well, I'm, I'm pulling for the Brewers. The brewers are going to beat the Dodgers, then I don't want it to be in vain. So go, Brewers. I also want it for you. Uh, I want you guys.

By the way, I appreciate that you texted me after the Brewers had beat the Dodgers. And you were very kind, very, uh, like, uh, you're you're. I don't want to say good loser. That's a bad way to say it. I get what you're saying. I don't know, but you're like a a supportive friend, you know, and I, I really appreciated that. The Dodgers just fucking fell apart. It is what it is. So oldest team in MLB. You know, maybe age is catching up. Maybe. So um so yeah, so fuck the rays. Go Brewers. Yes.

I hope, hope you guys here's my one shot. I'll get in. Hope you guys can hang a real banner instead of those little divisional series banners you got in. There it is. And having a hang wild card banners. Yeah, it gets embarrassing. It does. Uh, during during the Dodgers series. They panned the stadium and I saw these fake little banners. I was like, come on, guys. It doesn't help your cause. It's tough sledding out here, man. It's kind of like the Clippers. You know the Clippers have never won a championship. So instead of banners,

it was even worse when they'd play where the Lakers play. Now they have their own arena, but they would hang just posters of players over the Laker championship banners. It just looked like they were hanging selfies. So that's what. So because of what you just said, that gives you a better idea of understanding of like where we are as fans, like in our heads. Still hanging selfies. Right? That's what we do is we've been, I don't want to say such a broke franchise, but we haven't been able

to compete for so long that we just get psyched to make the playoffs. Sure. You know, or we're psyched. We win the division and we don't give a shit what happens after that. So this is such a big fucking deal. You don't you don't get it because you're in the World Series every two years. But this is a huge deal. My formative years, you know, all through the 90s, the Dodgers were garbage. They didn't even make the playoffs most of the time. Or if they did it all in the 90s, right? Same. Yeah. So I get it.

I don't get it as much because, you know, I was a Lakers fan all those years when they were good. But, uh. I do like to throw out there that the first season I did watch the Brewers, this will be the last Baseball reference sports talk we can do today. Mhm. Uh, first season I actually watched the Brewers was 2002. I was in eighth grade. Okay. And they lost 100 games and I couldn't get enough. It was nothing but Brewers baseball since then. All right, that's good. So, uh, not, you know,

fair weather, not a. Hey, they're playing great, so I'm going to root for them. I'm in for the good and I'm way in with the bad. I can respect that. Not like those fucking Seahawks fans. Yeah. Losers. Yeah. Absolute garbage. Uh, well, speaking of the of baseball. I'm gonna make a call to the pen. Who calls to the bullpen for beer? Yeah. He does.

I, uh, I gotta tell you, I was in a moment of desperation today before we started the show. And I needed some beer, so I went to the fucking thrift shop. Makes you feel dirty. It makes me feel dirty. And then I just get angry every time. As you know, it's as if I expect something different to happen. And every time I'm just sitting there can hunting for something that wasn't brewed, you know, before Covid happened. And I was lucky enough to find something from two breweries that I really like that is also fresh. Um, there's no date on the can,

but the price tag said something about like September 20th, 2026. And I was like, okay. Nice, nice. I'll take it. And, uh, so to that end, I am drinking gnarly buds with a Z. This is from Altamont Brewing in collaboration with Shred Beer Co. Two NorCal breweries that I love. Sweet cannot. I did see you pour the beer and I noticed the can and how rad it was. Yeah, it's fucking 80s galore. Skater themed with little hot

buds skating. I love the neon colors on it. Yeah, it's very awesome. Uh, this is 7% has a 393 with 542 ratings from Altamont. They say NorCal collab with the Hop maniacs at Shred Beer Company at a Rockland for Hops Deep Simcoe Nelson Idaho 7 cryo and Columbus Crile built on a stripped down, two row and pills foundation that stays out of the way. Gnarly buds is loud, dank and unapologetically bitter.

The kind of West Coast IPA that smells like a pine forest had a fistfight with a fruit stand and the pine forest one. I like that description. Yeah, that describes the nose perfectly. Mostly piney, dank, resiny smells little fruit, but mostly pine forest. Let's see what the Tongue-jobber says. Similar. Not as intense pine. I get more fruit. Especially some citrus in there. Something mango y, maybe on the back

end. Still plenty of pine dankness. Very light. I mean, you can see how. How light and clear. Yes it is. Looks very wonderful. I honestly drinks more like a really hoppy, Pilsner kind of deal. Okay. Uh. 7%. Nowhere to be found. I thought this was much lighter. And then I pulled up the stats and was like, oh, daddy, better be careful. It's good. It looks good. It sounds good. Yeah. Way to not fuck something up. Total Wine something I really love

about, you know, like a west coast is when it does drink that light. Mhm. You know, it's like. I don't need the loaf of bread. No, I don't need the loaf of bread. And when it's as clear as that, you know, when you get something heavy, it's like, why? Mhm. Why is it like that? So I, I'm super jealous of that one. Yeah. This is a good one. Plus cannot. So, um, I had to buy a four pack because anything in the singles category is, I think from 2016. Yep. And I'm not mad about it. I'm okay with this four pack. I'm excited for you. Yeah.

I'm excited for three more of these. So we love when we get a four pack. And it turns out it's. Like, thank. God. It's not that fucking electric limbs or whatever it was called. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All right, some news before we get out here. Uh, big news. Stone Brewing founders are taking back the Escondido bistro. Huh? Stone Brewing founders are taking back their famous Escondido location. As we all remember, Stone got sold to Sapporo. Then Sapporo sold to Firestone.

But the Escondido Bistro was not part of the sale. From Sapporo to Firestone. Sapporo planned to close it in November and lay off 272 employees. Now, Greg Koch and Steve Wagner are taking over the restaurant and gardens there. The original Stone founders. Okay. It will run as an independent restaurant with a new name, and the city says most of the jobs will be saved. Uh, Greg also says he and Steve Wagner kept ownership of the property the entire time Stone was being sold.

That's some prime real estate right there. Yeah. Is this one? I've heard really good things about this. Yeah, this is their flagship. You know, when Stone was going was their flagship location. We did all the brewing and stuff and. Yeah. Gorgeous. Okay, so this is what I've heard of. Yeah. Uh, the bistro will still close as planned on November 13th and then reopen once the state approves a license change. They're aiming to open before the holidays. Both of them are also exploring what to do with the brewery next door.

Uh, one fan asked if death metal would still play in the men's room in the men's room, and Greg answered, the answer is somewhere between yes and hell yes. Great answer. There you have it. Great answer. It is kind of funny though. They were always especially Greg was always Mister, I will never sell out and corporate beer sucks and blah blah blah and then sold the fuck right out. See what happens. Maybe he's looking to sell out again. Yeah. Ballast Point did they?

The original Originators of Ballast Point sold twice. They sold the brewery and they sold the spirits arm separately. Smart. That brewery $1 billion. No spirits, just the beer. That's wild. And then they sold Cutwater spirits later to AB geniuses. Uh, real quick, two of Virginia's largest craft breweries have merged. Hardywood Park Craft Brewery acquired Starr Hill Brewery. I think I've had both of them, um, cementing an operational partnership established in 2025.

Transaction closed October 1st. Starr Hill's ownership and leadership teams will be retained, and the brand's identity will remain fully intact. Both breweries will continue operating their existing locations, and Taprooms employees will also continue in their existing roles, and the Brews to Barnes act was introduced. Sounds like a weird country song. The Bruce Bruce to Barnes act was introduced in the US House of Representatives last week. The Brewers Association supported legislation would create a federal excise tax credit for breweries that

donate spent grain for ag purposes. US breweries generate around 4.7 million, uh, million metric tons of spent grain each year, and about 90% of it is already repurposed as livestock feed or compost, according to the trade group. So basically, they'll just get some tax breaks now for donating it to farms and whatnot. Well, good. They should. Might as well. Yeah. A man celebrating the end of his probation was arrested for twirling drunk outside of a get go. A get go.

I don't know what that is. A Middleburg Heights, Ohio, man was arrested around 6 p.m. on September 24th after police found him drunk outside a get go gas station. Police got a call about a drunk man running in the street and walking behind some condos near the get go. Officers found him in the gas station's back parking lot. He was stumbling and twirling in circles. The man told police he had just finished five years of probation and was celebrating When police asked where he was going, he said he was just walking around. He said his plan was to go home

eventually. Isn't that everyone's plan? Good plan? Yeah. Police decided he couldn't take care of himself. He had. He had admitted he was carrying alcohol. Among his things were a bottle of whiskey and a bottle of rum. Not a discerning man. Uh, police dumped out both bottles. Yeah, that's, uh, it's gonna get you more probation, if you ask me. Yeah, exactly. Maybe not the way to celebrate. No, no. Maybe, you know, bottle of whiskey and rum at home. Sure. Or in a proper drinking establishment. Right.

But, uh, in the streets. Come on. Have a little class while twirling. At least don't bring the attention to yourself. At least it wasn't twerking. That would. Twerk twerk twerk twerk twerk. Uh, we'll end it on this one. A Canadian man convicted of stealing a flamingo from a Vegas hotel after 30 or 40 beers. 30 to 40 beers. I did not expect this to come from Canada. Uh. A Canadian man has been convicted of animal cruelty for stealing a flamingo named peachy.

A real flamingo. A real flamingo. Oh, I had assumed it was like a flamingo statue. No, no real flamingo from the Flamingo Hotel. Now you've got me hooked. That's all we needed. Mitchell Fairbairn from Ontario was in Las Vegas for a work event. He says that over a 24 hour period, he had 30 to 40 beers with friends. On March 3rd, he took peachy, a 27 year old Chilean flamingo. I didn't know they got that old out of the hotels habitat. Video showed him holding the

squawking bird in an elevator and carrying it down a hotel hallway. Fairbairn does not sound consensual. If it's squawking. It does not. You're right, Fairbairn told jurors. He grabbed peachy to bring up to his room and show his friends. He had the bird for about 15 minutes, including 2 to 3 minutes in the room before letting it go in the hallway because that's better. When Peachey was found, it was missing 7 or 8 feathers, had blood on its feathers and had injuries to its wings. Peachy's vet says the bird is doing

all right physically, but is now more anxious and nervous during checkups. Okay, so that's pretty terrible. Yeah, his lawyer told the jury. The truth is, Mitch was drunk. Mitch was stupid. He made bad decisions. Prosecutors called it a malicious prank. After about five hours, the jury found him guilty last Monday of felony and misdemeanor animal cruelty. He's under house arrest until sentencing on December 1st and faces up to four and a half years.

Jesus Christ. Yeah, that was that was funny. Until it wasn't. Yeah. I didn't love the actual cruelty part. No, no, not at all. I was like hoping for just like a funny story, like dudes trying to steal a bird. Right? And then the tiger tore up his car, and they had to use a stake to get him out of a bathroom and that kind of thing. We've all seen it before. Exactly. But, uh. Yeah. Yeah. So I wonder the, the, the one goofy thing that got me is how many feathers did they say was missing? I guess 7 or 8, I believe was the number. Did they find these feathers or do they. Did. Okay. Yeah, they.

So I cut out some of the details just for for brevity, but they did find them in the guys room. Okay. So that was, was like, oh. Cause at first it sounds like they have every feather marked. Yeah. I was like, can they just tell like, can you see where they're plucked out? Right. I don't know. And I get the feeling he probably didn't sit there plucking feathers out. They just in the commotion came out. Sure. I'm not saying what he did was okay. I mean, there was blood on the bird. Yeah. I'm not cool with the animal cruelty part of things. Bird blood. Not cool. Uh, I did look this up, though.

27 year old flamingo in captivity. Mhm. He's like prime of his life. They can live up to 50 years old. Holy shit. Or older? It says 50 or older. That's nuts. I had no idea. Who thought a bird could live that long? Obviously not us. Yeah. For sure. Uh. All right, that's it. I'm gonna say hi to Vanessa. Hey, Vanessa. Hello? Hello. We're gonna hit some music. Gonna encourage you all to, uh, hit us up. Craft Beer Republic dot com. @CraftBeerRepublic @flex_me_a_beer underscores in between our

Instagrams real hot right now. Uh, 805538. Beer too soon? Got em. And mail at Craft Beer Republic dot com. I hope everyone out there is staying very well hydrated. And on that note. Good night everybody.