Flex Is the Captain Now

Let's do it. I'm not even nervous. Wiggity wiggity. Welcome to the Craft Beer Republic, everybody. This is, uh, kind of a weird show here. Uh, what I like to call craft beer. Republic remix, volume one. Uh Flex. Here, uh, in charge.

I don't know who let that happen. Uh, Greg, the, uh, sidekick here. You hear him now? He's feeling a little bit under the weather today. Just. Just barely here. Yeah, he caught the Lingus. Greg's feeling a little Lingus. The, uh, cyber doctor told him he shouldn't use his vocal cords too much. Um, and, uh, really, that just means he's been sucking a little too much dick. Is that true, Greg? Uh, at least some of that was true. Okay. So cyber watch. All right.

All right. So Greg's not going to be talking too much tonight. So uh, we have here discount Greg. We got her at the Dollar Tree up in NorCal. Everybody. It's the salty sailor. Uh Erica. Erica. How are we doing today? Oh, I love that you said Dollar Tree because I am a Dollar Tree junkie. Like, every time I walk in there, I have to poop. I get so excited. Oh. That is. So true. I've seen every Dollar Tree bathroom.

That's. Are they nice? I mean, they're pretty average. Uh, to be honest. Um. Wow. I am definitely the Dollar Tree version. Actually, technically, I'd be the Dollar Tree version of Flex if you're Greg, but, uh, I don't know why I put discount. I get that it's kind of like a really weird, uh, musical. Chairs. Tonight. Uh, fire drill. Yeah, it's weird that I did say Dollar Tree, too, because we just have dollar stores here, and there's Dollar trees and dollar generals. And, uh, but I was really curious about the bathroom thing because I thought it'd be like an ironic, like, hey, you're at the dollar store.

Uh, maybe it'd be like a really nice bathroom, just, like immaculate. No, the toilet paper definitely comes from the Dollar Tree. One ply. Oh, boy. I hope they have dollar store preparation H for you, too. Oh, that'll come in handy. Jesus. All right. But, uh, in fact, it is not a dollar store show. So, uh, if anybody anybody's still there and listening, hopefully you are, um, actually our top listening city of last week. Get this one going.

International again. London, England. I'll be. Damn. What do you say to that? That is incredible. One of the few things I'll say tonight is I've been watching our stats recently because we've been getting I shit you, not literally thousands of downloads for the last few weeks, like per day, getting hundreds and hundreds and. Hundreds and peek behind the curtain usually doesn't happen outside of launch day. So. Like every Wednesday when new show comes out, it's usually a huge spike, and then the rest of the week is pretty low. It's been staying consistently hundreds and hundreds and hundreds

every day. I don't fucking know why. I'm afraid we're about to be sued or something, and a lot of them are coming from London, so. Chip, chip. Cheerio. Oh, geez. No pressure. Now that we're taking on the show. Hate to. Break. The streak once I hear this one. Yeah. Now that we've opened up the show with you asking me if I was sucking too much dick. Hi, London. Oh, Lord. Oh, they eat the spotted dick there, so they're pretty familiar in the dick category. Yeah. Touche. That's a real thing. Google.

It looks absolutely disgusting. I would never eat it. I don't know about you guys. Most British. Food. I'd rather have regular dick over spotted dick. I'm just gonna put that out there. Spotted foods don't really appeal to me. I'm not sure what even makes it spotted or if it actually has spots, or if that's like a way of cooking. Let's not find out. Yeah, completely unsure, but not a spotted dick show. Oh wow. I've heard we have a lot to get to today. Is that true? I have a lot to get to. There we go. Um, apparently, uh, from what? My cohort lets me know, it is a week,

so if anybody out there is going. I don't believe any three of us are. Um, it's not on my schedule. So if any of you listeners out there, you know, you got your tickets, you guys head out there. Please reach out to us, call, email, DM. Uh, let us know your experience, because from what Greg and uh, Erica had to say about was that two years ago last year. Uh, two. Two years ago, they said it was all about the company. Yeah, right. It was all about the party you were with. That, uh, kind of made the day.

So I'd like to hear more about that. And also the freakishly long beer lines for the hype beers. Yeah. For sure. Right? So that runs out quickly. Yes. Absolutely. So, Erica, I believe you're looking a little thirsty. Actually, I am so extremely parched. So, uh, why don't you crack into a beer? Let's do it. Where's my beer? Everyone. That looks fun. It is.

And you know, it looks like one that your kids would maybe pick out. Flex. Uh, I. Think they absolutely. Would. Yeah. Okay. It reminds me of Jurassic Park. Right, exactly. A little bit like the Raptor. Is that the one that has the fins like that on the side? No, it's when, uh, fat Neumann is stealing the shit in the rain and the mud, and the thing spits in his face. Okay, so, um, this is called Leezard King, and I have this hazy IPA from Mindscape Fermentations, which is where the Beer babe's family did a release collab with,

um, this summer. I'll talk a little bit about that in a bit. Please do. Um, they do an amazing job with everything they do. They're known for, like, their craft seltzers and kombucha, but, like, they just hit this one out of the park with a hazy IPA because they just do a nice job with everything they do. So let me tell you a little bit about this. It's a New England Hazy. It's 6.7% and this is a lovely. I actually have a really cool glass from them that they had at their anniversary. God, that is cool. Isn't that amazing? This is, um, their late night shenanigans logo,

and my friend Jess and I each bought one of these awesome like, limited, so I just had to put that out there. These are amazing. It's really bright like creature situation. Anyways, um, so I'm drinking it out of that and it's it's indeed hazy friends, which is important. That's what they say it is. And it is in fact hazy. Yes. Um. And it is delicious. Let me dive in. Oh, okay. Oh, and I forgot to tell you a little, little bit about this, but I'll tell you it's delicious. And it has a little bit of a, like, a peachy ring flavor to it.

Ooh, I love it. You can taste citrus peel. Kind of ends with that. A little bit of citrus peel, but like, not too powerful where it, like it's off putting. It's just a really nice fade out. Um, just juicy peachy ring though. Um. Fleshy deliciousness. Um, but I was talking to Lauren about this. She's the LP. There's two. Lauren's LP is the head brewer there, and, uh, she said this is made with Waimea hops and HBC 1019, which is now called. She was telling me Dolce Vita.

So they got a name for this one. That's fun. Right? Because we get tired of naming those numeric hops. It's like, let's give it a name. Big fan. Um. So delicious. Um, and the can art is super cool because it's got, like. It's actually a gramophone. See that? Yeah, it looked like a plant. Yeah. Yeah. Then it morphs into, like, this really cool dinosaur lizard. Um, so she kind of saw some like art thing that kind of looked like that. And but then she realized it

wasn't a lizard. So then she created her own because that's just what she imagined or something along those lines. So that's really cool. And, um, it's gluten reduced, so. Well, that's fun. That's fun. You know, for. All. Those. Yeah. For the few that can't. Yeah. Yeah. So it's a delicious hazy that, um, I actually bought some for myself, drank it all and then had to go pick some up today because I wanted to talk about it on the podcast. Well, that's how you know it's good. That's how I know it's good. Right? So. Okay, so Mindscape woman owned brewery won the beer babes. Grant. Um, beer babes, family raises

money for women to buy equipment and all that sort of thing. So I threw a big party. You may have heard about it. Seen some photos on the gram. You've seen some photos. Yeah. So I had so like okay, so I invited, I think it was five women to come stay at the house with me. And then of course, people from all over the area drove in like from Bay Area to Reno and all that, all these like, beer influencers and beer folks. So that was really cool. So how many people were at your house? Just five. Stay in the night. It was a total of six if you

include me. But then, like the party after party, maybe had 12 to 18 ladies. Just like hopping in and out of the pool and partying. Like those odds. Fantastic. It was all right. Everyone's a winner. There were no dudes allowed. One of those. Kind of, like, just ladies weekend. We had a really good time. So I was gonna ice them. You guys told me about icing. I'm like, right years back, and I'm kind of getting into this, dipping my toe in the the world,

and I didn't know how to ice them. And I think I asked Greg and Shannon. Yeah, I think yeah. Okay. So I reached out and Shannon was smart. She's like, you need to put it in their towel or something. So I actually had these little gift bags and they zipped up. So as soon as you unzip it it was right there. So it was so fun. I set them on, like their beds. When they came, they opened the bag and half of them were like, whoa, damn it, Erica yo, fuck you, blah blah blah. And the other half had no idea what had just happened. So it was kind of funny to see, like I was trying to make bets.

Who knew what I was doing and who didn't. What's really funny is these girls come to your house and they're like, wow, what a gracious host with this party bag on my bed. Like wondering like, what's in it? Like candies and some beer. And it's like, no, just you got fucked, like 100%. Exactly. It's. So I said we could refrigerate them. That's cool. You can drink them later. Um, and at the house was Vanessa. It's hoppy. Tiffany called her T-dub because we also had my sister in law, Tiffany. Okay. He's favorite.

He's a nice lady. Yeah, she's very nice. And Greg's met her too. She's awesome. She's great. And then, um, Rachel brews with beer. Kowski. Yep. Very cool. Chick. Our fearless leader of the beer babes. Oh, my friend Jess, who's local. Okay. Did I get everyone? I feel like I'm missing someone. And those are just the people at your house. Those are the ones that stayed over the weekend at the. House, right? Yeah. And I feel like I'm totally forgetting someone because I'm just trying to think of all these things. But anyways, good time.

So had them right? When we're all going in the pool, they all had to do like the icing video. I haven't shared it out of respect because everyone's like in their swimsuits, like chugging their ice. And it's it was a good time. Really good time. Very kind hearted for such a devious act. Right. Yeah I know. Well. The video was. Very yin and yang of. You. As they're drinking it, they're like, fuck you, Erica, you know. So it was it was beautiful. It was a beautiful moment. We got pretty rowdy at moments. But you know, everyone overall held it together and the release

was awesome. And hell yeah. It's a good party. It's a. Good time. Sounds like an awesome time. It was beer. Babes. Family is an awesome organization. Yeah. Um, and how many collabs is this now for them. I think this year I want to say over 50, but I don't know if that was just this year because they are like doubling down this year. But no, I. Think it's. Over 50 total and it's like two a month this year. Jeez. Yeah. That's amazing. Good for them. I know so and that's all out of like, you know, everyone's doing this

out of volunteer, right? Like this is a nonprofit, legitimate nonprofit. So. Yeah. Yeah, it's almost like, makes it even better of a, you know, of an a, I don't know what to call it an association, but a group, uh, you know what I mean? Because. Hell, yeah. Yeah. Drinking for a cause. It's always a good thing. Well, thanks. Erica and the Beer babes family. I'm sure they were gracious for you hosting. Um, so cheers to them. That's amazing. It was a fabulous time. Hope they enjoy their diabetes

from that ice. There was one left in the fridge and she was like, did someone give you a Smirnoff? Because he's gone for the weekend. And I. Was like, did you just. Throw it out? No, it's just sitting there because I need to ice someone with that last one. Because there's a six pack, I guess. So there's no wasting. No wasting? You didn't even drink it with them? No. Unreal. Ah. A little fun with it. Go down with the ship, captain. No, I just took a video and laughed. Drink my beer. Classic move, classic move.

Here's a thank you to Scott. Scott sent us this little story. Um. Scott. It is. I don't want to say waist deep or neck deep yet, but we're about knee deep into the MLB postseason. Yeah. Dodgers. Brewers. Phillies. Cubs. The Cubs. Fuck em. Mariners. Tigers and Dodgers. Uh, Blue Jays and Yankees. Okay, so I'm psyched. Greg. Psyched. Uh, everybody else in those regions. Pretty psyched. Um, so I was curious on if there

was any statistics on early MLB postseason drinking. Uh, we weren't able to find anything. I even looked up and they said, it's too early to have them tally the regular season drinking numbers yet as well. So Scott sent us this story on a promotion that Philadelphia was doing. But I also came across a fact that I thought was really funny about the 2024 drinking. Hmm. Everybody knows the Chicago White Sox were historically bad in 2024. They lost the most games in MLB

history, and their, uh, their fans were the highest with 4.2 alcoholic beverages a game. And I just love the correlation in your team being extremely poor and you just getting completely shitfaced. Now, I wonder how the Rockies fans fared this year. So that's what I thought too. I'm very excited for the 2025 numbers to come out to see those numbers skyrocket. But this one says a new ballpark promotion could make Phillies fans even rowdier, if that's even possible. And I've actually I've seen some

influencers do this. This isn't entirely new, but I like that the Phillies are going along with it. The Phillies are kicking up the chaos with a new in-game challenge for fans the nein, nein, nein challenge the idea. Take down nine beers, nine hot dogs in nine innings. Easy, right? Sure. To make it doable, or at least more fun to watch, the team is offering a pre-packed box, nine mini hot dogs, nine small beers, and a built in scoreboard so fans can track their gluttonous progress

without ever leaving their seats. That is amazing. Citizens Bank Park is already known for having one of the loudest, wildest crowds in baseball. Philly fans are the worst. And this just adds fuel to the fire. While the fans go full send in the stands, the Phillies are focused on business on the field, with rising star Cristopher Sanchez leading the rotation and Shohei Ohtani expected to take the mound for the Dodgers, which he did, and he tore it up, shaping up to be a showdown. Uh. Add in big bats like Schwarber, Harper, Trey Turner. And it's clearly Phillies swinging

for more than hot dog glory. They're chasing another World Series ring. So then we all know sports seasons are long, right? Yeah, some are too long. A lot of people say that about baseball, but nothing makes me more rocked up than a 162 games. Seven months long. Absolutely live for it. To fucking pregnancy. Do you drink more during the postseason than you do in the regular season? And I guess you can kind of throw baseball out of the way with this. But in any sport I know, Erica you're

probably not a big sports fan. Sorry. Yeah, I'm I'm not a very good. That's why I'm the discount, Greg. Okay. You don't. You don't get. The whole package. Okay. You gotta. Save money. Somewhere. So you're pretty even keel. Yeah. Greg, I know you got about ten words left in you, but, you know. Yeah. Let me. I'm counting them down. You know, I probably do more drinking during the playoffs for football. If the Niners make it because I end up hanging out with big Dick

Nick watching those games, and I don't know if you know this about him, he doesn't slow down. That's what I've heard. Yeah. So you even have to, like, hold a beer in your hand just so he doesn't bring you another one. I also heard he doesn't like shitty, hazy IPAs. He doesn't know he's got bad taste in beer. Let me tell you. I drink more out of sheer nerves. Mhm. Right. Because the regular season's fine. You know, it gets stressful. Right. Especially if you're trying to fight to make the postseason. But when your team's clearly, you

know, going to make it the regular season is completely stress free. And then that first game of the playoffs knowing that it's you know, for football do or die or, you know, you're in a series for baseball. Every pitch matters. Every game matters. I am drinking and drinking and drinking just to try and calm my nerves. Yeah, and it's probably not a good thing. My poor dog wishes he could like. Especially if the, you know, Dodgers make it to the World Series or Niners make Super Bowl or whatever. It gets a little loud in the house.

I believe it. I had a friend, actually, uh, watching one of the Brewers games. He said that, uh, his lady friend had just put his kid to sleep, and, uh, there was a home run, and he just started screaming in his house, and she had to come out and then scold him. Because. She just put the baby to sleep. So I totally get you there. For me, it's more like, uh, in a house of one man and three women. I watch all the sports by myself. So I've learned to get quietly excited to where I get up.

And I even shake my fists and I mouth words like, yeah, let's go, but nothing comes out. So I just look like a fucking, uh, mime that's pretending to be like a fan. It's to fill your mouth with beverages. Yeah. Just to. Yeah. Just, uh. Keep from. Screaming. Keep from screaming. Which is, again, part of the nerves. So I could see, like, if your team's, like, really far ahead, then it's not that exciting to drink, right? You're just kind of going along. But when things get intense, pour me a drink. Yeah. I don't know that I could. Yeah.

And don't get me wrong, I still will continue to drink when they are ahead because then it's just early celebration. Oh okay. But definitely more with the the nervous, the stress, innings, stress quarters, games etc. etc.. So and uh, for for me, I don't know about you guys. I'm more likely to stay in than go out. Um, mostly because if my team loses, I'd much rather be disappointed with just myself than disappointed

with hundreds of other fans, because then the drinking again just piles up and piles up since everybody else is upset, then you're all upset together. And nothing loves company more than misery. If it's Dodgers, I end up going out because I don't get Dodger games at home. I don't have cable, so I'll go to a brewery that's showing it or something like that. And so I end up going out. But like I said, with Niners, you know, I'll end up with Nick at one of our houses getting shattered. And I don't have to worry about

the Lakers because they suck now. And apparently LeBron is up in the air but not a LeBron show. But do yourself a favor and Google his feet because they're absolutely disgusting. Oh yeah they're absolutely disgusting. Do please do everybody who's listening Google LeBron James feet. Where where did that come up. Like what made you compelled. I actually recently just told the story about two days ago. Okay. Went to Chicago earlier this year. Long story short, we were in town.

Oh my God. Same night as the Lakers. We were out walking the streets of Chicago, we saw this line of fans outside a hotel. Long story short, found out it was the Lakers staying at the hotel, and they were waiting to hop on the bus to take him to the United Center wherever they play the the basketball game. And we waited to see LeBron James come out. So that was kind of neat. But then you know how weird smartphones are, right? Everything's always listening to you. Mhm. So we kept saying LeBron James LeBron James.

My kids kept asking who we saw because they wanted to tell their friends when they got back to school. So we get back to the hotel room after dinner that night. And my wife opens up her, her Instagram. And the first thing that popped up was the picture of LeBron James bare feet after playing basketball for like 30 years. Yeah. Like fucked up. It's fucked up. Like his toes are all mangled and like, his pinky toe hooks around like his fourth toe. And it's just. It's like a ballerina's foot.

Yeah, It's super, super gross. I can't believe I'm googling little LeBron. James feat. But I'm gonna. Oh, my. Yeah, it's. Like a toe is coming out from the middle of his foot. Just. Yeah. It's wild. And you know what? It's actually making me kind of thirsty. A floating. Toe. Wow. Yeah. Nothing. So let's answer the question of the night. In a world where craft beer is king, a world where muscles are bigger

than growlers, only one tongue can. One man, one tongue, one Tongue-jobber. In this world, we must find out what is Flex drinking? Sorry. Please tell us about your delicious. Tasty beverage. So tonight I have to thank my friend Rob. Rob works at my local, uh, beer shop a couple days a week, and he also comes into my meat shop every weekend and and buy some shit. So, uh, the day I got bit by the

spider and was at the doctor, Rob stopped in, uh, to drop me off a beer. Because. He is such a gracious gentleman. And if he's listening, uh, thanks a lot, Rob. He brought me the land Before Time. Uh, it is a blackstack beer collabed with toppling Goliath dinosaur themes. Yes. The can is pretty rowdy for sure. Yeah, it's a classic black stack with the black stack. And it's got the two. Uh t-rexes. Which everybody knows toppling Goliath is known for. Uh SU. Right.

Pseudo SU King SU and, uh, classic, uh, Black Stack fashion. This is a double dry hop New England IPA. It is a 7.4% ABV, 1.6 thousand ratings, so not too many. Uh, 418 on Untappd, which is very, very good. Job. Doing great. I've talked too much already today. And now for the description to just make me talk a little bit more. It says it only took us 65 million collabs with our buds at toppling Goliath to make a beer we can drink

more than one of in a single sitting. That's dumb because you can drink a lot of them. Um, a pseudo prequel to our previous prehistoric collabs featuring Superdelic, Comet Crush and toppling Goliath. Selected mosaic. You heard that correctly. Sorry, y'all. No Citra this time. So sue us. But. Um, yeah, that was pretty solid. So here we go. I've already dove into this a little bit, but the color on it is. It's wonderful. It's a bright yellow. It is.

Very hazy. Very murky. Gorgeous. Uh, when I poured it out, it had very, uh, medium sized soapy bubbles. Quite the head on it. Very delectable. And on the old nose buds. And you said crush, which it legitimately said, not HBC 586. We're liking this, right? Right. Which Greg had let me know. That crushes the thing now. Yeah, yeah. New name. So so on the nose buds. A wild amount of passion fruit

and orange. Ooh, like, it's absolutely delicious. And I've already dove in, but we're gonna warm up this Tongue-jobber a little bit more. Okay? And dive right in. So the way they described it, they made it sound almost sessionable. And you said it was seven point something, which is totally your wheelhouse, but would knock me right on my keister. So. So explain. Does this does not drink 7.4. Okay. Um, it maybe drinks 5.4. Okay.

Um, there is on a scale of 0 to 100, like 2% bitterness. Wow. On the back end. And you kind of lose that passion fruit. It's a lot more orange citrus forward on the palette, but this is super duper solid. Very worthy of the 418 collective rating. Wow. Um. I usually do love just about everything Blackstack comes out with just about everything. Toppling Goliath comes out with

which if you listen to the show too, everybody knows I'm not a huge fan of when they go like 4 or 5, six hops in a beer. Mhm. Because I'm a big fan of getting the, the focus on the 1 or 2 hops dial in on the aromatics and the flavors from those. But all of these really work together. This is super top notch beer. Hey. Thanks, Rob. Yeah. Very psyched about this one. I do only have one. I would if I had to, I would buy the four pack. Okay.

I forgot about the new rating scale. It takes me a while. I'm a slow learner. This is four pack worthy. Nice. Oh, two good hazes on the show. That's fantastic. I feel like. That's usually how. It. Yeah. Oh, yeah. You're not even drinking tonight? No. I'm on some pretty good meds, though. Oh, I just noticed that. Yeah, I got a Coke. Coke zero. Oh. Is that cherry Coke zero? Cherry coke zero? Oh, is it pathetic that I know that because of the can? I could tell. Too. I was like, oh, no, I was gonna correct him. I'm like, no, it's a cherry, Greg.

All right. Well, thanks again to Rob. Uh. Good man. Rob. All right, so now on to the the full pour here with the news and beer. Michelob ultra. Now the number one beer brand by volume. Uh, Michelob ultra has officially taken the top spot as the number one beer brand by volume, bumping its sibling Bud Light down the list. Year to date, ultra is ahead in both dollars and case sales. This shakeup comes from two trends

Bud light keeps slipping down 9% in dollar sales and nearly 10% in volume, while Michelob Ultra continues to climb with a 4.7 boost in sales and a 4.4% volume increase. The shift follows Anheuser-Busch InBev s decision to prioritize ultra as a brand. I tell you what here, before I carry out of this, my father in law has been drinking Michelob Ultra. I've known him for 16 years now, and he's been drinking it for over 16 years. So this motherfucker been on the trend? Wow, that's some loyalty.

He's been starting it. Meanwhile, uh. God damn. It. Modelo. Modelo especial still holds the crown for top selling beer by dollars title it grabbed in 2023 after the Bud Light boycott. So far this year, modelos seen a slight dip, down 2.3 in sales and a 4.4% in volume, but it still ranks number three in overall volume. And that beer I will still drink 100 times over Michelob Ultra

and Bud Light. I was going to ask if it comes to Bud Light or Ultra. Where are you? Where are you going to go? Uh, probably MK ultra. Mm. Yeah. I really don't like Bud Light. And especially, uh, when I went and toured, uh, Anheuser was at two summers ago now. Mhm. And they, uh, bring you to where they show you the recipes and how they brew the beer and you're just kind of like, oh yeah, that's it, you know, and nobody knows what's actually in the beer, which is mind boggling. But I get it just there, just uh, tour guide Beechwood aged. Right.

Oh, okay. So they just lager it, um. Any weasels? They. You had the chance to opt in for as many samples as possible or bud light samples as possible. So, naturally, I got one of both because they were supposed to be fresh and taste the difference. My God, Budweiser just knocked Bud Light out of the water, and it actually made me realize how bad Bud Light actually tastes. Interesting. Like it was absolute trash. I haven't had MK ultra in so

long I legitimately don't remember what it tastes like. It's like water. That's what I'm. That's how I remember it. So because of that, I think I'd go MK ultra because at least there's nothing to taste, right? We should have like an anti craft episode where we try all this shit. A big beer because I'm really intrigued. Now, when you said Budweiser being so much better than Bud Light, which they're both terrible as far as I can remember, I'd probably do it. MK ultra. Um, for those that heard modelo, if you're listening from London, it's actually modelo. We just have special pronunciations

here on. Yep. Hey, it's all good. I'm good looking. I'm not smart. You got it somewhere. You get one. Or. The other, right? Can't be both. Okay. Um. Geniuses. To Erica's point, I've always wanted to, like, get us all in the same room at the same time and do a blind version of what you said and like, have Shannon or someone pour it for us that way. It's so funny. It's truly blind. We have no idea what we're drinking. There's no bias. No idea at all.

All we know is that it's like, you know, six shitty beers in front of us. Okay. And we'd have to rank them, and we wouldn't know what they were until we were totally done ranking them. Not even a list to pull from. So we rank them. And then. Then we could guess, like what we think it is, but. Right. Exactly. And, you know, I think this is a Budweiser and this, you know, so but more importantly is like seeing what you liked more or less without knowing what they. Were. Surprising because. Yeah. I like it. Somehow we gotta get in the same room. Yes. Kidnap me.

Do it with a video. Like, have you seen those videos where it's like, uh, a box, but then like, the other side, you can see what's in the box and like, the straw coming up from the box, and you're, like, drinking it, you know? It's like I've seen that one. I wonder if that's fun. I like this. One. I'm not entirely. Willing. To drink beer out of a straw, though. Yeah, it's a little weird. Just a little. Weird. You're not hot enough for that. You just. Where did my friend, my, uh. My brother in law just went golfing with another guy from work, and they went to a bar afterwards. He was telling me the story, and they went to order beers and they said, I'm sorry.

Uh, all of our beers are warm right now. I don't know if they they're refrigeration broke down if the power went out or whatever, but they said you can either order a cocktail or we can put ice in your beer. How gross would. Order a Natty Ice? It's already cold. Oh my. Goodness. Or, uh, you know, it's like ordering a Bud Light and you're just putting more water in, you know? Yeah, it turns into a mixer. Put ice in it, makes it a Bud Light.

Yeah, exactly. Uh, here's a fun one. I like this. Bring it. Godzilla on. 60 million Million PBR packages. Godzilla and Friends and Enemies will appear on 60 million. Pabst Blue Ribbon cans and packages this fall. Uh. Pabst struck a partnership with Toho International to feature the King of Monsters, as well as Mothra, King Jesus, Ghidorah, and Mechagodzilla.

On packaging. Do that Greg style. I want it, I want. To hear you. Word that out. Just give us that moment. Okay. Okay. Uh, and Mechagodzilla. All on. Packaging, including 25 ounce cans to celebrate the. 70th birthday. Uh, the brewer worked with official Godzilla artist. Wow. That's his name. Attack Peter, uh, to create four images in his signature hard carved

linoleum block print technique. What a technique that is. Also, look out for a limited run of cans featuring Godzilla's blue atomic fire breath. Still will not be buying PBR. Ah. I would might want to. Uh. I don't know. Little comic book lover in you. Okay. It's, uh, Godzilla's kind of nostalgic for me. Okay, okay. Um, so my dad was born in 57.

I feel like that's a pretty common time for our dads to be born. Yeah. Uh, so you think for him, Godzilla and King Kong were like the world? Yeah, right. Just immaculate creations. Motion pictures. So when I was, like, four and five years old, that's what I started watching. Like, I was actually deathly afraid of King Kong and the whole Skull Island shit. And it was terrifying to me. So it's a big nostalgia thing with the Godzilla. More so than anything.

Okay. Outside of the PBR stuff. Have they ever co-branded or done anything like this? Are we at desperation mode or like. Godzilla or PBR? PBR? Oh, I mean. They seem like. I've never seen anything outside of just what their standard can is. I don't. Know. They do some wacky stuff every now and then. They do have that that 99 can pack. Oh, yeah. You know, like that. Like, not so much promoting or branding, but. Yeah. And then everybody knows the coffee

beer that they did or the alcoholic coffee or whatever it was that. Which compared to their beer was delicious. Right. A lot of people liked it. And then they. Just stopped. Doing it. So. Wendy sent me one. That was good. Maybe one day they'll bring it back like it was on display every. I worked in a grocery store at the time, and there were displays of it, like for displays of it around the store. I must have missed that one. I don't think they were in California. I want to. Say. I think because the caffeine and alcohol weirdness. Yeah, I want to say. It was like 2017 or 2018 if I

could put a year on it. Okay. Some sad news here. Funk works taproom to close. Its not funny. Funk works is closing its Fort Collins taproom next month, wrapping up 15 years of pours and saisons. Everybody love that. Hey, uh, the last. Day of. Operation is set for November 1st. Uh, but Funk Works isn't disappearing. The beer will still be distributed as it's been brewed at Denver Beer Co since early 2024. Uh, according to the Denver Post,

the closure follows a pattern. Denver's Great Divide Brewing also shut down two of its tasting rooms earlier this year, which I believe we touched on, uh, not long after being acquired by the same parent company, Wilding Brands. Wilding, which formed earlier this year, is building out a Colorado craft beverage platform that now includes Denver Beer Co Stem centers of Colorado and Formation Brewing, howdy beer and more. I don't think I got that, uh,

Cerveceria. Right, but that's pretty good. Cerveceria? Yeah. My Spanish, you know. Olé! Kicking in four years in high school. Never thought you'd use that again. Here we go. Asahi beer's running out in Japan. Aren't they brewed there? Yeah. Interesting. Japanese bars, restaurants and stores are running dry on beer. That's terrible news. And it's all thanks to a cyber attack that's knocked out Asahi Group's operations for five straight days.

Um. What? Who is honing in on these cyber attacks? Monsters. Ex-employees. Godzilla. Godzilla. There we go. Uh, Asahi. Uh, Japan's biggest beverage company had to hit pause on order, processing, shipping and even its call center after a system outage started earlier this week. They've also postponed several beer launches planned for October. What kind of beer launches? Just. Asahi beer launches. I yeah.

That wouldn't. Confuse me. It's wild. Um. Coming soon. Asahi hazy IPA, the silver lining. October is usually a slow month for beer sales in Japan anyway, so maybe the hackers picked the least impactful time to strike. For now, Asahi can still brew beer. They just can't sip it or ship it. I'm sorry. They just can't ship it. You can't sip it. Or only chugging. Licking, sniffing. Now I know how Greg feels. So until the systems.

Are back online, it's all dressed up with nowhere to go. Oh, wow. Sad times. That's something. Funny story. We just went to the China lights, which is a thing that goes around. It's here every every fall. They go to the botanical gardens near us, and they set up this whole Chinese light display, and they charge an insane amount of money for a ticket to walk through something that takes 15 minutes. But we do it anyway. So they got us hook, line and sinker. But I'm pretty.

Sure they had a shit ton of acai beer. So that's kind of what it is, you know? That was the last of it. Probably. Yeah. That's probably why they had all the, uh, Leinenkugel’s and everything else that they had on hand there, which I've never seen before. So, um. Kind of funny. It's a. Funny story. Now, just don't sip it. Um. Like. She is. Discount Flex.

It's terrible. Uh. If I'm as funny as that, fire me now. Um. The worst. All right. I think we got one more story here. Thank goodness. Yeah. Drunk. Drunk man pretends to be Walmart employee to break into a store after hours for more beer. Mm. I tell you what, it's not hard to be, uh, confused for a Walmart employee. All you have to do is walk by somebody and not say hello. Okay.

Uh, that's a pretty solid move there at Walmart. Somebody thought I was a target employee. One time. I was wearing my McDonald's uniform and they started asking me where shit was. Was it a was it a red shirt? McDonald's? No, it was fucking blue. That doesn't make. Sense. Yeah. Then I'm sure it was just a drunk customer at target. A man in Washington. Kind of shocking. He's expecting this would go, uh, southeast. Agreed. A man in Washington was arrested after he tried to break into a Walmart for more beer while wearing a

Walmart vest and pretending to be an employee. It happened around 2 a.m.. What? Walmarts are. Well, he's trying to break in. Okay, so they weren't open. Uh, it happened around 2 a.m. on October 1st in Port Angeles. Port Angeles. Okay. Yeah, I. Was expecting a little more than that. Uh, employees saw the clearly drunk guy walking through a back entrance wearing a blue Walmart vest with a nametag that said, uh. Any guesses? Ooh. Not discount. Greg. No. Regular Greg. Regular Greg.

The nametag read regular Greg. Uh, turns out Greg did not work there. When employees confronted him, he got into a fight stance. Sounds like. Me. That's a super. Solid maneuver there, Greg. Uh, he then bailed, leaving the vest behind like a dropped video game item. He said, fuck that. I don't need this. I need to run faster. Uh, cops found his car still in the lot. Because that's a classy thing to do. Bail out and leave your car.

And they eventually tracked him down, hiding by the truck entrance because there's no other place to hide. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Uh, he admitted he'd been drinking and wore the vest to, quote unquote, look official, uh, while breaking in for more beer. He was arrested for attempted burglary. But honestly, bonus points for commitment to the bit. Mhm. For sure. I'm honestly shocked you don't get this story a lot more with target.

Because all you have to do is wear a red shirt. Uh, my older brother works at target. A target and all you have to do, you can wear any shirt. It can say anything as long as it's not, like, derogatory or obscene. Uh. You wear a red colored shirt and that is your uniform. You put your name tag on. Mm. Hot dang. That's easy. Yeah. But also, um, having worked in a grocery store for multiple years, It shocked me that people don't just order like Pepsi shirts or Coke shirts. And.

Go to the back, pull out a pallet of Coke to the lobby, and then just start hauling the coke to their car, you know, or something like that. It's shocking to. Me. Walmart. Greg, if you're listening, Flex just handed you some fantastic ideas for a more successful beer hijack routine. Yeah, get it right next time. That actually did happen with a beer rep. Once they did put on like a beer company shirt and they filled a cart with, uh. Oh, liquor. Bottles.

Yeah. And they just went right out. Yeah. Pretty classy. Move. Great. You're giving us a bad name here. Do better next time. Greg's, you know, good ones and bad ones. I'll tell you what. I can't live with em. Can't live without. Em. You really can't. Amen. All right. Probably hit some music. Yeah. Let's do it. Oh, no. We're gonna say, uh, thanks for listening. We're going to say hi. Vanessa. Hello. Hey, Vanessa. Hi, Vanessa. Um, hit up us, hit up us,

hit us up on the socials. Uh, what is what's the number? Uh, 805 538. Beer. Yes. Good job. Please leave us some drunk stories. Some gabf stories. Uh. Follow Erica on the gram @Neck_nosh_llc LLC, right. Is that correct? Am I doing this right now? I think. It's just. Knock, knock. Now. All one word. It's easier now, um. Follow us. Uh @CraftBeerRepublic. And, uh, I think that's just about it, so I don't know the next line. Greg, you're gonna have to help me out here.

I do hope everyone is staying very well hydrated. And on that note, there we go. Good night. Everybody. Bravo! What a fucking man. Yeah, I. Totally froze. Up right there.